I see the rugby-induced NZ political crisis rolls on (in our gleeful press anyway). Apparently they lost because the national anthem was sung in English!
>Well, I reckon only South Africa and New Zealand (and Fiji, Tonga, and
>Western Samoa - but they don't want World Cups as much as a pair of their
>own boots) are the only Union forces where that code is culturally and
>politically this potent. And even in South Africa, the vast majority of
>the black population prefer their balls round (when I lived there in the
>late sixties, rugby was perceived much as Afrikaans was: an emblem of the
>ruling group).
Interestingly, rugby was very much a black game here in the Eastern Cape. You'll find that most political activists here were either local rugby stars or boxers - or both. It was a matter of political honour for every village to have its own rugby field and eager teams could be found battling it out on some rocky patch of turf every weekend. As you may be aware, sporting and political orgnaisation was completely intertwined in many parts of this country. Sadly, since 1994, most grassroots sporting organisations here seem to have evaporated somewhat as black sports activists have been sucked into big business.
>Australia is a more organised side than New Zealand, as they proved against
>the equally organised but less resourceful Boks. I'll do a Daniel and
>predict an easy Wallaby win.
Yes, I think their professionalism wins out every time - and that applies to cricket as well, as was shown by their last minute World Cup defeat of SA who cracked under pressure.
>The Kiwi right is the rightest right (ie. neo-classical zealots) in power
>anywhere. Compared to Shipley, anything is an immediate and empirical
>improvement. What I'd like to know is if Anderton's left-soc-dem alliance
>have it in 'em to cause Clarke to bear them in mind when legislating.
You may be right but my experience of much of the NZ "left" who have invaded (strictly a relative term)SA as volunteers since 1994, indicates that even Tony Blair is also quite a radical in comparison with some of these people.
Russell