KeithQuinnRugby
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24 August 2014
A rainy Sunday in Nanjing and I wasn't starting my work day here at the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games here till early afternoon. That meant there was time for my good mate, the British commentator John Burgess and I to head out on a sightseeing trip. Did I say sightseeing? That word hints at visiting fun tourist attractions with lively sights to see. But this morning's trip was anything but...
What we went to understand for ourselves was the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall which is, according to the hand-out pamphlets, 'a memory to the most heartbreaking chapter in this city's history.' And my word it is just that.
If you know your history you know the story. Over a period of six weeks in late 1937 the then Chinese capital city of Nanjing (then called Nanking) was attacked by Japanese invaders. What followed was not an occupancy but is accepted here as a massacre, the likes of which makes it one of the worst ever atrocities in global history. It might have gone unnoticed in historical significance but for one German John Rabe who wrote a diary of the revulsion which went out to the wider world, called 'The Rape of Nanking.'
The invaders systematically attacked local residents as they went about their daily business and in just weeks a series of mass-murders, beheadings, live burnings, lootings, burials of live humans and mass-rapes took place. No one quite knows how many died but all around the grim monument we visited today the number 300,000 was posted in large letters. That many are estimated to have fallen victim.
The museum was modern, well organised and deeply affecting. It was also very well supported by the local public today. We visited on a Sunday and had to queue in the rain to get in. As one slowly approaches the entrance a series of sculptures are passed, depicting the horror and terror the people and its city suffered. And once inside we had to jockey our way through pressing crowds.
I noted two things; there were kids there of all ages - and the taking of photographs of the horror displays were not stopped in any way. I snapped off dozens of pics myself and bought a commemorative book. But they will be probably be only looked at by myself in the future. I cannot imagine ever wanting to say to anyone in my family or friends, 'oh, can I show you my Nanjing Massacre shots?' I suspect my friend John will be the same.
They will instead become a personal reminder of witnessing one of the worst examples of man's inhumanity to man.
A couple more things from the visit; the first was the seeming fairness of the displays we were seeing at the museum. It is not a place which points a stabbing, bloody finger at Japan to remind the locals of the peril that ravaged their city nearly 80 years ago; as if to keep their feelings boiling.
Far from it, the museum seemed to take a down-the-middle stance and just presented facts, graphic though they were, of those terror times. I looked at the little kids here today, walking through quietly with their parents and wondered what the children were being told as each display of revulsion was passed. No doubt every family which has a long history of living in this city would have lost at least one member, and probably many more, in the disgust of the historical chapter. The whole thing was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had.
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And then, quite by coincidence after John and I had started work on a late shift of commentary, there was a reminder of Olympic hope for the future presented right in front of me.
Along with an Australian Peter Blackburn and a South African Duane Dell'oca we were the commentators for a couple of finals at the China Tennis Academy.
In the last of the tournament's week a young man by the name of Jampei Yamasaki played off in the mixed doubles final's gold medal match with his partner Ye Quiyu (pronounced 'Yer Kway Yoo'). Here was a Japanese male playing together in a sporting contest with a young Chinese woman as his partner; surely that should be seen as a very significant way to look to the future now with optimism. Say what you like about them but the Olympic Games movement in particular is doing great things to encourage a global togetherness via their Summer Youth Olympic event.
As it turned out Yamasaki and Ye did not win; in a very tight final they lost to a European pair of Jan Zielinski and Jill Teichmann. (Mind you I guess we could have drawn historical connections over the winner's two countries too -Switzerland and Poland).
For me though I had hoped the Asian pair would have prevailed in the match, even if it was just to be a personal reminder today that the world has moved on physically from the revulsion from the past, if not ever totally from the memories.
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the 1906-07 All Black fullback), Ernest Edward 'General' Booth was born. He was nicknamed after William Booth, the founder and first General of the Salvation Army. After touring Great Britain with the 1905-06 New Zealand team E.E.Booth later became a rugby writer and was one of the first touring rugby correspondents. He travelled with the 1908-9 Australian team to Great Britain. Later still he gained notoriety (in the strictly amateur game of the time) when he was hired as a professional rugby coach by the Southland Rugby Union.
APIA PARK
Headquarters for the game of rugby in Samoa. Apia Park is a ground with a colourful past. Just as Twickenham in London was once a market garden, and cabbages were grown at Lancaster Park in Christchurch during World War I, Apia Park in the capital city of Samoa was once a horse racing track and a golf course.
Situated close to the city, the ground was originally owned by the occupying German Government. The first horse racing was held on Kaiser Wilhelm II’s birthday in 1910. Later, Chinese, Melanesian and Samoan labourers ploughed the swampy land, aided by oxen-drawn carts. They levelled an inner field and plans for rugby were drawn up. The locals did not worry that a large, shady tree was left intact on what was to be inside the field of play.
Horse racing died out in 1939. The first rugby game on the park was in 1924 when an Apia Selection played a Pago Pago Naval XV. Apia won 33-0. During the same year a Fijian team on its way to play Tonga stopped in Apia. Its two games against the locals were split one win each. It is not recorded how the teams coped with playing around the tree!
These days the rebuilt ground, with its superb backdrop of palm trees and other native flora and fauna, must be one of the prettiest in the world.
Apia Park has always been a highly significant place for sport in Samoa. In 1991 before the advent of a home TV network, crowds used to come to the ground and sit for hours overnight waiting to watch on an imported giant TV screen the matches of (Western) Samoa at the World Cup in Britain.
For years the field was also used as a golf course, but in 1975 the inherent dangers of people walking near such a course led them to shift to a new venue, at the Royal Samoan Golf Club. Only then for the first time could rugby truly claim the grounds.
In 2007, Apia Park was one of the main venues for the 2007 Pacific Games. In 2015 it will play host many events at the Youth Commonwealth Games, the opening and closing ceremonies. It will also host the All Blacks from New Zealand for a much anticipated game against Manu Samoa. The ground has a capacity of 15,000.
In the Rugby World Cups 1987-2011 which final drew the biggest crowd?
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