Kevin Norquay is a Stuff senior writer, who has worked in politics and sport.
OPINION: Prior to the Irish uprising there may have been a smidgen of reasonable doubt around the case New Zealand is chronically obsessed with rugby. Now all doubt is gone.
Three police officers escorted All Blacks coach Ian Foster to his seat on Saturday. Why?
Four days on, the leading topic of conversation is around his future, and should NZ Rugby communications executive Jo Malcolm have cancelled Foster’s Sunday presser?
“We are bloody sorry we couldn’t put the performances out there that you guys deserved,” hang dog All Blacks captain Sam Cane said after the game.
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* Ireland prop Andrew Porter avoids suspension after yellow card against All Blacks
* Ian Foster won’t be sacked but bigger role looms for Joe Schmidt in All Blacks shakeup
* All Blacks media manager says she canned Ian Foster press conference
And what a game it was. Ireland were superb early, the All Blacks struck back with wonderfully cheering tries, and when it was all over it was the Irish weeping for joy.
It was sport as entertainment, sport as skill, as speed, as emotion. It was 80 minutes that had everything.
But say it again, Sam.
“We are extremely disappointed.”
The All Blacks suffered their forth loss in five matches against Ireland last weekend.
And it seems Cane is right. It seems we have reached a point where instead of enjoying life, we run around with pitchforks seeking those who have let us down.
If so, that’s a more pleasant national dilemma than, let’s say, how do we stop the Russian troops, or did the president cause a riotous attack on the heart of US democracy, the Capitol?
Rugby is a nice diversion from rising inflation, poor education statistics, a rich-poor gap wider than the one Ireland raced through for their second try.
What a paradise Aotearoa might be, if only all the brain power, column inches and talkback chat spent on rugby slipping to world No 4 was spent pondering why it is near bottom in the OECD education statistics.
Like the economy, New Zealand rugby has spent the last two decades slipping away from the pinnacle, putting band-aids over what are emerging as problems that will require long-term solutions.
And as in politics, rather than long-term solutions, we get dogmatic yelling. Replace the word Labour with the Chiefs, and National with Crusaders, and it’s precisely the same level of unilluminating debate.
The way Sir Peter Gluckman, chief science adviser to three prime ministers, outlines political divisions might equally apply to sport.
“It’s been defined more in terms of I don’t like the other side,” he says. “Yeah, so it’s been replaced by what we call affective polarisation.”
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Ian Foster and Sam Cane have come in for immense criticism.
Affective polarisation is the difference between positive in-group bias towards the party someone supports (let’s say Crusaders), and negative out-group bias against those they do not (Chiefs).
Malcolm made a mistake cancelling the Sunday presser, but she knew exactly what questions would be asked, and that none of the answers would be illuminating.
As do many of those railing against her decisions. All the same questions, all the same stock answers. For all that, it is a necessity that should have remained so…
Working as she does in an area that is a celebration of toxic masculinity, Malcolm might have guessed her pleas to treat Foster as a “human” would raise outrage levels, just as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s “Be Kind” is now mocked.
Of course, Foster and Ardern are well-paid to do the job they do, which leads to the argument that stress is part of the job, so they should wear it. That’s a tortured road, which leds to mental health problems and death threats.
Where on that road does a civilised country put its stop signs, saying that’s enough? Malcolm opted to raise her stop sign, and was ridiculed.
Again, it was the wrong decision – get Foster to repeat stock lines and bat away the questions – but at its heart was empathy, and stress, things Malcolm knows more about than any outside the team.
For those of the view fame and fortune makes people impervious to mental stress, I give you Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams, Kurt Cobain, Kate Spade and Ernest Hemingway.
Joe Allison/Getty Images
Andrew Porter of Ireland celebrates with his team following their series win over the All Blacks.
Lest this seem a glowing endorsement of the NZR, for 40 years this writer has questioned politicians, newsmakers and athletes, then written down their answers for newspapers, or websites.
It seems simple right? Sadly no, often it is difficult, and at the peak of Mt Difficulty is placed the New Zealand Rugby flag.
There have been many years of answering NZR PR people (Malcolm included) over the real or imagined failings of myself, or staff. And I am not alone in this among peers.
So while there is the temptation to kick NZR when it is down, let’s choose to help it up, dust it off and give it a beer. After all, things could be worse.
We didn’t lose to England.
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