Black Gold: The story of how the All Blacks became rugby's most valuable asset

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Description

The story of global rugby's golden goose.

This book tells the story of how the All Blacks have been commercialised in the professional age of rugby and the challenges that have come with the team having an enormous international profile, but a domestic market without the scale or means to monetise the brand. It also, just as importantly, details how this quest to make money and corporatise the All Blacks has impacted the performance mechanics of the team.

Author Bio

Gregor Paul is The New Zealand Herald's most respected rugby columnist and is a regular contributor to publications around the world. He has won multiple journalism awards for news, features and opinion writing, and is a sought after guest on radio and TV. Gregor has been reporting on Steve Hansen's career since the rugby great was unexpectedly thrust into his Wales coaching role in 2002. He has interviewed Steve on more than a hundred occasions over 16 seasons, including specifically for the purposes of this book. Gregor's journey to cover the All Blacks has taken him all over the world - he reported live from every Bledisloe Cup test during Steve's head coaching tenure, as well as from Samoa, Japan, USA, South Africa, the UK, Ireland, France and Italy. Gregor was born and raised in Scotland, and has lived in Auckland with his wife and three children since 2003.