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Australia's worst nightmare: NZ domestic triumph
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Roar Rookie
5th April, 2011
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OneHD
Roar Rookie
5th April, 2011
3

This is worse than Mt Panorama running out of grog at the 300km-mark of Bathurst or Ryan Tandy becoming a guidance counsellor at your kid’s school.

One of Australian sports most important winning streaks is under threat. And if the hoodoo is broken, the national sporting landscape may be changed forever.

While we’ve been distracted by Punter’s petulance, Ricky Nixon’s shenanigans and the wait for Super Rugby scrums to be set, the little bro from across the Tasman has been quietly planning to create history.

The New Zealand Breakers head into this week’s NBL basketball play-offs as top qualifiers, a rare position of strength as they attempt to become the first Kiwi team to win an Australian domestic sports title.

Forget the Rugby World Cup, this is the Holy Grail of New Zealand sport.

For the past 16 years the Warriors have been striving to achieve the feat in the ARL, Super League and NRL. Runner-up to Brad Fittler’s Roosters in 2002 remains their pinnacle.

The Phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Knights who had been Kingz took on the mantle of A-League title-chaser that had been in its DNA since 1999. The preliminary final in 2010, to place 3rd overall, is the club’s best result.

Netball’s ANZ Championship has had three different winners since its inception in 2008, but it has been Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide sharing the spoils, not any of the five Kiwi teams. The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic have been bridesmaids twice though, eh.

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The Breakers themselves have been chasing the dream since 2003. And they know full well that turning their minor premiership into a major would be ground-Breakering.

Forget a parade. The winning trophy would be housed in Te Papa, the national museum, in-between a roadshow encompassing every basketball court and school gym in the country. The PM would host the sign of triumph in parliament and Kirk Penney would be knighted.

A victory song would be written by Dave Dobbyn with a rap segment from Scribe – “How many Kiwi teams win titles in Oz? Not many…if any.” There would also be the odd line from all the Kiwi musos we thought were Australian – Gin Wigmore, Lady Hawk and the Hume brothers from Evermore (although Jon was born in Australia) among the recent additions.

Avoiding that humiliation by enforcing a news and music black-out may be a short-term band-aid, but it’s missing the point. It’s not about the initial burst of publicity across the ditch. It’s about the long-term effects. The ramifications. On this side of the Tasman.

Australians dodged a bullet when England won the Ashes during the New Year holidays and all the fizz was taken out of British business colleagues’ gloating by the time true locals returned to work in mid to late January.

This time there will be no such luck. If the Breakers account for Perth in the semi-finals, they will move on to the big show against Cairns or Townsville and that best-of-three final series will finish after Easter, after the school holidays. Everyone will be back at work, including the expat Kiwis.

The Shaky Isles escapees won’t talk about the triumph unless prompted. But they will be walking taller. They will be smiling knowingly. And their shoulders will be level, with no chip to weigh one side down.

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A smug little brother with a new-found sense of belief.

Imagine it.

And shudder.

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