A Politically Incorrect Story

In these dark days of rugby despair, does anyone remember 1997?

In 1997 the All Black captain was Sean Fitzpatrick, the team was pretty much the same for every match, and it had names like Christian, Zinzan, Josh and Jonah in it.

In 1997 the All Blacks were undefeated. That's right, undefeated. They played the Aussies, the Springboks, the English, the Welsh, the Irish and a few more and never lost a match.

Then something changed in New Zealand.

On the 6th of December 1997 Jenny Shipley ousted Jim Bolger and became our first woman Prime Minister.

The next day the All Blacks managed a lucky draw with England.

The next year the previously undefeated All Blacks lost every Tri Nations match. That's right, every match.

New Zealand has had a woman Prime Minister ever since.

And ever since, when it counted, the rugby has been pretty much downhill as well.

Now some people might think there was some connection between the feminisation of our society and the decline in our rugby.

I couldn' t possibly comment on that.

All I know for sure is Fitzy never cried.

He never had to.