BS”D
And sadly, we know that the Zionist rabbonim accept the supposed quote from their mentor which is along the lines of “A Jew playing soccer in EY is holier than a Jew learning in Lita”.
I highly doubt the veracity of this quote; instead I believe it is one of many examples of the complete pap wrongly attributed to Rav Kook that is used by the Zionists in their attempt to blind bnei Torah into merging their klipa with the true kedusha of Eretz Yisroel which is only from Torah.
Many say that if Rav Kook were alive today, there is much he would reject of RZ. That is the limmud zechus for him as he was indeed an odom godol.
A more telling quote (possibly just as apocryphal) was a retort to a secularist who asked Rav Kook why he was meeting with Aguda. His response was approximately: “With them there is one mitzvah that we see differently; with you it is a matter of 612 that you neglect”.