Rugby Loses Grip in Cyberworld

By MACDONALD, Nikki

RUGBY is no longer king, at least in cyberworld, Government Internet use figures indicate.

Public sector workers spend more time checking out the latest bargains or hocking off used gear on Internet auction site Trade Me than following the progress of our national sporting heroes while on tour.

A Dominion Post investigation revealed in November that government workers probably spend more than 35,000 hours a year on Trade Me, based on a one-month snapshot.

But the cyber obsession apparently does not extend to the national game.

Between October 21 and November 27 — during the All Blacks’ European tour — workers from five government agencies spent just over 48 hours on rugby sites www.allblacks.com and www.rugbyheaven.smh.com.au.

Staff at those same departments spent 2553 hours on Trade Me during the month of August.

Altogether the nine agencies able to measure traffic on the two sites recorded a total of 9518 hits.

The biggest rugbyheads were those in the Education and Conservation departments, racking up 3788 and 3135 hits respectively on the two rugby sites. That’s despite a previous response from the Conservation Department saying its Internet monitoring software prevented access to sites deemed “not work-related”.

The award for the fewest rugbyheads goes to the Transport Ministry, which had just 17 hits on the two sites over the entire tour period.

Corrections was the only department that blocked the rugby sites.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly said most companies now regulated Internet use.

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