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The Cup is gone


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Another sad day for the RNZYS, despite everyone attending the AGM showing support for a local next Cup round and mediation being offered between local sponsors and the team ETNZ , Grant Dalton offered a straight no when asked to engage or talk to them. It was a well orchestrated AGM with no motions from the floor allowed and a large number of current and former Team NZ members (honorary members) filling the rooms.

The meeting was chaired by Commodore Young in a fairly partisan way so it appears that he will go down in history as the Commodore that allowed the cup to be sold offshore for good.

Of course the elephant in the room is the deal struck between Team Dalton/de Nora and Jim Ratcliffe that appears to preclude any possibility of a local defence despite three of the challengers stating that they are happy with Auckland.............

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Alinghi have lined up with Red Bull racing F1 team

Ineos are already in locked in with AMG Mercedes  (due to Ineos owing 33% of the F1 tean!)

Luna Rossa have just announced a partnership with Ferrari F1 team

 

Someone needs to get on the phone to Mclaren as the natural fit for the NZ Team!

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On 18/12/2021 at 2:45 PM, Ed said:

Alinghi have lined up with Red Bull racing F1 team

Ineos are already in locked in with AMG Mercedes  (due to Ineos owing 33% of the F1 tean!)

Luna Rossa have just announced a partnership with Ferrari F1 team

 

Someone needs to get on the phone to Mclaren as the natural fit for the NZ Team!

Na ,  Hayden Paddon and Hyundai would be better 

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Any squadron members on here prepared to comment if they are happy/not happy?

To me Dalton is aware his teams biggest asset is the hosting rights and he sold them. But the NZYS had to let him do that I assume.

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I thought it was interesting how long it took for someone to comment here on the news at all. Everybody's over it and nobody cares anymore?

Dalts may have got top $ for the hosting rights but pretty sure he's lost an awful lot of NZ support, goodwill and interest.  We will all be welcome if we fly to Barca -- yeah, nah. 

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Yes Khayyam, we are all over it, Team Dalton/deNora can go and do what they like with the delighted Aaron Young, trailing behind with his press releases. If you saw the Sail Gp racing in the weekend and the number of events planned and you were wondering what to sponsor -the choice is obvious , love him or hate him RC has put together a great series which would make much more entertaining Netflix than  any AC rubbish with boring people and dull racing. 

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Yes member

Very disappointed but didn’t expect anything else 

I and many others put a huge amount of time into training and marking out the race area with my own boat on practice days and race days to help a little to make it happen here.

And Dalton has sold it all to the highest bidder, I feel a bit robbed.

Then we wonder why people don’t volunteer now a days

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The article seemed rational but I think one point he misses is that this is about team New Zealand's relationship to the country and its supporters. It seemed more a Dalton hagiography, and without taking away from his truly remarkable achievements the cup is all about the tail wagging the dog. The tail in this case is the money.

He mentions that it's wonderful to have it moved to beautiful Barcelona because the cup is also a trade fair where we can sell our wares, sort of like a upmarket car boot sale. I can't see it benefitting more than a select few in tiny specialist industries. That also misses the point with regard to our sporting traditions which are about sporting values.

He talks about the viaduct being redeveloped as a result of the cup successes and the resulting benefit to Auckland, and I agree however there is an argument that was always going to happen to an absolutely prime waterfront location. A casual inspection of the worlds big cities and you will see similar gentrification and the development of once downmarket working ports.

The line between paid national sporting representatives and the professional sailing circus has always been blurry, the legal structure and financial benefits reinforce what is essentially a private business that has relied on the goodwill of NZ'ers to provide venues, the associated infrastructure and "human capital". His essay places no value on that as if TNZ could arise without the culture of yachting that starts with parents and Opti's

Finally he downplays taxpayers contribution to the cause in red socks fundraising as well as cold hard cash from the treasury. Regardless of the amount if you need 1000,000 to buy a house and you can only get 950k you are not living in that house! The article reinforces the perception that TNZ is disconnected from NZ, and the players who benefit the most live in a rarefied world where the country and national interest are afterthoughts. The whole AC program while totally focused on the goal of winning, has lost touch with its core supporters.  If they win in Barcelona, then what- does the circus come home or off to the next highest bidder?  I would say that putting on the show here and losing would be a far better outcome for the sport as far as national representation goes.

Once thing for sure, when the cup is marketed as New Zealands Cup, but the public are denied ownership of the process even if justified by the accountants,  and lose the benefits of staging the event then they lose interest except for the die hards. When decisions are being made in wood panelled rooms among high powered people seem to be for their personal benefit and not for NZ,  it begs the question- who is the cup really for?

Finally a topic rarely touched upon is the ongoing use of Emirates as sponsors, it makes us look tone deaf to the well documented human rights abuse in the UAE. I appreciate sometimes you have to hold your nose in the real world while the cheque is being written but surely we can do better?

 

 

 

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