Disclaimer: Dis one ya LONG (this one is long).
Lemme tell yall bout dis trip…
Now, I had landed in New Zealand bout 2 months before.
I got my bearings, did a bus tour round the place, got back, ain’t figured life out (yet), so I just decided to live it.
(Basically sums it up).
In any event, when I arrived in the country, I ended up staying in a West Indian household – it had a Dominican, Vincentian, Jamaican, Antiguan (me) and one or two people from the UK. We were all a family (whether by blood or choice). Ah juss so ee go.
The wonderful lady of the house (the Dominican – and no, not Domincan like Domincan Republic – Dominican like Dominica), she is THEE Caribbean connect for Auckland. Any Caribbean ‘panna knock, she dey’ (any Caribbean event, she is there). And it’s not just because she ‘hot foot’ (loves to go out), but because she was probably the one planning the event in the first place.
I reached back from my bus tour around the country, and to my surprise I heard were doing a road trip. To where? Hamilton (about an 1hr and a half drive from Auckland). For why? Cricket? (Eh eh. Okay) For why again? Cause the West Indies Women Team playing.
WAHTTT??? *Soldier Boy Voice*
You mean to tell me I now reach in a whole New Zealand and I can go watch a West Indies cricket match in dese people good good country?
Ah wah di joke (what a thing!).
Now, I don’t know if you know, but for a lot of the English Caribbean, Cricket sweeeeeeeeeet.
It’s a game with a lot of history – originally introduced by the British to the region and became the national sport from early. Many a West Indian can tell you stories about their cricket experiences (playing in the streets, on the beach, listening on the radio) and the impact cricket has had on the region as a whole. To sum it up, it became a way for the oppressed to conquer the oppressor – at their own game.
Of course it was about other things too…
It was food, drink, snack, people, music, crowd, cricket, cheers, six, four, out, “Ooo”, cussin, “Yayyy”. Everything! There was a buzz. And just a pure Caribbean vybe to it all. It’s a sport that lives in the souls of many Caribbean people – young and old. Ask them and they’ll tell you.
But, I digress.
So, West Indies cricket in New Zealand. WE GOIN!
What else you telling me?
It’s a crew of us going? Two cars? Vybz? And it’s all people (or honorary people) from the Caribbean?
Ah wah really ah carry on? (What’s happening?!)
Mo (Miss Dominica) had the link and set it all up. We were all decked out in West Indies jerseys (supplied by Mo), packed a cooler, packed up the cars with people and our crew was gone. We had to drive down to Hamilton to go support our West Indies women team and watch them play!
Another fun fact about the West Indies cricket team and matches is that it’s one of the few times most English speaking Caribbean countries come and ‘rally’ around something – together. *inserts David Rudder’s “Rally Round the West Indies” song here*
In terms of my experience of going to a West Indies cricket match in New Zealand, it was surreal as we drove down to the host arena. Here I was in this new country, with people that looked and sounded familiar, on the way to do something I was used to doing (watch a cricket match). Yet, I’m on the other side of the world. Huh?
It’s like, this makes sense, but it doesn’t. This is looking right, but something doesn’t add up. For example – we’re driving longer than it would’ve ever taken me to get to a cricket game in Antigua (I live like 10mins away from the original stadium at home), on a highway we definitely don’t have, with surroundings I’m unfamiliar with. A city landscape in the beginning transforms into large green farm land areas, scattered houses on flat grounds with great big green hills in the distance…
I felt like my brain was trying to process and add things up but, it wasn’t coming up with an answer. It proved to be a conundrum.
When we arrived in Hamilton, we headed straight to the grocery store and raided it for food, then made our way into the grounds. A modest crowd (as it’s occurring in a town outside of Auckland, and let’s be honest, female sports teams aren’t as well supported as the men), there wasn’t much action or energy buzzing around the field. But, with a small crowd, we were able to setup as we feel.
The venue itself was a simple cricket ground with green space for spectators to sit and make themselves comfy. There was no big fan fare, branding, giveaways, ticket line up – nothing.
You just show your ticket, stroll in, pick your spot, and you’re good to go.
I can tell you from the beginning – we were probably the ONLY Caribbean people in the crowd. How I know? Nooooobody else come pack up pack up like us. We walked in like we owned the place – well prepared with our chairs, coolers, umbrellas, blankets and the like. We weren’t sure where were going too tough, but, we were in our colours and were representing. And we were loud too eh (in comparison to anyone else) with our portable speaker playing soca and us just chatting away.
We deyyyyyy. Is our peopleeeee. We readeyyyyy.
When we finished setting up, we of course had to make our ladies know we were there. When the batters came on, we were cheering and jamming to the soca we had playing and shouted encouraging words when the entire team was on the field.
The vybe of the event, I quickly learnt, would be nothing like the Caribbean. To be honest, before this match, I was under the impression that a cricket match, no matter where you were, would always have loud music, people chatting, drinking, shouting, galavanting, limin, waving a rag or a flag. The whole works.
But no sahh. Anna so ee go (No, that’s not how it actually goes). At this game, besides us, the other spectators were to themselves, sitting quietly and watching a cricket game. And I guess that’s their normal? But definitely not ours. To be honest I felt that we had to contain ourselves before we scared everybody 😂.
The organizers did attempt to add a Caribbean vybe though. I’ll give them that. We realized at one point we no longer needed our little speaker, because they decided to play soca music through the loud speakers during the match intervals. It was up to date music TOO! We discovered later on that members of the team gave the sound man a playlist to make sure he had the real stuff. Needless to say, we were happy for a little representation with the music.
Overall, it was bitter sweet – we had a wonderful time supporting them. The media manager for the team came over to greet us half way through (turns out she lived in Antigua and knew TWO people I knew including my SISTER!). Mo, with her links, knew a few people on management and on the team. We lost the match against the New Zealand female team, but at the end of it all, we were proud of our women who had represented our region internationally.
Our crew went over to greet the team and while friendly words were exchanged, jokes traded, jerseys signed and photos were taken, my mind kept churning…
For me, it was again surreal. Maybe even odd. Here we were, these Caribbean people, chatting and engaging like we were all at home, in a manner that we’re familiar with. But at the same time, we know something’s different. The stadium is a ‘likkle’ too nice, grass too green. It’s not homey enough, not enough character. Everything surrounding you is just new.
Maybe it was just me overthinking (which is a high possibility eh). But I also felt we ALL felt a sense of relief (players and us supporters alike), to be around each other, as we knew we were in a fish bowl. We knew we weren’t home. We knew we were being watched, othered, seen as different.
Before going to such a game, I’d never felt like my or our Caribbeaness was on display. But it was. We were. Or at least it felt like it, to me.
I won’t lie, on the one hand, I felt a little uncomfortable – wondering if to tone down my behaviour while greeting and interacting with the players, for the comfort of others. But on the other hand I wondered – is this all just in my head? Are they even watching us? Do people even care?
In the end though, we we were happy to have each other. We were there to support our female team and they were happyyyy to have some home supporters in the crowd. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to play without having ya ‘home’ supporting you, until then.
For me, I tried my best to take it all in and enjoy the moment. I felt like I was lucky to share in this experience and have the opportunity to partake in such a thing – regardless of whether we won or lost. The point is, we were all there together, as a team (supporters and players), ambassadors of our region, in a country on the other side of the world. And we did good.
We showed up and showed out and we all had a good time doing so. We did it in an environment that was probably as close to home as we would get. Even though it was nothing like it, but like it just the same.
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