Chris Rattue: Oz mocking Anzac spirit

Australia's switching of the Anzac test from Eden Park to Brisbane is pure bullying and should not be tolerated. Photo / Getty Images

Australia’s tactics over test disgrace to memory of those who fell at Gallipoli.

Australia's fallen Kangaroos are running scared of the Kiwis all the way back to Brisbane, but this time they have gone way too far.

The weekend's news that this year's initial test will be shifted to Brisbane, rather than the intended venue of Auckland, typifies Australia's arrogant handling of rugby league and should be the final straw for the Anzac league link.

As things stand, league must quit its insulting behaviour towards the victims of war, do the decent thing, and remove the title Anzac from the early season test between Australia and New Zealand.

Using and now abusing the tragedy of war to promote a game that is a monument to Australian league's bullyboy behaviour can no longer be tolerated.

Coming after the Kiwis' demolition of Australia in the Four Nations, this cheap shot also looks like a coward's way of tilting the odds in the Kangaroos' favour and helping them re-assert their position as world No 1. New Zealand's Anzac game record is pathetic, but there has been a decided swing in test fortunes towards the Kiwis. Australia will also be looking after their own TV audience, which is a slap to the Kiwi viewer and won't encourage a younger audience here.

The mealy mouthed response from the New Zealand Rugby League is sad, with chief executive Phil Holden quoted as saying things like: " ... [the NRL has] a big footprint and it owns a lot of emotional space in Australia." What is that?

Give them hell, Phil, because they deserve it. Flex some muscle. Threaten to pull the Kiwis out. Try to find out how much clout you have.

Yes, Holden expressed disappointment, but his conciliatory tone is frustrating and will get New Zealand nowhere. Get in there man, and start banging on the table.

Australia largely pay lip service to the international game, fitting it in at their convenience while drooling all over the State of Origin. This switcheroo comes in the 100-year anniversary of the Gallipoli tragedy - double insulting.

The Anzac game scheduling is a piece of comedic timing anyway. Australia, the strongest team for so long, has provided the venue for 13 of the 15 games whereas it should always have been hosted turn-about. That's the statistic which rules out another side to this argument.

There has always been something unsettling about the way league uses the tragedy of war to sell a football game. League's PR department turns war into a heroic cliche for a week. But if league persists, the game needs an atmosphere of mutual respect which honours the memory of the slaughtered and supposed spirit between the two countries.

Eden Park is a rotten venue, but it's the best Auckland has and the game must be played there.

League is largely a ghetto in this country, and this was a rare chance to let young and old see the champion Kiwis - most of whom are based overseas - in the flesh.

Think again Australia, if you have the courage to do so.