I think the concept that skinhead != fascist might not have reached NZ?

(Apologies to Billy Bunter fans)

NORTH London!

Hadyn –

...excuse me, "football" is not as diverse as it first seems.

Might we choose to agree to disagree on that one, though I underline the earlier point: Football may not be as diverse as…

How apt.

Not quite true... as Coutts and Butterworth did have a spot on our…

Well, soccer...

(Hadyn scuttles away and has another coffee. With renewed vigour he returns to to e-podium)

...excuse me, "football" is not as diverse…

i've been thinking that was is so interesting about the spoonley senario is that the "doyens of new zealand sports" are replicated across a range of other social and cultural settings.

new zealand is littered…

i) Sorry about the public servant baiting...
ii) Yes I have said as much to staff at SPARC and it will cost me research funds for the rest of my career.

But ! The point I so brilliantly hid in a rant was Spoonley and SPARC have both got…

Post-melodramatic stress-disorder?_
Nah, gospel truth mate; gospel truth.

Hey Max, who are the other traitors you're upset with? It always occurred to me that Chris Dixon should get some sort of medal for services…

and i'm not going near the sparc strategy stuff... public servant here...

spoonley did indicate that the doyens of sports he was talking to…

heard an interesting talk by a prof paul spoonley the other day.
he spoke of rangitoto college in auckland, 43% ethnically asian.
the two biggest sports at the school are soccer and badminton, neither of which gets sparc funding (afaik).

i) I’m not sure this popularity statistic would bear up…

how do schools feel about getting pub charity sponsership? Just wondering as they seem to have plenty of money…

i believe that would be in the best interests of the Americas Cup (not just…

apologies.

Thanks Max.

Talked to a guy this afternoon who was involved in the unsuccessful defence. He believes (and hopes) that if Dalton wins it and institutes a nationality rule, you would see countries like China and India playing a larger role in future contests, while the so-called Formula 1…

he spoke of rangitoto college in auckland, 43% ethnically asian.

the two biggest sports at the school are soccer and badminton, neither of which gets sparc funding (afaik). he tried to explain this to some sparc people, but…

i thought that this was a pretty invective comment itself and replyed with like seeing it was directed at myself. However, I shouldn't have lowered myself to that level, apologies.

i kind of get sick of some of the…

You hit the nail on the head.
I do want the Kiwi sailors who sail on the Emirites to beat Butterworth & the remaining 3 traitors.
I want them to bring the Cup to Auckland with all its benefits and I will feel very patriotic.
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It's time our education system started encouraging critical thinking.

Lets get back to facts.

Everyones putting forward sarcastic dribble.

Coutts & Butterworth were deceitful and did it for the money. The chip on there shoulders appears has formed from the lack of respect they now have in their homeland. Profit free clubs and this country…

Don
Yachting on the weekend by definition puts you on the rich side of the divide.
A/ You have a weekend and not a 2nd or 3rd job with which you buy that luxury good electricity.

If you think that spending $35 on your sport of choice for your weekend…

Still, fatness down, fitness up, bruising near-constant. Take that, SPARC!

we are nation of sad f#cks who pin our hopes/self-esteem on our international sporting prowess.

Post-melodramatic stress-disorder?

Wierd. SPARC would tell you I'm completely inactive or other because I do a martial art.

Same, but there's no mention of boxing/kickboxing either, so I wager they've filed it under "exercise classes". Pff, tell THAT to the five girls I beat up last week! (zap! pow!)

The right to gain citizenship needs addressing. The free market concept cannot hold where human beings are not free to move like their money is.

Yeah. You're kinda scary.

I don't think this is in the least unreasonable.
The ability to gain residency should also be as an easy process.

There seems to be a desperate crisis of identity. I…

Then again I don't think cricket is a sport either.

Incidentally, does the 9% participation in "motorsport" include street racing and general hooning around? And was it clearly explained to the survey participants that watching is *not* a…

In this section, you can find out what…

Please feel free to explain how taking away a pass port is not the removal of citizenship after being absent from your country for a period of time?

please feel free to offer an example of a country that does this

We didn't have this priviso when we axed Samoans including returned NZ soliders.

Oh & "Dead Man's Shoes" is one great movie.

Let's not quibble on the detail but acknowledge the principle is sound and used today by 1st world countries.

It's not quibbling on the detail at all...your assertion was plain wrong...its not used by anyone

Bonan nokton
(Good night in Esparanto)

The right to gain citizenship needs addressing. The free market concept cannot hold where human beings are not free to move like their money is.

If you're half useful on a boat you can get a crew slot in the Solent (big UK sailing area) most weekends. Same in Aussie, I think.

I don't think sailing on someone elses boat is…

This is exactly what happens for many countries citizens, Holland & Austria are but two (although exempt from pensions…

In any case, given that NZ governments for the last 30 years have actively…

Running a story like this reinforces the myth that it’s a national sport. Some of it, like that…

It's hardly the game of the people is it?

New Zealand is the one country in the world where that statement is wrong.

Went yacht racing last weekend. Cost, $35 bucks. Hardly a millionaires' budget. Photos – it is as exciting as it looks in those pics.

Hence the interest,…

THEATRE!

As a sport, I quite like yacht match racing as a spectacle, to me it has a lot of the tension and slow motion drama of test cricket.

You're exactly right, yachting is as boring as cricket.

There are some, mainly idiots, who see rugby as the be all and…

I think some of the Kiwibank advertising is borderline racist – or would be if it didn't involve Aussies.

Anyway, I find economic nationalism obnoxious, particularly in an exporting nation (where would we…

Anne
You have as much right as any foriegner to live in NZ – you should also have to jump through the same hoops.

I'm an NZ citizen by descent actually.

The yachtsmen are professionals making a living with whoever wants to pay them the most money, just like any…

Yeah, a sport in the most tenuous sense of the word. I'd sooner watch televised darts. It's hardly the game of the people is it? I mean, you're hardly going to…

The whole thing was a giant con as far as I was concerned, and I still couldn't give a rat's one way or another.

But lets get real here.The red socks, the huge flags, the advertising campaigns – everyone knows that the America's Cup was sold as Team New Zealand, all of us, against the rest. Nationalism was powerfully and knowing invoked…

Rich of Observationz: I see the America's cup as an important acquisition for an economy which by dint of distance is always going to be reliant to some extent on…

but based on that one, half the working population of New Zealand are mercenaries.

Yes. Like the sailors. It's a job for them – why should it be anything different?

And Craig, a mercenary is "A person who works merely for money or other material reward; a hireling.". A mercenary soldier is a killer purely for pay. So those sailors are mercenaries – all of them, I don't imagine anyone is there on a Sports Foundation grant!

Well that's one…

If you live overseas – good on you but if you're away too long say 5 yrs – bye bye NZ passport. You don't live in NZ, you don't contribute to NZ, you're therefore not a NZer – so fuck off – oh that's right you already have!

Oh dear…

If you live overseas – good on you but if you're away too long say 5 yrs – bye bye NZ passport. You don't live in NZ, you don't contribute to NZ, you're therefore not a NZer – so fuck off – oh that's right you already have!

Well in…

BTW, FI stuff...Peter Sauber's team is based where again?

For those who dont know, most of the F1 industry is based in Great Britain.

That wonderful Kiwi (not) German (not) team McLaren, who seem…

But when Simon Daubney says Allingi is "just like Team New Zealand" all I want to say to him is – no, no you are not. You are mercenaries who made a calculated decision that economically harmed your homeland.

I by long means not an Americas Cup fanatic.

But I…

Incidentally, do Germans consider Schumacher a "traitorous mercenary" because he drove for Ferrari rather than…

Losing the America's Cup cost N.Z. millions. I dtill can't understand how anyone who hurts their country like that can sleep straight at night.

About as easily as Peter Jackson after putting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits in the pocket (ultimately) of TimeWarner, one of the largest…

So I suppose Michael Schumaker just messed around in cars? And the Formula One circuit is a nothing financially?

Why yes Michael Schumacher did just mess around in cars. Of course he only ever raced for German teams...no wait it was an Italian team ... and when he lost the…

Losing the America's Cup cost N.Z. millions. I dtill can't understand how anyone who hurts their country like that can…

You are mercenaries who made a calculated decision that economically harmed your homeland.

In my book, you've forfeited any right to be taken seriously when you equate anyone who is messing around on a sail boat with people who kill for the highest bidder. And I don't really want to…

Now, I understand its all about syndicates.

But when Simon Daubney says Allingi is…

If they're not careful, Alinghi will make a mixtape of Great Kiwi Sporting Defeats and play it on the deck speakers as they sail out.

The editorial judgement of the O'Herald, like the peace of God, surpasses human understanding. I.F. Stone once said you never knew where in The Washington Post you' d find a front-page story. Well, nowhere on…

There isn't enough room on the Emirates boat for all the excellent boat-racing New Zealanders, so surely it should be a point…

I am feeling a little bitter to British sports at present, I got on the wrong tube today (well, sort of) and all I could find…

It's not a national sport, people! Go support Olympic yachters if you want your groupthink fix!