Chris Rattue: Thundersticks are no go zone

A small "Thunderstick-free zone" was created at Trusts Stadium for the netball mismatch between the Silver Ferns and South Africa on Monday night (South African rugby, netball and cricket must be sick of cricket scores right now). For those of you who don't know what a Thunderstick is, I'm not going to explain it here on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity even for something as bad-news as a Thunderstick, and especially as there are reported sightings of them at rugby grounds.

The creation of a TFZ is one of the most heart-warming and encouraging developments in New Zealand sport for many years. It can only be hoped that, eventually, we will be declared a Thunderstick-free country complete with an amnesty period in which the offensive weapons can be handed in then melted down at about the same time that the Thunderstick moulds are destroyed. Next mission impossible - Music-free rugby.