England’s Rugby Football Union, proudly maintaining its recent record of pleasing nobody all the time, has offended New Zealand by announcing that England’s alternative strip at the World Cup, which starts in September, will be black. As is well known in the rugby world, and possibly beyond, New Zealand have always played in black. This is why, duh, they’ve always been known as the All Blacks.
Guess which country is hosting the World Cup. You got it in one: New Zealand.
Now, on one level it can be argued that the colour in which England chooses to play should its usual all-white strip have to be changed, shouldn’t matter one iota. But surely, in this case, discretion ought to have proved the better part of valour.
It is safe to assume that even a body as corporately stupid as the RFU was aware that black would cause offence, and equally safe to assume therefore that the decision was taken with mischief aforethought.
I guess we now know what the FU in RFU stands for.
Be First to Comment