In 1968 I was training in Wellington with Pru Chapman. Pru was preparing to represent New Zealand in the Mexico City Olympic Games. The morning the team was announced some high-powered official was quoted in the Dominion newspaper as saying, “No woman should be selected for the Olympic team if a good man was available.” Horrifying, I know, but that’s the way it was back then.

Do I hear some say, “We’ve come a long way since then.”

But have we? Not when you read the insulting tweet published on the All Blacks’ Twitter account, we haven’t. Their tweet to mark International Women’s Day said, “Forever grateful to all the women in our lives that allow us to play the game we love. Partners, mothers, daughters, doctors, physios, referees, administrators and fans. Appreciate you every day.”    

The message was accompanied by a photo of All Black, Sevu Reece, who pleaded guilty to assaulting his female partner in 2018. Reece was discharged without conviction after a judge ruled there were mitigating factors in the case.

Apart from the morons who work for the New Zealand Rugby Union I do hope there are few of us who are not disgusted by the bigotry and blind chauvinism of that message. But for those who think the message is fine, here is the problem.

• Discharged or not, when Sevu Reece pleaded guilty to beating up his girlfriend, he lost the right appear on a website congratulating women about anything. For New Zealand Rugby to select him as their poster-boy for the occasion is beyond belief. Except, yes, that is exactly what the All Blacks did.
• The All Blacks’ post also included a photo of halfback Aaron Smith and his partner. In 2016 the All Blacks suspended Smith for one game and he made the decision to travel home from South Africa, after witnesses saw him entering a public toilet with a woman at Christchurch Airport. The association of that incident with International Women’s Day is bizarre. New Zealand Rugby clearly have a neanderthal view of what events merit celebration of the female gender.  
• The tweet says, “Forever grateful to all the women in our lives that allow us to play.” The implication is clear. As far as New Zealand Rugby is concerned women’s value is confined to providing dinner, medical support and backroom secretarial assistance. That attitude is far too close to “no woman should be selected” for my liking. I’d love to hear Rugby’s explanation of how their tweet is any different from the, “a women’s place is in the home” message.
• The tweet makes no mention of women who play the game, often with a record better than the men’s team. For example, there was no mention of the Black Ferns, who have won the Women’s Rugby World Cup a record five times, or the women’s sevens team who won silver in Rio, while the men were fifth or the women who won gold in Tokyo, while the men were second. International Women’s Day is about many things. One is to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the gender. I would have thought the record of women’s rugby deserved a mention. Not if you work for New Zealand Rugby it seems.
• A Stuff report on these events concludes by saying, “Several Black Ferns were contacted by Stuff on Wednesday but did not want to comment.” Sadly, the Black Fern players missed an opportunity. Bad people get away with bad things when good people do nothing. Every player should have taken the Rugby Union to task. Women’s sport progresses not only by how well you play, but also by how well you demand male chauvinists recognise your equality. On International Women’s Day that is a right you should have demanded.

On the 13 August 1979 Alison and I drove into Zurich, Switzerland. Alison had been invited to compete in the Zurich International Meet. The meet promoter was in the reception area of our hotel to assist with the booking in process. I will always remember the thrill I felt when he introduced me to the receptionist as Mr. Alison Wright. The performer had been given due status. Male and female were secondary to performance. Recognition had been made where it was due. Women’s sport had moved for the better.

The New Zealand Rugby Union could have joined that progress yesterday. But they didn’t. Instead, they joined decades of grey men in grey suits who have no problem allocating Woodman, Holmes, Love and a dozen others to the role of washing men’s footy jerseys. Not good.