Aaron Smith should not be dragged through the media for his recent indiscretion says Wayne Perkins. Photo / Greg Bowker
Aaron Smith should not be dragged through the media for his recent indiscretion says Wayne Perkins. Photo / Greg Bowker
I woke up to the news today that All Black Aaron Smith has been sent home from South Africa in disgrace.
He isn't the first rugby player to be sent home and I'm guessing he won't be the last but what has got the media and the great unwashed through-outour fair land up in arms is that it involved, as an old shearing mate of mine used to delicately put it, a bit of the old "how's your father" which for reasons I never quite understood, meant sex.
Apparently he had sex in a public toilet with a women who wasn't his partner and he was travelling with the national team at the time and he got caught because a couple recorded it and then told the media.
I have to confess that I feel a little at odds with the general sentiment towards Aaron at the moment, I actually have very little opinion on what he did at all.
If he decides to do something behind a locked door in a toilet then I am unsure that it is indeed public and I'm even more unsure if it is mine or anyone else's business to be brutally frank.
I'm sure Aaron wants my opinion on how he should live about as much as I want his which of course is not at all.
And I mean honestly, spare me the moral outrage New Zealand.
As a country we have recently gone through some major changes around social issues, especially about the rights of consenting adults and their relationships and I personally think it was a good thing and is none of my business anyway.
However let's at least be consistent. If, as a country you agree that consenting adults have rights, then that in opinion must be the same for all, not just some when it suits.
As for being a role model, if you are stupid enough to set Aaron or anyone else for that matter as a great moral leader, you are going to be let down.
He, like you and I, has feet of clay.
Possibly the reason I feel so little emotion for what Aaron has done is because I never expected him to be anything other than a very good rugby player of which in my opinion he is very near the top.
Yes and he is accountable to his employer and he will also no doubt be having to work through a number of issues with regards to his personal life but I will tell you who he is not accountable to.
