Backbencher

I thought that this lecture was somewhat interesting since it focused on the society of Australia and New Zealand. For me, it was somewhat of a comparison to our way of life here in the US. Many of the people take great pride in their heritage and the legends and mythologies of their ancestors or nations. Taking pride in something as simple as citizens being mostly middle class seemed strange to me though. I also figured their would be a few more wealthier folk in NZ since it started from upper class English.
It was pretty amazing to find out what types of sports were played down in Australia and New Zealand. I always figured that they were pretty adamant about playing sports such as soccer and baseball. I never knew anything about them playing cricket or rugby. On that note, I never would have imagined rugby to be such a huge sport in either of those two countries. The story between the All Blacks forming a rivalry with South Africa was pretty cool. South Africa is pretty far away and the amount of animosity that got stirred up over these games made someone go as far as to drop bombs onto the playing field is ridiculous. I think that the Ash Series was neat too. The colonists were able to beat their own motherland at their own game is quite an impressive feat. Then again, when you stop to think about it, the game should follow its players no matter where they move to. I think that the trophy should follow the winning team home rather than it being on constant display in England though. That seems to defeat the purpose of the series to me. Overall, I enjoyed this lecture and thought that we should have spent a bit more time on it.