KEY POINTS:
As far as I can remember, the Ali Williams business is the first where a group of senior rugby players have so publicly ousted a team-mate. Or did they? (See story on p69).
That is how it was positioned in a fascinating week where the grey hand of
PR could be seen tweaking and twiddling. First, the Blues chose to announce Williams' return home by press conference, fronted by CEO Andy Dalton, where they made a play of players ousting player.
On other days, this may have been handled by press release - quickly, curtly and with Williams' misdemeanours briefly outlined and the punishment (not in the playing 22) made clear. End of story.
In many respects, the Blues are to be admired for standing up and speaking out. Except Williams doesn't actually seem to have done that much wrong (although we don't actually know because no one is telling us). There may be factors we don't know about or contested issues that have legal and/or employment ramifications which prevent discussion.
In which case, why have a press conference and not tell us what Williams did? This is not a poke at Dalton - if there's a man in rugby who is straighter and truer than Andy Dalton, he must be built like a curtain rod - but it does leave unanswered questions about the Blues' motivation.
There was talk of drinking, being rude to people - all with the unspoken background of Williams being a difficult character, something to which he confesses. That fades into context a bit when you compare it to Crusaders brawling on the streets; black eyes and bruises. Williams' crime, so far as we know, was giving a beer or 12 a bruising on his birthday or, put correctly, breaching team protocol and/or being a bit of a toad.
So Williams arrived home and carried out his little PR programme - a show of near contrition, talk of rough edges, support for the team, yada, yada, yada. No real insightinto what happened or why from either side.
Sitting quietly in the middle of this void is the Blues management and coach David Nucifora.
I know Williams is a handful; he can apparently be unlikeable or worse at times; he was obviously having a bit of a strop about not being selected and many rugby folk around the country think he is as daft as a brush.
But hang on a minute. Is it the job of the Blues coach and management to 'make Ali Williams a better person' or is it their job to win the Super 14?
Part of the job of the coach and the management is to deal with difficult cusses and shape them into a winning team. Ali Williams ended 2006 as the All Blacks' No 1 lock. I don't know the man at all but he seems to me a bit like an over-exuberant Great Dane puppy who bursts into the living room and accidentally smashes all your grandma's prized china in his excitement or vomits in the lasagne at a dinner party - and thinks it's funny.
If the Blues haven't managed to manage Williams; to harness that undoubted talent; to help the Blues beat the Sharks - that is the Blues' fault as much as it is Williams'.
Managing people is about finding the way to diminish their weaknesses and unlock their potential while getting them to do what you want.
I once had to make people redundant. It was one of the lousiest experiences of my life. They fell under the heading of cost-cutting. We hadn't won enough business. That wasn't their responsibility. It was mine - and that of my so-called partners.
I have also played rugby while living in three different countries. Some of my team-mates were wretches. I have played with an embezzler, a man suspected of murdering his wife, wife-beaters, a drug addict (and one peddler) and a man who went on to become an MP who head-butted a concrete wall in the pre-game warm-up - to name only a few.
The point is that you are often not friendly, nor even in sync, with some or many of your team-mates. They may be individuals with whom you would never be friends unless for the common goal of winning. All that is submerged for the good of the team; to make sure "projects" like Ali Williams produce the goods. That is what the All Blacks have done. If the Blues didn't want Williams or can't make him behave, don't select him.
The Blues had better have beaten the Sharks overnight or they - management and players - are in danger of successfully disciplining a soldier...while the regiment was being wiped out.
