Arise Richie - you've got it right yet again

Richie McCaw. Photo / Getty

In light of Richie McCaw's decision to turn down a knighthood, we re-publish Chris Rattue's column, urging the great All Black to do just that.

The standing ovation, the sheer noise, which accompanied Richie McCaw off a New Zealand rugby field for potentially the final time was a moment for those who revere the man to cherish. His charge towards the reserves bench while applauding the Eden Park crowd and beyond will live in the memory.

I hope it is the final curtain in this country for the great man, that he calls it quits after the World Cup, that he can get over the perfectly understandable fears about retirement (as he revealed in a Herald interview).

McCaw's psychology will be geared towards the cycle of preparing for matches, the contests themselves, the aftermath, the off-season, the season itself. The pressure, the roar of the crowd, the satisfaction of victory, the despair of defeat, and most importantly the player comradeship - he is bound to feel quite lost when suddenly removed from centre stage like many other sports stars no doubt have. But it is time, Richie.

As I have written before, his history of head knocks needs to be taken seriously, first and foremost by the man himself. Who knows if the damage has already been done, but there is no need to tempt fate further.

And then there's the clamour to bestow a knighthood on him. I hope he turns that down as well. The whole honours system is a crock of you know what, a ridiculous throwback to times which have no relevance today, an elitist game which evokes a class system that has no honour. It has come to represent the oldest advertising trick in the book, perhaps the only real advertising trick, of associating the product (in this case national leaders) with a successful item (in this case a great All Black).

There was even some bizarre attempt to raise the status of Prime Minister by associating McCaw with that. Lovely to see that McCaw gave that nonsense short shrift, in his humble way.

White middle-class males find all sorts of reasons to bestow the highest honour upon others in their club. The day they gave one to Gordon Tietjens for coaching the national sevens team - he seems to have that job for life no matter what the results - was a tipping point. There are legions of sports people - among others - who deserve to be ahead of Tietjens in that queue.

On the other side of the coin, those who agitate against the establishment rarely if ever get a look in. Honours, especially the highest ones, are used quite blatantly to protect the status quo. They are also used to reward supporters and mates.

Sport can be left to find ways of honouring its people, as occurs so successfully in America in particular.

McCaw deserves every accolade under the sun, but so do a lot of people, including the resolute characters who work long hours for low pay and are often portrayed as lacking ambition for their troubles.

The satisfaction of a job well done, of contributing to your community, should suffice in modern, allegedly egalitarian New Zealand. By the same token, even a raving anti-national honours advocate such as myself won't think any differently of McCaw should he take the knighthood. But please come the day when someone of McCaw's standing says "thanks, but no thanks".