I was reading an interview with Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury last week.  Essentially he pooh-poohed the line from the movie Love Story, when Ryan O’Neal’s character says “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”.
Bradbury roared: “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.  Love means saying you’re sorry every day for some little thing or other.  You make a mistake.  I forgot the lightbulbs.  I didn’t bring this from the store and I’m sorry.  So being able to accept responsibility, but above all having a sense of humour.”
The sense of responsibility (decades late), missing the sense of humour, pervaded the NZRFU’s belated apology to Maori who missed out on All Black jerseys because of South Africa’s apartheid policy.  Notwithstanding that the apology was clearly a PR exercise, it gave the news media something to blather on about on a quiet day.
Luckily, the sense of humour was provided by the usually humour-free zone that is the far left.  Halt All Racist Tours spokesman Laurie Harrison immediately demanded the Poverty Bay Rugby Union apologise for hosting the 1981 Springboks.  Then some pinko from Dunedin said in an online column “I think the NZRU should recognise the righteousness of the anti-tour cause and apologise for the behaviour of fans”.
Brilliant.  While they’re at it, could they also apologise for letting Glenn Moore and Peter Russell coach the Highlanders this year, for leaving Duane Monkley out of the All Blacks for being too small, for all the deaths caused by rugby players running round drunk with axes on Saturday nights, for not helping Jan Molenaar channel his negative energy by playing for Napier Old Boys Marist. Where does it end?
What good is an apology for something that happened so long ago?  One can understand the importance of an apology at the time something happened, particularly if that happening is going to lead one towards the District Court.
Apologies do not make a bit of difference to players who missed out.  It doesn’t replace the tour missed.
By all means apologise if it offers a PR opportunity or it makes you feel better.  But we spend too much time apologizing.  We spend far too much time looking back at past wrongs, which, in the greater scheme of New Zealand, aren’t really relevant.
With all due respect to Maori who missed out on All Blacks tours to South Africa, I’d like to apologise to all those people from overseas who wonder why we’re such a bitter, backward-looking country.
Now get over it New Zealand, and harden the **** up.
Hooray!  The Super 14 is over.  OK, so the six-fingered banjo players from Christchurch are still involved, but they won’t be for much longer.  Has there been a more turgid competition on television ever?
Having the whole she-bang run by the People’s Republic of the New Zealand Rugby Union isn’t working.  It’s time to make the franchises independent, under private ownership.  Nah, just kidding.  We know how successful private sports franchises are in New Zealand.
Not content with shagging around with Super 14 franchises, the fish heads at NZRFU HQ have agreed to having Argentina included in the Tri-Nations.  Was South Africa not a time zone too far?  Did you not realize we have a pretty handy bunch of players up in the Pacific Islands?
Hell, sounds like it might be time for a few more apologies from the big black box on the Quay.