Lochore goes hard on PC 'softness'
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:32
All Blacks rugby legend Sir Brian Lochore believes the foundation of New Zealand rugby, amongst other things, is being "destroyed" by political correctness.
Sir Brian, who spoke at a breakfast hosted by educators Parents Inc on Wednesday, urged fathers to let their children take risks - but to also impose consequences if rules were broken.
Sir Brian - who captained the All Blacks from 1966 to 1970 - said New Zealand was becoming too politically correct.
"We are living in a PC world which is destroying us, where you actually can't put the hard word on people when they have digressed and committed bad blunders," he told the New Zealand Herald.
Brian recalled a time when his daughters attended a rugby game when they were just three weeks old, and later played in the mud while their dad downed a jug in the bar after a game.
"In the evenings we went to the rugby parties with the kids, who slept in the back of the car. We can't do that any more because we haven't got rid of the perpetrators that actually destroy our society," said Lochore.
He said he trusted his friends to discipline his children, just as they trusted him to discipline theirs.
"My friends were my children's role models and I was my friends' children's role model," he said.
"The one thing I believe is important in life is respect. They respected authority, they respected teachers, I respected the teachers. We lack a great deal of respect for authority nowadays, there's always someone protesting."
Sir Brian admitted to smacking his children, "but I've never hit them".
"Yes, I smacked other people's children, but I never hit them. But we are not allowed to do that any more in this PC world," Lochore added.
