The Weekender 18/10/2009

How are you all going this fine week. Yeah definitely not fine fine, but amongst the showers and occasional thunderstorm it hasn't been too bad.

Sport

The Black Sticks NZ women's hockey team has been doing great at the Champions Challenge tournament in South Africa. They first beat Spain 3-0, then beat Italy 4-2 and now they are through to the final despite a 1-0 loss to Japan last night & will meet South Africa.

The Air New Zealand cup continued on with only two standard weeks of rugby left before the finals. Auckland beat Counties-Manukau 37-14, Waikato had another bonus point win beating Northland 27-19, and Otago beat Tasman 21-0 to ensure Tasman can't make the semis. Wellington beat North Harbour 37-13 but lost Piri Weepu to injury which probably also sealed his fate regarding the All Blacks tour. Southland beat Taranaki 29-13 and Bay of Plenty just beat Manawatu 28-27. But the talk of the weekend was the top of the table clash, Canterbury vs Hawke's Bay. Officially the game finished 27-20, but it should have been a draw. After the final whistle, Hawke's Bay prop Faka'anaua Taumalolo scored a try which was denied by the match officials despite TV replays clearly showing there was nothing wrong with it.
Table: Canterbury 46, Wellington 39, Southland 37, Hawke's Bay/Waikato 36, Auckland 35, Bay of Plenty 30, Tasman 28, Taranaki 24, Otago 23, North Harbour 20, Manawatu 19, Northland 16, Counties Manukau 11.
In other rugby there are four new caps named in the All Blacks squad for the tour to Japan (Bledisloe Cup) & Europe. They are Mike Delany, Zac Fuilford, Ben Smith & Tamati Ellison.

The Wellington Phoenix drew 1-1 with the North Queensland Fury. Apparently the Phoenix were leading for just about 80 minutes but the Fury were the ones that deserved to win. That was their sixth draw in a row.
Soccer is gaining more momentum in NZ with the All Whites having a shot at making the Football World Cup Finals and so All Whites coach Ricky Herbert is launching a soccer academy in January.

Netball's answer to Twenty20 cricket was the FastNet world netball series last week in Manchester. And as can happen in short games the semi finals were a huge surprise. The Silver Ferns who had been rather patchy beat Australia 27-17. England who hadn't been beaten, lost to Jamaica 22-33 and NZ won the final 32-27.
Following that competition the Ferns took on England in a one-off game and after being tied at the end of normal time, both teams agreed to extra time where NZ won 65-59. The Ferns head to Jamaica for two tests next week.

International rugby league has started with the Kiwi's heading to the inaugural four nations tournament. In a pre-tournament game the Kiwis had a wake up call but pulled away to beat Tonga 40-24.

NZ News

Air New Zealand has admitted there were "gaps and failings" which caused the Erebus disaster 30 years ago. They have sent letters to the families of the 257 victims but have stopped short of a public apology. There will be services held in Auckland & Christchurch on November 28th.

The sad story of missing 2 year old Aisling Symes was concluded this week, firstly with the finding of her body down a storm drain - an accidental death, and then later on in the week with her funeral. The story touched many people and the family's church was packed for the funeral with friends & complete strangers alike.

Police have cleared National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi of wrongdoing after an alleged immigration scam.

The government quickly stepped up this week when state funded television stations TVNZ and Maori Television started a bidding war over rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup matches. TVNZ was to put up a government backed bid that was higher than Maori TV's $3m bid until the Prime Minister sat them all down in a room to talk about it - and to save the tax payer money. They are now working on a joint bid (led by Maori TV) along with TV3 to show 16 free-to-air matches.

Not really NZ but in our region, Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth games - the next being in New Delhi in 2010.

With the official Nobel peace prizes obviously becoming irrelevant (Nobel political prize anyone?), it's great to see that a New Zealand peace activist has won a Right Livelihood Award - known as the "alternative Nobel". Alyn Ware won around $100,000 for his "effective and creative advocacy" in peace education and campaigning against nuclear weapons.

The Numbers Game

1.3: % rise in inflation taking the annual rate to 1.7%
5.5: richter scale earthquake in the Bay of Plenty
30: cows were blocking State Highway 1 on the Kapiti Coast this morning
59.9: % support for National in a TV3 poll - double that of Labour at 27.2%
82: % of families still smack their children
90: people (net) came off the dole in the week to October 2nd - the first drop in the unemployment benefit count this year
120: mm of rain was forecast for the Waikato on Wed/Thurs - I didn't see any of it
1,800: passenger P&O; superliner, the Pacific Pearl will be based in Auckland from December next year
220.7m: $ spent on pokies in NZ for the September quarter

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.4535 (-0.0105)
EUR 0.4976 (-0.0015)
USD 0.7415 (+0.0066)
AUD 0.8090 (-0.0052)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Brian Chippindale
Captain Brian Chippindale was an NZ observer with an American unit during the Vietnam War but when his unit's commander was killed, he grabbed a weapon and stood shooting against a "hail of enemy fire". He was awarded a US medal of valour but was never given approval to wear it. This week he was honoured and officially awarded his Bronze Star medal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid;=10603536&ref;=rss

Joke of the Weekender

Fast Driver
My mom has a lead foot, so I was not surprised when a state trooper pulled us over as we were speeding through Georgia.
Hoping to get off with a warning, Mom tried to appear shocked when the trooper walked up to the car.
"I have never been stopped like this before," she said to the officer.
"What do they usually do, ma'am," he asked, "shoot the tires out?"

Weekender Photos

Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42

Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
{If these just fill up your junk mail, then send me an email & I'll take you off the list | The Weekender is not a verified news source, sometimes it's even just an opinion}