Opinion: Sonny Bill Williams shouldn't get special treatment

OPINION: The bosses at BNZ bank in their shiny Auckland skyscraper must be rubbing their hands with glee, given the mountain of free publicity Sonny Bill Williams' 'tape-gate' has brought them.

By taping over a tiny BNZ logo on the collar of his Blues jersey, SBW has not only disrespected Super Rugby's chief New Zealand sponsor, but also - ironically - given the bank a big shot in the arm. 

And let's be clear - SBW's not opposed to sponsorship dollars per se - he pockets plenty from the likes of BMW, with the deal including a $161,000 vehicle. And then there's his deal with adidas. And Just Jeans. He's not a conscientious objector to getting paid himself.

That is the great enigma of Sonny Bill Williams right there - he appears untouchable and can do whatever he wants, whenever it suits him, and Kiwi rugby bosses are too scared to hold him to account.

Those bosses also let him do anything he wants because whatever he does, including being disrespectful to his pay masters, doesn't seem to have any negative repercussions.

They're obviously working on a "what Sonny wants, Sonny gets" approach - letting him cover the BNZ logo because his faith doesn't believe in making money from lending is obviously okay with them, because it's Sonny.

I'd put money on 'tape-gate' being the brainchild of Sonny Bill's chief mentor, manager Khoder Nasser.

You can almost imagine Khoder getting in SBW's ear: "Hey Sonny, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been snubbing the American anthem and getting heaps of press, we should do something similar in rugby."

Williams is a Muslim, easily the highest profile Muslim living in New Zealand right now. He is the first All Black ever to run out on the field as a Muslim.

He's done good things with his newly chosen religion - his mission with UNICEF to a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon certainly raised awareness of the plight of the humanitarian crisis in that part of the world.

A month after his trip to Lebanon, Williams tweeted two pictures of dead Syrian children from the conflict with a caption: "What did these children do to deserve this? This summer share a thought for the innocent lives lost every day in war."

Opinion: Sonny Bill Williams shouldn't get special treatment

This act also garnered a heap of media attention - yet Williams doesn't usually throw his faith around heavy-handedly. He is incredibly careful about when he uses it, when to quote or tweet the Quran, or when to show signs of his faith in public such as praying.

But 'tape-gate' is a game-changer. It shows his Muslim faith is beginning to take over certain aspects of his day job of being a professional rugby player.

And what will the bosses at NZ Rugby do about it now? Already they've instructed media not to bring up the matter with SBW's Blues teammates. They're effectively putting the blinkers on the situation.

SBW already has a shaky relationship with the country's rugby media.

His interviews are usually always the same; you get next to no insight into the man or his sport as he rarely says anything substantial. You get the basic "work and train hard - every game is a gift" response.

If Williams continues to let his Muslim faith bubble to the surface in the public arena, they may yet turn on him for good.

Williams of course wouldn't be concerned by this, he was public enemy number one of Australia's sports media when he walked out on the Bulldogs but it didn't seem to worry him.

SBW couldn't care less about the media, yet he uses it whenever possible to play his own tune, such as to promote his Lebanon mission.

Over to you NZ Rugby - if you do nothing Sonny Bill will continue to do anything he wants, and then you might have a real problem on your hands.

Tony Wright is a Newshub reporter.