We done bad

I wrote this posting just after we lost the Netball World Cup match. For some reason it didn't get posted. So here it is. Slightly less topical but no less relevant - particularly the way the Black Caps are performing at the moment.

I always thought that we in the UK (sic) were very good at bemoaning our fortunes when we perform badly (or perhaps I should say less well than the opposition) in sport. As I said in the posting yesterday here in New Zealand we are not on top of the world at the moment with our sporting performances.

Well I've discovered today that the UK has no concept of how to feel sorry for itself and make such a public display of flagellation. Today every news programme, every sports programme, every conversation and, doubtless, every newspaper tomorrow has trawled over the failures of the Black Caps (who are being slaughtered in South Africa at the moment just to give some topical soul searching), the All Blacks, the Silver Ferns (who might have got off more lightly but for the fact that if they'd held it together at the end they could have won) and the one I forgot about yesterday, The Americas Cup Team.

I'm not suggesting the UK takes lessons but it does rather indicate that Norman Vincent Peale has not quite managed to get his message across.

Thinking about it though it is interesting how we view things as individuals or as nations. New Zealand is used to winning (just as Welsh Rugby was in the days when Gareth Edwards played) and it comes hard when they don't. I've just spent a day playing in my first Petanque competition which was not just a Club event. My partner and I didn't do well. Having said that we did 1 point better than two of the Club's players who play at national and international level. But that's not the issue. I didn't really expect to do well. In 10 days I will be playing in a major Croquet Tournament. I expect to do well. If I don't I will be truly pissed off. But I've not been pissed off to date and my mindset echos that. I know that I can't always play good Croquet - few people at my level can - but I do expect to. At the moment it seems to me that New Zealand has temporarily forgotten that it expects to do well.

Premier Sport

Which sport can displace any other programme on New Zealand Television? Football? I've not seen any football on TV here. Rugby? Well it's certainly very popular and, yes, it makes prime time TV. Cricket? Of course it's popular and, again yes, it gets good TV slots. But what takes precedence over everything? Netball!

Tonight (Saturday) the pride of a nation rode on the final between New Zealand (the World Cup holders) and Australia. The Black Caps had lost at Cricket, the All Blacks had lost the Rugby. Everything rested on the (incredibly high) shoulders of the Silver Ferns.

All seemed lost after the first two quarters. Then the Ferns recovered to within 2 points only to miss three opportunities in the last five minutes or so and eventually lose by 4 points at 38 to 42. A nation went into mourning.

England had earlier been knocked into fourth place. I suspect that not only did the match not make UK TV but that the result probably didn't make the TV News.