Maori rugby is like the birth of a royal baby- you're either obsessed about it or not the least bit interested and a little annoyed by it.
The announcement that Colin Cooper would coach the Maori All Blacks on their two-test tour of North America was a relief for me, an avid Maori rugby follower, because let's be honest, there are very few Maori coaches of high calibre left to pick from these days.
When Jamie Joseph opted to step down from the role he'd fulfilled competently for the past three years, Cooper seemed the logical replacement.
Cooper's statement that players would no longer be selected as a ''reward'' for long service must have smarted in Joseph's ears though. It suggests Jamie Joseph and his support staff played favourites and did not have high standards on and off the field.
I've heard through the grapevine that Joseph is a hard taskmaster, so it is puzzling that Cooper would feel justified to say such things. Let's face it, the Maori All Blacks is a team that struggles for games against decent opposition, has very little preparation time, and is selected from those players of Maori descent who are not picked for the All Blacks.
That is slim pickings after everyone else has had a slice of the Maori pie!Jamie Joseph did the best he could with the team, time and resources he had. Cooper may be able to work miracles but he only has 17 days to transform this team into ''the professional outfit with a development focus'' that the NZRU and AIG want.
A romantic view of the Maori All Blacks is a team playing for the pride of its people on the world stage. Let's get real. This is a business deal.
The Maori boys in black are now embraced fully into the NZRU whanau thanks to AIG. That means they're no longer out in the cold, and no longer a haphazard lean-to group. They are now fully ensconced in the main house along with other sibling teams.
That means they must toe the line. But whose line are they toeing? Who are the Maori team playing for?They're playing for the NZRU which has prioritised the enhancement of its relationships and reputation with key international stakeholders and markets in 2013. In a nutshell, the NZRU wants Americans to engage in the sport so that they'll want to buy black jerseys and see more rugby tests.
AIG, a US-based insurance company, wants a chance to get in front of Americans and be associated with a successful brand. Rather than put all their eggs in one All Black basket, they've hedged their bets by sponsoring not only the All Blacks, but the Maori All Blacks, the Black Ferns, the New Zealand men's and women's sevens teams and the New Zealand under-20 team.
So far, all but one team has delivered this year.
Will the Maori team deliver what is expected?
Will the North American crowd even understand the mana and history surrounding these ''Maori'' men doing the funny dance before hitting into each other without body armour and helmets?
Like the Native NZ team that toured through New Zealand, Australia, Egypt and the British Isles way back in 1888, will this team of men simply be a fascinating sideshow for parts of the world where indigenous cultures are still considered mysterious curios?
How will Maori rugby at the grassroots benefit from this tour, and how will a team touring North America have any impact on Maori back home?
For now, these questions are lost on a part of New Zealand's history fighting for relevance in the professional world of rugby.
All is not lost though. With coaches such as Cooper, who publicly states how proud he is of his Maori heritage and the privilege of coaching the Maori All Blacks, along with a kaumatua (Luke Crawford) making sure that the cultural elements are not forgotten and in fact prosper, this team will hopefully not only be of relevance to the NZRU and AIG, but for Maori as well. Only those selected for this tour will know how they benefit as players, as men, and as Maori. Just like the birth of a baby, we can all speculate about what it must be like, but only those personally involved will truly know.
