I went to my first rugby game ever and learned why NZ loves this sport

Full disclaimer: I’m not into rugby.

I only recently learned that the Warriors play league not union and that there’s a difference.

I’ll never forget the hilarious look of disappointment on one of my sports journalist friend’s face when they had to explain that to me.

So of course, I didn’t know about the historic streak the All Blacks hoped to defend against Ireland at the weekend.

Apparently, the All Blacks were defending a remarkable record at Eden Park - an unbeaten run that has stretched across 53 Test matches over 32 years. Huzzah!

A friend of mine once said there are two ways people can get into rugby or rugby league: watching a match with friends who support opposing teams or attending one in-person.

The All Blacks extended their historic unbeaten Eden Park streak with a commanding 40-21 victory over Ireland in Auckland. Photo/Photosport/PMN Composite

Experiencing the latter, I felt the crowd's electric excitement before, during and after Saturday night’s game. It’s a standard human experience as we often resonate with the energy around us.

I’ve experienced a similar effect in combat sports when watching friends dominate the opposition or survive them.

But I was overwhelmed by the amount of people walking towards the packed-out stadium. On the way there, every bar was stuffed with patrons spilling out onto the streets to watch the game.

Every generation, from babies to elderly, was there that night with friends and family. These All Blacks are a pretty big deal, huh?

When the All Blacks scored their first try, the roar of the crowd rattled the ground. It’s far more visceral than when my uncles and dad gathered to watch rugby at home.

The last time I interacted with rugby in any capacity was through a University paper analysing sports as a media spectacle.

Rugby, arguably New Zealand’s most beloved sport. Photo/Unsplash

Gamal Abdel-Shehid, an academic, once wrote that sports has excitement, highs and lows, but “generally we don’t go to the game to find out more about each other or to discuss social inequalities. We go to the game to get lulled”.

My research explored arguments that Aotearoa’s national identity - built around ideas of being clean, green and connected to Māori culture through symbols like the haka - is often reinforced through our most loved sport.

The reason some see New Zealand’s aforementioned identity as a “mythology” is because it contradicts the ongoing tension with climate change and ongoing discussions around Māori rights and mana motuhake (self-determination).

Therefore, sports is often a unified space where race, ideology, gender and politics take a sideline for the night. But these arguments mostly target America’s sports landscape, because for many Pacific communities, cultural pride and sports are often closely connected.

For Pacific people sports incorporates cultural pride too, contradictory to American analysis of sport’s spectacle. Photo/NRL

Today’s generation of sports fans are vastly different from before. Just look at the discussions around Sāmoan fans booing the Kiwis’ haka last year.

My brilliant friend Latonya Lole, a sports reporter, showed politics in sports does exist and people want to talk about it.

Even during the controversial 1981 Springbok tour, which divided the country, politics and sport were deeply connected.

There’s beauty even in the apolitical part of sports where it isn’t just “bread and circuses”.

James Fisher-Harris leading the last year’s haka that was boo’d. Photo/Brett Phibbs/Photosport

For instance, the friend who took me to the game says her father is a huge All Blacks fan. So much so that he’d go to bed anxious about how they’d do in their upcoming test matches.

My friend herself was ecstatic to be at the game. At one point, some All Blacks players were in the room we were in. She had to force herself from freaking out, which was endearing.

On Saturday I saw a generational love descend from generation to generation through NZ’s biggest sport.

I imagine as a child, a core memory forms when one watches the exhilaration and joy of their elders cheering for their rugby team.

All Blacks captain Ardie Savea and head coach Dave Rennie address the media following their side's 40-21 victory over Ireland at Eden Park. Photo/PMN News

I imagine said elders also witnessed that same joy on their predecessors' faces, which could’ve sparked their love for the game in the first place.

It’s a game where community forms, especially for Pacific people, who recall fondly how their families gathered around the television to watch.

Sometimes we don’t fully grasp why a loved one is enamoured with a hobby. But we endeavour to experience it with them simply to be closer to them even if it’s something we’re not into.

Love can be the labour of walking into a world unfamiliar to us, solely because someone we care for resides in it.

It’s a game where community forms. Photo/File

It’s why I went to the game in the first place. It’s important to my friend and she’s important to me.

Truthfully, I likely won’t delve into rugby going forward, but I’ve come away a little wiser about who my friend is.

That’s the beauty of rugby.