Badminton: Aussies lose plot over foul play racket

Now they're calling us vulgar. The land that invented the underarm, the chunder, unceasing self-glorification, Steve Irwin and Neighbours thinks New Zealanders are vulgar.

In the normally sober Australian newspaper, reporter Michael Davis sniffs at the story of a frustrated New Zealand badminton player, Geoff Bellingham, who snapped at the Commonwealth Games when he thought an opponent was cheating and called him a f******* cheat. This probably was not the wisest of courses as it cost his team a point and ultimately the match against the Australian men's doubles team and a place in the semifinal.

Under a heading of "Vulgarity the new black for Kiwis", the report begins by looking down its nose at the team's unofficial name, the Black Cocks, and the smutty T-shirts worn by team and supporters (expect big things, not the soft option sort of thing). It goes on to say that the vulgarity spilled on to the court, courtesy of Bellingham's outburst.

It then sheds little light on what actually happened. Here's a few facts you will not read in the Australian:

The match umpire and the service umpire were Australian.

Bellingham said his Australian opponent was using an illegal serve, complained to both of the above officials but nothing was done.

Normally, in quarter-final matches, the host does not provide officials for matches involving its national team, for reasons of impartiality.

The Australian team manager, Chris Thirlwell, as reported by the Australian: "I can only say that the umpire and the line judge said the Australian team had behaved in nothing but an exemplary manner throughout the whole match," he said. I bet they did.

The newspaper also did not run the comments of the Australian coach, Claus Poulsen, who said to his players: "You kicked arse and I don't care how the f*** you did it." Plainly, he's not vulgar, then. To make matters worse, the Australian then ran a cartoon of a doctor saying to a patient lying face down on a bed: "I've never seen a shuttlecock in there before." Hardly vulgar at all.

To their credit, the New Zealand badminton team have decided to let things rest. That's what sophisticated and mature people do. Even if they have been wronged - and they were - they just get on with it.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY