Statistics say this current All Blacks team is the best in the world, from any era, from any sport.
Before we get into the numbers, let’s clarify that only global sports have been considered in this analysis. Rugby league has obviously been left out due to its comparatively smaller global reach.
NFL and baseball don’t get a mention as the Americans don’t invite other countries to participate in their sports. Cubans or Japanese might chuck a baseball round from time to time, but let’s be sensible here.
Let’s focus on four remaining global sports: football, cricket, basketball and rugby union. And the one statistic that really matters – games won as a percentage of games played.
Let’s start with club football. Manchester United has achieved a 48 per cent win record in all competitions including the Champions league and Premier League.
This is dwarfed by Real Madrid which boasts a 59 per cent win record overall (59 per cent in La Liga).
With regards to international football, friendlies have not been considered as anything under this preconception shouldn’t really be played at all let alone recorded in the annals of history. Brazil has the best record, winning 67 per cent of FIFA World Cup fixtures. So in football terms the Brazilian national team takes it.
With regards to cricket, given the frequency of drawn Tests, only the One Day format has been considered. The author recognises the glaring issue here and presses on unabated. Australia is the most dominant in this form of the game with a massive 65 per cent win record. Still, not quite enough to knock the Brazilians off their perch.
Now we come to basketball, and the LA Lakers have a 62 per cent win record so they don’t shake down the tree. The US National team, however, does. This insanely good side has won 87 per cent of games since their records began in 1936.
So where do the All Blacks sit in all this?
Since 1903 the All Blacks have achieved a 77 per cent win record. And thus there’s daylight between the US basketball team and the All Blacks, and daylight again to the Brazilian football team.
However what makes the All Blacks’ 77 per cent win record all the more spectacular is they’ve played the Wallabies or Springboks in 46 per cent of their matches. There’s just no comparison in basketball, however you could perhaps wonder what the stats would look like if the US basketball team played, say, Croatia or Spain every second game.
Notwithstanding, the numbers are the numbers and the yanks take it for long term consistency of domination.
Let’s now pit this current All Blacks side against the best basketball team ever assembled – the Dream Team from the 1990s.
Under Richie McCaw the All Blacks have lost only 3 of their last 61 encounters, with 2 draws, 3 losses and 56 wins (a win ratio of 91.8 per cent). This achievement eclipses the Dream Team’s 90.2 per cent win record.
So there you have it.
Rather unfortunate for the Wallabies who are an extremely good side that for the past decade has found itself in the path of the greatest team to have thrown an object around a space.
harry
Guest
according to SBW cooper and kurtley beale are in his dream team Now that is funny
harry
Guest
League world cup are you kidding , International rugby league is a joke and the rugby league world cup is comical . League will never have a true international following same as aussie rules no real world wide appeal. Think about it would have happened by now if they were going to take off.
Ash
Guest
Not just that. They have to flood our site (Go figure - I don't know why they don't have one of their own) to tell us how important they and their team is to the world.
Ash
Guest
And who's won a truckload of world cups in cricket eh? Puts the ABs WC record to shame.
ngaruwera
Guest
Not a big enough sample size really and what sample there is their win/loss ratio is pretty poor in comparison
ngaruwera
Guest
In my opinion you'll never get agreement on this. The only way is to use the same measure equally against codes and teams. The measure is: National Sporting Team Win/Loss ratio against other National Teams Over the period of time they have existed Whether or not teams/countries could field better teams, or differences between Amateur/Professional eras become irrelevant as the actual record is what matters. You can't compare club vs country as they are not the same either. Without doing extensive research you can look at the three likely candidates narrowing down to Brazil in Soccer, All Blacks in Rugby and the US National Basketball Team. Brazil - Overall the team has compiled a 937 played, 592 won = 63.18% since 1923 (sanctioned with FIFA) over a span of 92 years All Blacks - They have won 413 of their 538 test matches = 76.77% since 1903 so a span of 112 years USA - Overall the men's national team has compiled a 445-64 (.874) record since they began play in 1936 = 87.4% over a span of 79 years. So based on absolute results USA takes the cake. But you also have to take into account the span/results over time......what will Brazils and the US record look like at 112 years? At this rate the AB's would outrank Brazil you would think, unless over the next 19 years Brazil improves their win ratio significantly and based on current trends and results you would expect the US to clearly have a more impressive record in 33 years time. The only other possible measure is comparative strength of the opposition........good luck getting consensus on that!!! On a quick peruse Brazil and the US have many wins against much inferior opposition who realistically have no chance of winning whereas the AB's have played almost half of their games against historically top eight (Tri Nations, 5 Nations) opposition........read into that what you will, as it's obviously open to interpretation. Considering the relative sizes and populations and economies of the respective countries I would tip in the AB's favour in sheer impressiveness, but based on results the US Basketball team is ahead.
Johnno
Guest
What about the USA Baseball team. What if they played there "pros" they;d win a gold medal or world title, a good chance.
Johnno
Guest
Ever heard of Larry Bird/Dirk Nowitski/Bill Lambier/Kevin Mchale/John Stockton/Bill Walton and many more.
Greg trilby
Guest
Back then rugby league did have a small international footprint Those days are gone the international game is in decline - why can't fans accept that? At least soo is still strong
wardad
Guest
If they could tackle be even better ,or play half a round of rugby and BB play the rugby round first then there will only be prone bodies for the ABs to step around and score ,
wardad
Guest
Pretty long cycle ,getting up there with continental drift.........
wardad
Guest
Yeah you could put in ballroom dancing and other ' Sports" eh smell ? Do you always type out whatever noises fills up your head ?
wardad
Guest
Yes but you would still only have 15 men on the paddock ,like England with their numbers and money just found out.
wardad
Guest
What are you prattling on about ?
Muzzo
Guest
Hi Glenn Innes, yep, mate, I think you will find that when competition started between New Zealand & South Africa, back in 1921, that there wasn't much between the teams. It was, in 1937, when actually South Africa, start to assert their superiority, in the for & against, something they held until the later part of the 90's.
Muzzo
Guest
True Jerry, as the AB's have only become "dominant", virtually after the start of the professional era. Previously, the Bokke, had the wood, on New Zealand, for a great part of the amateur era.
Kohatu
Guest
To put another angle on your article PB; let's all agree the ALL BLACKS are rugby's true DREAM TEAM. Why? Simply because for well over 100 years the ALL BLACKS have played and still play rugby on another level to any other international rugby team. The All Blacks have been at the top of rugby for many years longer than the game of basketball had reached international standing & for that matter years before any country including the USA basketball dream team was playing the game internationally. Therefore in terms of international competition and the All Blacks consistent success over the last two centuries brings the current All Blacks IMHO as rugby's true sporting DREAM TEAM.
RobC
Roar Guru
I'll pay that one, Jerry. funny one.
nerval
Guest
"Rugby" did. Rigby league had one in 1954. Union in 1987.
nerval
Guest
Says even more about you, clipper and your death-riding of rugby league on the pages of the Roar - no matter the tab, subject under discussion or anything else.