As you probably all know, together with the rest of New Zealand we were heavily infected with rugby-fever over the last weeks. I followed the scores of the group games when still in the US, watched a few matches in Aussie, and Thomas and me watched all NZ games over the last weeks here in Chch. Originally Chch was supposed to host a few of the games as well, but after the February earthquake this was deemed unwise. To cheer the people up All Black captain Richie McCaw showed up multiple times to encourage us (Thomas got to see a lot of him when he was still working in the emergency centre), and they set up a “fanzone” in Hagley park, with big screens and “events” around it (concerts etc.). This sounds all great, but it is still early spring here and with most of the games being rather late in the evening (to accommodate those few Europeans who wanted to watch), it called for thermal underwear, wooly hats and thermos’es(?) of tea.
But oh! How well behaved kiwi sports fans are! Nobody lynched the 3 Argentineans in the quarter finals, nor the 1 Aussie during the semifinals, nor the 12 French at the final. All was peaceful. Perhaps because the game itself is so violent but fair?
It is interesting that although we watched with a lot of friends/colleagues/partners of colleagues and friends, NOBODY really knew the exact rules. It is obvious that the ball has to be scored over that far line and/or through those poles, but we haven’t yet figured out when the ball is out in which way and when this results in either a throw-in or a scrum, or when penalties are warranted. Nevertheless with some basic understanding of the game it is already really entertaining. And it helps when the surrounding kiwis know the rules and boooh or waaah and you get an general sense of whether the game is progressing well or not.
So for the final we went to the fanzone again, met up with my crazy Argentinean colleague and his family, and took along Charles, a guy I met in Egypt 2 years ago, who has ever since been travelling the world and is now in NZ for a few months (I know. It is hard to even be around him because I am so jealous of his epic world travels). There was a large crowd and several big screens and a good atmosphere. It was very intense the last half hour, and the relief and joy were great when the final whistle was blown. We encountered a lot of crazy people on our walk back home, but it was great to see the kiwis so happy about something that means so much to them.
As for us, we will now have to start following the national league to get our weekly rugby fix.
Here is the haka seen from our picknick blanket in the park:
But oh! How well behaved kiwi sports fans are! Nobody lynched the 3 Argentineans in the quarter finals, nor the 1 Aussie during the semifinals, nor the 12 French at the final. All was peaceful. Perhaps because the game itself is so violent but fair?
It is interesting that although we watched with a lot of friends/colleagues/partners of colleagues and friends, NOBODY really knew the exact rules. It is obvious that the ball has to be scored over that far line and/or through those poles, but we haven’t yet figured out when the ball is out in which way and when this results in either a throw-in or a scrum, or when penalties are warranted. Nevertheless with some basic understanding of the game it is already really entertaining. And it helps when the surrounding kiwis know the rules and boooh or waaah and you get an general sense of whether the game is progressing well or not.
So for the final we went to the fanzone again, met up with my crazy Argentinean colleague and his family, and took along Charles, a guy I met in Egypt 2 years ago, who has ever since been travelling the world and is now in NZ for a few months (I know. It is hard to even be around him because I am so jealous of his epic world travels). There was a large crowd and several big screens and a good atmosphere. It was very intense the last half hour, and the relief and joy were great when the final whistle was blown. We encountered a lot of crazy people on our walk back home, but it was great to see the kiwis so happy about something that means so much to them.
As for us, we will now have to start following the national league to get our weekly rugby fix.
Here is the haka seen from our picknick blanket in the park:
