A former captain of the Lions, he led them to a series win over South Africa in 1974 on his fifth Lions tour, McBride told The Rugby Paper such a game was 'completely alien to the ethos and history of the Lions'.
"For the Lions to play a home Test match is nonsense," he said.
The Lions have only ever played once in Britain, against Argentina before the 2005 New Zealand tour.
McBride took issue with Gatland's suggestion the Test could generate $NZ10 million.
"That's the problem with the world of professional sport at the moment. It's all about money, not about sport. Therefore this [Test] is going to be played purely for money. It would be meaningless," he said.
McBride said looking at the state rugby was in at the moment it was obvious lessons should have been learnt from the mess the game had become.
"The ethos of the game has been damaged so much. It used to be run by rugby people. Now it's run by (supposed) financial wizards. The grassroots game is dying, or it certainly is in Ireland.
"If they are going to have a Lions, then have a proper Lions tour. They keep saying they can't squeeze the Lions into the curriculum once every four years yet they always seem to find room for some stupid idea to fill Twickenham.
"Surely it is possible to have a proper Lions tour. I think it's scandalous that the Premiership clubs in England are dictating the future of the sport.
"The game has gone back since the advent of professionalism. It's a mixture of Rugby League, Rugby Union and American football. A lot of it is quite boring. I played in my share of boring games but there would always be a spark," he said.
Another Lions captain, Phil Bennett [to New Zealand in 1977] said he also believed the Lions should play their games overseas and while he saw himself as old-fashioned, playing away was what made the Lions unique.
But at the same time, he saw merit in Gatland's idea, especially if one million pounds of any gate money was donated to the National Health Service.
2 comments:
Not a lot to argue against there, Mr McBride.
Certainly calls a spade a spade...time for rugby to reflect and do it right.
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