Thursday 8 April 2010

Three strikes and you should be out, Lauaki

So Sione Lauaki, serial offender on the field (for possibly the worst outing in an All Black jersey at test level) and off (for repeated violent indiscretions towards hotel rooms and humanity) has once again been slapped on the hand with a fine by the NZRU. And that is it.

Lauaki’s time will come in court in May but as these things tend to go, I predict he will be let off … again. In grand old New Zealand there seems to be one law for rugby players and mediocre sports jock presenters and another for the rest of us mere plebs.

What frightens me about the Chief’s and NZRFU set up is that the franchise seems to support this mindless thug. I’ve had respect for Ian Foster in the past. He seems like a reasonable man, so I can’t understand why he has given Lauaki the captaincy this season. One strike and I am prepared to give someone another go. But two strikes, you should be out of the team forever. (Let alone three strikes).

Lauaki should not have the privilege of representing any provincial team at national level. His continued selection reinforces my view that New Zealand has a long way to go in its attitudes towards violence and machismo crap.

Ruggerblogger site - the unsavoury side of rugby
NZ Herald - hand slap for hot head

2 comments:

Hoges said...

Great post here, but sadly this affliction to allow sports stars to get away with murder (quite literally in the OJ case) is rife across all sports and nations.

I was impressed the the Aussie S14 teams started to get their act together by firing Matt Henjak from the Force a couple of seasons ago, Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri....however, it is a different story now with Quade Cooper.

Good luck with the blog.

Hoges
Bats Balls and Wheels

Ferdy said...

HI Hoges,

Thanks very much for dropping by my blog. I've added you to my fellow ruggerblogger list.

Yes - how could I forget OJ? one of the worst sports crimes of all time.

What's happened to Wendell now? isn't he a star again in league? I must google that...