A festival of sport to divert from election

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

It won’t be daylight saving for another week but many New Zealanders will be getting out of bed early from tomorrow as the Rugby World Cup coverage starts at 6.45am.

The competition to find the best rugby team in the world runs on to October 29 and it is a mixed blessing to say the least for the political leaders now stamping their way across the country after their campaign openings.

To make matters worse for them, it comes in the middle of a mini festival of sport.

The Cricket World Cup starts on October 4, only 10 days before the election, and the build-up to that has just seen an exciting four T20 matches between England and New Zealand finish in a draw, after a great fightback from the Black Caps. A one day test series gets under way tonight.

On top of that, rugby leagues’ Warriors are in the play-offs for the first time in five years and the battle cry “Up the Wahs” is becoming increasingly heard, with the leaders of both major parties joining in.

But any sympathy for the two Chrises and other party leaders will be quickly drowned out by the Rugby World Cup, which is still the biggest sporting event for this country after the Summer Olympics. The cup is only held every four years, which makes it more attractive in many ways.

The television ad that has three young boys riding around on bikes to wake people up for the cup would be one of the most superfluous ever screened.

Soccer’s Women’s World Cup proved a popular pipe-opener, gaining the attention of sports followers whose main interest is in other codes, but this is the big one for many Kiwi sports fans as attention builds steadily towards the Rugby World Cup opener between the All Blacks and hosts France.

The atmosphere at the Stade De France, packed as it will be with passionate French fans and a strong cohort of Kiwis dressed in black, is always tumultuous. It is one of the world’s great rugby grounds, along with Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, London’s Twickenham and Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

The thrill of running out on to a ground like that for the 15 young men chosen can hardly be imagined.

The All Blacks have had some mixed performances in the latter stages of coach Ian Foster’s term, most notably the record 35-7 loss to the Springboks two weeks ago, although there were some background reasons making that less of a setback than it may first appear.

But tomorrow morning when the national anthems are played and the games that really matter kick off, there will be an army of people here bright eyed and ready to go.