The All Blacks should give up

The All Blacks keep winning everything and it is incredibly bad for the game.

Compare it to Fiji with the Sevens, in which a tiny and grossly underfunded side like Fiji just pulls everyones pants down and runs

away with all the cups and all the gold medals. They are heroes of the game. Sure they train hard like all the rest, but there’s so much less

patriotic freight attached, so little mythos.

Fiji have signaled to the world that this game of Sevens Rugby is for the whole world – and they are conquering hearts and minds as they go.

Fiji are inspiring to all the little tinpot and poor countries that they can real take on the world and be proud and the world will be proud right back at them.

The All Blacks are part of the world Rugby problem. They are held back being our national team. They hold New Zealand back because they

provide us with the false belief that we are famous and world-conquering in something meaningful. We are not.

The game is growing globally – that’s to be supported. But let’s be honest that growth is surprisingly slow. You can see what it could be

with the Football World Cup on right now – a true display of meritocracy between nations involving no guns and very little

diplomacy. Football is the world’s most celebrated art form.

Rugby has had a century to grow and compete against Football. instead, Rugby in its full-game form is the smaller, poorer, more injury-prone

form of Gridiron, or if you prefer, the slower and more turgid form of League.

The All Blacks have made the idea of Rugby boring.

Here’s a test: today Ireland is celebrating in the streets after a great series win agains the Wallabies. Pop out your New Zealand front

door this morning and see how many gave a damn about a clean swap against France. It’s National Meh Day.

The All Blacks have also not been harnessed by the state to be the powerful diplomats that they could be. Sure, they sign a few shirts

and do a few speeches. But if they were going to do real and powerful good for the country they would either have listed on the share market

by now, or they would have been pulled into being a major department of MFAT. They are neither.

They are instead simply a plaything of broadcasting companies.

The All Blacks need to be released from New Zealand. They should become the Harlem Globetrotters of Rugby, rather than being tied to us

here. Go out and show the world the magic of their style, unrestrained.

For the good of the game, and the good of New Zealand, the All Blacks should give up being New Zealanders. They should be hired full time by

world Rugby to be ambassadors to the greatness and growth of the game.

Set the All Blacks free.