Mike Hosking: North Harbour rugby union will live to regret dumping junior rep programme

COMMENT: In a World Cup year, in the country that produces one of the greatest sporting sides and brands in the world, North Harbour Rugby has fallen into the modern (and increasingly frequent) trap of giving up on tradition, experience, and success - and opting for the partly fashionable and politically correct approach to physical activity.

They are focusing on participation at the expense of excellence. They have cancelled their junior rep programme, and they've stopped their end of season club rep tournament, which is a tournament for the region's best players.

But the word "best," of course, is an ugly word, for it separates out those who are good, and those who are not so good. It isolates quality and skill, thus perhaps indicating to others that their quality and skill isn't quite as good. And why on earth would we want to dabble in that particular practise, when it almost inevitably is going to lead to someone bursting into tears?

Now, having dispensed with representative sport, they are introducing rugby development experiences. And those experiences will be available to every one, because participation is everything, and winning isn't.

So the question is, if your kid's good at rugby just where is it they're going to go to get developed? Where are the opportunities to excel, improve, and show potential?

And if they're not available locally, then how much upheaval and inconvenience is required on behalf of parents, and kids, to find someone, somewhere who actually wants to bring out the best in the athlete?

And as those kids vanish from the programme what is North Harbour, and any other region, that wants to adopt the 'hold hands, Kumbaya' approach going to end up with? A picnic with a ball being tossed around? A fun day out?

That is fine if you want a fun day out, but here's what I know about kids, and what I've learned by being at least somewhat involved in various sports at various levels, kids like to win. It's innate, not every kid, of course, but most of them.

Sport is actually a competition, and competitions require winners. And sport is like life, it requires skills, dedication, and determination. And those attributes lead to some people being better at certain things than others.

And the reward for being better is that you get an outlet in which to excel to your limit. That might be a job, a challenge, or a recreational pursuit. And we like to watch this, that's why we turn out for the All Blacks, Liverpool, the New England Patriots, and the Olympics.

Contests are part of the fabric of life, societies, communities, and the human condition.

Success brings satisfaction and reward. It signifies achievement and attainment. Success leads to more success. Most of us - and sport is the quintessential example - like to be tested, pushed and challenged.

It's at the very core of who we are, it's why there are records, medals, ribbons, cups, prizes, slaps on the back, and (later in life) rounds bought at pubs.

In the pursuit of an approach that corrupts all of that, North Harbour Rugby make the mistake of falling for a niche flight of fancy - that they will live to regret.