IN this era of media management in sport and “sending the right messages”, are we sanitising sportspeople to the extent that we don’t even expect them to be interesting any more?

Brumbies flanker David Pocock, a man of conviction if ever there was one, has been presented with a formal warning from the Australian Rugby Union for his part in an anti-coal mine protest in north-west NSW.

The ARU felt the need to issue the warning after Pocock was arrested on three charges, including trespass. He went to the protest with the sole intention of raising awareness of the issue.

He has a history of promoting causes in which he has a strong belief including same-sex marriage, climate change and the eradication of AIDS and HIV in Zimbabwe. In fact he funds his own charity to improve the health of women and children in his birth country.

We are not talking about your average sportsperson here.

Peak sports organisations are being criticised for a homogenous approach in how sportspeople under their charge present themselves.

Which is why I found the wording in the ARU’s statement curious. It stated while the ARU appreciates that David has personal views on a range of issues, “we’ve made it clear that we expect his priority to be ensuring he can fulfill his role as a high-performance athlete”.

I understand the significance of him being charged, but do you lump him with players on assault charges or disgracing themselves in nightclubs?

Reading between the lines you get the impression they would be happy if he didn’t have any outside interests and that his sole focus be on securing possession at the breakdown.

Are we in danger of breeding a generation of robots?

Whether you agree with Pocock’s stance on a range of causes is not the point. I am sure there are many that don’t support his views but he clearly demonstrates he has the courage of standing up for his convictions.

If anything the ARU should be encouraging him to have a voice on the causes he feels passionate about, albeit within the law. To suggest his priority should be as a high-performance athlete only suggests that sportspeople are not able to think about anything else.

I would have thought of bigger concern to the ARU is how to sell the new registration scheme for club players.

This appears to be similar to the time when Football Federation Australia introduced a scheme for junior soccer. Spend some time on this issue and let footballers contribute to society in a way that is consistent with their personal beliefs.