I miss being able to watch sport while we are living here in Vanuatu. I am an enthusiastic sideline supporter of our kids' sport in NZ and watching some TV sports coverage is an enjoyable form of relaxation for me. We cannot pick up any broadcast TV here without a satellite dish. So I was a bit sad to miss coverage of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games last year and I had thought that 2007 would be another bad one to be without televised sports coverage. Remember how much promise there was at the beginning of the year with the prospect of the Cricket, Rugby and Netball World Cups approaching and finally another chance to bring back the Americas Cup? Now, of course, we realize that it was false promise only and the prospects of the Netball World Cup yet to come are looking less than rosy.
We couldn't watch the rugby or even listen to radio commentary. The best that we could do for the recent AB's- France game was go to a website that updated the progress of the game and gave brief written comments on the action every few minutes. This was agonizingly slow at our internet speed, especially as the end of the game drew near and the score wasn't looking good. Any way perhaps the less said about that the better. There is a good side to being out of NZ in this 'Year of Sport', and that is not to be subjected to endless analysis and recriminations in the fall out after the All Blacks' failure.
I must share with you, however, one of the Bible readings which was read out at church here on that black Sunday morning (Bear in mind that these readings have been planned since the beginning of the year and almost no one follows rugby here anyway).
Lamentations 3 v19 – 26 talks about downcast souls, bitterness and gall, but also turns to hope and waiting quietly. How appropriate as another 4 years of waiting begins. Perhaps a bit less boasting about being the best in the world and a bit more waiting quietly to demonstrate it on the field might be in order for 2011.
So while we may not be able to see
the cut and thrust of the world's professional sport, there is still plenty of cut and thrust sporting action around here, too. I am amazed at the variety of sport and games that the children of the Talua community here play together. They often organize themselves into team games with complex rules without any adult input. And the games usually involve children of a wide variety of ages, and both genders, all playing together, even if the game needs the best sporting skills for success.
Sometimes it is a local version of a well known game like Bat and Ball, which is like rounders or softball but utilizing whatever type of ball or bat is handy. Or 'Stonem man long middle', which is a type of Dodgeball. There are also distinctly Vanuatu games like Shell Coconut which utilizes a stack of empty coconut shells which must be knocked down by a thrown ball and restacked before all members of the other team are tagged and out.
Whichever game is the game of the moment, that game tends to be played to death for a few days or even a week or so. Then it is dropped and not played again for months. There are also less structured games like the war games that the boys were playing a while back. Of course with this game much of the fun was in the preparations with all manner of weaponry being constructed from bush materials or whatever bits and pieces could be scavenged. When played, this game involved lots of tearing around the houses and in the surrounding bush, hiding out, laying in wait, and of course 'killing' others.
Whatever game is being played there is no such thing here as a quiet game. All games are accompanied by HEAPS of noise – enthusiastic yelling, shrieks, complaints of cheating, claims that someone is not actually 'out' or 'in', name calling and insults... This even applies to games like cards or marbles which are fiercely competitive and in the case of marbles or elastics, are almost never 'friendly's. Mostly this is all noise, but occasionally a game will end acrimoniously when the obligatory cheating gets too hard to take. I wonder how our children will adjust to refined, self-controlled games back in NZ. Games with refs and rules that must be adhered to, and where you can't hurl verbal abuse at your opponents (and then be best friends with them afterwards, of course!).
The game of 'elastics' is one that has remained popular here for a month or 2. It involves the acquisition of rubber bands. It is played on the concrete (especially under our veranda if the weather is wet) or on a clear patch of ground. It involves throwing a rubber band down in turns and trying to overlap your band over those of your opponent to claim those bands for yourself. There are complex additional rules that I really haven't got my head around. The bands are available quite cheaply in town and it is played all over the region. Some people (like Simon) accumulate great chains of bands, and some people (like Simon) sell on their winnings to other less skilled players who keep losing all theirs. I feel the 'elastic season' may be on its way out as just lately the bands have been used more for flicking at people than playing the game! I guess that was inevitable!
I should also briefly mention the 2 main 'official' sports that are played here in Vanuatu. Every week the students have about 1 ½ hours to play sport together on a Thursday afternoon. This is traditionally Volleyball for the women and Soccer ( football) for the men. Occasionally the genders swop codes or play something else but not often. If ever there is a gathering of people, for example Independence Day celebrations or big fundraisers, these almost always include volleyball and football competitions. Even small villages in the bush will send teams to such events. Interestingly there isn't as much vocalization going on by the supporters watching these games. You don't hear very much cheering of the home teams on – although there will be plenty of laughter if someone makes a fool of themselves by falling over or scoring an own goal, etc. Maybe the enthusiasm of the kids' is tempered a bit as they grow older. It will remain a strong memory for me as one of the 'Sounds of Vanuatu'. I wonder if the children will be conscious of the difference when they return to school and sports teams in NZ?
