Breaking the mould
26 Jul 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in Business Day Sport Monthly, says Sonny Bill Williams, far from being a sell-out to rugby union, is a pioneer.
Williams could play his last rugby union match in New Zealand when the Chiefs host the Crusaders in the first Super Rugby semi-final and Keohane argues that those with unique sporting talent should not be financially punished because of the limitations of those around them.
The only surprise in Sonny Bill Williams’ professional sporting career was the abruptness with which he left the Sydney Bulldogs, the only team he has played for where there was an emotional attachment. Williams loved the Bulldogs in a manner Dan Carter loves the Crusaders, Jean de Villiers the Stormers and Victor Matfield the Bulls.
Williams left New Zealand as a 15-year-old to take up an apprenticeship with the Bulldogs, made the senior squad before his 18th birthday and won the grand final with the Bulldogs in his first season proper as a 19-year-old.
The Bulldogs is the team which Williams associated with sporting ambition. He was a rugby league player who never had aspirations of playing for the All Blacks.
In effect he was more Australian than Kiwi when he signed with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) in 2010. Williams has never attempted to disguise the motivation behind his decision to test himself in rugby union. It only came about because of former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga’s influence when Umaga played alongside and coached Williams at the French club Toulon four years ago.
Williams stunned Australians when he quit the Bulldogs midway through his contract. The shock turned to anger and the sporting public voted him the most hated man in Australia.
Those suggesting Williams has turned his back on the All Blacks and on New Zealand rugby are emotional and have not considered that Williams never chased the All Blacks jersey – the chasing was done by the NZRU bosses and it was because of Umaga’s belief that the player could be massive for the All Blacks and an inspiration to New Zealand rugby.
Williams was good for the All Blacks in his first season in November 2010 and brilliant in the three-Test series against Ireland. His performance in the third and final Test was his best for the All Blacks and at the final whistle he could rightly claim to be the form international No 12, not just in New Zealand but in the world.
De Villiers, generally considered the best inside centre in the game in the past five years, is playing outside centre for the Springboks and the imposing Welshman Jamie Roberts did not play against Australia because of injury.
Anyone who disputes what Williams has achieved in rugby is deluded. His impact in the New Zealand domestic game was as dramatic and immediate as that of Jonah Lomu in 1994, and probably even more remarkable because his first introduction to rugby union was a 15-month spell at Toulon in the south of France after he quit rugby league.
Williams was a revelation in the 2011 Super Rugby season for the Crusaders. He was so different to anyone who had played professional rugby at inside centre. He did things no other player has ever done in that position in a sport he had been playing for just 15 months.
Those who dismiss his qualities on the field can only do so out of disappointment that he won’t be playing rugby union in 2013. But the New Zealand public has not seen the last of him in an All Blacks jersey because he is good enough to return in 2014 or even as late as the 2015 Super Rugby season and make the All Blacks World Cup squad.
Williams never tried to con the New Zealand rugby public about his motives for leaving France. He said Umaga had planted the seed in the form of a challenge to the player to take himself out of the comfort zone in France and test himself against the best in rugby union. Umaga was adamant Williams had the qualities to succeed, but more than that he saw first-hand the unique skills that no other current inside centre possesses or has ever possessed.
When he did play for the All Blacks, Williams was good and in his 17th Test he was exceptional. He is that good and if he committed to rugby union until his sporting days ended the potential of him being acknowledged as an All Blacks great would no doubt have been realised. His decision to put on hold that possibility means the traditional New Zealand rugby supporter will never afford him that, but again that has never been the motivation for Williams.
When he arrived in New Zealand he stated that he had a year to make an impact and prove to himself that he could play the sport at the highest level. He has certainly done that.
He has achieved his goal, even if the rugby public’s goals were something quite different.
Williams has never disrespected the All Blacks jersey and he has never asked for a handout. So many have been quick to condemn the decision but significantly there has been nothing but praise for the player from his team-mates at the Chiefs and the All Blacks and from his former team-mates at the Crusaders.
Carter, who was so important to Williams’ rugby union development in the 2011 Super Rugby season, said anyone engrained in rugby union would want Williams to stay because of his qualities as a player. Wayne Smith, the former All Blacks backline coach and the man who continued the mentorship of Williams at the Chiefs, said it had been astonishing how quickly Williams had matured into a world-class rugby union player.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie added that the public perception was that Williams was a law unto himself because of the unique nature of his contract with the NZRU, which made provisions for him to continue his professional boxing career, but that it was not the case among those who worked with him on a daily basis.
Williams, far from being a sell-out to rugby union, is a pioneer. Think about it. He has never settled for comfort or convenience. He has said he has another five years as a professional sportsman and he wanted to maximise his earning potential, be it through boxing, rugby union or rugby league.
He initially had not planned to stay in New Zealand’s domestic rugby union competition this year and he has only ever operated on short-term contracts since leaving the Bulldogs. The attitude of the New Zealand rugby bosses towards Williams has been nothing but positive and it would be a surprise if he didn’t find inspiration in the challenge of a starring role in the 2015 rugby union World Cup in England.
Why begrudge a player his right to maximise his income? Why make him choose one or the other? All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s primary goal will be to defend the World Cup and he will want to select the best possible squad. If Williams commits to a year in rugby union in 2015 he would be an asset to the campaign.
The disapproval of Williams’ way among traditionalists of the sport is not dissimilar to what I heard so many South African supporters say when Frans Steyn signed a three-year contract to play in France after being instrumental to the Springboks’ 2007 World Cup success.
Steyn won a World Cup as a 20-year-old, yet was accused of lacking loyalty to the Boks because his talent allowed for a better deal in Europe than he could ever be offered playing domestically in South Africa.
I can’t wait for the game to finally grow up professionally where a player is selected for his country because he is the best. Isn’t that why it is called Test rugby? The best should play the best? Rugby is a business and it is a profession for those who earn a living from playing. Why punish those with exceptional talent?
Steyn challenged the status quo because he backed his ability to perform on the biggest stage. There wasn’t a heck of a lot of support for his inclusion in the 2011 World Cup squad. He was also accused of chasing the money. Which professional in any other business doesn’t chase the bigger payday?
Supporters and many within the rugby media need to mature and accept the reality of the game’s evolution to something far more significant than those who support rugby and will always only ever see it as a sport.
Steyn was outstanding in New Zealand in the 2011 World Cup and the Boks, as we saw in the World Cup quarter-final and in the third Test against England in June, are a weaker unit when he does not play. The same will be true of Williams’ absence from the All Blacks squad.
Good teams become great teams because of the depth in the squad. Williams, like Steyn, has something most who play the game don’t have, yet there is such a reluctance to acknowledge a player’s right to earn the most he can.
Steyn and those who manage his career were labelled the villains and lacking loyalty to South Africa. In New Zealand similar accusations have been levelled at Williams, among the public and within the media; simply because neither he nor his manager Khoder Nasser conform to what is really an outdated view on the sport.
If Williams is good enough to command the kind of money he will earn from a five-month stint in rugby union in Japan, a season in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) and however long his professional boxing career can last, then it is something to be admired and applauded.
Williams and Steyn are the risk takers, which could explain why they are also among the best in what they do. The majority of the sport’s players want the comfort of three-year contracts because of the supposed need for job security.
But the nature of this business is that there is always a conveyor belt of emerging employees and often players are still on national contracts but aren’t good enough in the third year to be making the squad on performance.
Williams demands the highest possible financial reward every year but accepts he won’t have a job if he doesn’t perform. I’d rather have that kind of mindset among players than the collective safe haven of settling on one price and one code because that is the way it has always been done.
Williams says he has no regrets about the decision because he made a commitment to return to the NRL when he walked away and the emotion of playing for the All Blacks and the enjoyment he got from being a rugby player in New Zealand could not override the practical business decisions of what was best for his professional career.
Players who are willing to challenge themselves are the loyalists to excellence. Williams has unfinished business in rugby league. Not so in rugby union.
He never said he wanted to be remembered as a great of the game. He said he wanted to prove to himself he was capable of playing Test rugby and through that performance earn the respect of his team-mates, coaches, the opposition and those who support the All Blacks and the game in New Zealand.
He has more than done that. The story of Sonny Bill Williams is what he has achieved in less than two years in New Zealand rugby; not the fact that he may never feel it a motivation or challenge to return to the code.
Brad Thorn, now regarded as an All Blacks great, also returned to rugby league after the 2003 World Cup. He didn’t play in the 2007 World Cup but peaked as a rugby union player at the World Cup in 2011.
Carter and Richie McCaw have made their decisions to stay in New Zealand out of choice and not necessity. The NZRU leaders applied business practice to their two most prized assets, signed them until the end of their careers and allowed for a sabbatical between now and 2015, be that in the form of a break or a spell overseas playing club rugby.
Many who support the game deemed it a radical decision and the accusation was of preferential treatment to individuals in a team sport.
But those sporting codes that are businesses are no different to any other business, where the ethos of one company should not be confused with the individual value of those who make up the business.
Williams has an individual worth that does not need to be limited to making the choice of one code for the next five years. If he returns to New Zealand as a union player they will get a better result out of him than had he stayed for the wrong reason.
Steyn will be a greater asset to the Springboks now than had he stayed out of supposed loyalty and lost out financially in 2008. He would have been out of here now, probably never to return.
If Williams had stayed because of the feel-good factor at the Chiefs I doubt he would have been around in rugby union in 2015. I reckon he’ll be back for the All Blacks because he may just feel he wants to start in a World Cup final and not just make the match 22.
And if he doesn’t he should be remembered for doing more in 18 months than most players do in a decade.
– This article appears in the latest issue of Business Day Sport Monthly, on sale now at selected retailers. The magazine is distributed FREE with Business Day newspaper on the second last Friday of the month.
411 Comments
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26 Jul 2012, 09:57 am
@ufo-95:
Personally I am sorry that he is leaving- i really enjoyed it to watch him except the one sad day at newlands last year when the saders demolished the stormers.
Sonny was not so cool that day imo
26 Jul 2012, 09:58 am
@ufo-86: i didn’t read papoose’s post i apologise…the clamour about sbw was kiwi hype and not “world” hype, the NZRU needed him to cash in on the RWC and he did wonders for them, on the playing field he has done admirably imo for a league player to come in and compete at super rugby and test level in the manner he has done. whether he is better than whoever i couldn’t be bothered, to me sbw is a great athlete qha.
26 Jul 2012, 09:59 am
On the issue of money and players chasing money I read the other day that (according to research) approximately 84% of South African professional rugby players will struggle financially soon after they retire from the game. International statistics show that 68% of players lose 70% of their income within 3 months after they stopped playing. Scary stuff.
26 Jul 2012, 10:00 am
@ufo-99:
Jason Stratham then.
26 Jul 2012, 10:01 am
@Robzim-101:
don’t remind me…!
actually i am sorry to see him go too…
i love rugby and love watching it being played by talented players… i would have love to have seen young will fulfilling his potential in union…
personally, i believe he has left the puzzle picture incomplete… the glass half empty…
pity…
26 Jul 2012, 10:01 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-97: Oi vey. I’m trying to enjoy my cornflakes here…..
26 Jul 2012, 10:02 am
@Robzim-103: That’s a good time to buy their houses and cars (if the mileage is still good).
26 Jul 2012, 10:03 am
is it just me who thinks this new ‘keo’ is a fake? there’s a distinct lack of the over excited font in his responces and i seriously doubt Heyneke braai’s with memebers of the Bolivian Marching Powder army…?!
26 Jul 2012, 10:04 am
@BuckT-108: Could be part of Meyer’s CSI commitments. A kind of outreach programme.
26 Jul 2012, 10:05 am
@>^..^< katman-100:
So I wont tell you about his Bruce Fordyce running shorts that let his prunes hang out like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s earrings?
26 Jul 2012, 10:06 am
@Robzim-103: They always seem to get sucked into all sorts of dodgy investment deals, and 2nd rate restaurants and coffee shops….
26 Jul 2012, 10:06 am
@ufo-99: hehehehe gentleman and a scholar
26 Jul 2012, 10:07 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-110: No, don’t. Also nothing about the discoloured areas under his moobs that haven’t seen the sun since 1972. Not a word.
26 Jul 2012, 10:09 am
@BuckT-108:
Keo disguises it with aromat, offers him a heavily laced chop and then suggests they pick the bok team together.
@Robzim-103:
Why would that be?
They are earning more than ever?
Mediocre CC players are getting 7 figure salaries in Eutope and Japan.
Five years of that is more than they would have earned on a lifetime as a mechanic at Bloemfontein Toyota.
26 Jul 2012, 10:11 am
@BuckT-108: so where you think Keo heard meyer say Sadie would be his world cup bolter if not Keo’s braai?
26 Jul 2012, 10:11 am
@>^..^< katman-107:
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-111:
Most interesting (from the same article I read) is that 76% of players who played for Australia between 2008 and 2010 were graduates and that 90% of all professional rugby players in NZ also study while they play rugby and that 84% will eventually complete a worthwhile qualification.
This is in sharp contrast to South Africa where 70% of all professional rugby players does not do ANY form of studying.
They only seem to play rugby, watch TV, play golf and hang out with friends and chase women.
The last sentence was not from the article- i have added it
26 Jul 2012, 10:12 am
@Robzim-103: sounds like it’s a wild 3 months post retirement! but seriously, you think it’s a financial planning issue or were they living a life style that suddenly became unaffordable..?
26 Jul 2012, 10:12 am
@>^..^< katman-113:
Or the time he shorted the Fishoek Virgin Active when one of his dingleberries got sucked into the communal hair drier?
26 Jul 2012, 10:13 am
@Robzim-116: And just over 65%* end up selling insurance or repping for Nashua.
* the katman’s own stats.
26 Jul 2012, 10:13 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-110:
I like the cut of your jib, keep it up.
@>^..^< katman-113:
Agreed.
Also, please, no one must mention his catastrophe bag.
(he sometimes empties it here online, plaas van in the loo.)
26 Jul 2012, 10:15 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-114:
I think they just don’t know how to work with money and probably get some bad advice and are too used to live the high life to stop spending when the stream of income becomes less.
If Elton John could have nearly lost his fortune and went bankrupt I guess Francois Hougaardt for example can do the same.
26 Jul 2012, 10:16 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-110: Or as Ashley Schaeffer would say, “his plums”…
26 Jul 2012, 10:17 am
@BuckT-117:
I think it is both. Luckily there are success stories too like Francois Pienaar, Corne Krige, Skinstad etc.
26 Jul 2012, 10:18 am
Come now gents.
The guy used to play for the enemy.
I am not sorry he is leaving. And neither should you.
26 Jul 2012, 10:19 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-118: Or the time he pulled a Jerry Collins and tried to pee down the side of his leg onto his turquoise hand towel so he wouldn’t lose his place on the spinning bike.
26 Jul 2012, 10:20 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-114: who’s this heavily laced chop, surely not Ryan?
@Transformation-115: ryan probably stuck the wrong shredded bits of paper from the garbage together…
26 Jul 2012, 10:20 am
@Robzim-121:
Indeed.
They share a love for cut flowers, pink champagne and Waterford Crystal.
The writing is in the wall for Frankie.
@>^..^< katman-122:
They were plums 30 years ago.
26 Jul 2012, 10:23 am
@>^..^< katman-125:
Indeed.
The spinning instructor thought a molesnake had escaped.
26 Jul 2012, 10:25 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-127: Ashley Schaeffer can feel it in his plums… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzRNrS5MPOw
26 Jul 2012, 10:26 am
@>^..^< katman-125:
Thats not entirely true. It was a mauve hand towel.
26 Jul 2012, 10:26 am
thanks keo good article , i wonder how does this bullshit spewing outta these conservatives outchea tastes like . SBW is our bra ekse
26 Jul 2012, 10:28 am
@nkqo6-131:
HUH?
26 Jul 2012, 10:28 am
@Stawm-130: No, he alternates them. Mauve is yoga, turquoise is spinning and dirty peach is for his Thursday morning interpretive modern dance class.
26 Jul 2012, 10:29 am
@nkqo6-131: awe ma se kind, hoezit?
26 Jul 2012, 10:30 am
@>^..^< katman-129:
Fakefuck is well passed that stage.
His is firmly in the prune era.
On the threshold of walnuthood.
26 Jul 2012, 10:31 am
@Stawm-132: That’s Khoi-san for Sakkie..
26 Jul 2012, 10:32 am
@>^..^< katman-133:
I stand corrected.
26 Jul 2012, 10:33 am
@nkqo6-131:
Were you one of those phoning his hotel at three in the morning when the Saders played here last year?
Pretending to be his long lost cousin Jamail?
All you wanted was a signed All Blacks Jersey and flights to watch the Workd Cup in New Zealand?
26 Jul 2012, 10:34 am
@Robzim-121: maybe Elton could write a song about FH, mullet in the wind?
26 Jul 2012, 10:35 am
@Robzim-116: I spoke to Neil Hugo earlier this year. His son, Reniel played Varsity Cup this year for Stellenbosch. Reniel played Craven Week, attended WP rugby institute and represented WP U/19 and U/21, but he realised that he was not going to make the grade as a professional player (my words not his). He is currently studying accountancy and is doing very well. Some of his friends that played SA Schools’ etc. thought that they would make the grade but did not: therefore some of them have only now started to study, realising rugby will not provide an adequate income. I guess this is to a certain degree the problem – a number of youngsters don’t think about the future. There are only so many (or should I say few) players that will qualify as professional rugby players. In Australia, rugby union, as we all know, is not big and therefore quite a number of rugby players study while playing.
The study to which you refer was done by Ross van Reenen who used to play for Free State in the late 70s, early 80s. It was part of his MBA thesis if I’m not mistaken
26 Jul 2012, 10:36 am
@BuckT-139: Never knowing where to turn to when the ball popped out…
26 Jul 2012, 10:37 am
@Transformation-134: ncaah and you transie
26 Jul 2012, 10:38 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-138: chief , i dont like your tendencies
26 Jul 2012, 10:38 am
@Stawm-132: whats wrong ,bra
26 Jul 2012, 10:40 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-135: sultana’s and worm wood?
26 Jul 2012, 10:40 am
@nkqo6-143:
Tune me ekse?
26 Jul 2012, 10:41 am
SBW isn’t a patch on Lomu. Lomu changed backline play forever. Also, running over 7 players is way more impressive than a fancy offload.
26 Jul 2012, 10:41 am
@keo-44:
Another ‘expert’ and his great opinion. Wow I wish I got paid to pull predictions out of my a-hole.
hehehehehehe…so the 6th ranked team went and beat the 7th ranked team (on points) and now they are suddenly favorites and the ‘best team in SA’ according to the NZLND ‘experts’ who are all favoring the Sharks. hehehehehehhe…the only reason they support the Sharks is because they want an easy home final for the Kiwi teams. I can understand the Shark supporters being excited about their ‘wonderful’ display against the mid table Reds who only just squeaked in from the weakest conference but do you honestly think that the top of the table side who has not lost a game at home all season (3 in two seasons if I remember correctly and without the use of Google) will just role over like the Reds did? If the Stormers do manage to lose this weekend it should definitely be seen as a choke and nothing else because they should go in to this game as the overwhelming favorites. I will be the first one on here to congratulate the Sharks if they do pull it off but like I said, it’s the Stormers’ game to lose on Saturday.
26 Jul 2012, 10:43 am
@BuckT-139:
lol… ja, the mullet is trying hard to be a “Honky cat”
26 Jul 2012, 10:46 am
@nkqo6-142: lekker, lekker my outie…
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