Julian Savea proves once again Violence is part of N.Z Rugby’s fabric.

‘It’s Not OK’ is an admirable New Zealand campaign against family violence. 

One of its literal poster-boys (refer above) is, or more rightly now was, Julian Savea. 

He's just been charged with giving his ‘mrs’ a slap around.  

It’s called common assault.  

Here’s what the naïve but well-meaning anti-violence group has to say on their web site…. 

In a sports-mad country like New Zealand, sportspeople can play an influential role in promoting a culture of non violence.  

The Campaign is working with sports clubs all over New Zealand at a national and local level, in partnership with family violence networks.  

Sports clubs and their leaders and players are influential in their own communities. Role models can talk to younger players and build a community of support that says no to family violence.  

It's not OK messages can strengthen efforts to improve behaviour on the field and on the sideline. 

Why the hell would any group trying to promote anti-violence go anywhere near a toxic group like rugby union given their sordid record?  

Rugby and violence in New Zealand are intertwined.  

The predictable from Steve Tew (a.k.a Spew) chief of the NZRU was “Without judging the rights or wrongs of this case, we are concerned that this is another incident involving a young player.  We need to find out whether we are doing enough to help these young men cope with the pressures of the professional game.”

Yet again it’s the ‘pressure of the professional game’ that we are to believe is the root cause of so-many players going off the rails.   

In what must be a world-breaking criminal research, the NZRFU have concluded there is a causative link between playing sport at a high level and assaulting people, getting pissed-up etc.       

The same sort of pressure that apparently doesn’t exist in any other top code like say N.Z Soccer players who by my recollection have never been involved in a single off-field incident, yet arguably play at a far higher level of sport on a global scale than any rugby player.   

The pressures of competing at The Olympics that have resulted in all those assaults by our rowers and triathletes – not!     

When is the NZRFU going to break-through its alcoholic like haze and admit “Our game has a serious problem”?  

 

It's not O.K to blame the profession 'rugby player' as an excuse for family violence.   

 

 

 

More piss-heads in N.Z Professional Rugby than any other corporate occupation!

The consequences of their stark statement initially escaped me. 

The paragraph in the N.Z Herald Article entitled ‘Rugby’s battle with booze’ that said: 

“An Instep report says the number of rugby players seeking assistance is higher than that from other corporate sectors” 

Instep get to see New Zealanders of all demographics, professions seeking addiction help. 

Out of all their corp clients Rugby Players are number one pro-rata.  

This is indeed a sad indictment.    

Those on the Rugby gravy train, sycophantic middle-aged supporters point to the pressure of being a professional rugby player and this as being the root cause of the high number of players hitting the bottle and other harder things. 

They can’t be serious.  

Rugby Players have more pressure going on their lives than a local Police Detective? 

Rugby Players have more pressure going on in their lives that a Director of a major Company who earns twice as much as them? 

We also need to remember the Detective & Director doesn't need to remain at the peak of their  fitness to do their job. 

The last people who should be abusing their bodies to such a high degree are sports players.       

And if we wanted to measure pressure in top sport do we see Kiwi golfers or Rowers turning up in the same numbers in our court pages or at Insteps door?   

Rugby can never win the battle against the bottle until the NZRU &, Players Union admits their sport has a problem.  

Presently they are too drunk with their own importance to see the obvious.  



 

Danish Football Association 9 N.Z Rugby Union 0

This bloke is Nikolas Bendtner a high profile footballer from Denmark. 

He’s played for Arsenal and Juventus so he’s no slug.   

Until yesterday he was playing for the Danish team, capped 55 times.  

But he is now banned from being selected for at least six months after being charged with drink-driving in Copenhagen.  

He was only just over the limit by the way.  

If he is proven guilty of D.I.C he’ll also face being fined by the Danish Football Association (DBU) on top of any court fines, bans.   

“DBU respects every player's right to a private life, but we still have some rules and expectations about how players on the national team behave in public.” 

Let me re-state what the Danish Football Association said because it’s kind of foreign to New Zealanders, totally incongruous concept to absorb for rugby folk.   

“We respect every player's right to a private life, but we still have some rules and expectations about how players on the national team behave in public.”  

 

N.Z’s best Rugby Ref Shitted On by NZRFU

The Super 15 began last night with an entertaining game between the Highlanders and Chiefs. 

Oh what a difference a good referee makes in a modern-day game of rugby.   

Make no bones about it Stephen Walsh is the best referee from New Zealand. 

Only Steve Walsh is now an Australian after being shitted on from up-high by the NZFU. 

So what were Walsh’s crimes that saw the NZRFU cut ties with the then best up and coming referee we had?  

Did he harass an innocent female athlete out on a training run? 

Did he smash the face of a bloke enjoying his 50^th birthday party and his mate who went to intervene?  

Was he so pissed out of his tree he had to be restrained by mates, didn’t remember any of this and needed the NZRFU to send a ‘media clean-up’ person to his holiday resort to keep a lid on things?   

Did the same person who said he was reformed then assault a mate asleep in bed and do the same to another guy under the same circumstances minutes later whilst highly intoxicated?   

I mean these sort of serious incidents aren’t seen as enough for All Blacks to be cut-lose now are they?       

Walsh’s heinous crime was to turn-up to a refereeing conference pissed. 

Why the N.Z Media can’t also juxtapose these positions and the standards set for one group of NZRFU employees versus another shows you the Stalinist power welded by the Union. 

The spineless media in N.Z can’t afford to have their prime sporting news taken from underneath them by airing the hypocrisy of Walsh versus Guildford.   

CONTRAST THE REACTIONS TO THE SAME CRIME

 

Back a couple of years Sione Lauaki had just signed a lucrative contract with Toyota to play up in Japan. 

But when Toyota got wind of his assault conviction, wacking an innocent man in a bar, they ripped-up his contract.  

The Japanese hate violence of this nature. 

To the Japanese honour, one’s name are important.  

Pity we can’t adopt this mentality here in New Zealand. 

After Lauaki’s assault conviction his employers at the time, the NZFU, fined him $4000 and said if there was another incident they too would rip-up his contract - knowing full-well they would never be in position to make good on their weasel words since Lauaki was off overseas.  

The conclusion between the reactions to the same situation being… 

1.)    Toyota Rugby Club cares more about their name than the NZRFU

2.)    Punching people in the pub is a normal occurrence in N.Z, treated some-what leniently. Not so in Japan.    

3.)    Violence is an accepted part of rugby in New Zealand. Not so Japan.    

OH YES ZAC IS BACK IN TROUBLE

Just a few months after getting back on the turps, Zac ‘I can handle’ my piss’ Guildford is seemingly back to his old tricks.  

Think leopard and spots and you’ll get the gist.  

Let’s be frank here the odds at the TAB were a scant $1:05 on the nose he would re-offend, little surprise in the weekends report.  

Historically the NZRU and Crusaders management manipulated a gullible N.Z Media into believing their charge could be reined in.  

They made Zac out to be redeemable, a victim of his fame. 

They all said with the right environment redemption was possible.  

After the shameful assaults in the Cook Islands Todd Blackadder and Hamish Riach acted like brooding hens.  

The real victims were ignored, offered tickets to games!   

The NZRU and Crusaders management’s stand in respect to Zac ‘I can handle my piss’ Guildford is now exposed for what it was all along - contemptible load of bull-shit! 

These guys only care about their team, never the growing list of his victims. 

My challenge to the NZRU in 2013 is for them to keep their employees fists to themselves.  

Fat chance of this happening though.