Sports After Dark

Tasman Makos’ forward Tristan Moran has weighed in on the deepening crisis at Tasman, providing a player’s insight into the troubled marriage between Marlborough and Nelson Bays.

Over the last three years we have all seen the highs and recognised the lows and problems of Tasman rugby. I understand and acknowledge where the people who are against Tasman rugby are coming from, but I think they misunderstand the reality that Marlborough rugby will be facing in the Heartland competition.

Kiss goodbye to fringe Crusaders like Kade Poki and Kahn Fotuali’i as well as any up and coming players who have Super 14 or All Black asparations. Also kiss goodbye to the revenue the Makos have generated as two Heartland teams won’t even come close.

It will be a sub-standard competition which all of the current top players and all players with aspirations to play at the top level will have little option but to leave. We will be left with a world-class park with no one to fill it. The players are fully aware of the problems and difficulties that the Tasman union have been facing and are only wanting to work together with the Marlborough union to fix them.

We, the Tasman rugby players believe that the way forward for the greater good of both Marlborough and Nelson rugby is for the Tasman Makos to survive. We need to build the relationship back up for Tasman to work, otherwise the proud history of Marlborough rugby will be lost forever into the doldrums of Heartland.

The Air New Zealand Cup hasn’t exactly set the rugby world on fire, and the Heartland Championship is another couple of steps down the ladder of skill and intensity.

We agree that it is not the place of the players to be in the role of financial decision-making, however we do feel that we are part of a team effort in this current situation and that by sitting down at the table with all those involved we have a greater chance of finding a solution.

Surely the players should have some say, especially since without them there would be no team. The decisions should be made in the boardroom, but at least listen to what the players have to say.

Some players from Nelson club rugby said they would come and play in Marlborough to help boost Marlborough club rugby. It seems disturbing that a minor group of narrow-minded people with such a negative outlook can have all the say.

Yikes! Talk about putting the boot in!

It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to see our once proud union on the news undermining and damaging the future of young up-and-coming rugby players by taking away Tasman rugby. They have not once asked the rugby players of Marlborough what their thoughts are. Instead it seems they go off on personal agendas.

There have always been rumours about a faction with Marlborough rugby who wanted nothing to do with the Tasman joint venture with Nelson Bays, this seems to confirm it. A small group of people seem to be intent on destroying a promising team in the Air New Zealand Cup for the sake of the “purity” of Marlborough rugby.

Kade Poki, Joe Wheeler, Quentin MacDonald and myself as players of Marlborough rugby clubs and as players of the Tasman representative team, requested to speak to the Marlborough board at their meeting on September 30 — on the sub-union remaining part of the Tasman Rugby Union – to give our views on the future of Marlborough rugby.

These are players who play their club rugby in Marlborough and play for Tasman, surely they can provide an interesting perspective to the board.

This was denied by Craig Morris, who said it was not appropriate. I believe there should be a special general meeting of the Marlborough sub-union open to the public and all Marlborough rugby stakeholders to discuss and have their say on the matter.

Denied? Why? How is this “not appropriate”? Once again lending credibility to the rumour that there is a small group who have already made up their mind to pull out of the Tasman Rugby Union, no matter what the cost. And why am I reminded of stories from Vietnam where American troops were told they had to destroy villages to save them from communism?

It is my greatest wish to see players moving forward, encouraged by the communities in which they live and play, reaching the highest levels that they aspire to and not held back in any way by the politics of the game or by perceived malcontent between unions.

I hope the affirmative Tasman rugby people remain stubborn and brave to provide a clear solution which will not be an easy one, but needs to be resolved for Marlborough rugby to have any future

Clearly the thoughts of an intelligent and articulate young man. Hopefully the exposure of some of the pathetic carry on at Marlborough will rally the people behind the Tasman venture and for those hell bent on destruction from power, because he’s right: Without the Makos, Marlborough rugby has a very bleak future.

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The Tristan Moran’s open letter about Tasman crisis by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.