The Rugby Ball Cup

Babess and Fainjin, like many New Zealanders, have been caught up in the excitement of a large sports tournament over the past few weeks, which Babess has been calling “The Rugby Ball Cup”.  They didn’t want to watch much of the rugby, but enjoyed playing a pre-schoolers’ version at daycare, and seeing snippets of it on the news or pictures in the paper.

They came home yesterday abuzz with the news (from Sunday night) that “New Zealand won! We won the Rugby Ball Cup! The All Blacks won it!”

Amused, I asked, “And who’s your favourite All Black?”, knowing what answer I’d get.  Sure enough, Babess loyally yelled, “Siggy!”.

Fainjin frowned at her.  “Siggy plays soccer!”

“Yeah!” she said, still hyped up.

“But the All Blacks play rugby.  It’s the Rugby Ball Cup.  So Siggy’s not an All Black.”

“Awww,” she sighed.  “But Richie Meecaw is an All Black.”

“Yeah!” agreed her knowledgeable big brother.  “He’s the captain!  He made us win!”

So they danced around the kitchen cheering for Richie “Meecaw”, much to their parents’ amusement and bemusement.

(Don’t worry, Siggy, you’re still their favourite All White!).

© UpsideBackwards 2011.

 

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Sports Day

At daycare today there was a “Sports Day”.  Children were encouraged to come wearing sport-related clothing – a team uniform or similar – and activities like designing your own team strip were planned.

Fainjin was more than happy to wear “his” soccer outfit – actually Pearl’s team strip from when she was four and we tried to encourage her to play soccer.  It’s a Chelsea football club uniform and fits him well, he wears it often.

Babess had wondered a few days ago what she would wear.  I remembered knitting both All Blacks and Wallabies rugby jerseys in baby sizes for Pearl, and I know I still have them.  I thought they might still fit Babess, and might even be in her drawer now (she has LOTS of clothes in there that she never wears).  We went delving into the back of the drawer, and although we didn’t find the knitted jerseys, we found an actual 1987-style All Blacks jersey with the silver fern and everything.

Babess was thrilled and started chanting “All Blacks!  All Blacks!” She and Fainjin have both become more interested in rugby since the World Cup has been on – there’s so much of it on TV and we are watching more than we usually would.  She hasn’t quite got the subtleties, though: if you ask her who her favourite player is, she will always say “Siggy!”  Ben Sigmund is in the All Whites (and Wellington Phoenix) – he’s a football (soccer) player.

So she wore her All Blacks jersey to daycare yesterday and the day before.  But this morning, when getting ready for Sports Day, she suddenly took against it and refused to wear it.

Oh well.  There will be plenty of opportunities to wear it over the next couple of weeks… as long as the All Blacks keep winning!

© UpsideBackwards 2011.