Rico Gear...a name that many on this site will be scratching their heads over since he doesn't play sports over there. To those who do know who he is, forgive me as I take the time to give a little background information on him.

Rico Gear is a Rugby Union player who plays the game in New Zealand. He is 29 years old so he has another 5 years or so in the sport before he would seriously consider retirement. He's played 17 matches for the All Blacks and was considered by many to be the best winger in the world a couple years ago.

At that stage Rico was playing for Canterbury in the Super 12 having switched from Auckland as he wasn't getting much game time. To do this without creating controversy, he first had to transfer provinces (which Rico duly did by leaving North Harbour for Nelson Bay a couple years ago). Since that time, the provincial competition expanded and Nelson Bay merged with another team and became Tasman.

As an All Black, he doesn't tend to get much game time with his province since he's generally on international duty. In fact, in the last two years Rico has only played six games for Nelson Bay/Tasman. However, his form has dipped a bit and he missed out on selection for the New Zealand World Cup squad which was announced a couple weeks ago...but even allowing for the slight drop off in performance, many thought that choice was rather harsh.

Rico's contract with New Zealand Rugby runs out after the World Cup this year and he has decided to pack up his family and head to Europe (about 20 000 miles away) to play for the Worcester Warriors on a three-year deal.

Now you're probably sitting there going "yeah, so?"

Here's the thing. Rico has kicked up a fuss about having to play for Tasman this year in the provincial championship, so much so that the club has just let him go and play for Canterbury instead as Tasman don't want someone who doesn't want to play for them in their team. He has said that it was too hard on his personal life to travel to and from Nelson to see his family.

Ok, I can respect that.

But it's less than a two hour flight between Nelson and Christchurch...and you only play three games a year for Tasman...and you're making a far bigger move by going overseas in a few months anyway...you're a hypocrite, Rico.

More than that, you have lost my respect and from what I've heard on the radio today, a heck of a lot of other fans' respect too. People have come out and said they hope you never play for the All Blacks again and that they're very glad you're leaving in a few months.

The sadist in me is hoping he plays for Canterbury in the game against Tasman...and he better wear earplugs and protective equipment because it ain't going to be pretty.

Rico Gear, you get my vote for #### of the year.