That’s nice to hear about Australians. The calls were for New Zealand to declare war on Australia was reported sympathetically in the Australian media as well.

Yeah, he was quite irrational. It was like he was scared he’d get some incurable disease just being near Alyoum.

At the time, there were NZers all over the country getting random phone calls from Aussies apologizing for what happened. They just rang a number. So there were obviously plenty of Aussies who didn’t (and don’t) have the win at any cost mentality.

I was watching it too, aged 11. Excuse me while I crawl away under a rock for a while.

I haven’t lived in or even visited Australia for 20 years. Occasionally when I read about the immigration policies, I feel like burning my passport. I know some things have changed for the better though, but I still don’t feel any urge to go back.

For a long time the Aussies were the best, and no one could touch them. They became very arrogant about it. The underarm incident of c. 1978 lives in infamy, where Captain Greg Chappell directed his brother Trevor Chappell to bowl an underarm ball so it was impossible for NZ to score a six off the last ball to win. I was watching and like everyone my age or older, I remember it.

The ongoing immigration issue, where NZers are treated like second class citizens doesn’t help, especially the Manus Island situation. People of “questionable character,” which is completely arbitrary and subjective, are imprisoned there in appalling conditions until they crack and agree to sign deportation papers. Some were even born in Australia, though to NZ born parents, and have never set foot in NZ, but being born in Australia doesn’t get you Aussie citizenship IF your parents are NZers.

If your parents are NZers but you’re born in Aussie you also don’t get free healthcare, social sservice, full education rights, and several other things every other kid born in Australia, no matter the nationality of their parents, gets.

NZ doesn’t discriminate against Australians in the same way.

What an embarrassment.

When I played cricket in the late 1980s (I quit when I was 24 because I found the ‘culture’ so repellent), there were a whole lot of Vietnam vets, who would turn up still drunk from the night before and would let out whatever remaining aggression they hadn’t let off in bar brawls. I think that’s how a lot of this idiocy started.

There was also a theory that ergot poisoning was responsible for the medieval dancing manias. I don’t know if that has been debunked, but I thought it a compelling hypothesis on the face of it..

I found more footage of that penny farthing bike race. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HRpVV_x3N4. The extended footage, shot from the particular vantage point that it is in relation to the wheels, is kinda mesmerizing.

Actually, the ones we hate getting beaten by the most is the effing Aussies! (Sorry mate.) We can live with England beating us when they’re better. (We’ll always get them back at rugby, netball, and often several other sports they think they’re the best at like sailing, rowing, kayaking, cycling, and even equestrian.

The really disappointing thing on the weekend was that NZ hasn’t been playing to their potential for about a month. For us, it’s Australia (especially the cricket because they’re so good) that’s the problem because they’re so effing arrogant about it when they win, which is most of the time, so they should have learnt to be humble by now. The Aussie commentators are one-eyed. Whoever they’re playing, the Brits and Kiwis usually make a point of being fair about both sides.

Did you see the way David Warner performed over the weekend? That’s why we don’t like Aussies! (I admit you’re one of the good ones!)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/102002819/david-warner-is-a-typical-australian-cricket-bully-who-just-met-his-match

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/101971436/exsouth-african-cricket-captain-labels-australian-opener-david-warner-a-fool

Commiserations from me too, Heather! I know how such an unfortunate outcome against that particular opponent can burn. As a non-parochial Australian, I don’t mind watching Australia get beaten by any team that plays well, apart from England. I never got over that bit of early childhood conditioning. I hate watching England beat anyone at all for some reason. And I love watching anyone at all beat England. I’m laughing from when Iceland knocked them out of the Euro soccer comp two years ago. That was so funny! (Apologies to any English readers. I actually read the comments in the Guardian cricket section because English cricket fans are mostly extremely sensible, and get treated badly by the ECB. I never read comments in Aust papers, for the same reason I don’t live in Australia anymore.)