Field Theory by Hadyn Green

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Field Theory: All White on the night

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  • Russell Brown,

    giovanni, boredom & despair? Surely not.
    The transparancy of the game, simple rules (except for off side) holds the greatest potential for a free flowing game and excibition of skill.

    And yet the game's built-in low scoring leads itself towards inconclusive results in knockout competitions, and therefore such unsatisfactory tiebreakers as the away-goals rule and penalty kicks.

    Much as I enjoyed the game, it did very nearly end in Bahrain "winning" with two drawn games and an equal goal aggregate.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    giovanni, boredom & despair? Surely not.
    The transparancy of the game, simple rules (except for off side) holds the greatest potential for a free flowing game and excibition of skill.

    Perhaps. But personal experience moment here: I grew up on soccer, and I love it to be sure, but in New Zealand I enjoy rugby more because the local players are just incomparably more skilled at that game. Watching the Phoenix play is intensely painful, and I say that after having gone to the whole of season one at the Cake Tin. I get a lot more enjoyment from your less than average NPC game.

    But to be fair I say that in reaction to comments I heard elsewhere. What I'm not looking forward to hearing in the next eight months is the passive aggressive resentment of rugby from some NZ soccer fans - and it's started already.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    What I'm not looking forward to hearing in the next eight months is the passive aggressive resentment of rugby from some NZ soccer fans

    Well put! I have noticed amongst some colleagues that following soccer serves as some point of difference; as an expression of an anti-rugby sentiment.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I saw a certain All Whites player doing a Flintoff in a Courtenay Place bar on the Sunday afternoon!

    Respect. How'd he get the pedalo in there?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    the local players are just incomparably more skilled

    Was it Steve Sumner the other night who described Brazil in 1982 as on another planet?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Mm, but then there's a lot of people for whom rugby fans are still the guys who talk about wogs & poofters playing football.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Was it Steve Sumner the other night who described Brazil in 1982 as on another planet?

    Too bad they didn't come back down to the planet where they were supposed to beat Italy with ease that fateful day in Barcelona.

    Mm, but then there's a lot of people for whom rugby fans are still the guys who talk about wogs & poofters playing football.

    Maybe, but in my 12 years in these parts I've encountered none of the latter and tons of the former. Perhaps it's because people naturally think I'll agree with them.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Chockasunday,

    The 'built-in low scoring' makes it that more exciting when the team scores; hence the crowd going apesh*t!

    Other sports like rugby or tennis get points all the time, so there's no need to get excited until you know the final result.

    What I'm trying to say is, you have to appreciate it for what it is - not be disappointed because soccer's not like any other particular sport.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 62 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Sounds like cricket

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    I'm not saying it's particularly true these days, but remember there's people involved in New Zealand football who grew up back in the 60's and 70's when that sort of thing was way more common, and it does get passed down from the old guys.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Why have men's soccer shorts got longer over the last three decades, while women's netball and tennis skirts have got skimpier?

    Shorter shorts are easier to move in. Football uniforms went from long pants to shorts and then lengthened again (though basketball shorts are more extreme).

    I put the main reason for the relengthening down to fashion. The boys don't want to run about in short shorts anymore.

    And it's the same thing for the skirts, fashion plus comfort and ease of movement.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    What I'm trying to say is, you have to appreciate it for what it is - not be disappointed because soccer's not like any other particular sport.

    Are you trying to imply that sport is just a form of entertainment and that we shouldn't judge people by what they find entertaining or not? Because that stinks of communism to me! (naturally I kid and agree with you)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Sacha, quite right a bad game of League beats a bad game of union, due purely to its structure.

    As for cricket. I disagree with many who've studied the game. I see its modern incarnation coming from the class structure, to entertain the wealthy unemployed through their days & having to pay the poor to play with them. To count cricket as a sport is to ignore W.G. Grace - Shane Warne. It is entertainment, and an excuse to gamble, as it always has been.

    There might well be a strong anti-rugby feeling in NZ, because of the thugby element that persists, 1981, and the way celebrated players get name suppression or light sentences or overseas contracts when convicted for crimes of rape and manslaughter, shooting seals?

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Russell, is it the score that matters or journey the game takes you on?
    A shot is made from outside the box.
    Will it curl in?
    Come off the head of a charging run from a preplanned move?
    Saved by the keeper ?
    Fluffed by their defender for an own goal?
    Or fly through untouched by all in a wasted effort?

    Either way the journey and multipul options an open game offers is a rewarding experience IMHO.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    What I'm not looking forward to hearing in the next eight months is the passive aggressive resentment of rugby from some NZ soccer fans - and it's started already.

    Quite. There was someone on the news on Sunday saying "Maybe now rugby can give up some of the limelight".

    Ah, that's not actually the game's fault. Wouldn't it be nice if we could like two sports at the same time?

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Arguments about Sport A vs Sport B are pointless (first, because it's obviously subjective, and second, because football obviously wins).

    It's not the sport, but the contest. Is it meaningful sport? Southland winning the Ranfurly Shield wasn't a 45-35 try-fest. If a visitor had never seen a game of rugby before, (s)he would not think it was a great spectacle. What made the game was ... it mattered. The reaction afterwards was not corporate-sponsored approved enthusiasm: it was a whole bunch of people going "Yeeeeeessss!" ... naturally.

    All Whites fans got excited on Saturday night, and still are. All Blacks fans no longer get excited (though they might get drunk, which has some similar symptoms). These days, they have two reactions:

    1) We stuffed it up.
    2) Thank God we didn't stuff it up.

    The last time there was real, unrestrained joy in an All Blacks' win was Sean Fitzpatrick on his knees in South Africa, thumping the ground, and John Hart hugging his players. Why? Because it mattered. They'd done something NZ had never done before: win a series over there.

    Now, if the ABs beat South Africa, it's a good platform, with plenty to work on. Nobody gets excited about platforms.

    There is only one thing left to get excited about, and we all know what that is, and every four years the All Blacks find a way not to win it. When they finally do, we won't need a marketing department to persuade us to go ... "YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!".

    And suddenly, rugby will be a wonderful sport.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    All Blacks fans no longer get excited (though they might get drunk, which has some similar symptoms

    No offence, but: Bollocks. I get plenty excited.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Arguments about Sport A vs Sport B are pointless

    Over to you, Your Views.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    No offence, but: Bollocks. I get plenty excited.

    I think what Simon was trying to say is that, while us rugby fans still enjoy a win plenty, you can't deny it's more of the same. Who "loves" the Tri Nations? not even the players anymore I suspect.

    I would suggest the last time rugby fans got properly excited was the Lions in 2005 in the series clinching 2nd test win in Wellington. Why? It was a proper test series, it was the Lions and it really mattered.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Isn't one of the reasons we get all jiggy on it when NZ wins at Rugby, Football, League, or Cricket, Hockey, and Netball, basically because we are such a small wee country who has produced a team, that size considered has to be an underdog and proof right there that we can do it? The Basketball recently surprised me also. It's these moments that make me proud to be a Kiwi, y'know, that flightless bird.
    Whilst in the UK I often had people asking me how big our population was, then how surprised they were that our Rugby could produce the quality of players out of such a small sample. They happily informed me that, "apparently we have the best", to which I replied "why thank you very much. We get to own these players wherever we go. NZ pride.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I watched the game and thought it was an OK spectacle. I suspect it would have been a lot better if you'd been in the crowd, though because of the crowd not the game.

    And I'll probably watch their world cup games and then not care about them at all. Just can't get into a game which has about 85 minutes of not much at all, with intermittent bits of excitement when the teams are actually attacking and its all on. Feels to me like the field is too big.

    Obviously other people will view that differently, good on ya.

    That being said, thoroughly enjoyable and accessible game to play, I could happily kick a soccer ball around with mates.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    I put the main reason for the relengthening down to fashion. The boys don't want to run about in short shorts anymore.

    Maybe this is the reason why...

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    And, this is why the girls uniforms are skimpy?

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

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