New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

MAY 26 2018 LISTENER

W

omen’s sport took

another step forward

when New Zealand Foot-

ball reached an agreement with

the New Zealand Professional

Footballers’ Association that

includes pay parity, equal prize

money, equal rights for image

use and the same travel arrange-

ments for men’s and women’s

national teams. New Zealand

Cricket followed suit, announc-

ing that henceforth the White

Ferns will travel in business class

on long-haul lights.

It will be interesting to see

what equal prize money means

in practice. The deal is 40% of

prize money won. The prize

money on ofer at the last men’s

World Cup was $820 million;

at the last women’s World Cup

it was $21 million, although

that igure is likely to increase

dramatically given the surging

popularity of women’s football.

On the other hand, the Football

Ferns are ranked 20th in the

world, the All Whites 133rd. It’s

not just a matter of the size of

the pie; it’s also where you are in

the queue.

Women

at work

Women’s football

outshines the

men’s game.

GETTY IMAGES

T

he Hurricanes could have argued that the

27-year-old will have plenty of time to devote

to the English cause in years to come, but his

primary focus for the immediate future should be

on leading the Wellington-based franchise’s cam-

paign for a second Super Rugby title. (It would be

interesting to observe the reaction if Shields were

to be injured while on England duty and miss the

Super Rugby play-offs.)

But that was never going to happen either,

partly because in Canes country, Shields is highly

regarded – coach Chris Boyd went all in with “the

sort of person you’d be really keen for your daugh-

ter to marry” – and seen to have had a raw deal

from the All Blacks selectors.

This matter should – but almost certainly won’t

• initiate a discussion over whether it’s fair and

reasonable for one country to invest time and

money in developing a player who can, at the

drop of a hat, switch allegiance to another country

without the first one receiving finan-

cial compensation or a transfer fee.

What makes it particularly pertinent

in this instance is that the beneficiary,

England, has more than 2 million

homegrown rugby players; New

Zealand has fewer than 200,000. The

England men’s team is selected from

a pool of senior players that exceeds

ours by more than 100,000.

The Shields affair suggests the

Northern Hemisphere’s commitment

to preserving international rugby’s

integrity and status is diminishing.

Europe’s private-ownership system set

up an undeclared struggle between

club owners and national unions

for control of the game. The owners

would like rugby to adopt the football

model in which the game’s shop

window is the annual club

competitions, featuring

the best players from

around the world, and the

international component

is reduced to quadrennial

World and European Cup

tournaments.

Former England

halfback Austin Healey

suggested coach Eddie

Jones will soon pick an

England XV with “more

players born outside the

country than in it ... A

few years ago I would’ve

been uncomfort-

able with that prospect.

Now I just want Jones

to pick the best team he can.”

If it no longer matters where a

national team’s players come from,

then international

rugby is becoming a de

facto franchise competi-

tion. No doubt rugby

will continue to pretend

otherwise and merce-

naries will continue

to impersonate Easter

Island statues during the

national anthems.

And it won’t be

long before we hear

a young athlete

declare that his or her

dream is to represent

a country, as opposed

to their country. l

Plenty to celebrate:

the Football Ferns

at the Rio Olympics.

In Canes country,

Shields is seen to

have had a raw

deal from the All

Blacks selectors.