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Wellington, New Zealand
welcome to my corner of the blog world! i love step, boxing, zumba, scrapbooking, photography, watching movies, walking the hills of my suburb, my family, and life in wellington. take some time to have a look around and be sure to say hi!

Friday, August 28, 2009

photostory friday - GO WELLINGTON!!!

on the eve of yet another mighty wellington-canterbury ranfurly shield clash - it's time for a little history lesson.

this is the ranfurly shield. also known as the 'log-o-wood'. it has a long and illustrious history dating back to 1902, and is the holy grail of provincial rugby in new zealand.
it has changed hands 75 times
it's been held for as long as 8 years and for as little as 7 days

wellington wrested the shield from auckland last year, winning 27 nil, and our city held a parade in their honour.

it was a full circle moment for me (well, sorta).

back in 1982 (when i could wear black fishnets and heels squatting on the back of a truck), the canterbury rugby union held a parade BEFORE their first successful shield challenge against counties. this was in the days when no excuse was really needed to throw a parade.

still living in christchurch, DH ('the boyfriend' as he was the time) and i were part of a voluntary organisation called st. john (like boys and girls brigade, but with a first aid slant). hubs and friend dressed as counties players (by clevering adding a band of white tape around their red and black jerseys) and pretended to get 'beaten up' by the canterbury players (during the parade). see hubs' "black eye".

the 'injured players' (see leg in cast in background of VERY grainy old picture) would get tossed onto the hospital bed which was on the back of a truck, and 'slutty nurse sue' (that would be me), would 'tend' to them.

fun, fun; and look - there we are with the famous logo o' wood.
cut to 2008 and here it is again (except i'm photographing it, not holding it).

this is leo the lion - the team's mascot. it was a VERY windy day
wellington and canterbury have played each other for the shield at least seven times

and we haven't won many of them ('we' being wellington!)

back in 2003 they even had a 38-all draw

which brings us back to today - town is abuzz with 'shield fever'

we won't be at the game, because we're heading out of town for the night
if i'd known about the game, i think we would have stayed in town and gone, coz it's gonna be a good one!

i even have a bottle of chardonnary riding on it with a friend

GO WELLINGTON!!!

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

13 comments:

Emily said...

wow...sounds like some brutal rivalry there! Go Wellington!

Cecily R said...

Oooo, I love a good rivalry tradition! Very cool!

Liz Mays said...

It wasn't until the other pictures that I could see how HUGE that really is! I love the history here.

Janine said...

hey cool photo, love the story behind it all.....um I support Welly in rugby when they play Auckland, otherwise its ole ole ole ole and Waiiiiiiii - katoooooooo lol. I can't help it.

Chris said...

We're pulling for Wellington too! I'm just taking your word for it that they deserve to win!

We have a pretty famous high school rugby team here in Utah -- Highland Rugby. Their record -- over thirty years -- is, and I'm not kidding here, something like 368 - 9. They made a movie about Highland last year called "Forever Strong."

Go Wellington!

tiarastantrums said...

loved that little wellington history lesson!

Raise Them Up said...

That's pretty cool! Good luck on your wager!

Raise Them Up said...

That's pretty cool! Good luck on your wager!

kayerj said...

I'll just get on board and say . . . go Wellington!

Here’s my photo story. happy Friday!

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

best rivals calls for good games and fun times! Love the old shot of ya! :)

mommakin said...

Cool!

BTW, There will be an award for you on my blog Saturday morning... (I know this because I can see into the future)

Elizabeth said...

Love that old photo of you. I can tell now how much your girls look like you!

Great history lesson too. :)

Betty Manousos said...

Lovely photos,lovely girls.!I love your history here.
Go Wellington!

P.S
Hope you get a chance to check out my last blog spot written in the memory of my best friend.
Thank you
Have a nice afternoon,
Betty