Editorial: Team NZ need full support

Last Sunday, a packed Ericsson Stadium helped a galvanised Warriors side to move a step closer to a National Rugby League premiership. The local players spoke later of the buzz they had received from the crowd and how it had lifted them when their energy began to sag. They might also have noted how that support demoralised their opponents. And how, even if subconsciously, it weighed on the referee. How, then, could a group which wants to promote a similar stimulus for this country's America's Cup team attract opposition?

Perhaps it is the facile and slightly sinister tone of Blackheart, the name chosen by the group. Perhaps it is a view that concepts of fair play are being abused. Or that America's Cup yachting is more genteel than rugby league; that the dirty tricks that litter its history did not occur. More likely it is the belief that targeting individuals who defected is not "the New Zealand way". BlackHeart will find a greater level of acceptance if it devotes itself to orchestrating the sort of hometown support that all home teams should enjoy, and that Team New Zealand need more than most as they compete against syndicates with far deeper pockets.

The best way to make life uncomfortable for sailors who defected from Team New Zealand is to show them what they are missing. They were quite within their rights to put personal interests first and sail for foreign syndicates. But they cannot expect New Zealanders to feel unemotional about their decision. Particularly when Russell Coutts, the former Team New Zealand skipper, put so much store by patriotism during the successful defence of the America's Cup. BlackHeart wants to recapture that ardour but will not do it with tar and feathers.

Coutts has, in fact, enjoyed a remarkably trouble-free time since returning to New Zealand waters with the strong Alinghi team. Given that he took not only his skill but knowledge of Team New Zealand's successful formula to the Swiss syndicate, he might have expected worse. In other countries he would have received it but not here. That may tell BlackHeart something about the methods it should employ to get behind our team.

If Coutts' comfort is intruded upon in the interests of his former shipmates and his country of birth, so be it. However, that should not be the organisation's raison d'etre. Blackheart says it is not motivated by the importance to the economy of retaining the America's Cup. But the significance cannot be denied. The 2000 defence delivered Auckland the Viaduct Harbour and an estimated 8000 fulltime jobs. Racing syndicates, superyacht owners and spectators spent $640 million, boosting the national economy by 0.8 per cent. A continuation of that benefit is at stake - another reason for the public to support Team New Zealand.

It is common these days to deny that the America's Cup is the ultimate test of international yachting, to boohoo it as competition "between foreign countries" as envisaged by the event's founding document, and to decree that it has become a contest between egotistic billionaires. The scenario eschews patriotism, thereby making it easier to accept the behaviour of Coutts and others. But try telling it to the Australians, who, like us, revelled in their capture of the Auld Mug. Or try telling it to the teams flying their national flags prominently at the Viaduct Harbour.

Money's corrosive influence might have prompted defections and might be eating away at the essence of the event, but not enough to stop New Zealanders getting right behind their team. Blackheart, in spite of its name, can be part of it.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup