May 28, 2006

"The most bizarre match in the history of Super 12/14 football.": Super 14 Final went Saturday between the Crusaders and Hurricanes. Those at Jade Stadium, Christchurch, were asking each other after the bell "Who won?" The only obvious reply was: "Haven't the foggiest."

posted by the red terror to other at 10:12 AM - 7 comments

a pic. Quite foggy.

posted by gspm at 10:21 AM on May 28, 2006

There were times the visibility was worse than that pic. Leon MacDonald, the Crusaders fullback, said he lost kicked ball many times. There were stretches during the broadcast where the commentators were speechless and some guy with a remote microphone was running down the other sideline doing a play-by-play that the viewers couldn't see. It was farcical, but entertaining. Sad it happened for a championship game. I have seen archival footage of the infamous 1962 Grey Cup "Fog Bowl" that got postponed to replay the game's last nine minutes the next day, and this looked worse. Apparently droves of fans were leaving their seats and going underneath the stands so they could try to watch on TVs.

posted by the red terror at 10:30 AM on May 28, 2006

RED! ya beat me to it. was gonna mention the grey cup of '62. of course we could alwasys bring up the stanley cup final in buffalo in the old AUD,in '75. that was some foggy too. only fair that the team with The Fog as their coach won that series.

posted by tommybiden at 11:55 AM on May 28, 2006

"It was a seat-of-the-pants thing. We had to turn it into a radio call because we knew people couldn't see. The most incredible moment was when Nesbo correctly named Casey Laulala the try scorer. That was magnificent." You have to laugh at stuff like this. It happens.

posted by chicobangs at 01:34 PM on May 28, 2006

I remember a League cup match against Man City in 1991 that could easily have been called off for fog: you simply couldn't see past the half-way line from behind the goal. The first half was a write-off, with the home fans cheering for a goal whenever they lost sight of the play.

posted by etagloh at 05:46 PM on May 28, 2006

What goes on at the bottom of a ruck is a mystery to fans and match referees at the best of times; I'm curious what sort of hand-to-hand combat was going on when the cameras and linesmen couldn't see a thing.

posted by the red terror at 07:31 PM on May 28, 2006

I 'saw' this game on TV here in Samoa. It would have been better on radio. One shot showed the fans at one end watching the game on the big screen behind them. If I'd paid to get in, I'd be asking for a refund. Question - why not postpone this until the following day? Answer: TV wouldn't allow it. Super 14 does, after all, belong to Rupert.

posted by owlhouse at 10:05 PM on May 28, 2006

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