Rugby League has always been seen as the game of the working-class man, and as such, the Labour Party has a long involvement with the game. Helen Clark was a vociferous league supporter, as was David Lange before her. And we suspect that Chris Trotter's mythical Waitakere Man likes the 13-man game as well.
So why has Labour fallen out of love with league. Last year it was Darien Fenton and others having a go at Sir Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch, who in many ways IS rugby league in New Zealand. Leitch's "crime" was to publicly endorse John Key.
It's impossible to quantify how badly Fenton's widely reported SMOG hurt Labour, but given Labour's worst election result in over 60 years followed this outburst, it clearly didn't help. Labour should have heeded the warnings that we gave them!
Instead, they inflict Phil Twyford and his band of travelling activists on the league public; check out Twyford's tweet from last night:
Is nothing sacred? When Waitakere Man takes his wife and kids to Mt Smart for a night of league, the last thing he wants is to have politicians getting in his way.
PS: Did Labour also fail to notice that their former corporate donor Owen Glenn, who they also managed to ostracise, is now a part-owner of the Warriors? The irony of that is simply delectable!
11 comments:
"We hope that for their own safety, Mr Twyford and his petitioners were long gone before the final whistle!"
What an odd thing to say. Why would the crowd turn to random violence after a rugby league game?
Not all all Edward; it's merely an acknowledgment that the good folk who support the Warriors would have been profoundly disappointed last night, and the last thing they would want at their time of disappointment is a petition being shoved under their nose!
So they would have bashed people? What an odd notion. Do you react that way, or do you just think that's how West Aucklanders behave>
Did I say that they would "bash" people?
"for their own safety"? What did you mean by that?
I agree with Teddy KS.
Mindless vandalism is more in the bullrush fan's line.
See my post about Clare Curran yesterday. They are delicate wee things, these Labour MP's. And they don't like being spoken to plainly and bluntly!
I don't know that I believe all these tweets. I've yet to see the petition in my electorate - a Labour seat. I'm out and about almost every day, the three shopping/business areas I visit regularly are in Labour electorates - no petition. It's obviously a non-issue around here.
"they don't like being spoken to plainly and bluntly!"
Is that what you meant by "for their own safety"? If so you need to work on being more accurate with your writing. However, I don't think that's what you meant. You implied you thought the crowd would turn violent and now you're backtracking furiously.
And you have implied that I have dissed people from West Auckland, which is not the case. It was Twyford who referred to "Westies".
And of course Chris Trotter's "Waitakere Man" is a mythical but highly plausible beast; the kind of person that Labour has lost the support of as it has tried to be all things to all people rather than the party of the working man (or woman).
Keeping Stock. You are lying to Edward the Confessor. Why?
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