That Kodak moment

Where were you the moment it happened? Do you remember?

I was a teenager in Cape Town at the time, a picture of innocence in a youth hall filled with thousands of similarly starry-eyed ilk. Everyone remembers though. It was Joel Stransky who finished it off with an eleventh hour kick, setting the ball sailing between the posts, and our hearts thumping in our chests.

I heard it was a dark day in Godzone, but on the shuttle home, all I could see were people dancing in the streets. You could hear singing, horns blowing, laughter. The country was electric with joy. South Africa had won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and for just one beautiful night this bedraggled young nation felt less a pockmark of tribes, and more a people. Tearfully, we celebrated together.

No-one outside of New Zealand could imagine exactly how dark kiwis were about it. The first words ever uttered to me when I arrived in Auckland a few years later were, “Ah, youz poisoned us!” The next ten years were spent enduring wisecracks about my time in South Africa.

The boot was on the other foot in 2003. I was still doing youth work, but my sheen had well worn off. We watched the matches in an affectionately grimy house in Newtown. New Zealand was out of the tourney, but a bet was forged between myself and Luke, the barrel-chested strongman from Nelson. if Australia won I would publicly wax my chest.

But it was Luke’s hair to be ripped out that weekend, when England snatched victory, also in the eleventh hour, also from a drop goal. Ever the gentleman, I invited our youth kids to come along and watch the waxing. A photographer caught wind of it and joined as well, in what turned out to be a pleasantly torturous afternoon.

For some bizarre reason I’m in England during this world cup. I’m calling it a sign, and if it weren’t for being perpetually broke, I’d be screaming in the stadiums with the other fans. Luckily there’s enough kiwis around to fill the rugby bars, and I guarantee a good time’s to be had.

Over the three continents I’ve visited this year, there’s only one team on everyone’s lips, I’m proud to say. I’d also like to say something to that team.

Please, please if you have it, take the kick.