Sunday, October 07, 2007

New Zealand in Mourning.
















Both New Zealand and Australia will be in a state of shock at having lost their quarter final Rugby matches. Watching the game I thought we were poorly treated by the refereeing, 2 wrong decisions cost us the match. ( I am allowed to have my opinion and my say about that! ) The Rhubarb photo is for the REF! )



I think it is a big wake up for NZ ; for the media and for those who put SO much store in our men in black. I want to have a real rave about just how one sided TV and other media are. MEN'S sport is all that matters. Women rarely feature. They have to do exceptionally well to get even 30 seconds coverage. Usually they get no coverage at all. Netball being the exception. Considering more than half our population is female we get a really bad deal. We have Sky TV and they( are even more one sided than NZ TV ) have nil content for women, or young people, except silly frivolous programmes, or ghastly make overs and tripe like that. There are whole channels devoted to men's sport! Women still are second rate citizens in their ( the media ) eyes! That's why it is great when Olympic or Commonwealth Games are on as Women do get coverage then - but it is not the norm.
And that dear ladies is why I enjoy Patchwork and Quilting and Craft SO MUCH cause it unites women everywhere doing something we enjoy and are really good at.
After a distasteful start to the day with that sport result I grabbed my camera and wandered down the garden. The sun was shining ( and still is ) the bees were really busy and a monarch butterfly was sucking nectar out of the little Kingianum Orchids .... (that photo you have to look hard at to spot the butterfly - I couldn't get close enough). But do enlarge the Rata photo with the bees ...there were so many...the air was abuzzzzzzzz. So Mother Nature knows to just carry on as normal, not worried by World Cups or other passing fads. Thank Goodness.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Ali, yesterday was a day filled with heart-attack producing tv watching in our house - the England win was exciting enough but the France/AB game had us on the edge of our seats throughout too. Nobody could've dared predict those two point win outcomes and I have to say it is nice to see the underdogs get through now and again - the ABs really had little opposition in the pool stages which made their defeat even more stunning and of course France had to step up their game being the hosts (even if it was played in Wales - explain that to me someone) but it was an interesting experience to see the boys in black (and silver) on the bench looking so worried and nervous during the closing stages of the match. I just hope France have used up their share of tournament magic against the ABs and have none left for us next week :o) Commiserations Kiwis!

Unknown said...

btw - I agree totally about male orientated sports coverage - when the Ladies counterparts beat England in the Womens World Cup in Canada earlier this year there was NO mention in the media at all!

meggie said...

Lopsided Media. All the power is held by males, & they dont make any room for female sports!
Or they put ditzy tarts like KAK on tv over here! GRRRR.
I have to confess, I dont like any sport, give me quilts any day!!

Ali Honey said...

I do so agree Meggie.

Anne I am glad you folk got some enjoyment out of the rugby. I certainly don't care if our guys win or not as long as it is fairly done. I think winning all the time is a bad thing actually.

But I hate wrong calls and incompitent refs. ( I would hate to be the ref at that level )

If you say in public it's JUST sport, you get some very strange looks.

loulee said...

Your garden as always looks fantastic!

And like you, rhubarb to the ref! NZ lost! Scotland lost! England won!

Then Lewis Hamilton crashes and Raikonnen wins the F1 I had an awful sporting weekend.

Thank goodness for quilts.

Cher said...

it's a bit better here in the States-WNBA does get television coverage, not as much as the mens games, but enough-sorry I am not a rugby fan-pretty much I follow women's basketball as my sport to enjoy. with fall here and winter not far behind- your garden looks fantastic!

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

Love your photos, your garden looks great.Sorry about the Rugby-it's one sport i don't follow, but I agree with you about the male domination, we take little steps forward, they seem to take bigger! tracey

Unknown said...

Well I haven´t heard about those sport results ;) I think it is a worldwide problem that women´s sport or just whatever women are doing don´t get into the news it is all about what male are doing.

Suzi-k said...

nice way of putting things in perspective ali. We have enjoyed watching the sport (Rugby world cup and recent 20-20 cricket series), commiserations on the shock result of the quarter final.... but I must admit I just don't get it how intense people get about sport... you see grown men crying over a bad sport result, but feeling stones about street children or global warming... as you said, in the grand scale of things, NZ may have lost the game, but the bees just went about their business as usual!