Sebastian Flyte, his body pierced by a variety of wines, leans in through the open window of Charles Ryder’s college rooms and is violently sick. If only Zac Guildford had been born a fictional aristocrat.
Then he could have quaffed and chundered for New Zealand, strolled around with a disobedient teddy bear and generally had a good time without anyone caring too much.
But Guildford, despite his prettiness, is not from the Arcadian world of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. He cannot ask: “Ought we to be drunk every night?” and receive the rather languid reply: “Yes, I think so.” Guildford is an All Black, a professional athlete. Guildford is a role model. It’s a holy trinity that comes with a very confusing creed for a young man.
It’s a creed that glorifies drinking and then says: “Thou shalt not”. Up and down the country rugby clubs challenge each other to drinking games. Prizes are frequently spent behind the bar. You’re a wimp if you can’t down your pint in one. But we turn to our young All Blacks and say: “Thou shalt not”.
As a culture we celebrate drinking and I, one among many, will be glugging my way round Toast Martinborough this Sunday in search of the serene plateau. Prime Minister John Key told the nation recently that he had downed a yard glass and spewed afterwards. There’s not much of a mixed message there unless you are a young All Black like Zac Guildford. Then it’s OK for the PM to get trolleyed as a young man, rite of passage and all that, but “thou shalt not”.
Our culture celebrates drinking in a myriad of ways. Steinlager has been the official sponsor of the All Blacks for 25 years and Heineken sponsor of both the Rugby World Cup and Europe’s biggest club competition. The Rugby World Cup was also backed by the Brancott Estate winery. Yep, booze and rugby are good mixers.
Sport has garlanded its drinkers over the years. Ian Botham is still revered for his capacity to down a vat of alcohol and then charge in from the Pavilion End like an indefatigable rhino. Sir Colin Meads still has remarkable fitness levels when it comes to beer consumption. Read more
- Source: Mark Reason in The Dominion Post
- Image: Orkutearth