Opinion - How many electricians does it take to change a light bulb? Well, that depends if it's New Zealand Rugby (NZR) that needs the bulb changed.
The Black Ferns huddle in England 2021. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
You might be aware of the unhappy time Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate had on the Black Ferns' tour to Europe. The hooker had a very poor game, with lineout throwing proving a particular problem, in the team's first-up loss to England.
She was then left out of the side and, upon completion of the tour, published an emotional social media post, in which she said she had suffered a mental breakdown after alleged critical comments by Black Ferns head coach Glenn Moore.
That happens. We don't know what Moore might have said, just as we don't know how Ngata-Aerengamate interpreted those words.
What we do know is they wounded her deeply and it's right that NZR now look into the matter. Not least because the team were thrashed twice by both England and France on that trip, which hardly points to a happy camp.
Call me a simpleton, but the obvious step here is to get Ngata-Aerengamate and Moore in a room - with a legal advisor / support person alongside them if necessary - and then a member of NZR's management. Chief executive Mark Robinson would seem a likely candidate or else NZR's head professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum.
Black Fern Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate. Photo: Photosport
You cover who said what to whom, you make sure everyone's had a fair hearing and then you take whatever action is deemed necessary.
So what have NZR done? Nothing of the sort.
No, they've taken a matter between Player X and Coach Y and turned it into a three-ringed circus that promises to be wide-ranging, but not actually deal directly with the issue at hand.
An army of past and present Black Ferns have been invited to contribute to what's being called an independent review into the "culture of the team environment".
A four-person panel, which includes two NZR staffers, will assess the players' testimony, with assistance from two cultural advisors.
Surely it's not that hard. Surely this can be confined to Ngata-Aerengamate and Moore and, if the coach is found to have behaved improperly, then he should go. Does it really have to be this complicated, time-consuming and expensive?
But then, as I've written before, that's the nature of these things. Panels are convened, reports published (but rarely acted upon) and the heat is taken out of the issue.
There's no pressure on NZR to actually act here, because the frame of reference is so vague and broad. If we say this is an issue of culture, rather than say a one-off instance of bullying or abuse, then we can come out afterwards with all sorts of well-intentioned waffle about learnings and journeys, protocols and the power of the Black Ferns' jersey.
We won't actually learn what Moore might have said or try and tackle the tricky topic of men coaching women, we'll just hear how constructive this process has been and how everyone is committed to improving team culture "moving forward.".
Black Ferns coach Glenn Moore. Photo: Photosport
And do you know why? Because these things never actually address the real problems but, more importantly in this instance, NZR are about to give the Black Ferns' players a great big bunch of cash.
Thirty players are to become full time professionals, with Moore having already been part of the process to decide who, and do you really reckon they're going to give NZR a full and frank appraisal of the man's character and performance?
We've seen this already with women's rugby. A handful of players, who were all amateur at the time, used to be quite vociferous about their dissatisfaction with NZR and their support of the female game.
And do you know what NZR did? They put sevens players on part time contracts and those unflattering comments quickly disappeared.
We don't know the specifics of Moore's alleged comments to Ngata-Aerengamate. But we do know that the way male coaches are used to treating male players doesn't always work with female ones.
It's not that these coaches are poor blokes or insensitive, more that governing bodies have potentially put them into situations where they will unfortunately fail.
Would we need less cultural reviews if we had female coaches running female teams? The honest answer is probably.
Rather than continually going through the charade of conducting cultural reviews, sports organisations might be better off hiring staff who might better reflect or support the team culture.
Sadly, the common denominator in all of these instances seems to be a male coach who's abused his position of authority in some way. Until we fix that, it's hard to see how much will change in any of these sports.
I wish the Black Ferns all the best here. I hope they can enjoy representing New Zealand and achieve success both on and off the field.
I hope the experience enriches them in every way and that, when their playing days are done, they help the next generations of female players love rugby just as much as they have.
I just don't reckon a cultural review will do much to achieve that.
