A lot to learn from Paint it Red

AT THE time of writing, I have no idea what the score was in the Tonga v Japan match at Northland's Event Centre.

I was Painting It Red, you see, by hosting a pre-match Kiwiana barbecue. The Kiwiana was an excuse for not getting too elaborate with the food.

Some sausages and bread and onions, steak sandwiches and cheese and onion dip.

On the guest list were two Canadians and a Japanese lady, plus a Northland-born Canadian resident who used the World Cup as the perfect excuse to come home. I opted to take leave to host the barbecue and recover the next day - after all, the World Cup only comes around every 20-odd years in this country.

A Tongan would have completed the Paint It Red trifecta.

There was a rugby game on the back lawn before we left, I'm not sure of the outcome or what form it took, but we were expecting a few kids to accompany their parents.

Friends from Kerikeri that we haven't seen in 15 to 20 years were also calling in, after my wife and I ended up sitting a few metres from them in a crowd of 17,000 last Wednesday. As the pre-game sober driver I was charged with getting us to and from the game safely, and have been told that I'm supporting Japan.

No problem, I'm pretty sure I can find a Japanese flag to wave, and I've got a few metres of Paint It Red tape left that I can do something creative with.

Some Kiwis might not see it this way, but I'm forming the view that regardless of the outcome of the RWC, Northland and indeed New Zealand has won in many ways.

Frankly, we are not great spectators or supporters. We don't sing or chant, or turn up week in week out.

But we're learning. Our visitors are teaching us how to have a great time supporting our team.

Paint It Red wouldn't have worked if we all didn't buy into it, and having done so, I think we're beginning to understand the magic and allure of a World Cup event.

As for the match, I'll stick my neck out and say that Japan won by about 25-11. Was I right?