Rugby: 56 Years and " Down Town " Tony Brown's boys bring The Log O' Wood home.

Appropriately the  Otago Daily Times reports

                                                             The Log O' Wood

Rugby: Heart got side home - Brown

Otago Tama Tuirirangi, Paul Grant, Tony Brown, with the Ranfurly Shield after winning it off Waikato 23 aug 2013 PHOTOSPORT

Heart. That is what won the Ranfurly Shield for Otago last night, coach Tony Brown said.

''It was just all heart from the guys,'' he said.

''It is an unbelievable feeling. I can't actually realise we have knocked it off. It has been 56 years and there have been so many teams that have gone before us, so many close games.

I can't remember the number of times I have watched the TV listened to the radio and hoped for this day. The Ranfurly Shield is the NZ provincial rugbys equivalent of the British football's FA cup. Andrew Buchanan  an old friend went fairly close to mental on Facebook last night.  

Andrew Buchanan
19 hours ago
This is the greatest moment of my life. Jimbo, Kerrence, SHJ, et al. This is for all those moments when I cried, banged my head against walls, swore at strangers. Fuck, the whole goddamn shebang. It's Speights O'clock and I've no-one to share it with.

Iain Stewart
Fairly sure I could swing you the security job if the ODT decides to do get
photoed with the shield.
Like · Reply · 19 hours ago via mobile

Andrew Buchanan
Mate, there's a memory I love to share with folk. By the way, two weeks ago I was a mascot at the All Blacks' games at the Hutt Recreation Ground. Remember those hungover O'Daily mornings?
Like · 19 hours ago

A blue and gold touch couldn't resist it. 

I have witnessed more than a few of those "I cried, banged my head against walls, swore at strangers " moments. It is Andrew's birthday today but I doubt any present will come close to the one Down Town's  boys delivered yesterday. Hopefully he has got that out of his system now.  Actually I don't recall any swearing at strangers moments but there might be a reason for that as Andrew alludes in his reply to me.  

                                                             House of Pain Carisbrook. 

My one regret is that The Log O' Wood will not be defended at the House of Pain Carisbrook. 

''It is just an awesome feeling.

''The guys just went out and played for the entire 80 minutes. They went out there and put their bodies on the line.''

Brown said Otago had to stick to its patterns throughout the match.

Otago home matches at the " Brook " when Tony Brown was playing as opposed to coaching were referred to as " A party at Tony Brown's place. That it was Tony Brown an Otago Local that coached this team makes the victory even more special.

''We were all about performance in the match. We knew what we had to do to win the match and we knew it would take a massive, massive effort to win the game.''He told the team at halftime to keep doing its job, and keep knocking Waikato over.

The Ranfurly Shield is won ( and lost ) on a challenge basis, all home matches in the regular season are challenges so we will have four defences left this season assuming we can win the first three. 

He paid credit to his forward pack and the inside backs of Fumiaki Tanaka, Hayden Parker and Peter Breen.

''They just play so tough, do the right things to put us in the right places on the field. They are the three smallest guys on the field but are great competitors.''

Otago assistant coach Phil Young said it was something of a surreal moment.

A bit of Shield History I had no idea it was originally designed as a football trophy.

In 1901 the Governor of New Zealand, the Earl of Ranfurly, announced that he would present a cup to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, to be used as the prize in a competition of their choosing. When the trophy, which actually turned out to be a shield, arrived, the NZRFU decided that it would be awarded to the union with the best record in the 1902 season, and thenceforth be the subject of a challenge system. Auckland, unbeaten in 1902, were presented with the shield. The shield was also designed as a trophy for football, not rugby. This was because the picture in the centrepiece was a football one. The picture was modified by adding goal posts on the football goal that comprised the picture, to create a rugby scene.

''For me, it has been so long as a player and as a coach. I never thought this day would come,'' Young said.

''It's pretty emotional, really. They are a great bunch of lads who will fight for each other... we said to them at halftime if me and Tony [Brown] have to come out at full time and pick you up and bring you back inside we'll do it.

''It was a total team effort. Everyone gave it their all.''

A great day, today I wish I was in Dunedin I guess that is a feeling many Otagoites are struggling with. It is ironic to think that we are Rugby's IDP ( Internally Displaced People ) a subject this blog often deals with.

Rwanda: Visit and screw human rights.

New Times ( Rwanda ) Sunday Times   

Come visit Rwanda, not just for the fun

Allen Brian Ssenyonga opines

                                                                  Allen Brian Ssenyonga

First of all, let me start by pointing out that I have not received a cheque from Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to promote tourism in Rwanda much as I would not refuse it if it came my way.

I think Allen would have a better claim for a cheque if the article had been run in The London Times, New York Times or even in Dunedin's Otago Daily Times rather than the Rwandan State controlled New Times.

But this actually gives me a chance to prove that RDB should not be the only government body in Rwanda charged with convincing foreigners to come and visit Rwanda. Yes, I know a lot of money has been spent trying to get people to think of the endangered mountain gorillas each time Rwanda is mentioned.

I have absolutely no idea how much the RDB has spent but I don't think of Rwanda as synonymous  with mountain gorillas. There would be many I suspect with an interest in the East African Gorilla population that are regularly hitting the Virunga National Park website and blog. That must surely count as an epic fail on the part of Rwanda and the RDB.

But you see, that branding came from the previous government where Rwanda was synonymous with the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. This being the 19th year since that gruesome episode in Rwanda’s history, a lot has since changed and anyone thinking of Rwanda only through the Genocide lens is nothing but ignorant. 

Ignorant we may be but I for one look at Rwanda not so much through a genocide lens but through the lens of a bloody dictatorship overlayed with a  thin veneer of legality designed to convince the world that country is not the dictatorship it so obviously is. 

These days when you step out of Rwanda you are most likely to be asked about many other things besides the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. People now know about Rwanda’s massive steps in the field of ICT, good governance, functioning state institutions, zero tolerance to corruption, impressive road network and many other things. 

Yes. Many would like to ask about Rwandas on going bad behaviour in the the eastern DR Congo ? Why on earth the government of Rwanda continually lies about its involvement when the evidence against it is overwhelming and conclusive ? The simple truth is Kagame is one of Africa's more successful Crocodiles  and  as for good governance ask Victoire Ingabire about that. Zero tolerance to corruption, for fucks sake theft is corruption and Rwanda participates in theft on an international scale amongst many other things  . From Reuters. 

" Congo and Rwanda had been working closely on the issue before allegations of Rwandan complicity in the M23 rebellion brought about a breakdown in relations.

Rwanda has historically benefited from the exploitation of hundreds of millions of dollars of Congolese minerals.

A U.N. report in December last year said that Bosco Ntaganda, one of the leaders of the current M23 rebellion who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, was continuing to smuggle minerals through Rwanda.

On Tuesday the advocacy group Global Witness said that its research indicated Rwanda was continuing to launder proceeds from minerals that may have benefited armed groups.

"Not only does Rwanda's predatory behaviour jeopardise its own reputation, ... it also risks undermining the credibility of initiatives being developed to tackle the conflict minerals trade," Global Witness spokeswoman Annie Dunnebacke said."

Rwanda’s impressive steps over the years have raised people’s curiosity about the country. And not only curiosity has been raised but also expectations. It is common to hear folks saying that Kigali is a beautiful city but with a lousy night life. Yes, that is very true but what is truer is that those amazed by Rwanda’s transformations have also set very high expectations for the same place.

Of course nothing happens in Kigali that can even be remotely acknowledged in the official mouth piece of the nation New Times. 

" Le Must, which is the smallest night club in Kigali, also costs 5.000Rwf a head. The atmosphere may be cozy but the decor and size can be suffocating to anyone who prefers space. There is a terrace outside that can cater to these needs although it won’t be of much use for anyone who has a problem with prostitutes."

Every year, a week is spent commemorating the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and during this week a plug is placed on the few fun options the country may have to offer. Because of this, many foreigners (and even Rwandans) leave the country and only return after April 14. 

The same group of ‘fun refugees’ will go on to inform anyone outside that they should not visit Rwanda during the memorial week because “it will be so boring”.

The problem is not that the genocide is remembered but that it is done so in such a political way. There is no reconciliation agenda. This is a week of official ethnic / racial hatred and as such fails everyone. Sorry it does not fail President Paul Kagame.  

Well, that too is true. The Memorial Ws boring. But if you see it that way then you are also very ignorant and probably disrespectful of what this week is all about.

Again I am ignorant and disrespectful not because I find Memorial week boring, I don't. I find Memorial week to be yet another Rwandan fraud and as such it is boring because at the state government level fraud is what Rwanda is all about.

The week is just one out of the 52 in a year set aside for reflection and learning. I must admit, too, that on many occasions I would also head for Kampala when the week came around. But this was also because the week always came when schools had broken off and as a teacher I was idle and thought it was a good time to go and check on my family. 

Eventually, I decided to stay and see for myself what the week was all about. Of course it was not fun but there was so much, particularly for a foreigner, to learn about what Rwandans went through, what they still go through and the challenges the country faces. 

The challenge Rwanda faces is that it is a dictatorship under the control of a Crocodile. Political dissent is not tolerated. For the Rwandan government history has finished and will not be allowed to restart any time soon.

So, yes, there is no fun during the memorial week but there is so much to learn and I find it encouraging when people decide to visit during this week to learn. The other day I was walking around Nyabugogo and I noticed a bus belonging to Kabale University arriving. 

I later saw on TV that actually a group of students from the same university were here to learn about the events of 1994. They visited Genocide memorial sites outside Kigali and even interacted with some of the survivors.

The image I have of this is sick. I see clean cut young Germans on a bus travelling through a Jewish neigbourhood in a world where the Axis powers won the Second World War. Am I wrong ? Rwanda participated in what many think of as the Third World War fought through proxies in the DR Congo... 6 million dead  and still climbing.

There is no doubt that these students are now much knowledgeable about Rwanda than those other ignorant people I see posting crazy stuff on social media. I was shocked when I saw some of the things people were posting in denial of the Genocide.  It is also encouraging that the memorial week is commemorated in different countries or cities around the world. 

Again I assume that I am one of the ignorant not that I deny the Genocide but presumably because I for one will not buy into the post Genocide bullshit that is spouted from Kigali and is echoed ( perhaps quite unintentionally ) in this article. 

I think it is time we encouraged those who are interested in learning about Rwanda to come and visit the country during this week and integrate them in some of the activities that happen during this period. Those charged with tourism have more work to do in this regard if we are ever to get more people to understand this country and its people.

Of course I suspect that if I was to visit Rwanda I would be gaoled  as a holocaust denier or more probably an ironically for Lèse-majesté, but that is because to some degree I do understand this country. I understand its President and his international goals. I understand Balkanisation.

There is so much one can learn from Wikipedia or Google searches. If we can have the whole of East Africa following Kenyan elections, why not market Rwanda’s lessons to the region. I hope I am not asking for too much here.

Sometimes it is better not to ask in case you get. Rwanda has many lessons for the region in what not to do. Despite Kagame's attempts to end history Allan Ssenyonga may well not be asking to much, but Kagame may well think otherwise.

The ODT and other things

The Otago Daily Times will always be my favorite paper, I worked for them for many years, much as  love Auckland I consider Otago home. Dunedin is part of me, running home down Larnoch Rd and on to Shandon Rd. and into Mrs Brockbank who scooped me up and took me into her house, because I needed a haircut ? No, although I probably did, because Mrs and Mr B were determined a little boy from Scotland would be a Southern Man, a concept in many ways yet to be born.

I have no way of knowing what Ivan and Ruth Brockbank would make of their little Scot today, but I can say they would look at the ODT they would have read it. They would have read along time ago about a building that was going to be a 5 star hotel.

Well that plan as been scrapped and now we have this.

Except we don't. That plan has also been scrapped. Instead we have a new plan and the people of Dunedin have this.

Or is it this.

I am fan of the ODT but for please, please do your job.

This will not happen.