Opinion - It is hard to see how NZRPA have anyone's interests at heart but their own, let alone to accept the idea that they are more expert in negotiating deals and running the game than NZR.
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Don't know about you, but when I'm looking to buy or sell a house, I look to the expertise of a real estate agent.
Same with my car. If some light on the dashboard keeps coming on or - heaven forbid - the vehicle actually grinds to a halt, then I rely on my mechanic to fix it.
When I want a good cut of meat for the barbecue, where do I go? Not the local plumbing supplier, that's for sure.
I stand to be corrected, but I'm not aware of any current All Blacks who are also running multi-million dollar companies and employing hundreds of staff. If these same players have experience negotiating broadcasting rights deals and sponsorships and venue leases and the like, then I'm yet to see that either.
In my time being involved in grassroots rugby, I don't recall seeing any current All Blacks on club committees or appointing rep coaches or doing draws or volunteering for Saturday's sausage sizzle.
Again, forgive me if I'm wrong, but in my experience, I've rarely seen an All Black looking after anybody but himself.
I'm past caring about whether New Zealand Rugby's (NZR) proposed private equity deal with American investment company Silver Lake is a good one. Just as my eyes glazed over when the New Zealand Rugby Players' Association (NZRPA) released details of their own revenue-generating plan last week.
People watch and play and enjoy rugby for various reasons, but listening to boardroom blowhards isn't among them. Fans love the game, not arguments about how already-rich people plan to divide up the spoils.
New Zealand Rugby are far from the perfect organisation.
If I had a dollar for every time I'd had a go at them, then maybe I'd have enough money to get my round in at the pub. Assuming $50 or $60 will cover the cost of a handful of pints.
But, whatever you think of NZR, they do possess a fair bit of institutional knowledge. They have run rugby relatively successfully in this country for well over a hundred years, from nurturing the junior base, to turning out an All Blacks team that's often the envy of rugby fans everywhere else.
Are they sometimes slow off the mark? Sure. But their efforts around concussion prevention and gender equality and mental health - to name but three issues - put plenty of other governing bodies in the shade.
Do I think that the folk running our 26 provincial rugby unions are the most competent people in the world? Probably not.
But, heck, you don't ascend to those levels without having contributed strongly to junior and schools and club rugby first.
New Zealand Rugby Players Association president, former All Black World Cup winning captain and Forsyth Barr chair, David Kirk. Photo: Photosport
The whole debate - if you can call it that - between NZR and the NZRPA around funding models comes down to expertise.
The NZRPA's position is that they have it and NZR don't.
But not only are our leading players smarter and more business savvy and better able to see into the future than their employers, they also care more about the game too.
That is the nuts and bolts of this whole thing.
That the NZRPA are the smartest folk in the room and that their counterparts from NZR are dullards, who will willfully send the game into oblivion.
With the greatest of respect to the NZRPA, it's hard to see how they have anyone's interests at heart but their own. Let alone accept the proposition that they are more expert in negotiating deals and running the game than NZR are.
If I want advice on getting paid more money for doing less work, then the NZRPA are my guys. If I'm ever after a contract that affords me a paid holiday in another country, then I know the NZRPA will get that over the line.
But if it's new tackle bags we need down at the club or jerseys or water bottles or hoodies or even new beer mats for the bar, I know the NZRPA will be nowhere to be seen.
I know that, for as long as they're All Blacks, they'll be paid wages the rest of us can only dream of but that, as soon as they've had enough, they'll go and sign a lucrative deal overseas.
No doubt that helps them and their family, but it's hard to see how that aligns with the enormous care they profess to have for the overall health of the game.
The NZRPA are happy to roll out Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith and Kieran Read to express their disquiet about the proposed Silver Lake deal and the damage it could do to the game in New Zealand; never mind the wealth and privilege NZR have helped bestow upon them.
Like I said, I'm well past caring whether this Silver Lake idea is a good one.
All I can say with certainty is that none of us should assume the players are any more expert in these matters than we are.
