Rugby World Cup 2011

Last night I watched the NZ vs France Rugby World Cup final in a small local NSW pub, one of a group of four NZ supporters organised by an English woman whose partner was in New Zealand for the game. Apart from our group and two other New Zealand women, the whole audience cheered France and jeered New Zealand.
The French played a great game but the Aussie cheers weren't for good French play but against New Zealand; they even cheered when nasty injuries to NZ players were shown close up. I suppose their reaction was exacerbated because their own team was beaten by their little New Zealand cousins the weekend before but I was not prepared for the extent of the hostility.

New Zealander Piri Weepu in action (picture from the official RWC website)

Oh well, I suppose this is one of the reasons I have never been a great fan of football. I never heard one vioinist jeer another, regardless of the passion involved.

Perhaps we were just on the wrong side of the Tasman. In New Zealand the mood seems to have been a bit like that in Sydney during the Sydney Olympics. A party atmosphere and lots of visitors from as far away as  Ireland and Georgia.

Addendum: a NZ-based Englishman wrote a piece for the Telegraph about who to jeer/cheer for, he drew all sorts of crabs from the woodwork. You gotta laugh.