I remember seeing a beauty pagent, probably Miss Universe, where each contestant came out wearing her country’s national costume. The Kiwi lass came out wearing an All Blacks uniform and carrying a football.
The idea of a flag based on the All Blacks jersey has been floated recently, though I can’t remember whether it was late 98 or early 99.
The idea was for a black (or dark blue) field with a large silver fern logo (to see what this looks like, check out the top left corner of the All Blacks official site) almost going from one corner to the other.
The kneejerk reaction was that most people hated it, the common response being “pirate’s flag”.
I think this is incredibly short-sighted. For a start, our current flag looks far too much the Australian one. Secondly, the ABs shirt is easily recognised around the world, or at least the world’s rugby playing nations. Thirdly, most of our sportspeople have adopted black as part of their uniform. Watch the opening ceremony for the Sydney Olympics, our team will be wearing black.
Fourthly and most importantly, black is just so cool!
As a fellow Kiwi, I’d just like to say - You’re doing a better job at this thread than I would’ve, Mustapha! Keep up the good work! 
Cheers, GuanoLad! Geez, you mention you’re a Kiwi and they all come out of the woodwork, although perhaps in your case Guano, off the aviary floor.
I owe it all to journalism, pizza and Speights Old Dark.