Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Was anyone shocked by Mark Robinson's New Zealand Rugby resignation?

Anyone who thinks that Mark Robinson resigning from New Zealand Rugby today is a shock clearly doesn't follow rugby's dramas with their brain fully turned on.

This was not a shock at all. Anyone could see this coming.

This was coming the minute that David Kirk took over as the chair.

Now, I don't want to be seen to be saying that David Kirk forced him out. It is, in fact, quite possible that Mark Robinson just read the room and left of his own accord first - but it was always going to happen, wasn't it?

Because David Kirk is the new broom, and the new broom generally gets rid of things that aren't working. And unfortunately for Mark Robinson, that wasn't working.

Now, I've got no hard feelings towards the guy. He seemed like a really easy bloke, but he has not had the most glorious 10 years, has he?

When he brought in the Silver Lake deal, which has yet to bear any fruit despite all of the drama it caused - and boy, did it cause drama.

He totally stuffed up the Fozzy situation when he tried to fire Fozzy and then didn't fire Fozzy, and then eventually did manage to get rid of Fozzy - but by then, we all felt really bad for Fozzy.

And he persisted with the Super Rugby competition that isn't working.

All he's really managed to do with it is tinker, and it still isn't really working.

The finances are terrible. The game has maybe managed to arrest the decline, but nothing much else - and the rugby community is bruised after that Silver Lake altercation.

If there is a lesson here, I reckon it may be that New Zealand rugby might want to replace Mark Robinson with someone who isn't a rugby man, or a rugby woman, whatever.

Someone who isn't sentimental about the game, who can look at all of this business with fresh eyes and say: why is that happening? That shouldn't necessarily be happening - and have the courage to change it, because they don't actually care about rugby that much.

Someone who can drive the change that rugby needs, because if there's one thing we all agree on, it's that rugby needs change.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look, anyone who thinks that Mark Robinson resigning from New
Zealand Rugby today as a shock clearly doesn't follow Rugby's
dramas with their brain fully turned out turned on. This
was not a shock at all. Anyone could see this coming.
This was coming the minute that David Kirk took over
as the chair. Now, I don't want to be seen
to be saying that David Kirk forced him out. It
is in fact quite possible that Mark Robinson just read

(00:21):
the room and left of his owner called first. But
it was always going to happen, wasn't it, Because David
Kirk is the new broom, and the new broom generally
generally gets rid of things that aren't working, and unfortunately
for Mark Robinson, that wasn't working. Now, I got no
hard feelings towards the guy. He seemed like a really
easy bloke, but he has not had the most glorious
of ten years, has he. When he brought in the

(00:42):
Silver Lake deal, which has yet to bear any fruit
despite all of the drama it caused, and boy did
it cause drama. He totally stuffed up the Fozzy situation
when he tried to fire Fozzy and then didn't fire Fozzy,
and then eventually did manage to get rid of Fozzy,
but by then we all felt really bad for Fozzy,
and he persisted with a super rugby competition that isn't working,

(01:03):
and all he's really managed to do with it is
tinker and it still isn't really working. The finances are terrible,
the game has maybe managed to arrest the decline, but
nothing much else, and the rugby community is bruised after
that Silver Lake altercation. If there is a lesson here,
I reckon it may be that New Zealand Rugby might
want to replace Mark Robinson with someone who isn't a
rugby man or a rugby woman, whatever, someone who isn't

(01:25):
sentimental about the game, who can look at all of
this business with fresh eyes and say, why is that
happening that shouldn't necessarily necessarily be happening, have the courage
to change it because they don't actually care about rugby
that much. Someone who can drive the change at rugby
needs because if there's one thing we all agree on,
it's that rugby needs change. For more from Heather Duplessy
Allen Drive Listen live to news talks, it'd be from

(01:47):
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio