Towering nobility of SBW shines in age of mercenaries
Roar Guru By kingplaymaker, 11 Jun 2010 kingplaymaker is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- NRL, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Sonny Bill Williams
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Barbarians' Sonny Bill Williams of New Zealand, right, alludes being tackled by Wallabies' captain Stirling Mortlock (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
New Zealand welcomes into its bosom a player who comes blessed not only with an extraordinary range of technical and physical abilities, vast strength, dazzling elusiveness, bewitching skill, but another another and equally important attribute: moral stature.
Sonny Bill Williams was offered the largest contract in rugby history, $2 million a year, to remain in Toulon.
Yet he spurned this colossal temptation for the chance to play New Zealand rugby, to reach his lifetime ambition of wearing the mystical black jersey.
Other rugby league players, devout mercenaries such as Mark Gasnier, Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt, wouldn’t have blinked twice before taking an offer such as Toulon’s.
Consider Gasnier’s two years in France and impending return to league. What was the motive for this? An ambition to play on a greater stage, to take part in a World Cup, tour the world, hold aloft Tri-nations and Bledisloe trophies? Not at all.
The green stuff and nothing more.
Hunt and Folau are even purer in the unabashed lust of their pursuit of gold. No sporting motive could possibly figure in their moving to the AFL, no international ambitions, no career interests.
Then look at All Black exiles like Carl Hayman and Doug Howlett. Offered the chance to compete in what is surely for a red-blooded All Black the greatest rugby fantasy, a unique World Cup on home territory, they can think only of sports cars, yachts, the delights of nightclubs populated by attractive women no doubt.
Against this grim background it is deeply refreshing to see Williams choosing a path strewn not with with diamonds and pearls but rather with richer jewels: moral values, ethics.
It is not the first time he has let himself be guided by real sporting reasons rather than a wish for money. He spurned the far larger offers of the Super league to sign for the Canterbury Bulldogs.
His departure from that club has been misinterpreted. Williams did not walk out because he was receiving insufficient pay, but rather because he had been bullied, cajoled, and emotionally blackmailed into accepting an absurdly low, long-term contract at a very young age. That too was a moral decision, and a correct one.
Now he has shown again his high moral virtue and accepted an offer around a quarter of the value of the Toulon contract. He has a dream, to feel the silver fern on his chest, to win cups, tours, Olympic tournaments, and will make great sacrifices to realise it. This is a true pilgrimage, a throwing off of worldly trappings, an All Black pilgrimage.
All rugby fans should give thanks that our sport is blessed with a man of such grand, sincere intergrity. A genuine sportsman, who displays the game’s values as if he were born with them.
Long may he wear the black jersey and triumph in it, and may he accede to all the silverware and great honours he desires.
We welcome him with open arms.
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- NRL, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Sonny Bill Williams
June 11th 2010 @ 8:17am
Matt said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:17am | Report comment
Read this twice and still not sure if you are being a tad sarcastic.
June 11th 2010 @ 5:40pm
dunc said | June 11th 2010 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
Look the Bulldogs were screwing him and he made the decision to get out. We would all do the same if we were being F**** around at work. So he just left the club, walked away. I say good on him. At that period the Dogs management were hardly desirable folks.
He is a fantastic talent and so he went to France to learn Rugby. Fine. He has signed with the most admired brand in union and he wants to play for his country and be a part of All Black history.
All you SBW haters can choke on your VB’s when SBW runs straight thru little Gits next year.
June 11th 2010 @ 11:27pm
gatesy said | June 11th 2010 @ 11:27pm | Report comment
I think his Mum wrote it!! or his agent, at least!
June 11th 2010 @ 8:18am
wallythefly said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:18am | Report comment
Some Doggies fans are gonna have a field day with this one
June 11th 2010 @ 8:22am
Fivehole said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:22am | Report comment
I choked on my corn flakes reading this. “Towering nobility of SBW shines in age of mercenaries” – Please. His off field “indiscretion” with Candice Falzon – a real example of nobility. Not to mention the way he left the bulldogs mid season and didn’t inform anyone from the club until he was in Europe. (Not that i have a problem wih the bulldogs being disadvantaged
)
June 11th 2010 @ 8:37am
Billo Boy said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:37am | Report comment
You can’t be serious kingplaymaker.
It is possible for a man to redeem himself for past indiscretions, but too applaud $BW as a saint is absurd.
Did it occur to you that $BW, as with Gasnier, has made all the money he needs to. Thus giving him the freedom to make the choice without worrying about money.
In other words, it was only his previous greed for cash and rugby giving it too him that now permits $BW to wear a now cheapened and demeaned All Blacks jersey.
June 11th 2010 @ 10:16am
James D said | June 11th 2010 @ 10:16am | Report comment
You are wrong. He left league because he was bored and the game didnt challenge him – he is motivated by challenges and becoming an all black is the next one. Hence why he moved to France and also boxes – he loves a challenge… Money is important yes but secondary… he also ignored a big money offer to go and play in Northern England for Bradford but didnt take it up why? Because there is no challenge there – it is even softer than the already soft NRL.
June 11th 2010 @ 10:47am
Aaron said | June 11th 2010 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Pardon me, but he has gone to NZ for the largest sum of money ($6 mil) in rugby history. This article is ridiculous.
June 11th 2010 @ 10:54am
Jerry said | June 11th 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Aaron, the $6m contract was from Toulon. That’s what he turned down.
The NZRU can’t offer anything close to that, if they could they’d have given it to Carl Hayman. He’ll be on a basic NZRU salary which will increase if he makes the AB’s. We don’t know the specifics obviously, but seeing as the likes of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter earn less than half a million NZ per annum, SBW would be on less than that.
June 11th 2010 @ 10:58am
James D said | June 11th 2010 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Mate you are dreaming if you think the NZRU had 6 million dollars to do anything! Or could even fathom the thought of getting into a bidding war with an insane french millionaire who has bought most of the top rugby players in the world!
He has taken a fair pay cut to be challenged in Super rugby and for the AB’s (if he makes it)
June 11th 2010 @ 3:58pm
The Truth said | June 11th 2010 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Hahahahaha, playing up the angle of rugby union being a complex contest, what with the throw-ins and group wrestling…
June 11th 2010 @ 4:37pm
James D said | June 11th 2010 @ 4:37pm | Report comment
Yep – compared to most other sports it is very complex (league in particular – those poor lads cant even get a non pushing scrum right)
June 11th 2010 @ 9:14pm
Sylvester said | June 11th 2010 @ 9:14pm | Report comment
Can you really have too much money? Why did Bill Gates bother getting out of bed in the morning after his first billion?
June 11th 2010 @ 8:40am
oikee said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:40am | Report comment
June 11th 2010 @ 8:41am
True Tah said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:41am | Report comment
You have got to be kidding KingPlayMaker unless you are writing this article with tongue in cheek.
This is up there with a previous article that proclaimed Sonny Bill Williams as the greatest forward to play rugby league and rugby union.
June 11th 2010 @ 8:48am
kingplaymaker said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Firslty I am deadly serious about this. I admired SBW’s walkout even at the time. It is rare a young man in this situation who realises he is being taken to the cleaners has the courage to stand up for himself and what is right. This is a great man in all senses.
True Tah you must be confusing me with someone else. I never wrote an article about how good or bad a forward he was.
June 11th 2010 @ 9:33am
pothale said | June 11th 2010 @ 9:33am | Report comment
KPM – Methinks you’ve built your own funeral pyre with this one.
“Towering nobility”??? From what cliche-ridden pit did you drag that one?
Gimme a break. He jumped one club. Then another. Then he’s offered a chance with ABs for next year. Oh wait – let me leave my morals behind while I jump ship once again – I can see the bright lights ahead….
And when the WC is over, watch how quickly he moves in the direction of more money and glamour.
Nobility? Wake up and smell the money.
He’s a money-pursuing, loyalty-bereft, glamour-seeking, modern day rugby professional – no more, no less.
Let’s not try and dress it up as anything more substantial than that and sully the reputations of those players who have truly stuck by the game, their clubs, and commitment to their fans through thick and thin.
June 11th 2010 @ 2:58pm
el gamba said | June 11th 2010 @ 2:58pm | Report comment
Have to agree Pothale (and others). I noticed SBW’s reference to the All Black’s as the world’s best known sporting brand. All he has done is applied value to the brand association of potentially playing with the AB’s at a home World Cup and come to realise that it’ll be worth more to him in the long run. Risky move as a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (due to the terrible NZ exchange rate I think it may three in the bush over there….) but he doesn’t mind backing himself. I’d feel bad about the way I feel if he was an aussie (tall poppies and all that) but who gives a sh*t about a kiwi? I hope that he struggles
June 11th 2010 @ 8:48am
Peter K said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:48am | Report comment
If SBW wasnt interested in the money he would stay the rest of his career.
He is in it for 1 year to have his cake and eat it too.
IF he is good enough he will get to play on rugbys greatest stage. Then worth even more get a bigger contract after the RWC is over. If he was moral he would stay another years.
SBW only has self interest at heart.
June 11th 2010 @ 8:49am
Kuratz said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:49am | Report comment
one of the all-time classic articles.
June 11th 2010 @ 8:51am
C J McKay said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:51am | Report comment
This article is not being sarcastic – he believes that SBW’s departure from the Dogs was misinterpreted. SBW is a gun for hire – after raking in a tonne of coin in france he will play in NZ for two years or so, try to make the RWC and will then return to France on big money.
I do not have an issue with this but spare me the dribble on ethics.
June 11th 2010 @ 6:10pm
berra boy said | June 11th 2010 @ 6:10pm | Report comment
exactly – taking two years off from earning a disgraceful amount of money to earn a decent amount of money, play on the world stage to increase his value and then go back to making an even more disgraceful amount of money
I think rather than Towering Nobility it’s called Brand Enhancement!
June 11th 2010 @ 8:57am
Apelu Tielu said | June 11th 2010 @ 8:57am | Report comment
The recent decisions of sports people like SBW, Folau, Hunt, etc. about their future, to me, play an important function: they reveal the self-righteousness and hypocrisy in many of us.
I do not know why we think we have the right to judge the decisions that these young men make. For me, so long as the decisions they make harm no one, then I have no problem. A career in sport is a very risky, and short, one, and they need to consider that.
And in case you don’t know, these young men have families; much, much bigger than an Anglo family. Also, their communities support them no matter what; I’d be very careful about what I say about them.
June 11th 2010 @ 9:05am
oikee said | June 11th 2010 @ 9:05am | Report comment
I have no issue with that, yes by all means get what you can from sport. I would have been furious with Folau if he had not taken the money, but lets just have it said here and now, its all about the money, nothing less.
I dont want to hear the speel i am looking after my family interests, i just want them to say, i am doing it for the mega bucks on offer, if you offered me a extra million i would play tiddley winks.
It is time we all eccept this as the norm for sportsmen, same as the governmnet offering Tiger 3 million to play golf in victoria, because it makes them money. Its all about money nothing more. Morals as you see have nothing to do with it.
June 11th 2010 @ 9:28am
Apelu Tielu said | June 11th 2010 @ 9:28am | Report comment
I think that is the issue, Oikee, and I agree with you. But I think there is this funny thing about societal attitude. We all need money, but we seem to frown at people that seem to be chasing money. And think that is why it is difficult for these young men to say upfront as you’ve suggested. But their actions are enough to tell us their goals. Funny thing, we rarely see people criticise the super rich in business doing the same, even if their actions, as in the banking scandals and many doggy investment schemes, have caused much harm to many people.