New Zealand’s All Blacks Confront a Worrisome Prospect: Decline
New Zealand's rugby game is declining as interest in other sports grows. In 2018, the number of young people playing basketball for their school overtook the numbers playing rugby for the first time. Sport New Zealand found in 2021 that only 7 percent of New Zealander's regularly play rugby. For the remaining players, there is a narrow competition dominated by elite schools. Some see that narrowing feeder system as the root of the problem. Critics say players are groomed and developed to fit into a hyper-professionalized model preferred by a small subset of teams. All Blacks' centrality to New NZ rugby may have backfired.
