As the Government reinforces the "lock-down" and "distancing" protocols New Zealand Rugby is looking at every possible way to kick-off the season.
With the Heartland competition (a soft target) becoming the first rugby casualty of the crisis the latest plan would see Mitre 10 Cup starting in "empty" stadiums preceded by Farah Palmer Cup games.
Plans for club rugby to played alongside these competitions rely heavily on the ability of organisations to offer full-proof strategies to combat any Covid-19 scenario. There is a line of thinking that the "virus" would be easier to combat in a controlled environment that competitions like Mitre 10 and the Farah Palmer Cup offer rather than at club level.
There is also some opposition from other codes - especially those associated with summer sports - who see rugby's steamroller approach as less than supportive.
Timing is the key and with the Government signalling the lock-down could continue for longer than the initial four weeks it becomes a more challenging proposition for rugby organisations.
* THE demise of Radio Sport was, for many, hard to handle. The station provided an outlet for fans of all sports to engage on many levels although some of the comment about it being a "tragedy", although entirely predictable, was over the top.
That aside the station was an integral of the sporting landscape. I was lucky enough to be part of the once vibrant sporting organisation from its inception until 2011.
The legendary broadcaster Tim Bickerstaff took me on board for a Saturday morning show and then I worked on nights between 8pm-midnight.
There were challenging times along with some adrenaline fueled ones and Tim's broadcasting mantra of "The sure way to fail is to try and please everyone" served me well over the years.
"The Saturday Dougout" (9am-midday) was a wonderful vehicle to showcase news and opinion along-with the outside broadcasts from a myriad of venues over the years.
Getting out into the community for a broadcast was always a priority (even when logistics and engineering were challenging) and some of the best memories were from venues such as Riccarton racecourse (for the New Zealand Cup), rugby test match centres, bowls clubs, golf courses, cricket grounds, motor-racing circuits and even the Cardona ski-field.
In the early days of Radio Sport (pre-social media) the station was the outlet for fans to praise their teams or vent their frustrations and while getting a balance didn't always work out it still made for entertaining and informative radio.
To all those who worked at Radio Sport - respect.
* THIS blog has long been in the planning stage for a while and the current situation has accelerated its creation.
Obviously - and hopefully - it will evolve to the stage where we'll have interviews (audio and video) to discuss and more features as we get going.
Please bear with me as we fine-tune it. There will be mistakes (kept to a minimum I hope) and the odd technical malfunction but it was time to kick it off.
I welcome your feedback - both good and not so good - so flick me through an email.
As someone once noted "The long march starts with one small step." This is that small step.
