My workmate in Perth often makes jokes about my homeland, New Zealand. His favourite is “when you go to New Zealand you wind your clock forward four hours… then back 40 years.”
I chuckle at this with some level of annoyance. I can happily reminisce about the land of the long white cloud, with its slightly backward lifestyle and laid-back attitude.
In many ways New Zealand is very progressive.
The first country to allow woman to vote, it also had a female prime minister in consecutive terms, from two different parties.
In terms of racial matters, the colonisation of the country seemed relatively progressive in relation to how the colonialists treated the indigenous people of other countries they had conquered.
I was proud of the fact that we were a rather liberal country, especially when viewed in relation to our big brother Australia.
However, I am sad to say that this 40-year gap has embarrassed me for the first time. In a short period, with the help of social media and talkback radio, New Zealand has regressed to the dark ages.
The recent racial outburst, in regards to Pat Lam’s Polynesian descent being responsible for the poor performance of the Auckland Blues, can only be described as cowardly, childish and disgusting.
Not all of these comments have been said in malice. Some could have been tongue in cheek.
But the fact that anyone could think, or joke, that his being Polynesian is the reason for their poor form is absurd.
Bear in mind this is the man many thought should have succeeded Graham Henry for the All Blacks coaching job only a few months ago.
This sort of racial vilification has no place in sport.
It conjures thoughts of the dark old days of boxing in America when a black athlete could be glorified and considered the greatest fighter in the world, yet was not allowed to eat in a restaurant with white people.
Perhaps these rednecks have not looked further afield to see how black coaches have succeeded and are revered as great minds of the game.
The perfect example is Mike Tomlin, an African American in his mid 30s.
He has won a Super Bowl and coached in two, been named coach of the year and holds a stellar 68 percent winning percentage. All this in a five-year career.
In four of the last five seasons one of the coaches in the Super Bowl has been African-American, with Tomlin appearing twice.
You would declare this a great career, right?
Well, let us look at how Pat Lam has performed as a coach.
If I remember correctly Pat was given his coaching gig at the end of 2009.
Since this time Auckland rugby, across both the National Provincial Championship and Super Rugby, has a record of 32 wins and 24 losses, with a winning percentage of 57 percent.
Do you know who had a similar winning record and is currently a national hero in two different countries?
Graham Henry.
While coaching Wales he had a record of 20 wins and 13 losses, equating to a winning percentage of 60 percent.
He lost a Lions series and lost a World Cup while coaching the All Blacks.
Before an Auckland supporter now jumps on here and states that Wales is a minnow in European and world rugby I wish to point something out.
Since 1998 the Auckland Blues have finished in the top four of the Super Rugby ladder three times. Do you know who was coaching one of those teams?
Pat Lam, last year!
Since 1998 – that’s 14 years – the Blues have only finished above mid-table three times.
That means that Pat Lam has coached one third of the seasons which one could possibly be described as successes in the last 14 years.
This illusion that the Blues are supposed to be world beaters and a dominant force in New Zealand rugby harks back to the days when they had the entire All Blacks forward pack and a majority of the backline.
This was after the 1995 World Cup loss to South Africa. It’s been 14 years now – let it go.
Here are their final ladder positions since 1998.
Super 12: 9th, 6th, 11th, 6th, 1st, 5th and 7th (in only two out of seven seasons did they finish in the top half of the competition).
Super 14: 8th, 4th, 6th, 9th and 7th (in two out of five seasons they’ve finished in the top half of the competition).
Super Rugby: 4th.
I somehow do not see the problem being Pat Lam.
Yes, they are performing poorly this year. But is this all his fault?
I was very critical of Mark Hammet for ejecting Nonu and Weepu. However it seems that he has pulled an old medieval trick by hurling their carcasses over the wall to infect someone else’s castle.
Since jettisoning these two the Hurricanes have looked like a respectable side and appear to be playing with more vigour.
In contrast Nonu was busy shopping himself to Japanese clubs during the pre-season, rather than playing. Piri Weepu is pretty large for what is essentially a land mammal.
These are supposed to be your leaders; good luck to anyone.
So perhaps it is not Lam who needs to be blamed.
Perhaps some of the players have post-World Cup hangovers, which cannot be cured by his style of coaching. I dare say no one could fix it.
Lam has been let down by his players; he has been successful before and will continue to be no matter where he goes.
Maybe the Auckland and New Zealand public should realise this before we ship another one of our quality coaches overseas.
Sage
Guest
Calm down Lippy. At no stage did I call you a racist. I said racialy motivated behaviour and it was. That is indisputable. My comments were in relation to why these situations always seem to be a comparison situation. Don't be so precious. Don't you think what was said about Pat Lam and the blues was poor behaviour ? That's what I said rather than Phil Kearns. He's that other guy. And spare me the tired, hackneyed, inaccurate, mob mentality Quade waffle. That horse is long bolted and opinions cemented but defend away if you think you will convince yourself. It's all good Lippy. I have to say though, I also got more than a giggle with your wording of your self righteous Sunday laugh. Not what you meant but that is classic irony. C'mon, you have to admit it's a bit funny.
Ben S
Roar Guru
If you are mixing and matching Mathewson and Anscombe with a clearly unfit Weepu then you are not a good selector. -- It's harder to coach in Super Rugby than Europe? I doubt it.
Lippy
Guest
Crusaders played a very smart game against the Stormers. Pollock made same crazy calls re the yellow cards. But finally someone pulled the Stormers up for their constant pushing of the offline line.
Kane
Roar Guru
Imagine how poorly he would have played if he wasn't booed?
Lippy
Guest
Thanks for a self righteous Sunday laugh. Certainly doesn't surprise me to see you trying to get a boot in two. Hypocrites by all means They fact you or Kearns are trying to label Kiwis racist by the reaction of a coach he received some abhorrent comments on SOCIAL media is so ridiculous it is comical. Like I said above at least we dont boo our own that is appalling. As for QC who got what he asked for he challenged the public and the took him up on it. If I recall it motivated him so he claimed...... we all know how that turned out. Clean up your own backyard before throwing stones into ours!
Sprigs
Guest
I agree. It was heart-breaking to see.
Sprigs
Guest
Well, if we want to call it like it is, let's not recycle myths, comforting though they may be. The historical statements here are simply incorrect.
Dwayne
Guest
I have just listened to JamesO'Conner in Newstalkzb. he was asked how were you treated at the NZ world cup. He couldn't talk highly enough for himself, his friends and family. And QUADE COOPER. As Aussies you guys need to speak up and get rid of kearns. Anyway on to the rugby, he was asked who was the best player in the world. He said Ma'a Nonu. Asked who he would like to give a smack if nobody was looking. Richie Mccaw! You have a real star there, and look forward to seeing him light up world rugby.
Sage
Guest
No. You just proudly booed Cooper and anything Aus. Why does this always become a comparison situation. Actually, that is rhetorical, we know why. Moreso when this is about Pat Lam and the Blues and poor racialy motivated behaviour, why does it have to be "yeah but it's worse in Aus". I don't believe anybody said anything other than this was poor behaviour and it was. And so was the WC crowd performance. Not everybody by any means but it still happened. You have to own it first before it can be dealt with.
Dwayne
Guest
Phil Kearns is a disgrace to our sport. Second and third that. This coming from a guy who wants to ban the haka. Cooper knees the NZ captain in the head, two weeks out from the WC i{n NZ}, then denies it. Get's booed and proceeds to tell the NZ public the more the better. What's that got to do with the Pat Lam saga. Phil Kearns is the biggest biggot out there. He hates new Zealanders. Give me strength.
Lippy
Guest
Great post and I agree with everything you have said. The Roar is a form of social media and it is full of bigots and antagonists. So Kearns need not look to far to find examples of what he is deriding kiwis for. KOG , Republican and Johnny are some of the worst I have seen on any forum. I assume PK has never read Green and Gold or Rugby Heaven and too quickly forgets the Cronulla race riots. Like you say he has just jumped at the chance to give his misguided sore loser opinion and should be very ashamed of himself.
Ramond
Guest
Re Kearns, I think he's just woken up to the fact NZ have the WC and it's starting to pain him. : ) Seriously, up till this year I liked him as a TV comments man. I felt he was pretty fair on the whole, but a few weeks ago I was thinking how he seemed to have lost complete objectivity where NZ teams were concerned. Sure, Quade Cooper copped plenty last year but he seemed to go out of his way to antagonise Kiwis by saying he loved everything they threw at him. Not the wisest move when you're about to head to the WC in the lions' den, Kearnsey. And some clowns certainly gave Aussie fans a hard time at the world cup and yeah it was disgusting. But you always get a few idiots at any big sports event who should have been killed at birth. I've been to cricket matches in Australia when Kiwis have faced a pretty tasty reception from a few Aussie fans and I've sat at Loftus Versfield and seen giant Afrikaaners threaten NZ fans with physical mayhem merely for daring to match banter with banter. But it wasn't the entire home crowd. The way Kearns went on you'd think no Aussie fan left the WC unscathed. And he also seemed to be implying quite a lot of NZ fans had been involved in these racist remarks. Well, if he thinks the racism situation is worse than in Australia he's wrong. I'd like to know how much research he did before his sweeping pronouncements. If you ask me, he jumped at the chance to take a swipe without bothering too much to weigh the facts. I don't know how many racist comments came Lam's way but I do know that, after saying he copped racist abuse on talkback radio, officials at Radiosport etc said they had a 10-second delay and if that any racist remarks had been made they wouldn't have got to air. So perhaps an emotional Lam unintentionally overstated the racism angle? Who knows, but it seems at least his claims were inaccurate regarding radio. Not that such a thing would bother Kearnsey. As for what was said on social media sites, does Kearns not know the internet's awash with the worst kind of trolls and haters who would say the most vile things about a saint? Lam certainly won't be the last to take a pounding from that rabble, but surely Kearns knows these gormless losers are everywhere, not just in NZ? Personally I felt very sorry for Lam and I believe even one racist remark is one too many. And even the fair, legitimate criticism has been overdone. It's not like he isn't working his butt off to turn the ship around. As for all the disgruntled Blues fans, hell I'm a Canes supporter. Those Aucklanders don't know the meaning of pain.
Tui
Guest
PK is a disgrace to our sport. Can someone please bin this guy so we can all enjoy it again.
allblackfan
Guest
Phil Kearns's comments on the matter was completely unneccesary. If he was asked about it, he should have said ``no comment''. But no, he had to drag quade cooper into it, making the imputation (direct or otherwise) that QC was also singled out because of his racial heritage. There's a saying PK should have heeded -- ``better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool then to open it and remove all doubt!" Too much publicity has been given to too few foul-mouthed (or fingered) fools. This is a matter for NZ to deal with. By the way, PK: what are you thoughts on the racially-selected team that the South Africans are trying to foist on us!?!
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Agree totally ... Except I believe SA were the first to elect woman in their parliament whereas NZ allowed the voting rights
Lippy
Guest
I wrote a comment re the despicable rant made by clueless Kearns yet the mods have censored it yet they continue to allow people like Rep stir the pot with his usual anti kiwi sentiment. At least in NZ we can proudly say we never Boo our teams from the field.
Geoff Brisbane now California
Guest
So VG you want to give Kearns the good oil because he is on his mighty steed right now lambasting NZers left right and centre. Wish I could get a job like his, a rugby commentator with very little understanding on how to actually communicate, come on Kearnsy give yourself an uppercut son.
Vanilla Gorilla
Roar Pro
Each coach which has been associated with the brumbies has averaged around 60% winning percentage. Comparable to other coaches, like Mcqueen and Eddie Jones who had access to exactly the same potential and similar statndard of players.... Remarkebly 2 of these coaches coached their national side to success, World Cups i beleive. Do you know who has a similar winning percentage in super rugby. PAT LAM!!!!!! Mcqueen 16-8 Jones 28-20 Nucifora 24-14 I dont imagine the team coached itself under Mcqueen and Jones, therefore i dont beleive it would be under nucifora.
Republican
Guest
Firstly, NZ and Oz were and still have are very different nations. Our DNA's in respect of culture, environment cannot be compared so loosely, colonially or otherwise while any similarities are but a veneer of Britishness, a sentiment built out of pathos that is kept alive to what end I do not quite comprehend. Respective colonies were like cheese and chalk, one being predominately penal, the other a puritanical outpost of Christian virtue and so too was and is the indigenous dynamic that respective colonists were presented with. The colony of South Australia actually gave women the vote before NZ I believe. NZ'ers have for too long derived a sense of pious superiority over we convicts to compensate for a sort of collective self loathing, so it is very heartening indeed to experience such contrition from a Kiwi ex pat, in bringing some perspective and humility to the table. We are different people with different histories, both offering positive and negative traits and characteristics. - nuff said.
west
Guest
Vanilla, future still looks bright for NZ rugby then.... cant wait to read about it