Mike's Minute: TJ Perenara haka is a sign of the times

Surely the TJ Perenara performance is a sign of the times?

How far back (small clue, not far) do you need to go to think that this sort of extra curricular activity would never have even been close to being countenanced by an All Black squad?

Not long ago, essentially, sport was sport.

It got political in the Springbok apartheid era, but that was politics from the outside in, not the other way around.

It was Perenara's last time in the jersey, so why not leave with a message? I think that would be the argument for many but, what sort of message?

If one of the blokes from rural New Zealand decided to slip in some support in the post match interview for the current gun reform, or the gang patch laws, how do you think that would go down?

David Seymour, who quite sensibly asked in response to the Perenara views just what bit of equal rights do you not support, is kind of on a hiding to nothing.

We have entrenched camps on this one. No one is in the middle. You either believe in the idea that we are all equal, or you don’t.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Surely the Peranora performance as a sign at the times
I would have thought, I mean, how far back, small clue?
Not far do we need to go to think that
this sort of extracurricular activity would never have been even
close to being contenance by an all black squad not
long ago. Essentially, sport was sport. It got political in
the spring Bok apartheid era, of course, but that I thought,
I thought to myself yesterday that was sort of politics

(00:21):
from the outside in, wasn't it not the other way round?
It was Peranara's last time in a Jersey. Why not
leave with a message? I think that would be the
argument for many. But what sort of message was it?
If one of the blokes from I don't know rural
New Zealand decided to slip in some support in the
postmatch interview for the current gun reform or the gang
patch laws, how do you think that would have gone down?
A David Seymour, who quite sensibly asked in response to

(00:43):
the peran Aurra reviews, just what bit of equal rights
do you not support? Is kind of on a hiding
to nothing. We eve entrenched camps on this one, don't we.
No one's in the middle. You either believe in the
idea that we're all equal or you don't. Perhaps more worryingly,
Peranara's performance was spoken about with management and supported by them,
so i' mean credit to him. It wasn't some mad

(01:04):
spur of the moment outburst. And for the record, when
he says it's important to him, I don't think anyone
doubts that. But lots of things are important to lots
of people. But within all our lives and all our constraints,
and one of the constraints around being an all black
is you represent the country as an elite athlete, not
a politician or an activist. As we saw in a
much lesser way a couple of weeks back, the woman
who may well end up hitting the content and news

(01:25):
department for the state owned television station took leave to
go on the treaty protest. Quite rightly, many asked whether
that was wise. We can ask the same question of Peranara,
and given we had all the all black management blessing
as well, we can ask that question in them as well.
I would have thought if the criteria for protest as
an all black is passion, then we're asking for trouble.

(01:46):
What we want in all blacks are sports people of integrity, professionalism,
and preferably inability to win a lot. The rest of
it risks damaging the brand, insulting fans, and distracting us
from the main point of the arting For more from
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