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Exeter have reacted to Wasps' Native American headdress review

By PA
(Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)

Exeter boss Rob Baxter has dismissed Wasps calling for a rugby-wide review on supporters wearing Native American headdresses as a bit of a non-story. The Chiefs face Wasps at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Saturday, with the hosts urging supporters not to wear headgear labelled cultural appropriation.

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Exeter rejected the option to drop the moniker Chiefs following a petition and club investigation in July 2020 but did retire club mascot Big Chief. The Devon club’s rugby director Baxter has brushed off Wasps’ criticism as ill-timed, insisting there are more important matters at hand.

“I don’t think there’s anything for us to say on another club’s statement that actually doesn’t do anything,” said Baxter. “They’ve made a statement saying they’re not doing anything about it. So I don’t think there’s anything for us to comment on it, they’re probably the people to ask.”

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Wasps released a lengthy club statement on Tuesday revealing club supporters had asked for guidance on “cultural signifiers” over “faux Native American headdresses”. The Midlands club revealed it had referred the matter to the RFU and Premiership Rugby, calling for a review into whether the headgear should be banned.

When quizzed on whether the statement was released in poor timing given the two sides meet this weekend, Exeter boss Baxter replied: “The timing is what it is.

“Most people’s view, which is very much the same as mine, is that in the here and now, where we are as a country and the things we have been through, I can think of far more important things that I need to focus on, the club needs to focus on and people, in general, want to focus on beyond whether a supporter supporting a club in Devon’s going to wear a headdress or not.

“That is most people’s view on it, that is certainly my view on it in the here and now. I’ve got to be careful what I say, I’m not overly affected by it. I take a pretty simple view on these things, I tend to look at things from a lot of perspectives. And right here and now when you see what’s really going on in the country and what’s really important, that’s what I’m focusing my energy on. And I know that’s what the club are doing as well, and people in general. So for me, it’s a little bit of a non story.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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