Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: Rugby, Racing and Emotions https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address BenWilson https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349276#post349276 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349276#post349276 At the risk of seemingly like a walking cliche, for me rugby is about my dad

Surely for a therapist, it would be a cliche if it was about your mum :-)

]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2015 14:48:38 +1300 BenWilson https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349275#post349275 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349275#post349275 Perhaps the whole colonial relationship with the mother country is why post war NZ worshipped such a horrible bully boy game.

It was well popular before either World War. But probably being more English than the English (who mostly actually obsess about soccer now) would have had something to do…

]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2015 14:47:58 +1300 andin https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349224#post349224 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349224#post349224 don’t you think that in many ways it [sport] serves some of the same functions in 21st century society?
Thats up to fans of sport to figure out.
A fan Kyle? No I am an anti-populist at times like this
You go enjoy yourself, I'll just hope the ABs dont…

]]> Wed, 30 Sept 2015 16:23:33 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349136#post349136 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349136#post349136 I only recently learned that New Zealand's tour to South Africa in 1976 caused African nations to boycott the 1976 Montreal Olympics. An uncomfortable side note is that the absence of those nations (arguably) made possible John Walkers 1500 m gold medal...

I was 14, old enough to feel ashamed…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 23:15:10 +1300 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349135#post349135 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349135#post349135 I only recently learned that New Zealand's tour to South Africa in 1976 caused African nations to boycott the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
When the All Blacks were tear gassed. While I'm unable to find a mention of it online, I'm pretty sure that the Muldoon Government held a send-off function…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 22:49:21 +1300 Sacha https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349134#post349134 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349134#post349134 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 22:40:41 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349131#post349131 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349131#post349131 Sorry, that wasn't the right way to put it you're right. What I was trying to say was I do think that living our lives in accord with our values is very important, and ultimately leads to happiness and meaning.

I was six at the time and so have a…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 22:28:54 +1300 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349129#post349129 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349129#post349129 A mid period Monet, is that a bit like half time?

My memories of rugby are a bit hazy due to being kicked in the face with a sprigged boot. I do remember my brother had his leg broken during a game once but this wasn't the namby- pamby game…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 21:13:40 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349117#post349117 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349117#post349117 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 19:01:10 +1300 Rob Stowell https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349113#post349113 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349113#post349113 The blues were really good that year. Some people from not-auckland were worried this new commercial rugby setup was doomed to be onesided sweep with all the money, top players and coaches ending up in the blues.
Not so much this century. It's a national mystery.

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 18:26:19 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349107#post349107 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349107#post349107 I took Kyle's point to be that sports appreciation is therapeutic, if you don't take it too seriously, and that somehow our inability to so thoroughly enjoy the catharsis in NZ is a problematic part of our national psyche.

1996 was an interesting year for me. It was the year…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 17:10:22 +1300 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349103#post349103 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349103#post349103 when people get on their high horse to say that their fun hobby is

Now this is a HOBBY... :-D...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVuKp5M3de8

Now that... is a sexy machine, am I right?.

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 16:51:03 +1300 TracyMac https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349101#post349101 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349101#post349101 Yeah, I don't have much enthusiasm for sport, watching or playing, but when people get on their high horse to say that their fun hobby is "better" than yours, it gets a bit tedious. I don't see any difference between sport, D&D and collecting mid-period Monets, particularly.

That said, the conflation…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 16:42:49 +1300 Peter Darlington https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349095#post349095 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349095#post349095 It's like when someone talks about a TV show they're into and there's always this one dude who leaps in to say "you proles! I got rid of my television 17 years ago and took up whittling! I haven't missed it a jot!", as if that's relevant to the conversation… ]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 15:38:41 +1300 BenWilson https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349092#post349092 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349092#post349092 and that further the more, as men in particular, we can get comfortable with feeling, tolerating and verbalising emotions the better.

Yes. I've kind of struggled to comment on this thread because it's about something quite serious, under the hood, and I felt it quite strongly after the last World…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 15:23:47 +1300 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349091#post349091 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349091#post349091 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 15:06:54 +1300 Hilary Stace https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349089#post349089 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349089#post349089 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 14:48:52 +1300 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349088#post349088 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349088#post349088 Be nice if people woke up, eh.

But I reckon the "waking up" should be related to critical thought about how our media and capitalism collude to create narratives that don't truly reflect the variety of the lived experiences of sports fans. It always ends up being this "you dummies,…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 13:43:17 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349087#post349087 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349087#post349087 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 13:35:50 +1300 Bart Janssen https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349086#post349086 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349086#post349086 an unhealthy obsession for many

Which is an entertaining anecdote. However, given the lack of frothing hordes at Auckland Blues games I'd say that dogma is much more a product of the media than one based in data.

Yes there will be some mad fans but the vast majority of…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 13:31:48 +1300 tussock https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349085#post349085 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349085#post349085 Danielle, to answer your rhetorical, the rugby conversions like to point out that it's deeply commercialised façade of things that barely exist any more because that never really gets mentioned in the MSM.

On account of the MSM being advertising based, and rather being a part of the non-problem. It's…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 13:19:14 +1300 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349083#post349083 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349083#post349083 So many people like watching this sport. Are they ALL idiots?

No, of course not. Hundreds of people watch Rugby and enjoy it, healthily. Unfortunately there is something in our national psych that turns a healthy interest in this game into an unhealthy obsession for many and that drives the…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 12:57:02 +1300 linger https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349081#post349081 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349081#post349081 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 12:38:17 +1300 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349080#post349080 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349080#post349080 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 12:09:04 +1300 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349079#post349079 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349079#post349079 And it must be painful for those who actually don’t care about the sport to watch the rest of us live and die with the flight of an oval ball,
Well, er, no actually, its rather pathetic watching grown-ups have tantrums over a game which has become Big Business and…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 11:55:46 +1300 Bart Janssen https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349078#post349078 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349078#post349078 this song

Yeah nah

I watch sports for the simple joy of seeing talented humans do something really cool. I invariably find myself rooting for the losing team. I also love watching while exercising. It isn't about vicariously living through some sportspersons talent and honestly I think that's an incredibly…

]]> Tue, 29 Sept 2015 11:49:06 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349076#post349076 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349076#post349076 Tue, 29 Sept 2015 11:11:17 +1300 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349066#post349066 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349066#post349066 Mon, 28 Sept 2015 20:48:04 +1300 Katharine Moody https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349065#post349065 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349065#post349065 Your misquoting Marx is all your doing.

Yes, but if you read Marx in full context and substitute professional sport for religion/religious belief .. don't you think that in many ways it [sport] serves some of the same functions in 21st century society?

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 20:16:52 +1300 simon g https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349064#post349064 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349064#post349064 Although in the case of, say English football fans, I think it’s fair to acknowledge that it can be deep and cultural.

Yes, and there are many examples overseas of sport meaning more to the fans than rugby does in NZ. I'm not saying that is necessarily a good thing…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 19:22:04 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349063#post349063 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349063#post349063 There's also much fun to be had in adopting a temporary allegiance. I was Welsh for a couple of hours and it was as good a mood-enhancer as any pill. Cymru am byth.

I felt a bit guilty abut how Georgian I felt when they beat Tonga. I mean, Tonga's…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 18:54:48 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349062#post349062 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349062#post349062 It matters a lot to many, it doesn't matter absurdly much to anything like as many as we're told.

No. Although in the case of, say English football fans, I think it's fair to acknowledge that it can be deep and cultural.

I worked with a guy in London who…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 18:51:25 +1300 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349059#post349059 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349059#post349059 I remember the early morning news in 1999 when the NZ team lost to France.

Would that be when there was talk of a special counseling hotline to help rugby tragics deal with their grief? Delivering a Mark "Chopper" Read "harden the fuck up" message would have been fun for…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 17:26:58 +1300 Hilary Stace https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349056#post349056 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349056#post349056 Mon, 28 Sept 2015 17:01:15 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349055#post349055 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349055#post349055 Mon, 28 Sept 2015 16:29:44 +1300 Kyle MacDonald https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349054#post349054 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349054#post349054 Mon, 28 Sept 2015 16:27:48 +1300 simon g https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349053#post349053 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349053#post349053 There's also much fun to be had in adopting a temporary allegiance. I was Welsh for a couple of hours and it was as good a mood-enhancer as any pill. Cymru am byth.

More seriously, the whole issue of fans losing perspective needs to be ... well, kept in perspective.…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 16:27:24 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349049#post349049 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349049#post349049 Fast forward to 2007 and I still remember sitting with my head in my hands, genuinely scared I was going to throw up on my carpet, the shot of Dan Carter looking similarly ill, sitting in the grandstand as white as a sheet, burned into my brain by emotion.

It…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 16:08:07 +1300 andin https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349046#post349046 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349046#post349046 emotion that carves memories into the mind, connecting neurons
Thats one way of explaining it
the cynical among us may condemn rugby, and our love of it to being an “opiate for the masses.”
Your misquoting Marx is all your doing.
But it’s a hell of a drug.
No its…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 15:48:08 +1300 David Haywood https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349044#post349044 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349044#post349044 Coping, in this country at least, means hiding your tears of pain from your mates. It means not feeling, not experiencing, being tough and hard.

Alternatively, this song by US psychotherapists Garfunkel and Oates may help put the World Cup into perspective (not that I necessarily endorse some of the…

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 15:00:45 +1300 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349043#post349043 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-rugby-racing-and-emotions/?p=349043#post349043 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Mon, 28 Sept 2015 15:00:45 +1300