N.Z. sports journalists seem to have learned nothing in the last twelve years
“There’s no agnostics on my show! This is a 100 per-cent All Black supporters zone,” ranted Radio Sport journeyman Mark Watson last Saturday night.
Hive-mind syndrome in the media, from the Herald‘s absurd Wynne “Sensible” Gray and Chris “Ratshit” Rattue down to fair-weather fans like Murray Deaker, Tony “Bootboy” Veitch and Mark Watson, means that complacency (and ignorance) levels are sky-high right now—almost totally in the media, and also among some of the more easily led and less thoughtful members of the public.
There’s a surreal quality to the displays of ignorance and over-confidence. Just listen to fair-weather fan Martin “Moron” Devlin on TV1 after last night’s game: “There’s only one team in the final, isn’t there.” In a pathetic display of indulgence, Nick Mallett, Dan Crowley and Anton Oliver felt compelled to murmur agreement—however hesitantly. Oliver in particular would have remembered the puerile and malicious behavior of Devlin following France’s 1999 semifinal demolition of the All Blacks—a match he played in. The All Blacks refused for several years after that to speak to Devlin, so appalled were they by his ignorant ranting following that match. Yet, in spite of this, Oliver obviously felt compelled to follow Devlin’s lead, nodding in unison with the others at that inane comment.
The mood of elation continued this morning. One jubilant (and inebriated) fan was asked by National Radio’s Morning Report how he felt about next weekend’s final. The drone bawled drunkenly: “It’ll be a walkover!”
Back in the Morning Report studio, Geoff Robinson solemnly (and gullibly) reported a clever piece of mensonge diplomatiques by French captain Thierry Dusautoir: “We may not have talent, but we have heart.” Of course, the very opposite has been true for much of this tournament.
Simon Mercep asked L’Equipe reporter Ian Borthwick and Sir Colin Meads to predict the result of the final. Borthwick declined, pointing out the great speed and skill of the Tricolors’ loose forwards and the formidable power of the front five. Meads agreed, and observed that the French pack was the only pack in the world with the power and skill to match the All Blacks’ pack. They didn’t even mention backs like Palisson, Mermoz, Rougerie, Clerc or Médard, each of them capable of tearing the All Blacks apart like they did to England a week ago.
Those are facts that that the likes of Watson, Devlin and their colleagues in the sports media won’t even permit to be mentioned: to show anything less than total belief, and to show any respect for, or even any knowledge of, France will jinx the All Blacks.
This feels very like 1999 all over again. Worryingly, the loudest, most insistent and most complacent voices in the sports media now are exactly the same voices as twelve years ago. Not one of them seems to have learned anything.
Oh god I will so glad when this Bloody rugby finishes and to piss off all the black fans I have to say Go France. Because that will immediately kill off any ideas of the Govt just basking in the glow and gloat of a job well done, all their own work, blah, blah, blah. Lets just hope that some Journo has the balls to tell Shonky that Helen actually did all the hard work. Not him Oh that would be a sight to see. He would have a fit. Forget a 1 day ban for TVNZ lol
