CathNews New Zealand

I have just read a headline in the New Zealand Herald (6 June 2014) in which All Black coach Steve Hansen describes Jerome Kaino as “a caged animal” who will be doing all that he can to prove that he is at home among the big beasts of the international game.The names given to men’s rugby and league teams both fascinate and  horrify   me – Lions, Bulldogs, Sharks, Cheetahs, Tigers,   Kangaroos. If these are not the names of predatory animals then they are names that conjure up violent images, either man or nature-generated, for example, Crusaders, Chiefs, Hurricanes and so on.

I wonder if a harmless nomenclature like the “Blues” explains the relative lack of success enjoyed by Kirwan’s men.

I have been trying to think of a suitably violent animal to suggest to Sir John but all suitable names seem used up.

The violence that the codes of both games tolerates both on and off the fields is frankly appalling.

Spear tackling which I understand is illegal in rugby can lead to permanently disabling injuries.

No one seemed too concerned apart from Brian O’Driscoll when All Black Tama Umanga spear-tackled the Irishman in 2005 thereby ensuring he could no longer play in the Lion’s tour of the country that year.

Umanga branded O’Driscoll as a “sook” in his biography and berated the media for criticising his violent action. The two men were reconciled some four years later.

There has been more than one incident this year of spectator or player attacks on referees.

A minority of rugby and league players seem to have few qualms about beating up their partners.

And apparently the All Blacks have iconic value for all New Zealanders.

The odd visit to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland does not disguise the fact that players are committed to a violent game. Continue reading.

Susan Smith, a Catholic Sister, has worked as a secondary school teacher in her congregation’s schools in New Zealand and in congregational formation programmes in Bangladesh, Philippines, and Myanmar.Source: Vaughan Park
Image: RTE