Monday, June 01, 2020

WHEN you're disproportionately represented in all the wrong statistics it's little wonder that there's civil unrest in the United States. 
That's why a combination of institutional racism, the huge death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic, a leader who lacks empathy and a police force that can't seemingly differentiate between white and black or right and wrong then it's little wonder society splinters in a catastrophic way.
And it won't change unless there is a seismic shift in attitudes. But will it change? Probably not given the ugliness that's evident.
"Being black in America should not be a death sentence" was a quote given plenty of prominence on social media platforms. 
It's a foreign concept for many in New Zealand (although some might dispute that) but we must not turn a blind eye or a tin ear to what's going on.
That means the rise of an under-class emerging, and growing, in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
You can't ignore that fact.
Mass unemployment, sub-standard health care and education, the widening of the gap when it comes to the "haves" as opposed to the "have nots" along with a lack of hope will contribute to a volatile society.
The argument that protest and the aggravation that goes with it won't happen here is fanciful.


* OF the many sporting yarns that did the rounds during the lock-down there was one that made me shudder.
When it was suggested that college rugby could be shelved a story emerged that several 1st XV players, obviously with big wraps on themselves, were contemplating returning to school next year just to play footy so that they'd "be seen".
I assume they mean seen by "agents" or the inaccurately labelled "talent spotters".
If anything was to sum up the "nonsensical fascination" we've seen with the modern-day product that is "elite" college rugby then this was it.
Unfortunately many college players, where the "ego to talent ratio isn't in sync", see themselves as superstars but can't cope when, predictably, they miss the representative cut.
You would think that playing club rugby would compensate. 
But no. 
Many of these players believe that turning out for a club (they're the outfits that the game for all New Zealand is built on) is beneath them and the ones that do rock up at a club have a supercilious, sneering attitude.
Playing for "your" club should be "aspirational" but unfortunately that quality seems to be lost on many of the "younger" players.
As an aside it might also help them if they took a "hands up (i.e I'm happy to learn and contribute) rather than a hands out (i.e. What can I get?) " attitude when considering their careers.
Mind you some rugby clubs don't help themselves by pandering to (aka paying) players or enticing them away from rival clubs. 
That's a slippery financial slope and given the current economic crisis it would seem those clubs will be, and should be, exposed.