Only 2 sports matter at Otago Boy's Hostel: Rugby and Cricket.
And the boys are very defensive about it. We (mostly Scotty) became quite the target. You wouldn't believe how many conversations start with "I don't get grid-iron [their word for American football], why do you need all those pads?" or "baseball doesn't make any sense, it's so boring" and then it is followed with all the reasons why either rugby or cricket is far superior.
Really?
I am not a sports girl. I enjoy going to a game here and there, but I don't get all the rules, my day is not really any different if my home team wins or not, and I lose interest even before the game has started if it's on TV. This goes for all sports.
I married a sport nut. He will watch anything. He is fascinated by the most mundane-looking sports (dart throwing). That passion has never passed on to me. Not even slightly. I don't hate sports either. I'll band-wagon jump, but even then, I don't get as swept up in them as I wish I could.
So I really believe I don't have any sort of bias. How can someone sit all day long watching cricket say that baseball is boring? They both are. Painfully. Or how can a Rugby player say that football is for wusses? Both are contact sports. I wouldn't go near either field. In fact, when I have watched Scotty's rugby games (when he played for Trinity Western), or when I have watched the high school football team he coaches- I stand way back. I feel so exposed standing right on the side line.
I realize they are different sports, but whether or not you play/watch one or the other is more a question of geography. North America has professional football and baseball. New Zealand has professional rugby and cricket leagues.
All this to say that Scotty has his first rugby match tomorrow. He had a practice game last Saturday. I was on duty so I couldn't go, but while I was having lunch, the other house masters started to grill me about Scotty. Everyone here believes that there is no way a Canadian could ever possibly play rugby. "Oh you wait til you get on the field, you're gonna get laid out."
It's a mission. These Kiwi hostel boys (and house masters) need to prove they are bred tougher. They have a vendetta against North American sport (I think it's more about the massive funding US sport receives). You can't like both- you gotta pick a side (don't even ask about soccer- they say it's for fags).
(I must emphasize that this is the general mentality at the hostel only. Soccer is huge in other areas of NZ. These are prideful teenage farm boys who are a little more cookie-cutter than most).
But then he came back in one piece. He played center (which is like the running-back of rugby), and the housemaster who played with him was really impressed. He said that Scotty was actually really fast, and that be had a couple of good hits too. The disbelieving smirks turned to shocked wide-eyes.
He's left on the team bus this morning to play in his first official match in Balclutha. Hopefully he gets some field time (as some of the guys have played for the team for a few years), and can show them that a Canadian boy raised on football is actually cut from the same cloth as a kiwi boy raised on rugby. There's nothing to debate- there's room for everyone and their different size and shaped balls.
And the boys are very defensive about it. We (mostly Scotty) became quite the target. You wouldn't believe how many conversations start with "I don't get grid-iron [their word for American football], why do you need all those pads?" or "baseball doesn't make any sense, it's so boring" and then it is followed with all the reasons why either rugby or cricket is far superior.
Really?
I am not a sports girl. I enjoy going to a game here and there, but I don't get all the rules, my day is not really any different if my home team wins or not, and I lose interest even before the game has started if it's on TV. This goes for all sports.
I married a sport nut. He will watch anything. He is fascinated by the most mundane-looking sports (dart throwing). That passion has never passed on to me. Not even slightly. I don't hate sports either. I'll band-wagon jump, but even then, I don't get as swept up in them as I wish I could.
So I really believe I don't have any sort of bias. How can someone sit all day long watching cricket say that baseball is boring? They both are. Painfully. Or how can a Rugby player say that football is for wusses? Both are contact sports. I wouldn't go near either field. In fact, when I have watched Scotty's rugby games (when he played for Trinity Western), or when I have watched the high school football team he coaches- I stand way back. I feel so exposed standing right on the side line.
I realize they are different sports, but whether or not you play/watch one or the other is more a question of geography. North America has professional football and baseball. New Zealand has professional rugby and cricket leagues.
All this to say that Scotty has his first rugby match tomorrow. He had a practice game last Saturday. I was on duty so I couldn't go, but while I was having lunch, the other house masters started to grill me about Scotty. Everyone here believes that there is no way a Canadian could ever possibly play rugby. "Oh you wait til you get on the field, you're gonna get laid out."
It's a mission. These Kiwi hostel boys (and house masters) need to prove they are bred tougher. They have a vendetta against North American sport (I think it's more about the massive funding US sport receives). You can't like both- you gotta pick a side (don't even ask about soccer- they say it's for fags).
(I must emphasize that this is the general mentality at the hostel only. Soccer is huge in other areas of NZ. These are prideful teenage farm boys who are a little more cookie-cutter than most).
But then he came back in one piece. He played center (which is like the running-back of rugby), and the housemaster who played with him was really impressed. He said that Scotty was actually really fast, and that be had a couple of good hits too. The disbelieving smirks turned to shocked wide-eyes.
He's left on the team bus this morning to play in his first official match in Balclutha. Hopefully he gets some field time (as some of the guys have played for the team for a few years), and can show them that a Canadian boy raised on football is actually cut from the same cloth as a kiwi boy raised on rugby. There's nothing to debate- there's room for everyone and their different size and shaped balls.
soccerballs cricketballs footballs basketballs rugbyballs poolballs baseballs softballs tennisballs netballs
ps, we wanted to say that we love reading of your adventures and kinda can't wait for you to come home!
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