Professor Holly Thorpe, a sociologist of sport at Waikato University joins Heather Du Plessis-Allan to talk about All Black TJ Perenara's supprot shown towards Ihumātao.

Perenara wore a 'protect Ihumatao' wristband at this weekend's Bledisloe Cup in Auckland in support south Auckland land protestersm, and yesterday attended 

Thorpe says athletes are not robots, and are increasingly recognising their power to voice support.

"These issues are coming up more and more around the world."

She says fans might say "shut up and play" but athletes have every right to use their platform to speak out on issues they feel passionate about.