Mediocrity in Rugby is a sin

Watched the movie Jobs today – what a cool movie with an important lesson for any individual or organisation. Never accept Mediocrity. Martha Graham called mediocrity, the ‘only sin’. Okay here I am all psyched up and imagine my disappointment to see the head line as I logged into Facebook ‘Dere happy with Mini-Pacific games performance’.

We lost the Gold but he’s happy. Right there he’s saying it is okay to be mediocre. No its not.

Most of us live in mediocrity. That is we accept to be in the middle because that’s where most other people are. Our friends are there, school mates are there, work mates are there. In the middle ground where least effort is needed. We are just going with the flow.

With the Fiji Rugby sevens performance in the last 2 years – that’s exactly where we are – at the middle. Fijian Rugby needs to learn that mediocrity is no longer acceptable. It is no longer acceptable to drop the minimum bench press weight for a prop just because they can’t. It is no longer acceptable to have a kicker with goal kicking accuracy of less than 50%.

With the search for a new Sevens coach, debate ensues as to who it should be. Many want a local so communication with the team is clear. Many want someone with experience in sevens such as Serevi. But I say get someone who is passionate about sevens, knows sevens and will not accept Mediocrity.

We don’t want mediocrity. We want excellence. We will not accept anything less.