TOAST TO New Zealand Day
Article by Richard Seavill
Thousands of guests made their way to Ham Polo Club for what was to prove an exciting and fun fi lled day.
Tommy Wilson (7 goaler, played Cartier for NZ) and I started the journey towards Ham, chatting about what Kiwi food and beverages would be available when we got there, having been reminiscing from the year before when he and I had played in the NZ team at the ‘Toast Festival’ on Clapham Common.
We pulled into the queue of traffi c lining up to get into the Ham Polo Ground. There were also lots of people on foot, Tommy and I wound down our windows and a smile came to our faces when we heard all the Kiwi accents. There were lots of
“G’day Mates”, “How the bloody hell are you?” and comments along the lines of “would our NZ Colts kick some English butt today?” We parked the car - Tommy went off to gather his Colts - (he was NZ coach for the day) and I reported to the big wigs at Ham as I was the guest commentator. I got my notes and then proceeded to wander around, and within no time I had a Kiwi beer in my hand and a ‘mince and cheese pie’, famous only in NZ.
The crowd started to gather and very soon the NZ Colts were lead out by the London Maori Haka Group. Whenever a Kiwi sees or hears the Haka, one can not help feeling proud to be a New Zealander. After the National Anthems the ball was rolled in - GAME ON!
It was a typical NZ start - SLOW. The English, with the help of Lanto Sheridan’s long arm, got off to a fl yer. NZ played the chasing game for the next couple of Chukkas. Michael Henderson and Kit Brooks combined well in the third Chukka to get back within a goal. Jimmy Wood got a fl yer out of the line out at the beginning of the fourth. Suddenly we had a game. But very quickly England got back in control with the help of Lanto and Max Charlton. Now the enemy for NZ was the clock and as we ran out of ticks and tocks, England ran out the winners.
With the game over, I met up with a few NZ mates and we wandered around the food and drink stands, managed to squeeze in one more ‘mince and cheese’ pie and a Kiwi beer and, as the music on the other fi eld was starting to warm up the crowd were making their way there with their chilly bins and blankets and I made the comment “what a great day for Kiwi’s in England to have the warm fl uffi es about their home country, even though they were 10,000 miles from home!”
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Photos: Mark Greenwood
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