The Best Day in New Zealand

Yesterday was probably one of the best days I've had so far in New Zealand, full of surprises that is.

I woke up around noon with my friend's text that reminded me of the rugby game in the afternoon between Auckland University and Engineers. Interestingly enough, my flatmate Frankie was playing for University while my Thermodynamics classmate Lucca was playing for Engineering Team. We were quite confused as to which team to support since both of them had one of our friends each. The winner was going to receive 500 dollars worth of beer at a bar. We were poised to be treated no matter which team won. We weren't worried.

The day begun with a free bus ride from the university to Rugby stadium. And that included a free awesome T-shirt with an iconic New Zealand map imprinted on the front, a cougar mascot on the left arm and Tui logo at the back. We were all so happy to receive such an awesome T-shirt for free. On arrival, there was free hot dogs and vege patties for us. Just before the game began, we found out that we could receive free booze on showing the T-shirt we got for free on the free bus. We couldn't ask for more. The game was very exciting. The final score was 20-19, with Engineers beating the University team by a small margin. We got to watch an exciting rugby game for free while drinking free booze, sporting a free T-shirt and not having to worry about how to get back since a free bus ride was waiting at the end of the game.

New Zealand's map on the front of free T-shirt that we got. Photo: Digital Subway

Tui logo and see the Cougar icon on the left arm. Photo: Digital Subway

My friend Vikram jumping on the trampoline during Rugby game. Photo: Digital Subway

I wasn't prepared to call it a day yet. My IFSA-Butler friend Mathieu had told me about the All Whites vs Honduras football game during the evening to be held in Auckland. For those of you who missed Fifa world cup games, let me remind you that All Whites is New Zealand's football (or soccer depending on which continent you are reading this) team that played against Honduras during the actual world cup 2010. It was a shame that I could not go to South Africa to watch world cup football but I wasn't going to miss this. No, the tickets were not free, but the transportation was. It was freaking one hour away by bus.

The game was an absolute bang for the buck, $42 (NZD) that we paid. It was more interesting than the world cup game itself. The fact that we had amazing seats with an amazing view added to the experience. And it was special for me because it was my first game at a stadium with more than 18,000 other spectators. All Whites had tall and strong built players while Honduras had swift, not-so-tall but skilled players. The game was competitive. The linesmen made a couple errors, benefiting All Whites, drawing cheers from supporters at home ground. The score was tied at 1-1 with one heading goals each. And then All Whites received a penalty at closing 90th minute. The stadium was bustling with energy with everyone standing, awaiting for the penalty to be converted into a goal. The ball hit the bar, bounced and was punched away by the goalie but was kicked back by an All whites player, sending it a little above the bar. All Whites maintained their unbeaten streak with the game ending in a draw.

All Whites vs Honduras at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. Photo: Digital Subway

When I had woken up with the text in the afternoon, I had no idea my day was going be full of surprises and sporting excitement. I guess it's all part of studying abroad that entails a lot of fun, relaxation, surprises and excitement when you expect it the least.

The Lone Man on the Field

The white logo on my black T-shirt read, ‘Trinity Sports Official’ and that was the only official appearance to me as a Trinity sports official for the soccer game on Tuesday night. I had the least official appearance of all the referees. I wasn’t even wearing my shorts, all of them were. Have you ever seen a referee officiating a game in his grey trousers? I am not surprised. But I was trying my best not to even spill a hint that it was the first game of my life that I was officiating. I was trying to act confident, but my struggle was apparent since confidence has always eluded me. One of the main reasons why I chose to be a sports official was because I wanted to gain confidence, be the in-charge and maintain authority since in real life, I have always struggled with developing a ‘bossy’ attitude.

As the clock struck 9:15, as the main referee, I called the captains to come to the center and call the sides on a tossed coin. Wasn’t I loud enough? No one even turned in my direction. I wondered how they could even ignore me, didn’t they know I was the official? My trousers could be elusive but at least I was wearing the official T-shirt. I knew what I had to be done. I blew my whistle, it made a funny noise but at least the captains walked towards me. Apparently, I realized I did not have a coin. And that is how my first referee debut began. But I knew I had to act confident like every other referee who knows what is going on so, I improvised with Eric Elliot's little trick of placing either one or two fingers behind my back and letting one of the captains call. After the captains chose sides, I realized the team of ‘Engineers’ did not have minimum number of players and the game couldn’t be started. We were to wait until the ‘Engineers’ had at least two girls on their team; it was a co-recreational soccer if you didn’t know. I wondered why these sorts of unusual, anomalous events always happen with me, it was making me nervous for sure. I had to award a goal to the other team as a penalization for not being punctual. Members of the ‘Engineers’ team arrived two minutes later and the game was about to start. But how could it start without my permission? Not a chance. I blew my whistle, as hard as I could; after all, they had to know I was the boss there.

Running on a wet ground in trousers is not fun at all when you are not wearing proper soccer shoes. My laces kept on getting untied every 5 minutes. The players stared at me every time I bent to tie my laces. I realized they were trying to imply that it is the players who tie laces during a game; a referee doing the same appears so ‘unofficial’. I was making every attempt to make right calls to hide my inexperience. I had never realized the task of a referee would demand such excellent coordination of senses and the central nervous system. Scientists claim that a human brain can do only one particular task at a time, but I would say, “Look at the referees, they are the perfect examples of human brain multitasking. From the corner of the eye, they have to distinguish between the colors of the teams and also follow the ball, make close calls, instant decisions and be able to direct attention as quickly as the ball moves without any clue what would happen next.” Really, how many things can you watch out for, with a pair of limited- view-angled eyes?

The first half of the game ended in good note. I was glad that no one had the faintest idea about my debut. I did not make any mistakes. The second half began with my whistle and this time I blew it even harder. The game was going well and there did not seem to be any significant aggression among any of the teams, if at all. I realized I had not blown my whistle even once for any foul conceded. Was it a hint of my inexperience, I thought. Or did I not have sharp enough eyes to spot fouls? I knew I had to prove my officiating ability. Bang! A girl was tackled and she fell down. Without even waiting for the signal from the assistant referee (linesman), I blew my whistle. Everyone seemed to look at me with fear and helplessness. They realized I was the big boss while I tried hard to suppress my smirk of confidence.

I have to admit, time seemed to have frozen in the first half of 20 minutes. I kept on looking at the scoreboard repeatedly out of nervousness and every second passed as if it were a minute. But as the game was approaching its end, I realized I was blowing my whistle more often since the game was beginning to heat up, but the screeches of my whistle served them right. How could they forget I was still around? The second half added legitimacy and authority to my sports official status since, I did not have to bend to tie my laces, not even once. It was my most enjoyable 40 minutes in the last couple of months. I was starting to gain more confidence and it seemed by the end of 30 minutes, I was no more the same referee I had been. It was an enriching experience that boosted my confidence to not be deterred from taking this arduous challenge in the future.