Today the biggest event to hit New Zealand starts. RUGBY WORLD CUP 2011!
Today my humble little country becomes the centre of the world's attention as we host our favourite game and our favourite way of showing national pride.
Tonight at 8.30pm, thousands of New Zealanders will stand at Eden Park Stadium, on the streets of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, in pubs, rugby clubs and living rooms, with their hand on their heart singing our national anthem God of Nations before we watch the All Blacks destroy Tonga.
It has been 24 years since the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup, and that was on home turf a year before I was born, when All Blacks Captain David Kirk held aloft the Webb Ellis Cup after beating France 29-9.
So here's hoping our beautiful captain Richie McCaw (he is gorgeous - I want to marry him) will get the same honour this year.
I was born in June, the middle of the rugby season, and my birthdays ever since have slightly revolved around rugby. It started at the hospital when my mum, who was packed up and ready to go after spending nine days there, just wanted to get home, and dad was late picking her up because he was at the rugby club chilling with his team after a "hard game".
Mere weeks after I was brought home, every Saturday I was wrapped up warm, put in the pram and sat on the sideline to watch my dad play. Then, two years later, my brother was born and he started playing when he was four years old, so every Saturday for most of my life during winter has been spent on a rugby field.
Despite that, I still don't know all the rules, but rugby is a big part of my life and the thing I love about it is the national pride that shines through and the good old fashioned rivalry between countries. So I, for one, can not wait to get involved in this history-making event that I will tell my kids about one day, and it starts tonight with pizza, chips and dip at home with my sister with the sound up loud.
Mere weeks after I was brought home, every Saturday I was wrapped up warm, put in the pram and sat on the sideline to watch my dad play. Then, two years later, my brother was born and he started playing when he was four years old, so every Saturday for most of my life during winter has been spent on a rugby field.
Despite that, I still don't know all the rules, but rugby is a big part of my life and the thing I love about it is the national pride that shines through and the good old fashioned rivalry between countries. So I, for one, can not wait to get involved in this history-making event that I will tell my kids about one day, and it starts tonight with pizza, chips and dip at home with my sister with the sound up loud.
I think my friend and fellow journalist Lee Stace, who is a huge rugby fan and works for Rugby News in Auckland, hit the nail on the head this morning with his message to New Zealand on the world cup, so I leave you with his Facebook status:
"Rugby World Cup 2011 begins here. To the All Blacks, do us proud, Win or lose, you will always be our team. To the New Zealand public, please be good hosts. Be gracious in victory and, heaven forbid it occurs, defeat as well."
GO THE AB's!
