Bowlings Abroad

This post was originally published in Nate’s newsletter on July 29

The Running of the Sheep

I bring you greetings from a rented farmhouse in the sheep shearing capital of the world, Te Kuiti, New Zealand. Te Kuiti used to be the home of the annual Running of the Sheep but the festival was discontinued this year (yeah, I am bummed about it too).

Since we last corresponded, after taking a detour to Hobbiton, Hope and I have traveled the 400-ish miles from Auckland down to the capital, Wellington. Wellington is lovely. It is a city the size of Tacoma but more hilly and cosmopolitan. We arrived on Tuesday, taking in two matches at Sky Stadium and are now winding our way back north for a final pair in Auckland.

Our football odyssey has been exciting. Here’s a rundown:

We watched the host nation, Lady Ferns, upset Norway in front of an ecstatic crowd of Kiwis in Auckland in the tournament opener in Eden Park.

*Sky Stadium, called the Pie because of its resemblance to a disposable pie tin, is the site of World Cup matches in Wellington*

We next watched an uninspiring but professional USWNT performance against Vietnam, defeating them 3-0 at Eden Park. I fear the US showing in this match was a portend of the unfortunate first half against the Netherlands.

On Tuesday at Sky Park in Wellington, we witnessed possibly the match of the tournament as the Philippines returned the upset favor to New Zealand in a classic 1-0 smash & grab. In the second half, the Philippines played some of the most cynical, time-wasting-y football I’ve seen in my life. But it paid off. They won and the entire country (and assorted Filipino diaspora) celebrated their first ever World Cup victory.

Most recently, again in Sky Park, in a rematch of the 2019 World Cup Final, we saw the US draw against the Netherlands. The US peppered the Dutch goal before going down 0-1 in the first half. They established firmer tactical footing in the second half, with Lindsey Horan scoring the equalizer in the 63rd, but the match ended in a draw. The result left many USWNT fans (myself included) nervous.

We spent last night at the foot of Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings and will arrive back in Auckland tomorrow for the Philippines vs Norway. If the Philippines can pull off another upset, the Cinderellas from Manilla will advance to the knockout rounds.

Our final match will be the US vs Portugal. The US needs to secure a victory if they want to win Group E. But the Dutch face a weaker opponent, Vietnam, in their deciding match and thus have an inside shot at a higher seed for the knockouts round.

*Mount Doom (Mount Ngauruhoe) in the Tongariro National Park on Saturday*

If the US comes in second, they likely face number two ranked Sweden in the round of 16. If they win the group, they would face the 14th ranked Italians.

Life and Learning in These Kiwi Streets

New Zealand is culturally diverse: the white majority are descendants of British and Dutch settlers. There are also nearly one million Maoris, the descendants of Polynesians who settled on the islands in the 14th century. As we’ve found in previous travels in ex-British Colonial territories like Singapore and Malaysia, there are high numbers of South Asians and ethnic Chinese people who have been here since the 1800s. Like in the Gulf, people from South East Asia, especially the Philippines and Vietnam have settled here in recent decades. But beloved, I have never been in a place so bereft of Black people. I saw more Black people when we traveled through China. Hell, there are more Black Republican members of Congress than there are in these Kiwi streets. This has resulted in some odd looks, particularly in the more rural parts of the country, but everyone has kept it one hundred thus far. Although, not even my family says “yah, brotha” to me as much as dudes of all stripes here.

One element of this trip that I am dying to talk about at length either on the podcast or in a subsequent newsletter is the history and current status of Maori people in New Zealand Society. In many ways, they are among the most successful people groups in the world at weathering colonization but in others there are clear barriers to be overcome. We visited a Maori village and had a traditional meal (Hāngī) while visiting Rotorua. I felt like an idiot for not knowing most of the info we were taught that evening and I walked out of the village with a ton of questions but those will have to wait for another time.