Corporate-style apology a sorry state of affairs
The art of the apology has come into focus yet again as yet more professional sportspeople grapple with the ‘sorry’ syndrome.
All Black Aaron Cruden was dropped when he missed the plane to Argentina after a night out. His written apology, while fulsome, sounded like a deliberate attempt to make Cruden sound like a Professor of Antiquities: “On Saturday night, whilst out for an informal dinner in Auckland, I made a poor decision regarding the limits of my alcohol intake.”
Whilst? An informal dinner? The limits of my alcohol intake? Was this written by someone with a PhD in Anal Corporate-Speak? Has Cruden ever used the word ‘whilst’?
The All Blacks management are to be congratulated for the prompt and vigorous way they dealt with the mishap. They front-footed it and coach Steve Hansen again spoke honestly and openly.
This column has always embraced the fact professional sportspeople have an unwritten covenant with coaches, fans, sponsors and other stakeholders to be the best they can be. If they can’t give up going on the lash until their career is over or at least indulge it out of the public gaze then, frankly, such a person is a bit of a deedle.
Cruden is anything but. Well spoken, intelligent and personable, he’s one of the best faces of the All Blacks — a likeable and pleasant young man who has now soiled the bed he made and lay in. So why not let him express his own apology in his own way?
Such corporate-style apologies only widen the gap between the All Blacks and their fans. The demands of professional sport — sponsors, media, fans — mean All Blacks and others are more removed from everyday people; wheeled out on special fan days, choreographed media calls and sponsor obligations. Occasionally an All Black’s real character peeps out but it’s rare. They’re trained to deal with such calls but media training often sees personalities hidden. Robots? Not really, more pro-bots.
Apologies are necessary at least some of the time, but not if their effectiveness is blunted by over-use and bathed in language which means something like: “I’m really sorry and here’s a lot of words saying so but we all know this is so I can get back in the All Blacks asap.”
Contrast that with the apology from top tennis player Andy Murray, vilified for advocating Scottish independence. Murray, who doesn’t live in Scotland and so was ineligible to vote, told the BBC: “I don’t regret giving an opinion. I think everyone should be allowed that. The way I did it, yeah, [through Twitter, on polling day] wasn’t something I’d do again. The way it was worded, the
y MuorrfathyeaYtelaer And‘
ast used his own words and spoke his own mind.’’
way I sent it, that’s not really in my character and I don’t normally do stuff like that.”
Different circumstances, obviously, and maybe not quite an apology but Murray at least used his own words and spoke his own mind. So did John Lennon after the Beatle caused global outrage by saying the group were more popular than Jesus in 1966. Later Lennon said: “I wasn’t saying whatever they’re saying I was saying. I’m sorry I said it. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologise if that will make you happy. I still don’t know quite what I’ve done. I’ve tried to tell you what I did do but, if you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then OK, I’m sorry.”
‘I’m sorry you’re cross’ is maybe not an apology but you can see the similarities — a 25-year-old man, unused to the fact the planet is hanging on his every word, says something better said in private. He was probably quite right. They were more popular across the world than the Christian church then. His later remarks show a young man, upset he has upset anyone, trying to show he never meant the hurt, not some corporate gob-waffle.
At least Lennon never had to contend with Twitter and the message Murray got from one of those courageous souls who hide behind pseudonyms. “Wish u had been killed at Dunblane [Murray was a survivor of that horrific school shooting], you miserable anti-British hypocritical little git. Your life will be a misery from now on,” said one tweet.
Apologies aren’t always necessary but you hoped for more of an acknowledgement from outgoing Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah that he and the club might have made a mistake in letting former coach Ivan Cleary go to the Panthers. In one farewell interview, Scurrah blamed “inaccurate reporting” and maintained Cleary wanted to leave. Cleary says he never wanted to leave. He certainly got an offer from Penrith but took it to the Warriors who decided against matching or bettering it, according to sources at the club at the time.
Penrith have since flourished while the Warriors have got nowhere near the level of success under Cleary. No apology necessary. Speaks for itself.
Andy Murray The real purgatory for Aaron Cruden begins today.
He’s felt the shame of rejection, the emptiness of delivering a
he never wanted to give and has spent the last few days avoiding reading and hearing opinions from people who don’t know him on what he may or may not have been thinking last Saturday night.
None of that, though, will be as painful as today when he’ll have to decide if he has the stomach to pop himself on the couch for 80 minutes and will his team-mates to victory or whether he’d rather take the dog for a walk and pretend nothing is happening in Argentina.
Injured players never like watching from afar, but they always do. This is different. Cruden’s exile has everything to do with his own stupidity and his emotions will inevitably be conflicted today by wanting the All Blacks to win yet not necessarily being keen to see Beauden Barrett deliver the sort of commanding performance that will make him hard to budge from the No 10 shirt.
And that’s where the nub of this issue lies. Cruden knows his won’t be held against him by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen for longer than his two-week penance. Hansen does not punish and then keep punishing. Cruden’s petulant alarm clock won’t take him down with it. He’ll get another chance.
But what he’ll be wondering, with good reason, is when? What Barrett has the chance to do this morning is remedy a few critical areas of his game that weren’t bang-on when he started against Argentina in Napier.
In Barrett’s only start in the No 10 jersey to date, he was an intriguing mix of good and not so good. Intriguing because the good was in areas most players get found out. His awareness, speed and agility to set up Liam Messam’s try were outstanding, as was his timing and skill to put away Julian Savea.
What impressed most was his seamless ability to shrug off mistakes and keep his head in the game. Young first-fives are notorious for imploding mentally when the game doesn’t go their way early but Barrett has that priceless ability to take whatever comes and deal with it.
What surprised the coaching staff a little was Barrett’s struggles with some core roles. His goal-kicking was poor. His occasional technical flaw of not staying over the ball all the way was permanent on the night and he nailed only one from five. His kickoffs were also tentative and not quite where they needed to be, and these things matter. The All Blacks’ game is built on core-role excellence.
Even in this day and age of hyper-