Is Our Country Too Small to Sustain so Many Professional Sports Teams Essay

Is our country too small to sustain so many professional sports teams? This question is being asked and written about a lot lately. New Zealand sport is fairly strong in places but there are a lot of negatives. But many great sporting triumphs have come out our tiny sports crazy country. But it is debatable wether or not provincial sport is going well at the moment. Teams are dropping out of competitions and are running out of money. On the other hand our country has had some great sporting milestones and our provincial sport is a stepping-stone for some of our world-class athletes to make their mark on the world. Firstly many provincial teams are losing money or are in debt. This either forces teams to drop out of an upcoming season or completely fold. For example the Otago Nuggets had to drop out of the NBL (National Basketball League) in 2009 because of financial reasons. But thanks to their major sponsor Oceania Gold they are back in the League. The Otago Rugby Football Union who over four years lost nearly $4 million and have just announced they may go into liquidation and miss the 2012 ITM Cup. This all starts because unions are spending more money to buy players, coaches, staff, flights and accommodation than what they can afford. With teams going into debt they cannot afford to buy their star players, buying star players maybe good for the team in the short run but can end badly in the long run. This is bad because with a team pulling out does not give locals the chance to get recognised on the big stage where their career could start. This is also bad for big sports fans in a region, as they do not have a team to support. With all the negative points there are positives like there is so many sporting milestones being reached. For such a small country we compete very well against the rest of the world, in some cases we are even world champions. This makes me proud to be a New Zealander. E. g. The All Blacks finally won the rugby world cup after a 24-year drought, 3 times loosing to France. Or the New Zealand Breakers winning the Australian National Basketball League and becoming the first New Zealand team to win an Australian competition beating the Warriors in the NRL for rugby league and the Phoenix in the A-league for soccer. Or The Silver Ferns Beating the world champions in the final of the netball in the commonwealth games and finally the Kiwis who won the last Rugby League World Cup showing that national sport in New Zealand is very strong. It is important having strong national teams as it is a good reputation to have as a country, and for such a sports crazy nation it is good to see New Zealand win. Lastly, for great sportsmen and women provincial level is where is all begins on their journey to greatness. Many great sportsmen have been recognised from sports in New Zealand. E. g. Brendon McCullum who plays cricket for Otago and New Zealand got a contract for US$900,000 by an Indian cricket club, the Kolkata Night Riders. McCullum is now one of the best Twenty/Twenty players in the world. Another example is Kirk Penny. Penny had a great season for the New Zealand Breakers basketball team. A European club, Madrid Fuenlabrada signed him and he is now making his mark in Spain. This is important as it helps world-class athletes from New Zealand be known to the rest of the world. In conclusion we see that professional sport in New Zealand has its downsides being that teams are going broke or defunct but many positives like our national teams doing well and New Zealand players being recognised worldwide. We can see there are many positives and negatives but most professional sports in New Zealand are strong and I believe New Zealand sport is great.