Hayden Paddon

[Mk2 RS2000]

Even then, New Zealand does not have a huge selection of international level sportspeople for local companies to sponsor, .

Could I respectively request that you do your homework, per capita NZ out performs every other country in the world sports wise.

[Rally Hokkaido]

Breen's b) is a little different to Paddon's b). It didn't involve moving to a different hemisphere, far from family, friends, culture and his own business!

Breen picked b) and has driven like 4 different cars in multiple championships. But for him it was by far much easier choice since he lives in Europe and his girlfriend (still afaik) is from Italy. So driving in Ireland and Italy is both like driving "at home". So it was an obvious and easy choice for him, but one that also gives him much higher chances than Paddon in the long run.[/QUOTE]

[racerx1979]

The WRC does not care how far one lives or where his girlfriend currently resides. He chose to stay in NZ which means he's not on anyone's radar sadly. Winning events in NZ by eleventeen minutes means nothing to WRC teams... Plenty of examples like Hayden around the world..

[AnttiL]

I imagine Breen has it easier to find sponsors in Europe compared to Paddon - especially in Ireland.

[denkimi]

I imagine Breen has it easier to find sponsors in Europe compared to Paddon - especially in Ireland.

I don't know about that. The competition is also a lot bigger in europe.

[deephouse]

Didn't Paddon used to live in Italy awile ago? Maybe try out in Italy again.

[TRW]

Didn't Paddon used to live in Italy awile ago? Maybe try out in Italy again.

I think it's getting bit funny. Maybe he should try living in Finland, Rovampera is from Finland...Oh wait maybe Japan, Takamoto is getting close to works drive.

IMO Hayden is right now closest to works team that driver can be, but he is just backstabbed big time.

[AL14]

Didn't Paddon used to live in Italy awile ago? Maybe try out in Italy again.

I didn't live in Italy. He went to Italy for training and had a sardinian gf for a while.

[kirungi okwogera]

Could I respectively request that you do your homework, per capita NZ out performs every other country in the world sports wise.

This isn't meant as disrespect, sorry if it came off that way. I lived in NZ for six years and consider it my second home country. During that time I worked almost exclusively in sports media.

You are right, per capita, NZ outperforms pretty much everybody; and I am right, in terms of sheer numbers, especially when you limit it to sports that are globally watched (so, excluding rugby, league, cricket, netball and the like), NZ does not have a load of global-level sports personalities for a sponsor to choose from. Olympians, yes, but not a whole lot else.

E.g. per capita, Valerie Adams' family has an unreal number of Olympic medals, but there's still only one of her.

[krissucool]

Is, is WRC really a globally watched sport?

Well obviously there are some people from different countries watching it but Rallying is only a relevant sport in 2 countries I would think. Estonia and Finland.