I'm just back from a few days in India. I could write several blog posts on some of the amazing things I saw, such as the massive contrast between the extreme wealth and the depraved level of poverty on show, or the fascinating way in which Indian people interact with each other.
As I'm still pretty buggered, after the travel and then the emotion surrounding our win over Taupo yesterday, I'll save all that for another day. Instead I'll just mention something I know a little bit about: football.
You would think India is very much a cricket nation. On so many levels it is. But it's also a football nation if the media coverage is anything to go by.
We had six sports channels available in the hotel I was at, and the sports coverage was split evenly between live cricket, cricket re-runs, live football and replayed football. Football was all over the papers, too.
It wasn't just the premiership either. There was a five team international tournament going on in India while I was there and that got primetime coverage, despite it involving football minnows like Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Syria, Krgystan (sp??) and the locals. The standard wasn't terribly high, but I did notice the positive way in which the games were broadcast, unlike here in NZ when it doesn't take much for the media to bag the All Whites.
Perhaps that points to a key difference between our two countries. India is an incredibly ambitious nation and have, quite correctly, identified football as a window to the world. It's a means by which they can progress as a nation. If only we were as enlightened here in New Zealand.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Weekends like these
Football's back. That's how the Premier League is promoting the new season. In truth, football never went away. It can never go away as it's everywhere and anywhere, all encompasing and all inclusive, like nothing else on this planet.
But I'm glad football's back. I'm a Spurs fan and it was back with a bang for me at the weekend. Bad luck Liverpool. Unlike last season, this time 'round you were outplayed at the Lane. And no amount of bleating from your slimey manager can change that. Fantastic!
That result topped off a fantastic weekend for me.
On Saturday the Swifts (www.matamataswifts.co.nz) won again to carry on our good unbeaten run and keep pace at the top of the table. The performance was good and some of the goals were superb. Brilliant!
Then we had the Phoenix popping up with a pretty good performance of their own. A 2-1 home win over Perth may not be the things championships are built on, but it's better than the dispiriting draw they looked like having to settle for. Leo Bertos - what a strike!
I've also secured my tickets to the NZ v Saudi Arabia or Bahrain World Cup Qualifier in Wellington in November. That's a game I just couldn't not be at. The chance to be a part of some real sporting history for our small nation... the prospect sends shivers down my spine!
So that was pretty much the ideal footballing weekend for me. Is it too much to ask for more of the same over the next two months?
But I'm glad football's back. I'm a Spurs fan and it was back with a bang for me at the weekend. Bad luck Liverpool. Unlike last season, this time 'round you were outplayed at the Lane. And no amount of bleating from your slimey manager can change that. Fantastic!
That result topped off a fantastic weekend for me.
On Saturday the Swifts (www.matamataswifts.co.nz) won again to carry on our good unbeaten run and keep pace at the top of the table. The performance was good and some of the goals were superb. Brilliant!
Then we had the Phoenix popping up with a pretty good performance of their own. A 2-1 home win over Perth may not be the things championships are built on, but it's better than the dispiriting draw they looked like having to settle for. Leo Bertos - what a strike!
I've also secured my tickets to the NZ v Saudi Arabia or Bahrain World Cup Qualifier in Wellington in November. That's a game I just couldn't not be at. The chance to be a part of some real sporting history for our small nation... the prospect sends shivers down my spine!
So that was pretty much the ideal footballing weekend for me. Is it too much to ask for more of the same over the next two months?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Losers
I, probably like many other New Zealanders today, dipped into the Weekend Herald and read the article on NZ being a no-win nation (click on the Blog heading above - the word Losers).
Whether you believe this hypothesis to be accurate, or wildly incorrect, the bizarre logic around which this particular article was based floored me. A large chunk of the writers' case was centered around our national rugby team.
The All Blacks are, apparently, "the country's global ambassador embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear."
Really?
I'm tempted to ask how a team playing a regional fringe sport, popular in a few island nations and a couple of small European pockets, can be considered global ambassadors. Global means the whole world. You know, the planet Earth, made up of large continents and containing over seven billion people.
As far as embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear...? Hmmm. Monosyllabic grunters, who can't execute the basic skills they're paid to execute. People who need other people to do all their thinking for them. Playground bullys who go to pieces when opponents with even the smallest grain of intelligence present them with a situation that takes them outside their comfort zone. And that's just the backroom staff...
Now, I do realise that many Kiwis actually believe some of this rugby myth stuff to be true. It's the mentality that says, "if it's important to me, then it's important to everyone." Their perception is their reality. And rugby is important to some Kiwis, although quite obviously far fewer of us than in the past, so I can even understand the creation of this perception.
But please, no-one (and I mean this from a global perspective) really cares about rugby and they certainly don't care about our rugby. I'm so embarrassed for my many fellow countrymen who suffer from the delusion that rugby matters. They're all infants, still kicking around in their sheltered, insular little primary school sandbox. In fact, I'm embarrased for my country, or would be if anyone actually noticed this cringeworthy state of affairs.
Rugby is what it is. A sport that is important to the heritage of our young country. It has helped us find our feet as we stretched our legs and took those first baby steps of adolescence beyond our borders. But now it's time to grow up and make our way in the world like a real live adult.
This world is full of far more interesting, fulfilling and inspiring things than rugby. You'll appreciate that if you only open your eyes. Our country has a population that is more diverse than ever, and becoming even more so by the day. Let's embrace that and consign rugby to our past - where it belongs.
Whether you believe this hypothesis to be accurate, or wildly incorrect, the bizarre logic around which this particular article was based floored me. A large chunk of the writers' case was centered around our national rugby team.
The All Blacks are, apparently, "the country's global ambassador embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear."
Really?
I'm tempted to ask how a team playing a regional fringe sport, popular in a few island nations and a couple of small European pockets, can be considered global ambassadors. Global means the whole world. You know, the planet Earth, made up of large continents and containing over seven billion people.
As far as embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear...? Hmmm. Monosyllabic grunters, who can't execute the basic skills they're paid to execute. People who need other people to do all their thinking for them. Playground bullys who go to pieces when opponents with even the smallest grain of intelligence present them with a situation that takes them outside their comfort zone. And that's just the backroom staff...
Now, I do realise that many Kiwis actually believe some of this rugby myth stuff to be true. It's the mentality that says, "if it's important to me, then it's important to everyone." Their perception is their reality. And rugby is important to some Kiwis, although quite obviously far fewer of us than in the past, so I can even understand the creation of this perception.
But please, no-one (and I mean this from a global perspective) really cares about rugby and they certainly don't care about our rugby. I'm so embarrassed for my many fellow countrymen who suffer from the delusion that rugby matters. They're all infants, still kicking around in their sheltered, insular little primary school sandbox. In fact, I'm embarrased for my country, or would be if anyone actually noticed this cringeworthy state of affairs.
Rugby is what it is. A sport that is important to the heritage of our young country. It has helped us find our feet as we stretched our legs and took those first baby steps of adolescence beyond our borders. But now it's time to grow up and make our way in the world like a real live adult.
This world is full of far more interesting, fulfilling and inspiring things than rugby. You'll appreciate that if you only open your eyes. Our country has a population that is more diverse than ever, and becoming even more so by the day. Let's embrace that and consign rugby to our past - where it belongs.
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