December 18, 2024 • 40 mins
D’Arcy Waldegrave returned to wrap this week's sporting news. Highlights for tonight include:
New Zealand Esports CEO Jonathan Jansen calls out HPSNZ for leaving them out of funding boost.
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Michaela Blyde on making the switch to the Warriors for the next NRLW season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Waldegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good evening, Welcome to sports Talk you. I'm a sport
here on News talkszb My name's Darcy Autograve. On with
you through to eight o'clock this evening, taking your texts,
taking your phone calls, and maybe even taking a bit
of your stick as well. We're going to talk a
(00:58):
bit of E sports. We'll be joined by Jonathan Jansen,
CEO New zeal And E Sports. No funding for the
esporters not a sausage? Fair and right? I mean, is
it the future? Should it be at least recognized? We'll
talk about Johnathan that shortly take your course.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Not as well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
On eight hundred and eighty ten eighty Mi Caleb I
joins us. She's made the switch from Rugby seven's off
to the Wars the Warriors. She's a been discussion about
what drove that decision, what she hopes to achieve in
a New Zealand rugby or pissy with her for what
(01:40):
she did. I expect they would be. She's an absolute
dead set legend of the game. But look, you've got
to keep changing up what you do to keep yourself interested, right,
said the guy has been in the same job for
twenty three years. I don't live by that, I really
really don't. So we're going to take your calls on
(02:01):
E sports or E entertainment or whatever you like to
call it. That's what they go by. Anyway, after we
have a yarn with mister Jensen, but before we go
anywhere near any of that, let's get nice and close
to this.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Sport today and in.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Sports today, hockey has taken an absolute beating after High
Performance Sporting zed slash their budget for this Olympic cycle.
The sports lost one point four million dollars brandom across
the men's and women's Blacksticks programs. Ow here's Anthony Crummy,
the CEO, talking about where the cuts will actually hit.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Ultimately, we have to look at all our expenditure, whether
that's people touring, costs, support for players directly.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
It's all on the table to have a look at.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
But you're sure that is absolutely one possible outcome.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
But it's a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
White Fern rock star Meely Kerr is a crediting new
assistant coach the Ferns Craig McMillan with their improvement in
the field.
Speaker 7 (03:02):
The massive shift I've seen is our fielding. I think
our fielding helped us the World Cup. And if you
go watch a field and training with the White Burns,
everyone's running to Maca's group for him to hit balls,
not because it's the easiest, because it's the hardest one
and you know it's going to make you better.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
New black Caps white ball skipper Mixed Sander has name
dropped the Cup the IPL SIP stars who advice is
taking on board?
Speaker 8 (03:28):
You obviously flem you a big part of that chin
I set up and New Zealand set for a very
long time and probably one of our best leaders as
well in that in that kind of era, you know,
you kind of bank all that knowledge and costa.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Barbarussis is in discussions with Phoenix's the director of for football,
Sean Gill around extending his time with the Black and Yellow.
Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
He's got a.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Plus one in his contract. We'll talk further with him
closer to the end of the season about what he
wants to do with that.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
In the background, there's some discussions going on with other players,
but nothing that we can talk to at the stage
and that's sports today and in sport today, a number
of sports we're beating around their head and face with
a fiscal cosh. No more money for you as high
performance sport in z looked to be rewarded and who
(04:17):
would be punished as far as who is to be
ignored well diving, surfing, golf, badminton, football and e sports.
To discuss that now, we're joined by the CEO of
(04:38):
Esport New Zealand, Jonathan Jensen eleven past seven. Jonathan, Welcome
to the show. How are you.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I am good, Darcy, thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Great to have you on board. It's been a while,
but here we are, the CEO of Esport in New Zealand.
You have been told no, a slap back from high
performance sport in Zed. You don't count, you don't qualify.
Your initial reaction to.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
This yeah, unfortunately shocked. I think to put it in
one word. We're obviously a massive, a massive sport. From
a participation lens. We were a pretty small financial partner
with High Performance Sport and we had big dreams because
they've done really well on the global stage of the
last three years. On literally the smell of an oily
rag and so not to only have had our application denied,
(05:25):
but then to take a step backwards from that and
to have denied any investment in US from you know,
the fifteen thousand we had over three years. It was
pretty shocking because it just I think it sends a
message to show that the government aren't interested in, you know,
innovation in the future sport of esports for what's role
it plays with the youth that was just feels out
of touch.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Let's just roll it back. There will be an argument
and I've heard this number of times. It will carry
on that and you know what I'm going to say,
e sport has got sport in the name, but it's
not a sport. It's just people sitting on their bums
twiddling their fingers. How do you respond to that because
you would have heard that before.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean there's a million different ways you can
respond to it. You can talk about you know, like
the ree search and the studies of how it improves
your physical your a thing or your mental activity or
anything else. But I think at the end of the day,
we're never ever going to convince people who don't get
it that it's a sport. But the fact is is
that the Olympic movement are on board. The government recognized
(06:22):
it as a sport in twenty twenty. Like for those
and anyone under the age of you know, forty probably
now know that it's a sport and they're involved in
it and their kids are doing it, and it's just
so popular. So you cannot get it. But there are
lots of people who do and it's really important to
and it's impossible to deny that the data of that, So,
you know, just like football, don't I'm not a I
don't enjoy football, particularly, I don't get it. I don't
(06:44):
like watching people cook a pall back and forth on
the field for nineteen minutes and nothing happening. But people
are nutty about the Premier League. They can have that.
I'm not going to, you know, contest it's not a
sport that it should be pulled from funding because I'm
not a fan of it, But you know, you can't
deny it's a thing.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We people look at the physical exertion and that's generally
what they consider a sport and they see you sports
and go I don't see anyone sweeting and see anyone
getting physical. I just see soft drinks and chips. I mean,
that's an extreme case, but how do you respond to that?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, honestly, that stereotype comes from the don't get it
category because soft drinks and chips give you know, you're
not healthy when you're eating that stuff, and people who
do esports know this is like one oh one. This
is what you learn when you start is if you
don't have a healthy body, you cannot have a healthy mind.
Like imagine trying to do an exam the morning after
a hangover. Like if you haven't treating your body right,
your brain doesn't work and then you can't win these sports.
(07:37):
And on the physicality side of things, if you want
to bring in like the how active does it need
to be to be a sport? Then where does that
slippery slope like go? Does that mean that you know
Formula one or racing isn't a sport you're sitting on
your ass on a chair, driving your driving your steering wheel,
or is prone shooting or shooting in the Olympics you're
just pulling your trigger finger and breathing or darts? How
physical do you need to be to be a sport?
(07:58):
And that's why I think you know it's really a
non argument, but again just from the people who don't
get it, because for the people who actually be into
an esports event, or for people event people who participate
in esport on the weekly, like the competition, the practice,
the commitment, the sacrifice, the teamwork, like all of those
things you need, it's obviously undeniably a sport for the
(08:19):
people who are in the space. Like I said, we're
never going to convince people who don't know what esports
is or have no interest in it that it is
a sport. But there are hundreds of thousands of kiwis,
and they guarantee there's one in almost every home of
every listener listening right now of people doing it. And
if there's that many people doing it, what's the point
in denying it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Jonathan Jensen joins the CEO of Esport New Zealand. Now
your president Connor English, and he's using the quote you've
been using. Perhaps they just don't get it. How can
you make people at high performance sport understand the relevance
of esport and buy into this.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Look.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I'm of the older generation, mid fifties. I look at
it and go theyn't look like a sport to me,
but what you're saying about football, what I like, what
I don't like it. It is irrelevant because people are
buying into this, and they're buying into it big time.
It is clear and present, and to ignore it to
me is borderline insanity.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah, and I agree with you, and that's why when
you ask me what can we do to make them
understand today? This decision has left me baffled on that
because when we went in, we showed them that we
have had, you know, representation at every major esports event
over the last three years. We had Kate McCarthy who
won the UCI World Cycling Esports Championship. We had Lead
(09:38):
Demock who won the America's Cup e Sailing Series. We
had bronze medals at the Global Games. If you look
at like the sports performance track records, we've been hitting
wickets and we're doing so well on almost you know,
no funding, and it's across a range of different areas.
And we we presented this to high Performance Sports saying, look,
we have a real opportunity here on the cusp of
(10:01):
this explosion of this new interest industry, lead the world
and continue getting world leading res us and they just
basically turned around and said, look, we don't care, like
we don't recognize it, and we can show them the
data to show them that, you know, esports players are
twice as likely to play physical sport than non esports
players because they're competitive people who do this. We can
(10:22):
show them the data around gaming and esports being different
and esports being a place that actually introduces a lot
of kids into sport in a space where they're struggling.
But it seems to be that no matter what we
do with all those arguments and players which we thought
were really compelling, didn't matter. And it just comes down
to make you wonder, you know, who are the people
making these decisions and why they're not taking the time
(10:44):
to recognize its importance.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
International Olympic Committee are debuting an Olympic Esports Games next year,
a brand new Olympic sport. You'd think cutting edge wise
that the government would be or high Performance Sports Zone
would like to be at the front of that wave.
That kind of sits nicely with what New Zealand want
to do as far as their aspirations technologically.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
You'd think so, and again like this isn't it. It's
not as if you know it's just another sport in
the Olympics. It's its own Olympic Games, and so it
has this gravitas about it that a lot of countries
are starting to take seriously. And like I said, we're
really at the forefront of this. We've got current world
champions and multiple disciplines that we could show up to
these things and we could blow the world away and
(11:32):
do what we love doing as New Zealander is by
punching above our weight. But is that possible anymore? You know,
I don't know, And it's kind of it is it's
shocking that we're deciding we're making the conscious decision. I
say we, but I mean someone is making the conscious
decision to turn away from all that momentum that's been
built and kind of just give up on this new
(11:52):
space that we've been leading. And that's that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You're don't going to give up? What's your recourse? What
do you do now? What does the community do? What
does Esport New Zealand do to try and wrestle some
funding out a high performance ord? You just go private
and give it up.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
We do what we've always done, which we've always had
very limited, you know, governmental financial support, and so we're
used to. We operate on the you know, a single
percentage point of many of the other sports in terms
of revenue and turnover. So we continue doing what we do.
We've got great partners through like Chorus, Red Bull, Baracca,
We've got lots and lots of commercial partners who help
us do what we do. So we're going to continue driving,
(12:27):
We're going to continue investing. We know we've got awesome talent.
It's just disheartening, I guess because these athletes who are
training every day and their you know, as well as
their full time job to pay their way across the
world to compete in these events. The biggest thing they
want when you talk to them is recognition and even
(12:48):
just being part of the high performance program. For the
last three years, we've had athletes who are part of
the High Performance Athlete program and they feel that recognition
because they feel like they're actually included and accepted. And
now that's being taken away. It's just another hit I
guess against against that. But you know, we're in a
new space. I think that's part of the difficult of
being in a in a rapidly moving startup environment, and
(13:11):
so we're going to keep doing what we're doing. We're
going to keep performing. We're not going to keep pushing
players out there. We're going to keep marching towards the
Olympic Esports Games next year, hopefully get some good results. Yeah,
I just wish we had the recognition and the support
of the country while we did it.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Jonathan Jansen, CEO of Esport in New Zealand, we thank
you very much for your time and your explanation. You
look after yourself and have a very merry Christmas.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Merry Christmas do you two thanks of the time.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Forget the refs call, you make a call on Sports
Talking on your home of Sports News Talk.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
SIP interesting theories around what is and what is not sport.
Jonathan Jensen, their CEO of Esport and New Zealand are
crying the lack of funding from High Performance of Sport
in New Zealand. Look, they got nothing anyway, they got
five thousand dollars a year. Now they've withdrawn that complete.
(14:04):
I mean, come on, five thousand bucks. It's a flash
corporate lunch, isn't it for the folk at I Performance
Sporting GEN And they won't even give them that. I
love the quote from the New Zealand Esport president Connor English.
Perhaps they just don't get it, and I think that
(14:25):
is accurate, I really do. We're going to take your
calls now on eight hundred eighty ten eighty. Should E
sport be categorized as a sport? First? That's your first question.
Does it deserve funding? I'm interested in your theories around
(14:49):
the differential between esport and other secondary sports. I'm no
fan myself. Maybe it's because of the generation. I still
can't quite climb into it. But to ignore it is
insane because it is the future and we cannot sit
(15:11):
in the past. Otherwise would still be racing greyhounds, right
or jousting, or maybe if you go way back to
the Colosseum, would be using slaves to kill each other
for sporting entertainment. Things advance, things move forward, and E
sports and all of its different guyses is very important globally.
(15:33):
The younger generation are buying into this and as pointed
out by Jonathan Jansen before the Jansen excuse me before,
the amount of discipline that does involve into becoming a
high achieving E sport exponent is huge, and people are
still sitting back thinking it's a bunch of spotty, overweight
(15:56):
teenagers smoking vapes, drinking energy drinks and stuffing cheesels in
their mouth. But there's no tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You're not a high achiever like that. So this is
a sport. Right give me an argument as to why
it isn't or why it is does it deserve funding?
If that is the case, high performance sport in New
Zealand right to deny it completely. I think that's insane.
(16:26):
I don't buy into it completely. I've talked to a
number of people who engage in the cycling esports and
race car esports and sailing esports and the like as well.
Then it very much is very relevant. It is a sport.
But to me, to ignore it completely, give no funding,
(16:47):
take away the minimal amount of funding they give it
in the first place, is dinosaur behavior. It's just ignorance.
That's three monkey stuff. I'd expect more from high performance
sport in New Zealand than that attitude, regardless of what
I think about the sport. You're up next, oh eight
(17:07):
hundred and eighty ten eighty, or you can text nineteen
ninet two ZBZB standartics charge does apply.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
On me two two one hundred First, my food ain't
touched the guess I said.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You hear it from the biggest names in sports, and
then have your sale eight hundred eighty eighty Sports Talk
on your home of sports news talk z it me.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
See. This is the mindset a lot of people are in.
This is gaming. It's somch, isn't it, Andy Duff producer,
Andy Duff. You won't remember rally X if you can
find the soundtrack to rally X. This is something out
of the mid eighties early eighties. I would love you
and and I pinned so much milk money to play
(18:04):
the Wow milk money. Anyway, let's get back to the
discussion on point. Is it a sport? He should high
performed sport? Ends it at that level? Actually funded? Hi, Steve,
how are you yourself? Good smiling mate?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
God for some merry Christmas to you and yours very much. Yeah.
I just caught the last bit of the interview there
with the young man and uh, it's prompt me to
call you. My boy was an E black and the
game first person Shooter. I'm not sure if you know
it at all?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What's it calling? No, I don't first person shoot the game?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, so you gotta badies bench goodies sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So those who understand that it was the first person
made the guns in front of you and you're controlling
it and pop.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Pop, that's right exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, got cha. So
he has been doing that, like I'm a bit of
a game of myself, but I'm more in my flight,
sing and everything. But he's been doing that since he
was a young fell he's now in his twenties and
he's been sort of like doing competitions and doing the Lands,
(19:20):
which is like a group of people sort of all
linking up together and doing quite well. And eventually he
got to the point where he says, hey, Dad, I'm
actually going for an e black spot. And I was like,
oh wicked. So he got in, got the two ships
to speak, and I went up against the Aussie and
that the main goal was going to go to the
(19:42):
final of this particular game and Saudia no so rehab
or something like that in Saudi Arabia and millions of dollars,
yeah talking millions of dollars in prize money. And so
he's up against the Australians and they did quite well,
but they got pinched at the post and then I
(20:02):
was like, right, so what happens now? And he said nothing,
And I'm like what, And I said, well, you know,
is there any other competition you go for or anything
like this, Nat? And I said, well why not. Why
isn't there some sort of feeder group or some transhasmin
sort of thing going on between you and the Aussies
and you know, maybe another group and there up in
(20:24):
Singapore because a lot of the Asian guys play it
as well, just to keep the buzz alive, you know.
And he says, well, no, it just doesn't happen like that.
And I sort of sat down and I actually wrote
an email out to the man that I think you
were speaking to, saying, hey, you know, I've got a
few ideas for you to maybe get the sport in
front of people's faces more than just the dads and
(20:47):
the mums of the world who actually see their boys
put their time and effort into this sort of agenda
to get to where they want to get to.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
If you take a look at overseas engagements here and
the size of the auditoriums that pack people out to
watch these, and the amount of effort that the play
is the athletes go to in order to get to
the top of their game and win money. Because it's
big overseas, you'd look, well, this is a sport to
(21:15):
a degree. Can your kid make any money out of this?
Is there a pathway for him or not?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, he's he's got you know, drips and drabs and
what have you, but nothing. You know, he might win
a mouse, or he might win a keyboard or a
monitor or something like that. You know, it's not it's
not big, big sort of dollars coming in. But saying
that if he gets to the point where, for instance,
they had got to the got past the Aussies, then
he would have got into the coin sort of situation.
(21:44):
But but the Kiwi, the e black kiwis playing this
particular years ago have never beaten the Australians And that's
sort of what sort of got me. After seven years
of try and have still never beaten them. But and
that's why I'm think, well, why isn't there some sort
of trantasmu sort of thing going on where they can
actually go up against their peers and you know, have
(22:05):
that competition instance, Well.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It sounds like a cup. They keep beating us all
the time a Steve. Thanks for your input, mate, great
to hear from you, and I wonder if that there's
a growth area and if there is investment from high
Performance Sporting Z, something can be established. It's hard to
look back at pinnacle events for eesport and say you've
had success, will give you more money because they haven't
(22:29):
got any that have been recognized. And next year there's
a new Olympic event running alongside the Summer and Winter Games,
the Olympic Esport Games, the top digital athletes of the
world competing, so that maybe wakes a few ideas up.
But another thought as well, high Performance Sporting Z, would
(22:49):
you consider engaging in esports? High performance is that the
top of the tree when it comes to elite sports people,
regardless of what you think of the sport or not.
Hi Matt, hey, mate, I.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Won't give you my view whether it's a sport or not.
But I've just wanted to book a bit about funding
and high performance funding and I'm of the opinion they
shouldn't get funding yet because there's other sports like for
the one that I'm involved in, the canoe polo, where
where the Oceania Champs has got a woman's team that's
(23:24):
won World champs. The out of twenty one woman won
the World champs before that, the men's are doing really
well and they get no funding and aren't involved in
any high performance program and they spend their weekends selling sausage, sizzles,
et cetera, and that to get to World Championships and
pay for their own accommodations and their boat transfers over
(23:44):
there and everything like that. So I believe that sports
like that that have proved themselves internationally should get funding
before sports that haven't.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
There's a number of sports that are at that top
level that have probably got a lot more recognition, with
all due respect to canoe polo that don't receive anything
as well. And you could look at that and go
it's what they're Yeah, well they have to do. I
don't know what it was written in Stone as far
as far as hyperforant sporting, Zaid's concern what's your remax?
(24:15):
What do you need to do? And I suppose that
works into how they give money out.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Yeah, yeah, because campot is a growth sport here and
whilst it's not huge huge here over in Europe, it
is big and even in Japan, and that there's the
semi professional teams over there.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is it in the Olympics.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
No, they don't. They were talking about putting into the
Olympics but they never got there. But they have their
own will Champs and stuff like that. It would be
in sport to see at the Olympics because it has
said as fast it's it's like seven's on water combination
of sevens and whitewater taiking and and that's it's quite
a spectacular sport.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well it's old mate Van gotcha with his canoe and
that canoe cross that was incredibly fun to watch. I
both counter that, though, Matt, I'd suggest that there's probably
a whole lot more people engaged in esport in some way,
shape or form than they are in canoe polo. So
maybe that's would justify investment from big governmental sporting bodies.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Not possibly, possibly, but if they invested in canoo polo
should have saved me a bit of money because they've
got to.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Matt, thank you very much for your honesty. At the end,
there twenty five minutes to aid. You want to engage
in this, please do At eight hundred and eighty ten
eighty we have got a ton of texts. Darcy I
wonder if esports is a victim of its own early success.
Jonathan had no end of examples because they have succeeded
(25:50):
so well on nothing to date. Perhaps the decision make
us think they don't need any money. Jonathan's out to lunch,
writes Nigel E. Sport competes with sleeping. Please the taxpayer
is not fun. It's not a sport what you got
to do though, I appreciate that, But she's going to
(26:12):
make a statement. Maybe you could back that up with
a reason as to why, which would be cool, Darcy.
I know I'm getting old, but I don't think it's sport.
Sport is entertainment, but not all entertainment is sport. You
can't compare and f one driver shooting to playing video games.
That's doing a massive to service to shooting. I feel
(26:32):
like I can't articulate it or put them to words properly.
Big money, big crowds and lots of hours. Though they're
all great and do play a part, but they don't
make a sport sounds like a TV show or a
movie that is from Hamish and we go to this
and this is something that I've fallen into, this trap
to this phrase video games. We're beyond Frogger. This is
(26:57):
not Space Invaders All defendering God blessed Defender's Soul. What
a game that was stuting. It's different, it's moved on,
it's advanced, it's evolved, it's super high tech and there
are a lot of people in it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
If you've got the cheek to call rh rhythmic gymnastics
a sport, that's not a sport to me. That's dance right.
Arguably boxing where it's a judged result sport. Wow, it's
kind of dancing with punching, isn't it? Like I love
the sport to be fair, but it's easy to dismiss
(27:37):
something you don't understand as not being a sport because
you're so set in your ways. It's about advancing, it's
about development, it's about recognition of the future. Otherwise you're
doomed to live in a cave for the rest of
your life. Twenty three minutes to eight Sports Talk on
News Talks, they've been living in a cave. Isn't a sport?
(28:00):
I'd excel at that. Lost still to come on the program.
You'll cause your text and micaleb Blye joins us Talk
about her transition from a rugby union to rugby league.
Golden Gall, the Golden Gaul, the Golden Girl of our
sevens is on the move.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
This is new STIGs B.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
And then.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
This is the soundtrack of my teenage year for fourteen fifteen.
This before I discovered beer and girls. It's all about that.
Oh yeah, you're taking me right?
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Is there a some of this?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Can I buy this? I want rally X. We're going
to be joined by micaleb Blye shortly to discuss her
move from rugby two league. Just whipped through a couple
more of your text on this subject. The sport of
marbles and knucklebones is more of a sport and deserves
(29:12):
funds before E sports, Well, if you think it is,
get up there and go for it. Set yourself up
a league, push for it and see if you can
get any funding for it. I don't know if it's
high performance, whereas I'd say with the E sports, when
you look at Kate McCarthy gold at the UCI Cycling
Esport World Championships, there's an E America's Cup E Sailing Series.
(29:34):
I lean Dimmock earned gold there. This is the high performance.
I don't know if you can get a gold medal
globally and knucklebones. But thanks for your input, Darcy. What
they use money for? A new hand controler maybe finding
a girlfriend? Said this is the thing, this is what
people are stuck in, and I get that. It's really
(29:56):
it's quite cave dweller. I think you need to expand
your horizons. And this text says a lot e sports
far too out of the square, conservative white sad. I
know that being old and white's got to do it anyway.
Are funding men who can't live in the moment, and
that's what the future is currently. It's so sad, but
(30:17):
it is a snapshot of the snapshot of the vacuum
decision makers living and Trevor, I get you on that,
thanks very much. It's a computer game. I've got nothing
against gamers, but it's not a sport. I'll give you
one last thing on this before we hear from MICHAELA.
And that's something that you need to hold relatively close.
(30:40):
I believe it's called the opinion raiser. And you would
have heard of Faman's razor and Ockham's rasor, and Hitchin's
raiser and Handlin's razor and Son and so forth. This
is a great one. The opinion rate. This summarizes some
of these opinions. Here Charlie Munger said, I never allow
myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't
know the other side's argument better than they do. Opinions
(31:02):
are earned, not owed clearly. If you can't state the
opposition's argument clearly, you haven't earned an opinion. So you'll
throw on all sorts of darts and stuff at these games,
but you don't know what it is. So I'm not
entirely sure that you've actually earned the right to comment.
(31:23):
And if I was to flesh that out, talk back
radio would die of tonight. It's sixteen minutes to eight.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
The right call is your call on eight eighty Sports
Talk call on your home of sports news Talk.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Sibby sexting away from eight and here she is a
sevens at Royalty off to see the whas MICHAELA. Blythe
is signed on the line that she is a moving
she joins us. Now, good, Michayla, how are you?
Speaker 6 (31:57):
I'm good? Thank you, Darcy, how are you?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I'm very happy and I'm sure you are as well.
That news came out late afternoon yesterday that you're off
to be a wha. There was this.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Tell us how that?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
How did that turn up? What happened there?
Speaker 6 (32:12):
To be honest, it was very surprising. It wasn't on
the cards for me to play n l W anytime soon.
But after Paris I had some good conversations with my
family and my fiance and it was a good opportunity
for me to spread my wings and challenge myself as
an athlete, because you know, two Olympic gold medals is
(32:35):
pretty good, right, so I've done Yeah, So I thought, oh,
let's challenge myself in a different area, and the Warriors
presented me an incredible opportunity that I couldn't say no to.
And you know, when I look back as when I
was a kid growing up, obviously my family are rugby
(32:55):
union people, but we always watched the Warriors on TV
and everyone knows who they are. Everyone does up the
Wars the runaway. So I couldn't help but want to
be a part of the cult. You're in a part
of the team for the ner LW for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Who approached who?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Do you know what?
Speaker 6 (33:13):
It was actually another league team that approached my agency first,
and I cut That's how the conversation sparked up, and
I was like, oh, I'm quite keen to just focus
on being with family and my partner and just relaxed
because obviously the season leading into Paris was just absolutely hictic,
and so I didn't really have a second thought about it.
(33:34):
But after a little bit, I decided that it was
actually probably a really good idea to look into it
a little bit more deeply. And then after attending Sean
Johnson's last home game against the Bulldogs a couple months back,
the environment was amazing. The culture is so cool that
you just can't help but want to be a part
of it. And so that was definitely the light bulb
(33:57):
moment where I was like, you know what, this is
actually what I want to do, and this is the
club and the culture that I want to be a
part of. And so had some conversation with some pretty
important people and put pen to paper on Tuesday, I believe,
no Monday, actually just on Monday.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So did you approach them when you decided will they
come to get you? Or did your agent go, hey,
there's been some interest. I'm just interested in that process.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
Mikayla, Well, I think it started when the New Zealand
Warriors posted a quote that Gossie and I, Sarah Hidney
and I said at the at Shawn Johnson's last home game,
and they posted it on Instagram, and then all of
a sudden, a few other teams rang my agency and said, hey,
(34:43):
is mkaaquite interested in playing league? And so that's kind
of really how it sparked up. So I guess the
person who interviewed Gossie and I should be really patting
himself on the back right now because if he didn't
ask that question, if we were interested in ENERLSW in
the future, then I don't know if we would be
here today having a chat. But yeah, the Warriors expressed
interest after that that night and had some good conversations
(35:07):
and the end, after having a good think about it,
the Warriors were the team that I wanted to be
a part of the next year.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So who was it. Do you remember the name of
the person?
Speaker 6 (35:17):
I believe his name is Ronald Griffiths, the coach of
the Warriors RLW team for next year.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Look at that.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Now we got to the bottom of that one. So
what do you know you've got? Have you got any
experience in rugby league at all.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
No, not at all. But it's the same size rugby ball.
You catch him pass quite similarly, and the tackling is
slightly different. But I'll get used to it very quickly.
I'm sure I'll be relying on all my teammates to
help me in learning the rules as fast as possible.
(35:54):
I understand the rules, and I know that a lot
of you know the penalties, the scrums. There's no line
out and the scrums barely a scrum, and there's sixtycles
unless there's you know, so I understand all of that stuff.
It's just a matter of creating habits. My habit now
is when I get tackled, I place the ball as
(36:15):
a staple, or when I tackle, you've obviously got a
release straight away to then go for the ball. So
there's all those little habits that have been instilled in
me since twenty twelve that I'm going to have to
shake off. But I'm sure that i'll have. There's so
much support at the Warriors who will allow me to
learn and grow my league skill set in my own time.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
What did your friends and families say when the news
came out? That's the reaction being from them and your
former teammates or you, I suppose your current teammates within
the Black Funds.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
Yeah, my family are very proud. They understand that I'm
one of the older girls in the Black Fund sevens
now and I've stayed loyal and committed to the program
since I was sixteen, and so they're definitely very proud
of me making this massive decision to explore other options.
But my teammates were a little bit surprised. Always said
(37:07):
to those who went to league in fifteen. In the
last few years, I used to tease them and say, oh,
where's your loyalty to sevens one team my dream? But
now I've gone back on that and gone to league myself.
That's awkward. But my teammates are very supportive, and especially
because I'm playing for the Warriors and everyone knows who
they are. Everyone sees otherwise, and you know, they're well
(37:29):
aware of the brand and the culture, and so they're
very happy for me to go and play for the
Warriors and explore that option deeply next year for twenty
twenty five. So lots of support around me, which is exciting,
and it just makes them news even more exciting. For
myself and my family having this much support around me.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
McKayla. The reaction from end Ze, how does that operate?
It's a one year contract, so do you disappear play
for a year, come back pick up where you left Dolph?
How does that mechanic work? Yees?
Speaker 6 (37:58):
So obviously it's a pretty intense discussion. So my twenty
twenty five and twenty twenty six track has been terminated
with insied Au. I have now re signed with Blackfood
and Sevens until May, which is when the World Series
ends for the seven circuit. I will then transition into
(38:18):
the Warriors environment straight after that, and then for twenty
twenty six, I have full intentions of coming back to
the nsied AU as long as they're wanting me back.
It obviously depends on how I pull up after the
league season, But for me personally, I'm just staying focused
in present in my seventh season with the Black Food
Sevens from January to May, and then I'll put all
(38:41):
my focus into the Warriors environment when the seven season
has finished. But first and foremost I'm ready to win
a World Series with the Black Fod Sevens and my sisters.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Do you get a week off before you transfer or not,
do you cup a team to lie down?
Speaker 6 (38:55):
Yeah, yeah, I'll get a couple of weeks just to
be able to go home and pick my bags because
they've got to move to Auckland. So that's a big
move for a little old michaelab Bly from Tartanaki. So
I will definitely need some time to rearrange and get
some stuff sorted so I can move up to Auckland.
But I'm very fortunate to have my partner's family all
(39:16):
live in Auckland, and so I'll be close to family
and have their support as well if I need a
home cooked meal, which is very cool. So I'm very
glad that I'll be close to them, but yet get
a couple of weeks and then the old transition into
the Warriors camp I believe. I think my first day
is the twenty sixth of May, so very excited for it.
But yeah, still staying very focused and present with the
(39:39):
Black Friend sevens for now.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Mikayla Bly, thanks so much for joining us, Really appreciate
your time. Congratulations. Really looking forward to being at Mount
Spartan screaming up the wires and seeing you tear off
down the wing to score after score after score, after
score after score, and you have happy holidays, Merry.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
Christmas, thank you, Darcy, Merry Christmas, and a happy New
Year to you as well.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
And afterwards, Admo, we've got the breakdown on Sports Talk
Call eight hundred News Talk.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Delightful human michaeleab lythe so very different to who you
see on the field, Absolutely focused and scary af look
in her eyes, the strength, the speed and like a
lot of athletes off the field, wonderful, really pleased for her. Okay,
(40:33):
bit of a watch that I think it's got me engaged.
Seven minutes to eight This is sports Talk on News
Talk z B will finalize the chaos ab shortly here on.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Sports Talk runs up. For more from Sports Talk, listen
live to News Talks itid B from seven pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Waldegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good evening, Welcome to sports Talk you. I'm a sport
here on News talkszb My name's Darcy Autograve. On with
you through to eight o'clock this evening, taking your texts,
taking your phone calls, and maybe even taking a bit
of your stick as well. We're going to talk a
(00:58):
bit of E sports. We'll be joined by Jonathan Jansen,
CEO New zeal And E Sports. No funding for the
esporters not a sausage? Fair and right? I mean, is
it the future? Should it be at least recognized? We'll
talk about Johnathan that shortly take your course.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Not as well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
On eight hundred and eighty ten eighty Mi Caleb I
joins us. She's made the switch from Rugby seven's off
to the Wars the Warriors. She's a been discussion about
what drove that decision, what she hopes to achieve in
a New Zealand rugby or pissy with her for what
(01:40):
she did. I expect they would be. She's an absolute
dead set legend of the game. But look, you've got
to keep changing up what you do to keep yourself interested, right,
said the guy has been in the same job for
twenty three years. I don't live by that, I really
really don't. So we're going to take your calls on
(02:01):
E sports or E entertainment or whatever you like to
call it. That's what they go by. Anyway, after we
have a yarn with mister Jensen, but before we go
anywhere near any of that, let's get nice and close
to this.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Sport today and in.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Sports today, hockey has taken an absolute beating after High
Performance Sporting zed slash their budget for this Olympic cycle.
The sports lost one point four million dollars brandom across
the men's and women's Blacksticks programs. Ow here's Anthony Crummy,
the CEO, talking about where the cuts will actually hit.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Ultimately, we have to look at all our expenditure, whether
that's people touring, costs, support for players directly.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
It's all on the table to have a look at.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
But you're sure that is absolutely one possible outcome.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
But it's a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
White Fern rock star Meely Kerr is a crediting new
assistant coach the Ferns Craig McMillan with their improvement in
the field.
Speaker 7 (03:02):
The massive shift I've seen is our fielding. I think
our fielding helped us the World Cup. And if you
go watch a field and training with the White Burns,
everyone's running to Maca's group for him to hit balls,
not because it's the easiest, because it's the hardest one
and you know it's going to make you better.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
New black Caps white ball skipper Mixed Sander has name
dropped the Cup the IPL SIP stars who advice is
taking on board?
Speaker 8 (03:28):
You obviously flem you a big part of that chin
I set up and New Zealand set for a very
long time and probably one of our best leaders as
well in that in that kind of era, you know,
you kind of bank all that knowledge and costa.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Barbarussis is in discussions with Phoenix's the director of for football,
Sean Gill around extending his time with the Black and Yellow.
Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
He's got a.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Plus one in his contract. We'll talk further with him
closer to the end of the season about what he
wants to do with that.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
In the background, there's some discussions going on with other players,
but nothing that we can talk to at the stage
and that's sports today and in sport today, a number
of sports we're beating around their head and face with
a fiscal cosh. No more money for you as high
performance sport in z looked to be rewarded and who
(04:17):
would be punished as far as who is to be
ignored well diving, surfing, golf, badminton, football and e sports.
To discuss that now, we're joined by the CEO of
(04:38):
Esport New Zealand, Jonathan Jensen eleven past seven. Jonathan, Welcome
to the show. How are you.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I am good, Darcy, thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Great to have you on board. It's been a while,
but here we are, the CEO of Esport in New Zealand.
You have been told no, a slap back from high
performance sport in Zed. You don't count, you don't qualify.
Your initial reaction to.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
This yeah, unfortunately shocked. I think to put it in
one word. We're obviously a massive, a massive sport. From
a participation lens. We were a pretty small financial partner
with High Performance Sport and we had big dreams because
they've done really well on the global stage of the
last three years. On literally the smell of an oily
rag and so not to only have had our application denied,
(05:25):
but then to take a step backwards from that and
to have denied any investment in US from you know,
the fifteen thousand we had over three years. It was
pretty shocking because it just I think it sends a
message to show that the government aren't interested in, you know,
innovation in the future sport of esports for what's role
it plays with the youth that was just feels out
of touch.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Let's just roll it back. There will be an argument
and I've heard this number of times. It will carry
on that and you know what I'm going to say,
e sport has got sport in the name, but it's
not a sport. It's just people sitting on their bums
twiddling their fingers. How do you respond to that because
you would have heard that before.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean there's a million different ways you can
respond to it. You can talk about you know, like
the ree search and the studies of how it improves
your physical your a thing or your mental activity or
anything else. But I think at the end of the day,
we're never ever going to convince people who don't get
it that it's a sport. But the fact is is
that the Olympic movement are on board. The government recognized
(06:22):
it as a sport in twenty twenty. Like for those
and anyone under the age of you know, forty probably
now know that it's a sport and they're involved in
it and their kids are doing it, and it's just
so popular. So you cannot get it. But there are
lots of people who do and it's really important to
and it's impossible to deny that the data of that, So,
you know, just like football, don't I'm not a I
don't enjoy football, particularly, I don't get it. I don't
(06:44):
like watching people cook a pall back and forth on
the field for nineteen minutes and nothing happening. But people
are nutty about the Premier League. They can have that.
I'm not going to, you know, contest it's not a
sport that it should be pulled from funding because I'm
not a fan of it, But you know, you can't
deny it's a thing.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
We people look at the physical exertion and that's generally
what they consider a sport and they see you sports
and go I don't see anyone sweeting and see anyone
getting physical. I just see soft drinks and chips. I mean,
that's an extreme case, but how do you respond to that?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, honestly, that stereotype comes from the don't get it
category because soft drinks and chips give you know, you're
not healthy when you're eating that stuff, and people who
do esports know this is like one oh one. This
is what you learn when you start is if you
don't have a healthy body, you cannot have a healthy mind.
Like imagine trying to do an exam the morning after
a hangover. Like if you haven't treating your body right,
your brain doesn't work and then you can't win these sports.
(07:37):
And on the physicality side of things, if you want
to bring in like the how active does it need
to be to be a sport? Then where does that
slippery slope like go? Does that mean that you know
Formula one or racing isn't a sport you're sitting on
your ass on a chair, driving your driving your steering wheel,
or is prone shooting or shooting in the Olympics you're
just pulling your trigger finger and breathing or darts? How
physical do you need to be to be a sport?
(07:58):
And that's why I think you know it's really a
non argument, but again just from the people who don't
get it, because for the people who actually be into
an esports event, or for people event people who participate
in esport on the weekly, like the competition, the practice,
the commitment, the sacrifice, the teamwork, like all of those
things you need, it's obviously undeniably a sport for the
(08:19):
people who are in the space. Like I said, we're
never going to convince people who don't know what esports
is or have no interest in it that it is
a sport. But there are hundreds of thousands of kiwis,
and they guarantee there's one in almost every home of
every listener listening right now of people doing it. And
if there's that many people doing it, what's the point
in denying it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Jonathan Jensen joins the CEO of Esport New Zealand. Now
your president Connor English, and he's using the quote you've
been using. Perhaps they just don't get it. How can
you make people at high performance sport understand the relevance
of esport and buy into this.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Look.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I'm of the older generation, mid fifties. I look at
it and go theyn't look like a sport to me,
but what you're saying about football, what I like, what
I don't like it. It is irrelevant because people are
buying into this, and they're buying into it big time.
It is clear and present, and to ignore it to
me is borderline insanity.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah, and I agree with you, and that's why when
you ask me what can we do to make them
understand today? This decision has left me baffled on that
because when we went in, we showed them that we
have had, you know, representation at every major esports event
over the last three years. We had Kate McCarthy who
won the UCI World Cycling Esports Championship. We had Lead
(09:38):
Demock who won the America's Cup e Sailing Series. We
had bronze medals at the Global Games. If you look
at like the sports performance track records, we've been hitting
wickets and we're doing so well on almost you know,
no funding, and it's across a range of different areas.
And we we presented this to high Performance Sports saying, look,
we have a real opportunity here on the cusp of
(10:01):
this explosion of this new interest industry, lead the world
and continue getting world leading res us and they just
basically turned around and said, look, we don't care, like
we don't recognize it, and we can show them the
data to show them that, you know, esports players are
twice as likely to play physical sport than non esports
players because they're competitive people who do this. We can
(10:22):
show them the data around gaming and esports being different
and esports being a place that actually introduces a lot
of kids into sport in a space where they're struggling.
But it seems to be that no matter what we
do with all those arguments and players which we thought
were really compelling, didn't matter. And it just comes down
to make you wonder, you know, who are the people
making these decisions and why they're not taking the time
(10:44):
to recognize its importance.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
International Olympic Committee are debuting an Olympic Esports Games next year,
a brand new Olympic sport. You'd think cutting edge wise
that the government would be or high Performance Sports Zone
would like to be at the front of that wave.
That kind of sits nicely with what New Zealand want
to do as far as their aspirations technologically.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
You'd think so, and again like this isn't it. It's
not as if you know it's just another sport in
the Olympics. It's its own Olympic Games, and so it
has this gravitas about it that a lot of countries
are starting to take seriously. And like I said, we're
really at the forefront of this. We've got current world
champions and multiple disciplines that we could show up to
these things and we could blow the world away and
(11:32):
do what we love doing as New Zealander is by
punching above our weight. But is that possible anymore? You know,
I don't know, And it's kind of it is it's
shocking that we're deciding we're making the conscious decision. I
say we, but I mean someone is making the conscious
decision to turn away from all that momentum that's been
built and kind of just give up on this new
(11:52):
space that we've been leading. And that's that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You're don't going to give up? What's your recourse? What
do you do now? What does the community do? What
does Esport New Zealand do to try and wrestle some
funding out a high performance ord? You just go private
and give it up.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
We do what we've always done, which we've always had
very limited, you know, governmental financial support, and so we're
used to. We operate on the you know, a single
percentage point of many of the other sports in terms
of revenue and turnover. So we continue doing what we do.
We've got great partners through like Chorus, Red Bull, Baracca,
We've got lots and lots of commercial partners who help
us do what we do. So we're going to continue driving,
(12:27):
We're going to continue investing. We know we've got awesome talent.
It's just disheartening, I guess because these athletes who are
training every day and their you know, as well as
their full time job to pay their way across the
world to compete in these events. The biggest thing they
want when you talk to them is recognition and even
(12:48):
just being part of the high performance program. For the
last three years, we've had athletes who are part of
the High Performance Athlete program and they feel that recognition
because they feel like they're actually included and accepted. And
now that's being taken away. It's just another hit I
guess against against that. But you know, we're in a
new space. I think that's part of the difficult of
being in a in a rapidly moving startup environment, and
(13:11):
so we're going to keep doing what we're doing. We're
going to keep performing. We're not going to keep pushing
players out there. We're going to keep marching towards the
Olympic Esports Games next year, hopefully get some good results. Yeah,
I just wish we had the recognition and the support
of the country while we did it.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Jonathan Jansen, CEO of Esport in New Zealand, we thank
you very much for your time and your explanation. You
look after yourself and have a very merry Christmas.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Merry Christmas do you two thanks of the time.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Forget the refs call, you make a call on Sports
Talking on your home of Sports News Talk.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
SIP interesting theories around what is and what is not sport.
Jonathan Jensen, their CEO of Esport and New Zealand are
crying the lack of funding from High Performance of Sport
in New Zealand. Look, they got nothing anyway, they got
five thousand dollars a year. Now they've withdrawn that complete.
(14:04):
I mean, come on, five thousand bucks. It's a flash
corporate lunch, isn't it for the folk at I Performance
Sporting GEN And they won't even give them that. I
love the quote from the New Zealand Esport president Connor English.
Perhaps they just don't get it, and I think that
(14:25):
is accurate, I really do. We're going to take your
calls now on eight hundred eighty ten eighty. Should E
sport be categorized as a sport? First? That's your first question.
Does it deserve funding? I'm interested in your theories around
(14:49):
the differential between esport and other secondary sports. I'm no
fan myself. Maybe it's because of the generation. I still
can't quite climb into it. But to ignore it is
insane because it is the future and we cannot sit
(15:11):
in the past. Otherwise would still be racing greyhounds, right
or jousting, or maybe if you go way back to
the Colosseum, would be using slaves to kill each other
for sporting entertainment. Things advance, things move forward, and E
sports and all of its different guyses is very important globally.
(15:33):
The younger generation are buying into this and as pointed
out by Jonathan Jansen before the Jansen excuse me before,
the amount of discipline that does involve into becoming a
high achieving E sport exponent is huge, and people are
still sitting back thinking it's a bunch of spotty, overweight
(15:56):
teenagers smoking vapes, drinking energy drinks and stuffing cheesels in
their mouth. But there's no tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You're not a high achiever like that. So this is
a sport. Right give me an argument as to why
it isn't or why it is does it deserve funding?
If that is the case, high performance sport in New
Zealand right to deny it completely. I think that's insane.
(16:26):
I don't buy into it completely. I've talked to a
number of people who engage in the cycling esports and
race car esports and sailing esports and the like as well.
Then it very much is very relevant. It is a sport.
But to me, to ignore it completely, give no funding,
(16:47):
take away the minimal amount of funding they give it
in the first place, is dinosaur behavior. It's just ignorance.
That's three monkey stuff. I'd expect more from high performance
sport in New Zealand than that attitude, regardless of what
I think about the sport. You're up next, oh eight
(17:07):
hundred and eighty ten eighty, or you can text nineteen
ninet two ZBZB standartics charge does apply.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
On me two two one hundred First, my food ain't
touched the guess I said.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You hear it from the biggest names in sports, and
then have your sale eight hundred eighty eighty Sports Talk
on your home of sports news talk z it me.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
See. This is the mindset a lot of people are in.
This is gaming. It's somch, isn't it, Andy Duff producer,
Andy Duff. You won't remember rally X if you can
find the soundtrack to rally X. This is something out
of the mid eighties early eighties. I would love you
and and I pinned so much milk money to play
(18:04):
the Wow milk money. Anyway, let's get back to the
discussion on point. Is it a sport? He should high
performed sport? Ends it at that level? Actually funded? Hi, Steve,
how are you yourself? Good smiling mate?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
God for some merry Christmas to you and yours very much. Yeah.
I just caught the last bit of the interview there
with the young man and uh, it's prompt me to
call you. My boy was an E black and the
game first person Shooter. I'm not sure if you know
it at all?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What's it calling? No, I don't first person shoot the game?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, so you gotta badies bench goodies sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So those who understand that it was the first person
made the guns in front of you and you're controlling
it and pop.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Pop, that's right exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, got cha. So
he has been doing that, like I'm a bit of
a game of myself, but I'm more in my flight,
sing and everything. But he's been doing that since he
was a young fell he's now in his twenties and
he's been sort of like doing competitions and doing the Lands,
(19:20):
which is like a group of people sort of all
linking up together and doing quite well. And eventually he
got to the point where he says, hey, Dad, I'm
actually going for an e black spot. And I was like,
oh wicked. So he got in, got the two ships
to speak, and I went up against the Aussie and
that the main goal was going to go to the
(19:42):
final of this particular game and Saudia no so rehab
or something like that in Saudi Arabia and millions of dollars,
yeah talking millions of dollars in prize money. And so
he's up against the Australians and they did quite well,
but they got pinched at the post and then I
(20:02):
was like, right, so what happens now? And he said nothing,
And I'm like what, And I said, well, you know,
is there any other competition you go for or anything
like this, Nat? And I said, well why not. Why
isn't there some sort of feeder group or some transhasmin
sort of thing going on between you and the Aussies
and you know, maybe another group and there up in
(20:24):
Singapore because a lot of the Asian guys play it
as well, just to keep the buzz alive, you know.
And he says, well, no, it just doesn't happen like that.
And I sort of sat down and I actually wrote
an email out to the man that I think you
were speaking to, saying, hey, you know, I've got a
few ideas for you to maybe get the sport in
front of people's faces more than just the dads and
(20:47):
the mums of the world who actually see their boys
put their time and effort into this sort of agenda
to get to where they want to get to.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
If you take a look at overseas engagements here and
the size of the auditoriums that pack people out to
watch these, and the amount of effort that the play
is the athletes go to in order to get to
the top of their game and win money. Because it's
big overseas, you'd look, well, this is a sport to
(21:15):
a degree. Can your kid make any money out of this?
Is there a pathway for him or not?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, he's he's got you know, drips and drabs and
what have you, but nothing. You know, he might win
a mouse, or he might win a keyboard or a
monitor or something like that. You know, it's not it's
not big, big sort of dollars coming in. But saying
that if he gets to the point where, for instance,
they had got to the got past the Aussies, then
he would have got into the coin sort of situation.
(21:44):
But but the Kiwi, the e black kiwis playing this
particular years ago have never beaten the Australians And that's
sort of what sort of got me. After seven years
of try and have still never beaten them. But and
that's why I'm think, well, why isn't there some sort
of trantasmu sort of thing going on where they can
actually go up against their peers and you know, have
(22:05):
that competition instance, Well.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It sounds like a cup. They keep beating us all
the time a Steve. Thanks for your input, mate, great
to hear from you, and I wonder if that there's
a growth area and if there is investment from high
Performance Sporting Z, something can be established. It's hard to
look back at pinnacle events for eesport and say you've
had success, will give you more money because they haven't
(22:29):
got any that have been recognized. And next year there's
a new Olympic event running alongside the Summer and Winter Games,
the Olympic Esport Games, the top digital athletes of the
world competing, so that maybe wakes a few ideas up.
But another thought as well, high Performance Sporting Z, would
(22:49):
you consider engaging in esports? High performance is that the
top of the tree when it comes to elite sports people,
regardless of what you think of the sport or not.
Hi Matt, hey, mate, I.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Won't give you my view whether it's a sport or not.
But I've just wanted to book a bit about funding
and high performance funding and I'm of the opinion they
shouldn't get funding yet because there's other sports like for
the one that I'm involved in, the canoe polo, where
where the Oceania Champs has got a woman's team that's
(23:24):
won World champs. The out of twenty one woman won
the World champs before that, the men's are doing really
well and they get no funding and aren't involved in
any high performance program and they spend their weekends selling sausage, sizzles,
et cetera, and that to get to World Championships and
pay for their own accommodations and their boat transfers over
(23:44):
there and everything like that. So I believe that sports
like that that have proved themselves internationally should get funding
before sports that haven't.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
There's a number of sports that are at that top
level that have probably got a lot more recognition, with
all due respect to canoe polo that don't receive anything
as well. And you could look at that and go
it's what they're Yeah, well they have to do. I
don't know what it was written in Stone as far
as far as hyperforant sporting, Zaid's concern what's your remax?
(24:15):
What do you need to do? And I suppose that
works into how they give money out.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Yeah, yeah, because campot is a growth sport here and
whilst it's not huge huge here over in Europe, it
is big and even in Japan, and that there's the
semi professional teams over there.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is it in the Olympics.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
No, they don't. They were talking about putting into the
Olympics but they never got there. But they have their
own will Champs and stuff like that. It would be
in sport to see at the Olympics because it has
said as fast it's it's like seven's on water combination
of sevens and whitewater taiking and and that's it's quite
a spectacular sport.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well it's old mate Van gotcha with his canoe and
that canoe cross that was incredibly fun to watch. I
both counter that, though, Matt, I'd suggest that there's probably
a whole lot more people engaged in esport in some way,
shape or form than they are in canoe polo. So
maybe that's would justify investment from big governmental sporting bodies.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Not possibly, possibly, but if they invested in canoo polo
should have saved me a bit of money because they've
got to.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Matt, thank you very much for your honesty. At the end,
there twenty five minutes to aid. You want to engage
in this, please do At eight hundred and eighty ten
eighty we have got a ton of texts. Darcy I
wonder if esports is a victim of its own early success.
Jonathan had no end of examples because they have succeeded
(25:50):
so well on nothing to date. Perhaps the decision make
us think they don't need any money. Jonathan's out to lunch,
writes Nigel E. Sport competes with sleeping. Please the taxpayer
is not fun. It's not a sport what you got
to do though, I appreciate that, But she's going to
(26:12):
make a statement. Maybe you could back that up with
a reason as to why, which would be cool, Darcy.
I know I'm getting old, but I don't think it's sport.
Sport is entertainment, but not all entertainment is sport. You
can't compare and f one driver shooting to playing video games.
That's doing a massive to service to shooting. I feel
(26:32):
like I can't articulate it or put them to words properly.
Big money, big crowds and lots of hours. Though they're
all great and do play a part, but they don't
make a sport sounds like a TV show or a
movie that is from Hamish and we go to this
and this is something that I've fallen into, this trap
to this phrase video games. We're beyond Frogger. This is
(26:57):
not Space Invaders All defendering God blessed Defender's Soul. What
a game that was stuting. It's different, it's moved on,
it's advanced, it's evolved, it's super high tech and there
are a lot of people in it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
If you've got the cheek to call rh rhythmic gymnastics
a sport, that's not a sport to me. That's dance right.
Arguably boxing where it's a judged result sport. Wow, it's
kind of dancing with punching, isn't it? Like I love
the sport to be fair, but it's easy to dismiss
(27:37):
something you don't understand as not being a sport because
you're so set in your ways. It's about advancing, it's
about development, it's about recognition of the future. Otherwise you're
doomed to live in a cave for the rest of
your life. Twenty three minutes to eight Sports Talk on
News Talks, they've been living in a cave. Isn't a sport?
(28:00):
I'd excel at that. Lost still to come on the program.
You'll cause your text and micaleb Blye joins us Talk
about her transition from a rugby union to rugby league.
Golden Gall, the Golden Gaul, the Golden Girl of our
sevens is on the move.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
This is new STIGs B.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
And then.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
This is the soundtrack of my teenage year for fourteen fifteen.
This before I discovered beer and girls. It's all about that.
Oh yeah, you're taking me right?
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Is there a some of this?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Can I buy this? I want rally X. We're going
to be joined by micaleb Blye shortly to discuss her
move from rugby two league. Just whipped through a couple
more of your text on this subject. The sport of
marbles and knucklebones is more of a sport and deserves
(29:12):
funds before E sports, Well, if you think it is,
get up there and go for it. Set yourself up
a league, push for it and see if you can
get any funding for it. I don't know if it's
high performance, whereas I'd say with the E sports, when
you look at Kate McCarthy gold at the UCI Cycling
Esport World Championships, there's an E America's Cup E Sailing Series.
(29:34):
I lean Dimmock earned gold there. This is the high performance.
I don't know if you can get a gold medal
globally and knucklebones. But thanks for your input, Darcy. What
they use money for? A new hand controler maybe finding
a girlfriend? Said this is the thing, this is what
people are stuck in, and I get that. It's really
(29:56):
it's quite cave dweller. I think you need to expand
your horizons. And this text says a lot e sports
far too out of the square, conservative white sad. I
know that being old and white's got to do it anyway.
Are funding men who can't live in the moment, and
that's what the future is currently. It's so sad, but
(30:17):
it is a snapshot of the snapshot of the vacuum
decision makers living and Trevor, I get you on that,
thanks very much. It's a computer game. I've got nothing
against gamers, but it's not a sport. I'll give you
one last thing on this before we hear from MICHAELA.
And that's something that you need to hold relatively close.
(30:40):
I believe it's called the opinion raiser. And you would
have heard of Faman's razor and Ockham's rasor, and Hitchin's
raiser and Handlin's razor and Son and so forth. This
is a great one. The opinion rate. This summarizes some
of these opinions. Here Charlie Munger said, I never allow
myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't
know the other side's argument better than they do. Opinions
(31:02):
are earned, not owed clearly. If you can't state the
opposition's argument clearly, you haven't earned an opinion. So you'll
throw on all sorts of darts and stuff at these games,
but you don't know what it is. So I'm not
entirely sure that you've actually earned the right to comment.
(31:23):
And if I was to flesh that out, talk back
radio would die of tonight. It's sixteen minutes to eight.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
The right call is your call on eight eighty Sports
Talk call on your home of sports news Talk.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Sibby sexting away from eight and here she is a
sevens at Royalty off to see the whas MICHAELA. Blythe
is signed on the line that she is a moving
she joins us. Now, good, Michayla, how are you?
Speaker 6 (31:57):
I'm good? Thank you, Darcy, how are you?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I'm very happy and I'm sure you are as well.
That news came out late afternoon yesterday that you're off
to be a wha. There was this.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Tell us how that?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
How did that turn up? What happened there?
Speaker 6 (32:12):
To be honest, it was very surprising. It wasn't on
the cards for me to play n l W anytime soon.
But after Paris I had some good conversations with my
family and my fiance and it was a good opportunity
for me to spread my wings and challenge myself as
an athlete, because you know, two Olympic gold medals is
(32:35):
pretty good, right, so I've done Yeah, So I thought, oh,
let's challenge myself in a different area, and the Warriors
presented me an incredible opportunity that I couldn't say no to.
And you know, when I look back as when I
was a kid growing up, obviously my family are rugby
(32:55):
union people, but we always watched the Warriors on TV
and everyone knows who they are. Everyone does up the
Wars the runaway. So I couldn't help but want to
be a part of the cult. You're in a part
of the team for the ner LW for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Who approached who?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Do you know what?
Speaker 6 (33:13):
It was actually another league team that approached my agency first,
and I cut That's how the conversation sparked up, and
I was like, oh, I'm quite keen to just focus
on being with family and my partner and just relaxed
because obviously the season leading into Paris was just absolutely hictic,
and so I didn't really have a second thought about it.
(33:34):
But after a little bit, I decided that it was
actually probably a really good idea to look into it
a little bit more deeply. And then after attending Sean
Johnson's last home game against the Bulldogs a couple months back,
the environment was amazing. The culture is so cool that
you just can't help but want to be a part
of it. And so that was definitely the light bulb
(33:57):
moment where I was like, you know what, this is
actually what I want to do, and this is the
club and the culture that I want to be a
part of. And so had some conversation with some pretty
important people and put pen to paper on Tuesday, I believe,
no Monday, actually just on Monday.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So did you approach them when you decided will they
come to get you? Or did your agent go, hey,
there's been some interest. I'm just interested in that process.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
Mikayla, Well, I think it started when the New Zealand
Warriors posted a quote that Gossie and I, Sarah Hidney
and I said at the at Shawn Johnson's last home game,
and they posted it on Instagram, and then all of
a sudden, a few other teams rang my agency and said, hey,
(34:43):
is mkaaquite interested in playing league? And so that's kind
of really how it sparked up. So I guess the
person who interviewed Gossie and I should be really patting
himself on the back right now because if he didn't
ask that question, if we were interested in ENERLSW in
the future, then I don't know if we would be
here today having a chat. But yeah, the Warriors expressed
interest after that that night and had some good conversations
(35:07):
and the end, after having a good think about it,
the Warriors were the team that I wanted to be
a part of the next year.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So who was it. Do you remember the name of
the person?
Speaker 6 (35:17):
I believe his name is Ronald Griffiths, the coach of
the Warriors RLW team for next year.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Look at that.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Now we got to the bottom of that one. So
what do you know you've got? Have you got any
experience in rugby league at all.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
No, not at all. But it's the same size rugby ball.
You catch him pass quite similarly, and the tackling is
slightly different. But I'll get used to it very quickly.
I'm sure I'll be relying on all my teammates to
help me in learning the rules as fast as possible.
(35:54):
I understand the rules, and I know that a lot
of you know the penalties, the scrums. There's no line
out and the scrums barely a scrum, and there's sixtycles
unless there's you know, so I understand all of that stuff.
It's just a matter of creating habits. My habit now
is when I get tackled, I place the ball as
(36:15):
a staple, or when I tackle, you've obviously got a
release straight away to then go for the ball. So
there's all those little habits that have been instilled in
me since twenty twelve that I'm going to have to
shake off. But I'm sure that i'll have. There's so
much support at the Warriors who will allow me to
learn and grow my league skill set in my own time.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
What did your friends and families say when the news
came out? That's the reaction being from them and your
former teammates or you, I suppose your current teammates within
the Black Funds.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
Yeah, my family are very proud. They understand that I'm
one of the older girls in the Black Fund sevens
now and I've stayed loyal and committed to the program
since I was sixteen, and so they're definitely very proud
of me making this massive decision to explore other options.
But my teammates were a little bit surprised. Always said
(37:07):
to those who went to league in fifteen. In the
last few years, I used to tease them and say, oh,
where's your loyalty to sevens one team my dream? But
now I've gone back on that and gone to league myself.
That's awkward. But my teammates are very supportive, and especially
because I'm playing for the Warriors and everyone knows who
they are. Everyone sees otherwise, and you know, they're well
(37:29):
aware of the brand and the culture, and so they're
very happy for me to go and play for the
Warriors and explore that option deeply next year for twenty
twenty five. So lots of support around me, which is exciting,
and it just makes them news even more exciting. For
myself and my family having this much support around me.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
McKayla. The reaction from end Ze, how does that operate?
It's a one year contract, so do you disappear play
for a year, come back pick up where you left Dolph?
How does that mechanic work? Yees?
Speaker 6 (37:58):
So obviously it's a pretty intense discussion. So my twenty
twenty five and twenty twenty six track has been terminated
with insied Au. I have now re signed with Blackfood
and Sevens until May, which is when the World Series
ends for the seven circuit. I will then transition into
(38:18):
the Warriors environment straight after that, and then for twenty
twenty six, I have full intentions of coming back to
the nsied AU as long as they're wanting me back.
It obviously depends on how I pull up after the
league season, But for me personally, I'm just staying focused
in present in my seventh season with the Black Food
Sevens from January to May, and then I'll put all
(38:41):
my focus into the Warriors environment when the seven season
has finished. But first and foremost I'm ready to win
a World Series with the Black Fod Sevens and my sisters.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Do you get a week off before you transfer or not,
do you cup a team to lie down?
Speaker 6 (38:55):
Yeah, yeah, I'll get a couple of weeks just to
be able to go home and pick my bags because
they've got to move to Auckland. So that's a big
move for a little old michaelab Bly from Tartanaki. So
I will definitely need some time to rearrange and get
some stuff sorted so I can move up to Auckland.
But I'm very fortunate to have my partner's family all
(39:16):
live in Auckland, and so I'll be close to family
and have their support as well if I need a
home cooked meal, which is very cool. So I'm very
glad that I'll be close to them, but yet get
a couple of weeks and then the old transition into
the Warriors camp I believe. I think my first day
is the twenty sixth of May, so very excited for it.
But yeah, still staying very focused and present with the
(39:39):
Black Friend sevens for now.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Mikayla Bly, thanks so much for joining us, Really appreciate
your time. Congratulations. Really looking forward to being at Mount
Spartan screaming up the wires and seeing you tear off
down the wing to score after score after score, after
score after score, and you have happy holidays, Merry.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
Christmas, thank you, Darcy, Merry Christmas, and a happy New
Year to you as well.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
And afterwards, Admo, we've got the breakdown on Sports Talk
Call eight hundred News Talk.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Delightful human michaeleab lythe so very different to who you
see on the field, Absolutely focused and scary af look
in her eyes, the strength, the speed and like a
lot of athletes off the field, wonderful, really pleased for her. Okay,
(40:33):
bit of a watch that I think it's got me engaged.
Seven minutes to eight This is sports Talk on News
Talk z B will finalize the chaos ab shortly here on.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Sports Talk runs up. For more from Sports Talk, listen
live to News Talks itid B from seven pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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