Thirty four years ago the right insisted that we should keep politics out of sport and this as the justification for the then National Government overriding advice and agreeing to allow the Springboks to tour New Zealand even though this breached the Gleneagles agreement and caused a major international incident. I disagreed with the decision at the time because New Zealand was involved in sport with Apartheid South Africa and playing rugby with that nation meant that black South Africans were denigrated and lost their rights.
But Ad’s recent post struck a chord with readers of this blog and I agree with the premise of his argument. We should keep politics out of sport as much as we can and just enjoy sport for its inherent quality.
The current Government has politicised Rugby to an obscene level. Three way handshakes, Rugby News John Key covers during election periods and continuous John Key photo opportunities have really annoyed.
In my view from now on no politician (including you John Key) should ever seek political advantage from the All Blacks, especially after a test match. I like Rugby. I do not want to not like it because politicians get photo opportunities.
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