Kate Hawkesby: Jason Ryan is right - pitch invaders need tougher consequences

I said earlier this week that my hero of the week was any CEO who walks the talk and works the floor and gets amongst the team. That was off the back of my parents having Greg Foran, Air NZ CEO, check them in at Auckland airport. He’s out there often apparently, doing various jobs inside various departments to learn more about the airline and be present, and it’s a good look – it’s appreciated. But then I’ve found something else this week that I appreciate; common sense. Or at least people who speak it – and we seem to be thin on the ground on those people these days. But in light of the Sam Cane pitch invader saga All Blacks forwards coach, Jason Ryan, has come out and blasted pitch invaders. Which is good, because for a while there it was looking like we were busy apologising to them and handing them a bunch of free rugby merch for their troubles. Which made no sense to me, but then a lot of the weird woke stuff that goes on these days doesn’t make sense to me. Like how we seem to kowtow to offenders more than victims now, how we let gang members run riot, we’ve sort of become a nation of apologists, excusing everyone for bad behaviour and just hoping by handing them some rewards like KFC or some rugby kit, that they’ll stop being a pain the arse. Anyway Jason Ryan’s having none of it, he’s said, in lieu of the All Blacks’ first home test this weekend, that they won’t be tolerating pitch invaders. Which is lucky, because given Sam Cane’s grovelling apology and the invader getting some gear out of it, it may be seen as an incentive for others to randomly pitch invade. Ryan says pitch invading’s been ‘a shambles’ lately, he was reported saying he’s got no time for it, the players have got no time for it, and that it needs to stop. He said someone’s going to get hurt and they have to make the consequences a bit harder, he pointed the finger at security saying they need to ‘do their job’. He said they’re there to watch the crowd, not the game. Which is a good point, how are these clowns getting onto the field in the first place, they shouldn’t be able to get anywhere near it if security’s awake and doing their job. But I can’t help thinking Cane’s little trip up of that invader was not a bad thing - it sent a message. Come on here, you’re gonna get hurt. Sadly that didn’t end well in that he then decided to apologise and hand out gear but I support Ryan’s firm stance on invaders. They’re menaces, and they should be not only discouraged but actively stopped. Look at what’s happening at live concerts these days with artists being thrown things on stage and getting hit in the face. Then there’s copycat behaviour, and you’ve got even more people throwing stuff at people on stage. The pitch invasions are the same, there’s a domino effect. So Jason Ryan is right when he says there needs to be tougher consequences, he’s right that they need to harden up on it. I’ll be very interested to see how alert and onto it security guards are at this weekend’s Test match, in terms of keeping these baffoons off the field. I wouldn't be surprised if they increase security for it, and if they don't, then I at least hope the security that is there does its job.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.