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Stop crusading against the Crusaders

Roar Rookie
5th April, 2019
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Roar Rookie
5th April, 2019
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2345 Reads

The general sentiment being sold to us is that community resolve is behind the drive to change the name and branding of the Crusaders, New Zealand’s most successful rugby team after the All Blacks.

Okay, let’s be clear here.

There is no community backlash.

There are the usual catch-cries from the fringes, but they are anomalies.

The reality is that this tangential idea is thrown around in media opinion pieces to generate debate and click bait. This view does not reflect the view of the community.

The Crusaders have a proud and lengthy heritage that includes their moniker.

They are leaders in their community and representing a galvanising force in a city that has suffered more than most.

This atrocity that has been heaped upon this city – and specifically its Muslim community – is as bad as it gets, and the national response has been appropriate.

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The entire country has empathised with and supported this devastated group entirely properly. New Zealanders have grasped the opportunity to learn and grow together.

But the Crusaders have had no complaint about their branding in the past.

Indeed, they have been a beacon in the city of Christchurch.

The Muslim community has never had an issue with it before and don’t appear to now.

Probably because everyone knows the Crusaders’ ethos is about as far from those medieval warriors as you can get.

Crusaders horses

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Calls to change the Crusaders’ name smacks of a knee-jerk response to media pressure and could be something the organisation ends up regretting if a decision is rushed.

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There are plenty of Cantabrians who think this is ridiculous – maybe the majority – but their dissent is lost in a vacuum created by those reckless scribes more intent on their own agenda.

Calm engagement by even calmer heads is what’s called for here.

This sort of change is not something to be taken lightly, nor rushed into on the back of irresponsible media clamour.

And the Crusaders themselves appear to be following that script with NZ Rugby CEO Steve Tew announcing an investigation into the club’s branding, stating the name was “no longer tenable”.

To the Muslim community and the city of Christchurch, I offer heartfelt condolences.

To those in the media driving divisive agendas, you should be ashamed.

To everyone else, just calm the farm.

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