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Australian rugby fans are very territorial as Israel Folau is finding out, and Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor, and Mat Rogers before him.
Those fans don’t like the status quo being tampered with, nor the cage rattled.
“League converts, don’t want ’em, don’t need ’em” is the general drift.
It’s a tradition that has been cemented in the Australian psyche over the years, bred by league’s constant cherry-picking of rugby when the 15-man code was helpless as amateurs.
The likes of Wallabies Rex Mossop, Ken Kearney, Trevor Allan, Arthur Summons, Jimmy Lisle, Kevin Ryan, Dick Thornett, Michael Cleary, John Brass, Phil Hawthorne, Ray Price, Stephen Knight, Michael O’Connor, Ricky Stuart, and Russell Fairfax to name just a few.
Many of those signings left a devastating hole at the time. It was one-way traffic, and in serious numbers.
Quite a few rugby clubs banned their league signings like Gordon with Peter Sullivan, who was first grade skipper, and the Wallaby captain at the time.
“Stuff him, he’s now a mungo” – the club door shut tight.
By 1996, when rugby went pro, I was waiting for the retaliation. But it didn’t come until 2002 with the signing of Sailor, and Rogers, and 2003 with Tuqiri,
Of the three Tuqiri was by far the more successful.
He played 67 Tests between 2003 and 2009, Rogers 45 between 2002 and 2006, Sailor 37 between 2003 and 2006. They all deserved to become dual internationals, but they were better league players.
In the end all three returned to the 13-man code, but to John O’Neill the CEO of the ARU at the time, it was an interesting exercise in promoting rugby in a different light.
But not with the fans, to many they were still “mungos”, and that’s what Folau is unfairly coping now, even though he came via AFL, he was still a Kangaroo.
Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter that Folau is a quality footballer, far better than any of the other converts.
He is naturally gifted, but he was a “mungo” – the instant finger point.
Get over it fans, and treat Folau as he deserves to be treated for what he brings to the Waratahs, and what he will bring to the Wallabies.
Apart from all those attributes, he’s a good bloke. End of story.
The same can be said about Robbie Deans, good bloke who has copped the territorial treatment of a different kind from day one in 2008 as the first foreign coach of the Wallabies.
“Damn it, he’s a Kiwi” was the call. Never mind that Deans is the most successful Super Rugby coach in history with five titles, damn it he’s a Kiwi.
It wasn’t long before it was “Dingo” Deans and the tag has been relentlessly used since, quite often without adding Deans – just “Dingo”
OK, Deans hasn’t lived up to our high expectations in the “W” column with only 59% of victories, but he has increased the depth of Wallaby rugby immensely.
So to rugby fans, give the territorial trait a rest, and treat every case on its merits.
You will enjoy your rugby a whole lot more.