Lions land, good luck spotting them

Sam Warburton poses with Lions supporters as the 2017 British and Irish Rugby team arrive at Auckland International Airport on Wednesday. PHOTO NZ HERALD

Fans going to Saturday's Lions match better take a good hard look at the players, because you may not see them anywhere else.

Two or three players are visiting Whangarei Hospital on Friday and similar numbers are going to Whangarei Boys' High School.

It's a coup for WBHS, as the players won't be going elsewhere in a formal capacity. After Saturday's match, players might get out and about on the town briefly.

Let's hope locals are friendly, and the players avoid trouble and scenarios like the one Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor found themselves in, while celebrating a Kiwi league loss.

(It would be naive and stupid to argue that Whangarei is drug free, but hopefully the only coke players buy in Whangarei is of the Diet or Zero variety.)

On Sunday, the squad will be welcomed at Waitangi and the public can view the second and third stages of the welcome.

With any luck the public and players will get a chance to interact, it would be awful if this tour became memorable for security camera images of players in bars, rather than impromptu selfies with rugby fans.

Players interaction with fans is important, not just on an international level but at provincial level too.

The more that Northland players get among young fans, the more parents get hassled to take kids to games.

It would be sad to see rugby disappear up its backside and decide that players are too precious to be put at risk around the pesky public.

Because, with the competition these days for leisure time and dollars, there are many choices.

My teenage son's peer group has played rugby league, hockey, rugby and soccer in winter. Rugby is not the automatic choice it used to be.

The code is still strong enough though to see an international event like Saturday's match brought to Whangarei.

22,000 people will be there, most of them Northlanders, having a good time.

Hopefully the players don't just perform in front of thousands of people for 80 minutes, and then leave, to be shielded from the public.

If so, the next time a player complains about not wanting to be a celebrity, a role model or placed on a pedestal, perhaps they should ask their masters why players are treated like rock stars.