Heroes and villains of Bahrain
Guest blog by SAM BUCKLEWorld Cup football is sporting drama, always featuring its own heroes and villains. Sunday morning in Bahrain was no exception. These were mine.
The Villains
TV1 and TV3 - Astonishingly, neither of our national television broadcasters previewed the Bahrain playoff on Saturday night (in fact, there was hardly a whisper the entire week leading up to the game). Staggering and appalling. The World Cup is the biggest event on earth (yes, bigger than the Olympics), Sunday morning's game was the biggest and most important game of football played by the All Whites in 27 years. Instead, they found time for the likes of local handball and club road running. It's a mind-boggling failure that comes down to a combination of ignorance, small-mindedness, laziness and simply being too cheap to send a camera crew to Bahrain. There's plenty more justifiable anger and frustration vented here.
Salman Isa - Isa's miss, having rounded Mark Paston and with both an open goal and Bahraini striker, Jaycee John, unmarked in the 6-yard box, could well be the single blunder that costs his country a place at the World Cup. Whoops.
The Heroes
Mark Paston - He was only promoted to the All Whites starting lineup following Glen Moss's four-match ban, he had a shaky outing against Jordan and there was a level of apprehension about his place between the sticks. He delivered big time for his country when it mattered. Two of his saves were world class. The first, diving to his right at the near post he parries a fierce drive beyond the post. That shot was struck between the defender's legs. He had to be partly unsighted. The second, he reacted sharply and athletically to deflect a well-struck shot from less than a dozen yards over the bar. It was going in.
Tony Smith and Fairfax - While TVNZ and TV3 fell over, there were some great performances from other New Zealand media. RadioSport, RadioLive, Prime (particularly The Crowd Goes Wild), the daily newspapers and their online arms all appreciated the huge significance of the match and got behind the buildup. But Fairfax Media and Tony Smith deserve special mention. Fairfax must be acknowledged for being the only NZ media group (I believe - happy to be corrected) to send a correspondent to Bahrain. And Smith, the man they sent, was tireless and prolific. He churned out stories and blog posts relentlessly. Did he sleep? A champion performance.
The Sigmund/Nelsen Line of Defence - Ryan Nelsen was imperious (apologies to the journalist who used that phrase first, but it's a good one). He read the game superbly, he was commanding on the ball, strong in the air and unruffled throughout. It was a tremendous skipper's performance. Alongside him, Lieutenant Sigmund hurled his body into everything and defended with passion and commitment. His last-moment lunge in the 84th minute to deflect Jaycee John's close-range effort over the bar was magnificent in its desperation.
Mr Kassai - The Hungarian referee was harsh in issuing Mark Paston with a yellow card, but otherwise he got it right all night. He largely ignored the theatrics of the Bahrainis and their constant post-tackle writhing on the turf. Referees can have a massive influence on football outcomes. So when it matters they need to get it right. He did. Kassai stood up to the pressure of the Bahrain players, the crowd and the presence of the royal family. (If you're not convinced Middle Eastern royalty can really influence a Fifa reference then let me take you back to Spain '82, when the Kuwaiti Sheikh came down from the stands to overturn a French goal. Truly. You'll have to put up with French commentary, but you'll get the gist.
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Right on, Sam. The Salman Isa miss was such a colossal blunder. Football is a simple game. All he had to do was keep it simple and gently pass it across the goal mouth. It will give him nightmares for a long time. And ditto on the writhing around as if crippled for life by some of the Bahrain players.
Neglect and lack of previews by TV3 and TVNZ are to be expected. Dismal but symptomatic of the lack of imagination in NZ news rooms. That's why I gave up watching the news on television.
re the correspndants: radio sport sent miles davis over
Ah, yes Mark, Miles was there. Not sure if he was there first and foremost and tour leader or correspondent, but he was there and reporting on the game, giving interviews etc, so my apologies to Radio Sport.
I might be pushing it, but extensive media coverage of this event should not be hailed, it should be expected. It should be like this every week, with the Phoenix or with the Kiwis in the Premiership. If NZ is to improve it's placement in the world rankings, it needs it's media to get behind it more often than once every 4 years.
Tv1 and tv3 failed abysmally in delivering on this one. Just picture this: it is the pre-match night for the nation's most widely played sport, it's biggest ocassion for 27 years (featuring probably our highest paid sportsperson)and one half of the process of working towards bringing at least $6 million US dollars into our economy. Sadly, there were no pictures, no interviews, not even a little squeak of awareness. I said "sadly" but really it should read "embarrasingly". to steal the words of my more youthful work mates: TVNZ & TV3 = huge FAIL.
Miles has done a heap of work. There was a ajournalist from Yellow Fever there too
When we win on the 14th I bet they'll be on the band-wagon then! All they need to do is look at the stats of kids/adults playing footy vs rugby. There is a huge audience crying out for news on the Phoenix, Premiership, etc. Is so poor. Not sure if it'll make a difference but if you want a moan to TV3: http://www.3news.co.nz/TVShows/SportsTonight/tabid/1151/Default.aspx or TVNZ: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/816462/869443
Would be interested to see how much NZ Football have pushed their case with the TV stations. Haven't even seen much marketing going on for the game in Welly yet...
To be (slightly) fair to telly, there was pretty much a media lockdown from Friday morning NZT onwards - Jamie from NZ Football and Miles D interviewed Ricki and Ryan at the hotel then emailed it out, and that was that. The team focused on preparation from there, which is fair enough and TV being TV, no pics = no story. Having said that, if there had been a camera in the room on Friday then they could've saved something for Saturday night. Not to mention a reporter finding some locals who spoke English, walking the streets for colour, etc. Poor showing there, the TV broadcasters. TCGW, the radio and the rest: respect! BUT while I agree with Tim above, personally I just record all the football and watch it myself later (what there is, that is - how on earth did Sky not screen the Ireland-Italy game? The Hungary-Portugal game?)
@ Richard - ESPN had the Italy-Ireland game. I guess it's about making it more accessible to the viewing public. Maybe Maori TV will make a bid
Every word spot on. And It should come as no surprise to us that the traditional media had no coverage but still that has to be an all time low. Absolutely woeful.