Ruby Tui will not feature in the upcoming release of Black Ferns stat attack cards. Photo / Getty Images
By NZ Herald
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson claims they did not have enough time for discussions to be held over Ruby Tui’s request to feature a rainbow flag on her Weet-Bix Stat Attack collector card.
Black Ferns will feature in the collectors’ series for the first time in 2023, but Tui will not be among the players included in the collection after having her request to feature a rainbow flag in support of the LGBTQIA+ community denied.
Robinson told Newstalk ZB’s Jason Pine that NZR are open to discussing these sorts of proposals, but time did not allow for that in this instance.
“We were very aligned with Sanitarium about the consideration of this request, but simply, all parties involved didn’t have the time to be able to work through that on the deadlines we had late last year,” Robinson said.
“We remain very open to that possibility in the future; we’ve been very consistent on all the work we’ve done around diversity inclusion over the last 12-18 months that we are really up for these discussions and that will continue to be the case.
“We needed to work through that process and have the time to be able to talk about it more. In the timeframes we had, that just wasn’t possible for us and Sanitarium.”
Tui, the biggest name in women’s rugby and highest-profile Black Fern in history, has been a powerful advocate for the rainbow community and said of her decision in a recent interview with Gay Express that she only wanted to align with brands that are making a concerted effort to support rainbow staff and communities.
The Herald understands Sanitarium, which produces Weet-Bix and is owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was open to discussing Tui’s request to feature the rainbow flag on her card. The Herald also reported NZR were fearful that it would be creating a dangerous precedent by allowing Tui to use a commercial promotion to advocate for a personal cause.
Asked if it would have been possible for all parties to simply allow the biggest star in the women’s game to feature in the product with the rainbow flag, and then assess other requests of a similar nature on a case-by-case basis, Robinson said that was not an option.
“We see it with our stakeholder groups all across the game, we see it when everything we do with World Rugby largely is the same, often things just aren’t that simple. This was more complex. We just needed the time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t available to all the different parties on this occasion, but for the future, we remain very open to it.”