NZR misses bus on need for change
With the close of an underwhelming All Blacks season, we say ‘sayonara’ to TJ Perenara and hope it will instead be ‘ka kite ano’ – see you again soon, bro. Perenara is one of the rangatira in our national game for many rangatahi and pakeke alike, unafraid to speak his mind in a conservative system such as New Zealand Rugby.
In announcing his departure to Japan he noted the Super Rugby Aotearoa we all apparently fell in love with post-Covid has too high a toll, with players bashing each other week in and out. His comments sadly were ignored with NZR confirming Super Aotearoa for 2021 again.
This weekend also sees the Ma¯ori All Blacks rolled out against the Moana Pasifika team, which has been granted a 2022 licence to enter Super Rugby along with five Australian teams. Palagi guilt, however, didn’t extend to considering what a tangata whenua franchise might look like. Or is it a neo-colonial strategic play to keep more Pasifika players in this hemisphere?
That Perenara has not pulled on the Ma¯ori All Blacks jumper says a lot about what is wrong with our rugby system of which there are many well-known challenges. Fewer young men are coming back to rugby clubs after high school resulting in these once major community hubs battling to remain open.
The once-proud National Provincial Championship is a shadow of its former self without the star power of All Blacks who bring people through the gates, sponsors to the corporate boxes and nurture the next generation of heroes.
The only shining light has been the growth and exposure to the wahine game, and a small increase in male Ma¯ori youth players against all odds and due to the heroic efforts from the flax-roots and those who truly love and support the code.
The rugby system is simply broken and despite the rhetoric from the NZR it is hard to see how rugby is being ‘reimagined’.
With borders closed, employment prospects and salary expectations uncertain in a post Covid-19 economy, now was the perfect time to re-set.
So, what could that look like? Clubs would retain their players from five year olds through to teenagers. First XVs would play traditional games only. Jack may go to Kings or St Patrick’s Monday to Friday, but he’s with his club team-mates made up of all parts of society twice a week.
Young people who are excluded from school can play and be around positive influences. Clubs must reinvent themselves as multiuse venues or wither and die whilst removing the macho booze culture and adding separate shower facilities for wa¯hine.
Super Aotearoa could begin with 10 New Zealand teams from provincial union bases. They have heritage, rivalries, local heroes and villains, authenticity and are completely connected to the community. The 10 fully professional sides will grow more of our rugby talent with shared high performance, marketing and administration.
A 31-week window allows plenty of time for clubs, festival games and tournaments. Ma¯ori rugby, which has been systemically subjugated by NZR, then has a bigger window to shine again. Ngarimu Blair is a professional company director. He is a former member of the NZ Ma¯ori Rugby Board and current member of the North Harbour Rugby Board. The views expressed are his own.