Mad on sport: Rory the glory boy for All Whites

OPINION: There was really only one game in town all weekend.

The All Whites were sensational and secured their spot at football's World Cup with a 1-0 win over Bahrain.

And Wellington really turned it on for the game with 36,000 packed into Westpac Stadium to cheer on Ryan Nelsen and his boys.

My only regret is that I could not be there myself because I had another engagement.

I doubt there's anybody around who doesn't know the story of the 1982 All Whites under John Adshead and Kevin Fallon making it to Spain and now another Fallon, Kevin's son Rory, is the glory boy of this side after his great headed goal.

Mark Paston saved a penalty and I thought the whole team were absolutely amazing, giving everything they had.

I want to give a plug for Terry Serepisos of the Wellington Phoenix too. He's done a lot for the game in New Zealand by taking the Phoenix to Wellington and having them play in the A League against quality opposition week in, week out.

Of course the Phoenix coach is Ricky Herbert, the man at the helm of the All Whites, with Brian Turner - who I might add is a huge Warriors fan - at his side.

The other man who can take a bow is Radio Sport's Miles Davis.

His One Shot for Glory song and constant support of the All Whites on the radio show he hosts daily from noon, was outstanding.

Way on down in Invercargill another New Zealand side, the men's hockey Black Sticks, were securing a 2-1 win over Malaysia to book a place in their world cup too.

Good on them and it was a very gutsy win too, coming back from 1-0 down to secure the spot in India next year.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world the All Blacks were playing Italy in another hotbed of football, Milan's San Siro stadium, where 80,000-odd packed the home of AC Milan to see the oval ball game for a change.

To be frank the game stank and a golden opportunity to promote the game in football-mad Italy was wasted because it just flat out failed to reach any great level of excitement.

You could not say that about the final of the Four Nations rugby league between England, who knocked us out, and Australia, who we drew 20-20 with in our opening game at the tournament.

I said England had no show and for a while it looked like I might have to eat my words because they stuck it to Australia and even led early in the second half. But Australia just ground away and eventually they hit the afterburners and England were left snatching at thin air and on the wrong end of a 30-point hiding.

That was probably a bit unfair on a brave side that did well for 60 minutes but the final 46-16 score was too much for commentator Eddie Hemmings who is a wonderful bloke.

I thought he was going to cry on the TV, saying things like: "This happens year after year" and best of all: "I'm sick of it."

In the rest of the world things were as they should be. England were terrible but still beat Argentina, Tiger won the golf in Australia and Robbie Deans' Wallabies blew the grand slam chances with a 20-20 draw when Ireland scored in the last minute.

But before I go, a serious note. This week is diabetes awareness week. If you visit www.aucklanddiabetes.org.nz there is a simple test you can take.