Editorial: Celebrating our sportspeople

OPINION: White is the new black!

Even non-football fans would have found it hard not to be excited by the performance of the All Whites on Saturday night.

Coach Ricky Herbert and his squad thrilled the 35,000 people crammed into Wellington's Westpac Stadium with some scintillating soccer, eventually beating Bahrain 1-0 and booking themselves a place in next year's soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Cynics and skeptics may suggest that the team will not get past the first round. But who cares? New Zealand will have a team representing the country at the world's biggest sporting event, something that several other nations higher on Fifa's rankings won't be doing.

And it wasn't easy going. The team's 0-0 draw in Bahrain meant that the only way forward was to win at home. And they did that in style.

It's fair to say that the final quarter of the game was one of the most enthralling seen for a long time by any team from this country. Instead of simply trying to defend a slender lead the team showed guts and character and peppered the opposition's goal.

The All Whites have once again shown the world that, despite being a tiny country, New Zealand can compete successfully on the international stage.

That global success normally has its roots in small towns around New Zealand where hundreds of sportsmen and women put in many hours of training and spend their weekends playing sport against each other.

It is there stars get their chance to shine before going on to bigger and better things.

Tonight The Marlborough Express Blenheim Round Table Sportsperson of the Year awards dinner will celebrate our own sports stars.

More than 350 people will be at Marlborough Lines Stadium to celebrate the sporting successes of our province's sportsmen and women.

And what successes they are. The range and quality of the nominees is impressive.

To use a sporting cliche, it is certainly true that our sportspeople punch above their weight.

Marlborough is not a particularly large community and most families, by necessity, are usually involved in more than one sport. With the limited resources we have in our region it surprises some people that we manage to perform so well. One of the reasons for this must be the unpaid efforts of the families and the community.

The quality of tonight's nominees – and all the other sportspeople in Marlborough – is a tribute to their families and community as much as it is a testimony to their skill and dedication to their chosen sports.

We'll know tonight which of the nominees will become the Marlborough Sportsperson of the Year. But, to use another sporting cliche, they're all winners.

- The Marlborough Express

Newest First

Oldest First