All Blacks hit back on drinking

By EUGENE BINGHAM

All Blacks have defended their right to have a beer and celebrate victories, after suggestions from within the team that heavy drinking is affecting their professionalism.

Greg Feek, a front-rower under coaches John Hart, Wayne Smith and John Mitchell, says drinking within the squad is no different to what goes on in other workplaces at the end of a hard week.

The row began this week when team doctor John Mayhew and former manager Andrew Martin were quoted in a new book as saying the All Blacks had reverted to heavy drinking.

The team management has gone on the offensive to reject the claims.

Spokesman Matt McIlraith says Mayhew was misrepresented - a claim strongly rejected by author Paul Thomas.

McIlraith also dismisses Martin's comments as jibes from a man who was "humptied" from his job.

In Thomas' book, A Whole New Ball Game, Mayhew says the "booze culture" was discouraged under Hart, coach from 1996 to 1999, but is now back in favour.

"The issue isn't having a few drinks, it's getting totally pissed," says Mayhew.

"Perhaps I did the same when I was 21, but I wasn't getting paid to play for my country and I didn't have another test match coming up the following weekend."

Despite the team's efforts to slight Martin and play down Mayhew's comments, others believe alcohol in the professional era is an issue.

Sources close to the All Blacks say John Mitchell is strong on building team spirit and encourages the squad to get together, often over a beer.

"It's never compulsory and if someone wanted an orange juice I don't think there'd be a problem, but if they want to have a beer, that's fine," said the source.

Generally, the team is encouraged to drink in a private, secure environment, to avoid embarrassing situations such as the time Tana Umaga was captured on camera stumbling drunk through Christchurch streets.

If the team is on tour, alcohol will be taken to a room or money will be put on a quiet bar for them.

The Weekend Herald has learned of a team get-together at the end of last season when players and management gathered at Rugby Union headquarters in Wellington for a "court session" of heavy drinking.

NZRFU staff were staggered by the amount of beer being brought in for the team. One senior player ended the night by throwing up in a taxi.

Under previous coaches, the drinking culture was discouraged.

It is understood that Wayne Smith and Martin called a team meeting after the 2000 Tri-Nations test in South Africa - lost by the All Blacks 40-46 - to chastise some players about drinking too much.

Hart, the first coach of the professional era, said he did not want to comment on whether players drank too much, but he was prepared to discuss his philosophy on the issue.

"Professional rugby meant that there was tremendous pressure on the individuals to perform," he said. "We were playing tests every week so you have to therefore monitor alcohol intake.

"Professional rugby has also brought players under far more scrutiny than they ever were in the amateur game, and therefore they can't in my view be seen to let themselves down through overindulgence in alcohol from a social perspective."

Martin told the Weekend Herald the argument was not about tee-totalism, but about developing a mature approach to professional rugby.

"Few, if any, other industries would accept the level of recreational alcohol use still evident in professional rugby, certainly up to December 2002," said Martin.

"Neither did we appear to collectively discourage this - the opposite probably stands as the reality.

"My point has always been that this attitude is inconsistent with a stated desire to be the best in the world at what we do in rugby terms."

Former All Black Feek denied there was a problem and took a swipe at Martin.

"In the SAS, they had [rules] like you keep tight, nothing would go out of that group," he told Radio Sport. "That value has been broken."

Feek defended the players' right to have a drink.

"If you have worked 50 or 60 hours a week and everyone has worked hard, there's probably a chance that the boys would have a few, and why not?"

Nobody drank heavily during the week, and big nights out at the weekend would only be occasional.

"Especially if there's a six-day turnaround between games, the guys know what it does to you, so you don't bother."