KEY POINTS:
Leave it to the NZRU to end a relatively good rugby year with the bewildering decision to axe the NZ Maori.
Interestingly, few media commentators have cracked down on this piece of chicanery. Most reviews have leaned towards a slow, wise, nodding of the head and pontifications that the NZRU have got their priorities right in these difficult financial times. Yada, yada, yada; blah, blah, blah.
Let's be clear about what has happened here. The NZRU completely botched efforts to trim their national provincial rugby competition so that it provided better rugby, was more attractive to crowds and TV audiences, and so it could be run at a realistic financial level.
The NZRU has now twice been moved to attempt the restructuring of what is now the Air New Zealand Cup. Twice it has been defeated by its own manoeuvrings - and the perception is that the latest efforts foundered on the shores of an inept review and/or the threat of legal action by at least one union that seemed far better organised than the parent body trying to saw through the branch that supported them.
Never mind the reality, that's the perception. The reality is that, to pay for this magnificent piece of non-leadership, the NZRU have cut their cloth. So the brown blokes got it in the same place where Marie Antoinette didn't need to apply the anti-wrinkle cream any more. The Maori were guillotined to pay for the Air NZ Cup in all its boring, sleep-inducing, crowd-repelling glory.
We're all for prudence and careful management but the NZRU have close to $80 million in the bank, even if they are budgeting for a loss in 2009. It wouldn't take much of that to keep the Maori going - at least until sponsorship could be found.
The NZRU board is copping most of the blame for this and maybe they deserve it - but it must also be said that it is difficult to ratify a flawed recommendation. You can put chocolate icing on it, stick a candle in it and sing happy birthday but a dog turd will still be a dog turd.
The saying of Peter Drucker, the management guru comes to mind: Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right thing.
So why turn on the Maori? We are not talking about the Footrot Flats Over-45 Tankards XV. This is the Maori. Anyone who thinks that they have not played a key role in the development of New Zealand rugby are, at best, deluded and, at worst, hallucinating.
The Junior All Blacks have survived. The who? Precisely. They aren't Juniors, most of them, and they aren't All Blacks either. Public interest in the JABs is about as high as Mini-Me's waistline.
Think about a tour of Britain & Ireland by the Junior All Blacks. Who'd get up in the middle of the night to watch that? A few anoraks and a couple of sleepless, puzzled old ladies who thought they might get to see that nice Dan Carter.
Now think about the Maori touring the same place. Ah, colour, drama, a hint of mystery and the fascination of seeing whether the Maori could topple Ireland, Scotland, Wales or even England.
Neither will happen. The JABs are all about "pathways" for potential All Blacks and thus they have no international dimension to speak of; the Maori simply do not command the international clout (in other words, money) in the modern era.
But, even these days, it's not all about money. The NZRU have been proudly sitting atop a game losing its appeal steadily and regularly.
So kicking the Maori into a hangi pit may not be the smartest strategy. Hmmm, we are losing audiences and appeal. I know! Let's axe one of the teams that people love to watch; which connects us with our glorious past and is one of the iconic features of New Zealand rugby. That'll do it.
The NZRU are more than just managers and financial planners. They are supposed to be guardians of the game.
The Maori provide an emotional upsurge, a sense of patriotism and entertainment and, even if modern rugby doesn't allow them to express themselves in festival rugby as they used to, they still bring a fierce commitment and something of the old warrior culture onto the rugby field - compelling stuff.
Then there's the hypocrisy. Before every All Black test, there's the haka, which, we are told, is an expression of the All Blacks' soul. We also sing our national anthem in Maori.
So let's use the emotional, iconic bits of maoritanga to boost receipts. But it's a shame about the Maori team and the "pathway" for Maori players. Bad luck, chaps. Here's a few blankets and beads and a map to the dole office.
Some apologists for the NZRU stance on this have used the hoary old "reverse apartheid" argument that the Maori are selected on racial grounds and that this has no place in a modern meritocracy.
Pure humbug, usually written by scribes from places where their provincial team was in danger of being dropped by the Air NZ Cup.
Of course the Maori are selected on racial grounds. That's the whole point.
These are times when there should be more rugby for the Maori, not less. Or none.
Neither Tasman nor Northland, bless, are going to restore interest in the national game. But the Maori could help provide some much-needed entertainment and colour - you know, win hearts and minds...
