Many people have said New Zealand has always been a little bit behind the rest of the world, even if their rugby team is light years ahead. Proof of this may be in the sudden spate of streakers as in Australia this was all the rage in the 1970’s.
During the All Blacks’ 28-9 victory over Argentina on Saturday a female streaker took to the field before she some heavy handed treatment from the Security guards.
Rose Kupa ran on the pitch and sprinted across diagonally, making light work of the slow to react security guards before finally being brought down near the opposite 22m line. She was understandably arrested and given a pre-charge warning for disorderly behaviour, as well as banned from McLean Park for two years. By all accounts she is not too bothered as she said she had ticked something off her bucket list.
This streak came hot on the heels of another recent incident in New Zealand when a pitch invader streaked in Dunedin. Again they received some strong treatment from a Canterbury squad member who was working as a security guard.
All Blacks coach Steve Hanson raised the most pertinent point when he was quoted as saying “It’s not that big a deal is it? She entertained everybody there for about 35 seconds. My beef is how they get on (streakers in general, to the field). I think we’ve got to have a better plan with how we stop them getting on and we probably don’t have to smash them over either when we finally catch up with them.”
We are sure that most sports fans attending events look at the Security guards and would back themselves to be able to outrun them. Certainly it would appear that their vigilance of late has been lax, and maybe the strong treatment is borne out of frustration at having been outpaced. The trouble is one day someone is going to get seriously hurt. As Hansen says there really is no need for such heavy-handed treatment.
