The recent decision to exclude Tasman and more importantly Northland is a worrying trend of national body searching for answers by corporate default.

The NZRU are guilty of taking grassroots rugby for granted and "taking their eye off the ball" in its administration. Now you can have the "community rugby" manager and have a fancy website and DVDs but is this having an impact at the schools and clubs which effectively are the ultimate stakeholders.

How can you validate or justify a decision to exclude a proud union like Northland because they failed to measure up to "criteria" put in place by a board and its employees devoid of knowledge of the game at a local level? To cast aside a union which has produced many fine players and encompasses a large geographical area is in my opinion blatantly wrong.

It is an unequivocal failure of NZ Rugby to not do everything in its power to retain rugby heritage and rugby identity in the north of the country. It is very easy to develop key imperatives etc. but it is a far more onerous challenge to run a successful union, club and school environment. You can't simply cast people aside when they in fact have a substantial stake in the national union itself.

We have seen a cynical "back-tracking" in a "blanket of grassroots PR" since the surprise announcement of Henry as coach for the next couple of years. The road-show and other babble is quite frankly insulting to the NZ rugby public. For years now the NZRU has abandoned the core values of our game for the lure of adidas and other sponsorship opportunities. While it is acknowledged that money is required to fund the game, the more important question is "at what cost"?

What happens next year if they change the criteria and decide that they can only fund 10 unions or 8 or 6?..? Where does this madness end? By removing Northland you will effectively erode the soul and heart of that region. Unless there is some very strong and resilient folk committed to rugby in the north, the impact will be immense.

Every year my love for the national team recedes because it no longer represents to me the country or the game. What it illustrates is that money which is mishandled into a semi-professional sport will only end in misguided decisions and ultimately - tears.

It is the people who don't get paid that are the owners of the game and if you take these people for a "ride" eventually they will turn their backs and the sport will be a shadow of its former self.

God help us.