In touch with the sporting stars


Quite appropriate as we are soon off to cricket for Joe-for the first time in three weeks, as the weather has been less than ideal.

Pictured is bowler Danny Evans who plays for Middlesex having played age grade for England. He is in Wellington for the summer playing for Eastern Suburbs CC. As such he happens to be Joe’s cricket coach for the Friday after school session. Oh so close to the elite!

Commercialism that treats us all as fools

I cannot remember seeing a purple stripe running through the Cross of St. George.

From the Guardian:
“But the pre-match marketing stunt of getting the spectators to hold up coloured cards, revealing a Nike swoosh in white at both ends against a purple background, was nauseating enough to make what followed look almost acceptable” (ie the game).

The RFU has neatly entered the realm of total money grabbing; sitting nicely beside the premiership football clubs and their international corrupt owners, and the England cricket establishment.

For the record, I could only manage to watch the first half of the Argentina game before I had to turn over to watch some rugby.

Dishing out the prizes

Due to the demands on time and the large number of activities and calls upon my mental concentration, I have badly overlooked reporting on the achievements of EQ.

The wonderful daughter had her prize giving last week. It is nearly the end of the school year. As it is NCEA exams time of year( for that read GCSE), she has officially finished school already, bar the exams, and so the end of year event was relatively early, and on Monday evening.
It was an interesting event, as much as these things can be, as the serious prizes-Dux, and others, were presented to the final year. We started off the evening as before with the national anthem and finished with a hymn sang in Latin. Does your school not do the same?

An invited speaker was a successful ex-pupil who spoke about trying to achieve goals in life- and her thoughts were as relevant to the adults in the audience as for the pupils. In contrast, the speech from the soon to be previous head girl was too long, too corporate, and very “jolly hockey sticks”.

Anyway, EQ made her parents proud again with being awarded the prizes for German and Religious Studies.

Now on with the revision and the search for excellence!

We woz there!

New Zealand 1-0 Bahrain

Rory Fallon celebrates his crucial goal

Rory Fallon celebrates the goal which sealed a place at the World Cup

New Zealand have reached the World Cup finals for the second time in their history with victory over Bahrain in their qualifying play-off second leg.

Striker Rory Fallon scored the decisive goal at the Westpac Stadium in the final minute of the first half with a header from Leo Bertos’s corner.

Goalkeeper Mark Paston also saved a 51st minute penalty from Bahrain’s Sayed Adnan to help qualify.

The trip to the stadium with the lads was a fun event. The crowd, as requested, mostly turned out in white. I have to say it worked well, and did not become the pantomime I had feared. The crowd was noisy, and kept it up all of the game.

There were supporters for Bahrain, close to where we were sitting. They were a tight knit group of a few hundred, with musical accompaniment. They keep their noise going continuously, until their mental health was blown apart by the missed penalty.
We sat behind the goal, so had an ideal view of the goal as the ball rippled the net, and again later on when the ball went over the line only for the ref tom deny the oppo as he had already blown for a foul.

How NZ won the game I am still not sure. In the second half they were under constant pressure, and were unable to control the ball. Bahrain looked better on the ball, but did not make the most of their possession, and certainly lost the physical contest. However, the won the acting contest easily.

The tension was huge watching on. It was just like watching England; always awaiting the mishap, and feeling that the goal that would bring the dream to an end was imminent. But they won. The response was fantastic, as so many cared. The World Cup Finals are looking good. I can happily cover my bases by shouting “come on you whites”.

One Shot at Glory


The title refers to the All Whites. Now the All Blacks are a well known export from these shores, who are currently selling their wares in Europe. The All Whites are the national football team. Soccer has finally been removed from the official language here.

Tonight is the big one. The winner takes all game is at the Cake Tin tonight against Bahrain-the mighty Middle Eastern football nation. NZ won the oceanic group without too much trouble, especially as Australia now play in the Asia section. As winners NZ have had to take part in a two-leg play-off. They drew 0-0 away-a fortunate against the run of play result, though it means that they are one game away from history.
I am off to the game with Joe and three of his mates-a treat for his birthday, which was on Thursday. Fourteen and counting.
I am hoping for the big win, as NZ being in the finals would be great. The chance to support two teams-three if Ireland overcome France, will be great personal, but also exciting from a national perspective.
I am hoping fro a great game and lots of excitement, and a football atmosphere at the match rather than the funeral feel associated with the rugby crowds.
COME ON YOU WHITES!

Sport from the armchair

My view on the weekend’s activity is limited: I was detached from the site of the action, only seeing it on television and knowing the score before watching one of the contests. However, I will not let that deter me expressing my opinion.

I watched the England v Australia game first, though not live. I went to be too late to for me to contemplate rising at a ridiculous hour to watch the game. The game had factors that added to the interest. I was trying to pick Mr T and son from the crowd of 80, 000, while at the same time admiring the size and presence of the stadium. The atmosphere seemed good as compared to the usual intensity in these parts. I was keen also to monitor the performance of Mr T’s “mate”, Ben Alexander. He indeed had a sterling game. He played the full 80, shoved and grunted, and managed to avoid the attention of the commentators all the while he was on the pitch. A true prop’s game? I thought England were better than I had in the recent past. At least the backs looked like they had met each other before the game, and were capable of stringing a set of passes together. For all the praise heaped upon Johnny by the commentary team, I though he played well but was limited. Yes tackled like a demon, but did not kick particularly well from hand, and did not get the lads outside him humming at all. However, I note that the man up north says the alternatives are limited. Australia was the better team and their backs look great. When they have the ball they look dangerous; the likes of Mr Alexander just need to ensure that they have more. Dingo Deans probably smiled for the first time in weeks after the game.

Then, later in the day, I watched a rerun the Wales ABs game. All together different. And better. The atmosphere was fantastic. Thousands of people singing, and the noise noise from the stands was great. The game was intense, fast and skilful and well worth the effort of watching. The All Blacks were again deserved winners but Wales had their chances. The only downer was having to listen to the NZ commentary.

Just to note how much we rub shoulders with the famous in these parts-we have been in the Monteiths in Khandallah with three of the ABs on show during Saturday’s game. I have to say that two of the three looked a lot healthier on Saturday than they did that Sunday earlier in the year!