Keith Quinn has got himself into hot water recently for having the audacity to tell kiwi blokes to harden up. Harden up! You can’t say that in 2020. Sam Cane is also in hot water for having the absolute hide to tell kiwis they don’t understand the game. Imagine that! How dare he insult us by saying we don’t understand the game. Two rugby greats one a captain, one a commentator. I am on the side of both of them.
Let’s take Keith for starters. I worked with the man and a finer person you couldn’t hope to meet. A great family man and a really good bloke. I’d go so far as to say salt of the earth type. Keith, like anyone else, is entitled to an opinion. He expressed it. Keith is the same age as I am. Our generation were brought up with a certain mental toughness which I find lacking in a lot of today’s young. We got caned at school, might have hurt at the time but benefited us in the long term. The lesson was you might transgress once but not twice.
In Keith’s and my day the growing up process was pretty much just get on with it. You learnt to cope with the cards you were dealt. The burgeoning array of counselling services that are available now were not so much in evidence in the ’50s and ’60s. It is interesting to note that in those years suicide was more prevalent in the older age groups whereas now the opposite is the case. Our generation is probably the last to identify with the British stiff upper lip and the attitude of just getting on with it. I personally don’t believe that all the counselling available now is necessarily a help to the psyche or the mental toughness required in today’s world.
Keith was reflecting back to the days of Pinetree Meads. The last place you would have found him was in the presence of a counsellor of any description. In those days he left the farm in Te Kuiti in the morning, drove to Eden Park, played the test and drove back home. How different it is today. I think Keith might have missed the point somewhat, certainly in the Pumas case, that the historic moment was the reason for grown men crying. After all, they are an emotional race. On reflection, I’m sure Keith sees that. He has even been big enough to admit it.
Sam Cane criticised some who he described as “brutal” fans referencing their comments after the Pumas game. He made the perfectly reasonable comment that they may know the game from what they see in the 80 minutes, but they don’t see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. He’s right, they don’t. But immediately, as with Keith, out come all the rabbits from their little social media burrows, blurting out their preciousness saying that they know more than Sam, that he’s not much of a captain etc, etc.
Like Keith, Sam is entitled to put his point of view, one I happen to agree with. I’m not happy with the team or the coach at the moment either. The point is that, in being so quick to criticise, the social media brigade completely missed the point of Sam’s comment. It’s very easy, with the immediacy of social media, to react without thinking a person’s comments through or the context in which they might have made them. I think that a little consideration of the comments made would lead to a better all round discussion.
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