Thinking Out LoudToday, the National Rugby League is doing something unusual: it is changing its rules. Not to make the game faster or safer or more entertaining, but to make it kinder.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have been granted an additional interchange so that Jai Arrow – a famous hard man of the sport, now living the grim reality of motor neurone disease – can take to the field for a few moments. Across this week and next, doing so will take him to 100 games, a milestone that will land him on South Sydney’s honour boards.
I’ve been struck by how warmly the rugby league community has embraced this decision. Rules are the backbone of a sport; but it turns out that bringing honour to the hurting is a cause well worth bending them for.
It makes me proud of our nation.
Human communities are like bodies. It’s a metaphor used by the apostle Paul, who wrote that the parts of the body/community which “seem to be weaker” should receive “greater honour”, and that “if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it”. The NRL’s rule change proves his point, I think: dignified inclusion does not just benefit the included – it improves the whole community doing the including. All souls are lifted when the fragile is upheld.
When Jai Arrow takes to the field, I know I will be reminded of the vulnerability of my own humanity, and also, I hope, of our capacity to meet that vulnerability with care. There is nothing good about what motor neurone disease is doing to him. But the response to his suffering reveals a deep truth: there is a glory in human life that exceeds one’s strength, and there is power in a community willing to honour it.
Michael Gilliver is a CPX Associate and an experienced educational leader. He is currently serving as the Head of Secondary at Carmichael College.