KEY POINTS:
So here we are again, staring at yet another errant All Black - this time Jimmy Cowan's drinking problems and subsequent brushes with the law. It all seems to punch a rather large hole in the oft-related maxim of this All Black regime that "better people make better
players".
Let's be clear about one thing - the New Zealand Rugby Union have done the right thing in sticking by Cowan when it comes to alcohol problems. There may be questions as to whether such an approach is effective but those who howled for Cowan's head might do well to consider that it is far better to err on the side of compassion.
It is not clear whether Cowan is an alcoholic - only that he has problems when drinking. If he is an alcoholic, the NZRU's "stop drinking" edict will be about as effective as telling a campylobacter sufferer to stop vomiting after eating a duff chook. The inability to comply is about the same.
Those of us of a cynical bent also point to the fact that we have about as many international-class halfbacks right now as petrol stations selling gas for less than $2 a litre.
Byron Kelleher's gone, Piri Weepu has been sent to Coventry (otherwise known as the New Zealand Maori) and seems to have sorely miffed the current selection panel, Brendon Leonard is injured. It is a halfback dearth the likes of which New Zealand rugby has rarely seen.
So you get the feeling that to be omitted from this All Black squad, Cowan would have had to assassinate the Pope and/or tell the Queen that she might be a good sheila but that dopey Greek bloke should be pulled backwards through a sheep dip back in Mataura.
The threat that Cowan is gone if he transgresses again is also largely self-defeating. If he does have a problem with drink, Cowan needs the comfort, security and peer pressure of the All Blacks - not to be suddenly ejected from it.
It's good the NZRU is approaching this, as many companies do in the real world, on the basis a valued employee is worth investing time and effort in - and that's even acknowledging that Cowan will likely be out anyway when Leonard is restored to full health and even accepting the tinge of convenience.
But the list of All Blacks in various brushes with the law is growing alarmingly larger and quickly - for example, Rodney So'oialo and his benefit fraud of 2002; Sione Lauaki has had diversion; Sitiveni Sivivatu was discharged without conviction after being charged with assaulting his wife; Doug Howlett had his celebrated Dancing With The Cars appearance; Ma'a Nonu has had diversion twice; Andrew Hore had diversion after he infamously shot a protected seal; and Jerome Kaino is before the courts, charged with drink driving.
It's not a very pretty list. And that's just the current All Blacks.
Professional rugby has a bit to answer for in this regard, I believe, and will continue to promote poor off-the-field behaviour. Why? Because, with its emphasis on control, discipline and generally anti-alcohol stance, professional rugby is attempting to put a lid on a tornado.
Young men play sport because they enjoy it. They also play sport because they like the rewards - the money, the celebrations, the girls, some like the drinking ...
Sports stars have a kind of unwritten contract with their clubs, nations and fans; to be at their best when they play - not recovering from the effects of cocaine, vodka or Energiser bunny nights.
Most live up to that obligation. But what we are talking about is essentially contrary to human nature. Any sportsperson wants a 'breakout' when the hard work is over. Don't believe me? Stand close to international rowers, those most abstemious of sportspeople, when they've finished. Just not too close.
Professional sport has firmly closed the door on what was already - even in the amateur days - a rigid All Black environment.
In one All Black tour of Argentina, the touring media set off on a day trip to Iguazu Falls, the towering torrent of water on the border between Brazil and Argentina. It was a memorable day with nature's power making things like rugby seem insignificant in the extreme.
We invited those All Blacks not involved in the next game to come with us. They did, including Wellington lock Murray Pierce.
He later proclaimed the day the best he'd ever spent as an All Black. This silenced we media. Yes, it had been a good day - but what did that say about the rest of All Black life - and its constant grind of play, training, bus, fans, sponsors, videos in the room, play, training, bus, etc?
This was 10 years or so before professional rugby and the strictures in place now. The All Blacks have far less meaningful contact with media or fans or the outside world other than sponsor obligations and the like.
They exist in even more of a cocooned environment than before. Small wonder, then, they are prone to the odd bout of craziness in the night. That does not excuse wrongdoers, of course, but it does shed light on why so many of our top sportsmen in our top sport end up in the justice system and why it will not be stopping any time soon, in spite of the best efforts of the "better people make better players" brigade.
Stopping? Getting worse, more likely.
