Soccer Challenges the Union

“You don’t have to follow rugby to know that the national team of New Zealand, the All Blacks, are the undisputed kings of this sport,” Wall Street Journal reporters Lucy Cramer and Jonathan Clegg write. “This team plays with a combination of finesse and physical prowess few can match. But even as the All Blacks steam through the opening rounds of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, this team may have finally found an opponent it can’t overcome: soccer. Soccer’s growing popularity, combined with record levels of youth participation, has led some to suggest that rugby’s position as New Zealand’s national pastime is weakening. Chief executive of New Zealand Football Grant McKavanagh says the old attitude that soccer is for wimps and that real men play rugby no longer applies. “When I was growing up, you were always a little worried about mentioning the sport you played,” McKavanagh said. “Now you can say it with pride.”