- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
I suspect this will be my last appearance on The Roar. I might pop in to read Brett McKay’s pieces on the NRC from time to time but the actions of Australian rugby leaders over recent weeks has left me completely cold to the upper echelons of the game.
When I first started following rugby in the late 1980s, it wasn’t the physical prowess of the players that captured my attention. Nor was it the fact that that period happened to be the start of a golden decade for Australian rugby and sport in general.
It was the character shown by the Australian players.
I watched the way players like Nick Farr-Jones, Simon Poidevin and John Eales conducted themselves on the field, the way they articulated themselves in interviews and the way they conducted themselves off the field and thought ‘here are men I can admire and aspire to emulate’.
They were role models.
Sure, the players of that time were not pure as driven snow. There was the odd scrap on the field and I’m sure more than a few incidents off field that were not captured as frequently and completely as they are these days where almost every human has a camera constantly on them.
One of the great things to me about sport and rugby in particular is how it reveals the character of the players and I could see these players I admired were gentlemen. I was so proud that the players I found most admirable were the ones from Australia.
Sure, a lot of that was parochialism on my part but these days I find so many more of the players I really admire play for other countries – Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kevin Mealamu, Jonny Wilkinson and Jean de Villiers to name a few.
I placed a lot of hope in Michael Hooper. The first time I saw him play I recognised the character of the bloke and he had a dignity about him in post-match interviews that reminded me of my heroes of old. Maybe my hope isn’t unfounded, but his response (when there was any) to the whole Kurtley Beale saga deflated me a bit.
Ben Mowen is another who seemed to have the right stuff, but he sadly left our shores, and while I understand the need for a man to secure his future and see the world, in retrospect with all that’s gone on I’m left wondering if there were other motivations as well.
Sadly the Australian players I admire most at the moment are David Pocock, who has been missing from the scene for far too long now, Clyde Rathbone, who is in the process of disappearing from the rugby scene, and Dan Palmer, who is gone for good.
I’ve also always loved the redemption story in sport. Guys I’ve started off loathing like Andre Agassi who grow into true gentlemen. The English winger Jason Robinson is probably a good example from the rugby world. I keep hoping and waiting to see such a similar personal development arc in some of the Australian players and only Quade Cooper seems to have come anywhere close.
And so to the Kurtley Beale mess. Firstly, I’ll admit, I don’t believe for a second that Kurtley sent one of those series of text messages but not the other. More importantly though, that’s become completely incidental. What’s clear to me is that Kurtley is not a man I admire. If my daughter brought him home and introduced him as her boyfriend, I’d chase him off with a stick and my bet is even those defending him would do the same in such a position.
It’s not just the text messages. It’s not just the episode on the plane. It’s also punching out his teammates, the off-duty escapades and a whole raft of things.
If the ARU can’t see that this guy has brought the game into disrepute then they clearly no longer have any ‘repute’ to be ‘dissed’. I loved the line that they would donate his fine to “a suitable charity”. After all the delays and time that has passed, nobody could even be bothered to come up with the name of a suitable charity to donate to.
Frankly, Bill Pulver inspires me about as much as a bowl of cold porridge. Would you follow this guy into battle? Can you see him as a general issuing orders?
I’ve no doubt I’m cutting off my nose to spite my face. I’ve no doubt there are men of exceptional character within the current Wallabies outfit. But they say that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, and it seems to me there has been too many otherwise good men doing nothing over the past year or so in Australian rugby.
If players thought there was something rotten with the role of one of McKenzie’s staff, they should have fought it more and for longer. If McKenzie thought there was something wrong, he should have sorted it out. In fact he should have known there was something wrong and if he knew there was something wrong, he should have acted much more decisively.
If Di Patston thought there was something rotten, she should have raised it with the ARU sooner (and maybe she did). She should have certainly raised it with McKenzie (which I’m sure she did). Surely she was aware of her own LinkedIn profile so she at least should have acted on that.
If Beale didn’t send that most offensive text, surely he knew someone had used his phone to send it and should have acted on that. If the ARU heard rumblings, they should have done something. And once this Beale thing all came to a head, it needed sorting out within days, not weeks.
And if delays were necessary, the reasons why should have been made known so that they controlled the messages and the media rather than letting things run rampant.
In short, the whole thing stinks and not a single person has emerged from it with a clean slate. The ARU just lost at least one formerly rusted-on fan in me and my bet is I’m not the only one.
My apologies to The Roar and to Roarers but I feel I need to avoid the trap of doing nothing. I’m not sure what else to do so I’m voting with my feet and, like Link, exiting stage left.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.