New Zealand rugby must change its outdated attitudes towards women and sexual orientation, and get over its culture of entitlement, an independent review into the culture of the country’s beloved national sport has found.
The Respect and Responsibility Review was commissioned by New Zealand Rugby after a string of serious incidents last year, where players from the Chiefs rugby team were accused of groping, licking and throwing gravel at an erotic dancer they had hired for their end-of-season party, as well as making homophobic comments to a gay couple.
It found that NZ Rugby had investigated 36 incidents of misconduct in the last four years, including cases of violence, inappropriate sexual comments, homophobia, and drug and alcohol breaches.
The nine-member review panel was made up of professionals from outside NZ Rugby and featured six women, including Olympic kayaker Lisa Carrington, Jackie Barron from Sport New Zealand and the Law Society president, Kathryn Beck.
The report found “there is a mood for change” in New Zealand and the country’s beloved national sport needed to evolve its outdated attitudes towards women and sexual orientation, and get over its culture of entitlement.
It’s certainly true that one way to describe rugby culture is “excessively male.” We might even say that it’s in the nature of the sport itself. Tribal and physical combat between groups of young men.
That this must change is less evident. Imagine that this is the distillation of masculinity – no, imagine that it is. Isn’t it reasonable and fair that there be a part of the world that reflects that part of humanity? Just as it’s entirely reasonable that consenting adults can create micro-cultures which reflect other aspects of that same human nature?
We’ve even that other well known societal outcome, that as actual gender equality in the wider world increases then we get more of the minor differentiation.
Why wouldn’t a liberal society allow rugger buggers to be rugger buggers?
Pah, rugby has all sorts in it and the women`s game is a gathering momentum fast. I still coach and shout at my three boys ( all of whom can put in a decent shift and one is a real flyer ).
Mini rugby and youth teams increasingly draw in a cross section of people which is broadening the game . The Professional era has been fantastic for gettintthe big clubs involved with the grass roots and rugby has never been stronger
The women`s team are an awesome sight in fulll flow although to my eye they stil llack man on man instincts and a bit of cavalier spirit . Aggression and technique they have in spades.
I am told by a taxi driver that a group of them together without men are worse than a group opf men without women (* or just as good if like me you have ahealthy apptetite for the finer things in life )
As far as gays go , I have not come across it to be honest
“I am told by a taxi driver that a group of them together without men are worse than a group opf men without women”
I recall the Waikato’s women’s rugby team managing to piss out of the team bus in unison while passing through a rival town a decade or two back.
Enemies of rugby. Feral disgusting scum. Subhuman filth. Could they not have picked some personable lipstick lesbians?
“I am told by a taxi driver that a group of them together without men are worse than a group opf men without women (* or just as good if like me you have ahealthy apptetite for the finer things in life )”
As a newly minted soldier I had to go to the Division HQ Comcen at York for a few days. Over 300 WRAC and about 5 blokes, including the 3 of us. The NAAFI in the evening was frightening and as I was to find out later far worse than having a Parachute Regiment stationed on your camp when it came to drunken behaviour.
As to rugby, what goes on at private parties is fair enough and all part of team building. When it spills over in to the public domain its a problem for the sport, o tempora o mores.
Bring back communal baths.
Respect and Responsibility = kneel before me and do as I say.
I think the members of the committee should be subjected to 16 hours a day of non stop Owen Jones diatribe for a week so they can sample the world they want to create.
Couldn’t care less about timewasting like Rugby but if the lads are smart they will pick out a large team of their nastiest and give the authors of this bullshit CM report a beating the marks of which they will carry to their graves.
I can confirm that the only thing worse than a men’s rugby team in your local pub is a women’s rugby team in your local pub.
I imagine a nine person strong committee with six men saying “can’t see a significant problem here” would have turned the outrage meter to 11.
Load the committee with women, say, “I want to you investigate sexual misconduct”, talk about loading the dice.
A culture of entitlement is that you put something in, so you are entitled to take something out. I’ve paid into my pension so I am entitled to draw on my pension. I have worked for 60 years so I am entitled to sit back and not-work for a bit. And they want to get rid of this? And replace it with what? You put something in and are banned from taking anything out?
That’s one way to bring them back down to the same standard as all the other nations, I suppose.
Once sponsorship and government money gets involved they stop being about the people who love the sport dearly and become slaves to the sponsors or government’s desires. It has to have wider appeal and becomes totally pussified.
I mean, a fucking kayaker telling rugby players how to behave? Fuck you. Winning at women’s kayak is mostly about turning up on time. There’s like 10 people in NZ who will dedicate themselves to winning that, compared to a million rugby players.