Pa-lease!

For anyone reading this post, the cause of this  ”Pa-lease” will be illuminated, but for all those yet-to-be-Rugby-Union-tragics, let me be brief… this is an intra-All-Blacks-affair, which will referenced in the following remonstrance.

Well, it really is… just pieces of fabric, but culturally, we identify more!

If you are still thinking, there is no need be racial, let me put some more images to these words, as we drop it down! Speaking in hushed tones now, you the reader, are moving into a privileged position, as you are going to view footage of the real M.I.B>

In the first clip, you are going to watch the world famous, which many imitate, but only one team can initiate, Haka… with Carl Hayman leading it…

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This clip should speak for itself… Try Time!

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I can not resist with the following video, the All Blacks decided to institute another version of the Haka, Kapo O Pango, and if my memory serves me correctly, this is its first outing… against the Bokke… Special!

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The reason why I have lead you on, what may be, memory lane, rugby style, is that recent ruminations from the Northern Hemisphere, which have centered on the “will-he-or-won’t he” future of Carl “Zarg” Hayman, who is still probably the best front-row forward in the world, and whether he will return to Aoetearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, suiting up for rugby war, with the 20-11 Rugby World Cup, being played on our them their shores, has been the talk of the town (Phew, breath!).

However, after being offered what in real terms… and in rugby terms, is a heck-of-a-lot of c-ash, Hayman has decided to take the offer from Toulon, a club team in France, and since we don’t pick players who ply their trade outside NZ’s shores for our national team, it is bye-bye to the haymaker!

You can read all about the details of his decision… HERE!

Why the Pa-lease?

For the record, while I would have liked to see Hayman back playing in New Zealand, and pushing for the national team, I can fully understand why he would want to take up the security of this offer, why the lifestyle would be speaking volumes, why shifting gears back to a New Zealand rugby style and context, would all contribute to deciding for life on the Mediterranean coast, and the winter-less north!

Therefore, there are no issues with his choice…

However, if I may be so bold to affirm that framing his decision in such a manner…

But Hayman denied that his decision to effectively put money ahead of playing for his country cheapened the All Blacks jersey in any way. It was merely a matter of him being at a stage in his life when it was time to be “selfish”.

“I’ve [given] good service to the All Black jersey, I’ve been at the coalface just about every week of my career when I was in New Zealand, playing the 80 minutes every week.

“I’ve done my bloody dash. I guess there’s a time in one’s life and one’s career when you have to be a bit selfish sometimes and think of yourself.

Say what?  This talk about selfless service for the nation of New Zealand on the rugby fields deserves some commentary.

If I may call you Carl… Carl, you do realise that what you have been doing in your time in the black jersey remains an enduring desire of most young boys-to-men in our small island nation, and not only this, but you were more than handsomely rewarded.  To insinuate that you were not thinking of your own desires at such times, and it is only now that you are beginning such a “selfish” undertaking, not only obscures the fact that you were doing exactly what you wanted in your playing years for the AB’s, and you were doing it, first and foremost, because you wanted this, and such is to be expected (We would prefer Soli Deo Gloria, but this is your home). Let no one also forget, that you were also being handsomely rewarded.  While you were a servant, you were payed a bountiful bond!  Such a perspective also plays a sort-of revisionism with the details surrounding your previous move to Newcastle, out of New Zealand, which further betrays the context of such decisions, while also affirming an incorrect biblical anthropology.

Carl, let me talk crystal and be clear, while we are very thankful and enjoyed your years, where you can committed admirable service, did we really get more out of your time in the black jersey, than you?  After all, if you had only played these internationals in your dreams, who would have really been the ones who were missing out?!

What say you O reader and rugby… head?

Yes, Carl is gone, but he is not forgotten, and as one reflects on his time in our national colours, we can reflect with joy, seeing our scrum damage all others, as Hayman remained the long arm of the front row law, setting a foundation for our front rankers of the future!

One does not begrudge you the freedom to pursue your given career, and if the hour is dark come October-November in the year 20-11, who knows whether you will be called for more self-less service on the fields of Eden!  If such a time arise, at such a moment, you can be as selfish as you want!

Always Informing, For the Always Reforming, From the Land of the Long White Cloud

Man of Spin