Mark Reason: Why the All Blacks should boycott the Rugby Championship

OPINION: Who would blame the entire All Blacks team if each and every one of them turned and put two fingers on Sanzaar? Why should they travel to Australia for the Rugby Championship? Why should they go to an environment that is much more risky to their health than if New Zealand had hosted the tournament?

We are told that Australia obtained hosting rights due to its looser quarantine arrangements. Well, that certainly was part of it. But I suggest that the biggest motivation was greed. Professional sport is sometimes a miserably venal business and the Sanzaar countries grapple with it financially.

Sanzaar CEO Andy Marinos stated; “SANZAAR ultimately determined that based on government-required quarantine protocols and commercial underwriting, Rugby Australia’s presentation was the most desirable.”

There has been a lot of noise about the quarantine aspects of the offers, but much less has been said about the “commercial subscription.” Government guarantees were a big part of the latest Rugby World Cup offerings and appear to have also influenced the way Australia has beaten New Zealand for the rights to this Rugby Championship.

READ MORE:
* Quarantine rules established to force key All Blacks out of the Rugby Championship
* Quarantine protocols, not Sanzaar policy, cost us the Rugby Championship, says NZ Rugby boss
* Australians get one last laugh when NZ Rugby refuses the opportunity to host the Rugby Championship

It’s an irony given that the All Blacks are sponsored by AIG, a commercial underwriter. But New South Wales recently spent $ 1.5 billion remodeling its two stadiums and the state government is desperate for action. It seems likely that New South Wales, with the backing of the federal government, signed the Rugby Championship to end New Zealand’s bid.

This country simply cannot compete with the financial muscle of Australia. Imagine New Zealand trying to host the Olympics. The idea is ridiculous. Australia invested billions in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Promoting the sport is part of the DNA of its government. And once they decided they wanted the Rugby Championship, there was little New Zealand could do about it.

But what is the potential cost to athletes? Sport in South Africa has been blocked for months and there are fears that the Springboks will not be fit to travel and compete. And the situation in Argentina is even worse. His coach Mario Ledesma tested positive for Covid. Eleven team members are currently positive for Covid and another six were positive, but have now been eliminated.

If I were an All Black, I wouldn’t be thrilled at the prospect of going cheek to cheek sweaty with a player from Argentina. Grant Robertson, the finance, sports and recreation minister, has already pointed out that Australia’s quarantine protocols around the Rugby Championship endanger entire squads and could lead to a mass withdrawal.

Victoria Azarenka, a finalist defeated in the recent US Open tennis final, has expressed her safety reservations about playing in the upcoming French Open. The US Open banned crowds and had very strict regulations on players. France proposes a more laissez-faire approach.

Azarenka said; “It will be very interesting for me to see how the French Open is going to handle the situation with the life of the bubble, with the COVID now. Hope they do a good job protecting players first rather than making money. So we’ll see. “

That same accusation could be directed at Sanzaar. Was your first priority protecting the players? Or was making money your first priority?

Australia’s successful bid is said to involve allowing spectators to attend matches at 50 percent of the stadium’s capacity. Is this a hoax or is it real? If I were an All Black, I wouldn’t want to play crowd rugby in a state that has had over 4,000 Covid cases, even if New South Wales has been remarkably successful in controlling the situation.

It doesn’t take long to turn. Britain has just started playing rugby again and the number of spectators has already had to be reduced in the interest of public health. Twickenham had proposed admitting 20,000 people to the Fall Nations Cup. The Government is now proposing that the figure is more likely to be 1,000.

It seems inconceivable that Australia is considering admitting people to its stadiums, but it is. Here is a profound irony. When people marched in the ‘Freedom March’ rally, Victoria and New South Wales police entered and arrested several of them. A pregnant mother was handcuffed in front of her children for a Facebook post advocating for people to come out and protest.

But if it’s a soccer game that will bring in a few bucks to the community, well then that’s fine. Mass gatherings are bonzas. These are strange times and I have a lot of sympathy for New Zealand Rugby and all the New Zealand businesses that have suffered from this awkward decision. If it were about sport and people’s well-being, the Rugby Championship would be played in New Zealand.

Yes, it was not a good idea for Jacinda Ardern to complain about Sanzaar’s politics. She should have simply said that her government prioritizes the welfare of the public and the players, and those values, combined with a comparative lack of cash, had cost the country the rights to host the Rugby Championship.

But if Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga and TJ Perenara and a bunch of other All Blacks don’t want to go to Oz, then I hope the country will back them. CEO Mark Robinson has already said that he will support players even if they choose to boycott this Oz tour. It is not their fault that they are exposed to risks. It depends on the greed of professional sports.

And it’s not worth it.