“Republicans buy sneakers too.”

Ideally, that’s all I really want to say about TJ Perenara using the All Blacks haka for political purposes and a variety of players posing with the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, following the team’s 29-11 win over Italy.

One person’s unifying force is another’s dividing one and I tend to think an apolitical All Blacks team sits more comfortably with fans and sponsors. Sure, advance all the causes you like in a private capacity, just maybe not when you’re meant to be representing the nation.

Basketballer Michael Jordan is credited with the above quote and was criticised at times during his storied career for not overtly adopting political stances.

You can’t say the same about Perenara.

I’ll have to assume the prelude he used for the team haka in Turin was directed at the two thirds of New Zealanders that polling suggests want a debate about the status of the Treaty of Waitangi.

After all, despite being the people Perenara was eyeballing on Sunday morning (AEDT), I’m not sure the Italian rugby team has too many treaty obligations towards Maori.

I wasn’t going to mention any of this in the wake of the final Test of the All Blacks’ season, given I don’t put too much stock in the pronouncements of public figures.

It’s just that both All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and assistant Jason Ryan have identified a poor mindset and preparation as reasons why the team played beneath themselves against Italy.

That can happen when advocating for Maori sovereignty, as Perenara did personally and the team by association, becomes a priority.

My other reservation in raising any of this, is a dislike of politics and politicians. But, unfortunately, Perenara made the haka and the All Blacks political when he both chose to adapt it and then explain his reasons for doing so after the match.

I’m not sure that helped the All Blacks on Sunday or, more broadly, New Zealand.

Reaction to Perenara blurring the line between politics and sport has been for some to throw their arms around the halfback in support and others to declare they’ll never watch the All Blacks again.

The haka was already a hot topic here, after MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke led one in Parliament. Equally, that haka and the bill she tore up in disgust, has also become a meme, not least among Manchester United fans who, in the wake of Tottenham’s 4-0 win in the weekend, want Manchester City to tear up the contract they gave to manager Pep Guardiola.

In a New Zealand context – no matter how hollow the threats might turn out to be – we don’t want people turning their backs on our national team because of a haka or a flag.

Perenara no doubt feels he had right on his side. By the looks of things, he also had the bulk of the team.If you stand on that kind of soapbox before a match, it’s incumbent upon you to then play well. The fact the All Blacks didn’t do that – and offended some fans in the process – sours what was becoming a tolerable season for the team.

They were bad at home against England, then worse against Argentina. They kind of choked against South Africa, then played like headless chooks in their first encounter with Australia.

But the bulk of the footy since has been more in keeping with what we’re entitled to expect from the All Blacks side.

I say this a bit, but every other team in this country makes do with less so that the All Blacks can have more.

The game at community level runs on the smell of an oily rag so that no expense is spared on the All Blacks. Professional teams contract players they can only use sparingly to ensure those players are right for international duty.

We all accept the challenges or consequences associated with that because we believe in the greater good. Such is our pride in the men in black and our desire to see them dominate the world stage that we put up with any inconvenience.

Unfortunately, there are those who believe the All Blacks thumbed their nose at many in the rugby public on Sunday. That the team decided their vision of a right and just New Zealand had to be given voice, regardless who was insulted in the process.

Perenara is a leader. I first dealt with him when he was 16 and those qualities shone through even then.Years later, we discussed how his greatest impact upon this country might come after his playing days had ended.

I still believe that to be the case.

Sunday, sadly, was premature. Perenara was still an All Black and still representing all of New Zealand, rather than just those with whom he’s philosophically aligned.

He’ll have plenty of time to do all that. This just wasn’t the moment.