Chris Rattue: Spare the patriotic prattle

So much egg. Such little face. Fresh from issuing a sort of "Your Country Needs You" poster to the masses, the New Zealand Rugby Union is dealing with an All Black trooper - Norm Maxwell - who wants to quit his post early for the delights of Japan.

Rattue will happily confess that it didn't turn all Home Guard and march around with a broom-handle rifle hunting down scalpers at the NZRU and Graham Henry's behest.

The dire warnings out of Rugby Central, about grounds full of British fans, sounded more like scaremongering to support the scalper-busting activities against the rank and file. It's never a good look, harassing the general public.

Henry's plea to keep vast divisions of the invading Barmy Army out of our test grounds fell on deaf ears in these quarters

Roll out the welcome mat, I say. Grounds full of British fans will make them a lot more interesting than usual.

Your typical test crowd in this country has trouble mustering a decent "Black, Black, Black" these days.

And it will be a good skill-set for the All Blacks to go through in preparation for the next World Cup in Europe.

The major point though is this. The NZRU is in no position to preach about individuals selling to the highest bidder when it is running a money-dominated system built on the same premise, which prices tickets out of the reach of normal folk.

And who does a lot of this ticket money go to? The players, of course, who cash in while the going is good and then quit for overseas when their international careers wane, leaving the public to fund the next wave of Super 12 players.

Fair enough. They're entitled to do it. But spare us the patriotic prattle, please. If it's good enough for the players to prosper in the world market, well it's good enough for the spectators.

Which brings us to Norm Maxwell, who failed to read or heed Henry's call to arms. Hey, the Barmy Army might not be ours, but at least they want to be here.

The 29-year-old Maxwell, it seems, wants a release that would take him out of contention for the Lions series. He certainly hasn't denied this is his intention.

Maxwell's situation sums up beautifully the hypocrisy of the NZRU's bugle call and reveals again that the All Black legend is a modern-day myth.

Can you imagine Colin Meads, who at tops got paid a bit of loose change, crying off from a major test series? While the NZRU has been playing all sorts of computer games hunting down the scalpers, one of our few test class locks was also selling himself off and wants a bit of R and R before he goes. Oh the irony.

Like many people, I've had a special admiration for the good-natured and wholehearted Maxwell. But he needed to make the decision about his future before this season. If he wanted out, it may even have made him ineligible for the Super 12, which has been constructed largely to produce All Blacks. Alternative plans could then have been made.

If he puts in a request for a release, there is a very simple word the scalper-bashing, rule-monitoring NZRU can use in reply. NO. The Barmy Army of course won't lack for enthusiasm.

We fortunately can contemplate a good-natured meeting of opposing fans this year, unlike the disasters that go on in world football.

A BBC radio documentary this week again exposed the soccer violence that still permeates the game in Europe. Soccer brings out the worst people. As to why, there may be anthropologists or psychologists who could enlighten us on this mystery.

The BBC report revealed that while there is less violence in stadiums, there is still plenty outside, much of it organised. The police still use informants and undercover operations to deal with these violent hoodlums. The Beeb interviewed an Italian named Carlo, a lawyer in his mid-30s, who travels from Milan to the notorious Millwall club for his dose of weekend fights. "Inside the stadiums it has been removed but not outside," this inhuman being gloated. "The violence still goes on if you know where to look."

We are so lucky with crowd behaviour in this country, and should pat ourselves on the back. Long may it remain. The greatest dangers here are the sporadic outbursts at low-level sports events. It would not, for instance, have been wise to stray on to a Hastings field this week where two women's teams were flinging a lot more than their handbags about.

But we should celebrate the spirit of goodwill that largely exists at our major stadiums. For anyone who has witnessed the security, tensions and taunts of European football, it remains a special pleasure to experience the relaxed atmosphere at our grounds.

The NZRU, and others, might struggle with this concept, but a mass of British fans will not only bring a once-in-a-lifetime atmosphere to our test grounds, they might even bring out the best in our crowds.

The sound of grounds packed with British fans in full voice would not be the only thing that is deafening. It will also mean those who sold their tickets to the highest bidders have made a point, loud and clear.