How Team NZ wonmeover

OPINION: Let’s get rule No 1 of the Halberg Awards out of the way first: there is never a wrong decision. Just one you might not agree with.

That’s why you have a judging panel. It’s a terrible job, but someone has to do it. (Disclaimer: I’m privileged to be one of those asked to vote for the Halbergs, and it’s a role I take very, very seriously, even if it does sometimes confuse me.)

But by the sounds of the deafening silence of those complaining about Thursday night’s decisions at our annual sporting extravaganza, dare we entertain the notion that the great minds of the judging panel got this thing right?

My first thought was in the negatory when I heard the America’s Cup yachties had scored the big one. Seemed like a popularity decision. There was no doubting the impact their fabulous victory in Bermuda had on this country as we all got carried home on the wave of success generated by that very fast, ingeniously powered foiling cat.

But, gee, was it better than Tom Walsh’s world title in the shot put in London? That was special. Dramatic. Gutsy. And it was athletics. Something the whole world does, and cares about.

Often when you’re evaluating similar achievements the best tiebreaker is just how tough was their achievement? How legit?

It’s what continually holds our world champion men’s softballers back from Halberg recognition. Yes, they bring back the bacon. But, shouldn’t they be playing baseball with the rest of the planet?

So my first thought was that Walsh’s fabulous triumph over those hot shot Americans in London was better, and more deserving of the supreme award. On the global scale, it mattered more.

Maybe Lisa Carrington’s ironwoman effort at the canoe sprint world champs too. Smallish sport, granted. But she won four medals, two of them gold, in an unprecedented display of sustained power paddling.

But then my mind wandered back to rule No 1.

There is no science to it. No chart you can look up to see where a rugby world cup compares to a softball one, or how a canoe sprint gold medal measures up against a rowing one. Or whether the America’s Cup is bigger than the world athletics championships. Or whether the star player in the All Blacks is more of a stud than the best Black Cap.

It’s just one person’s opinion. And another’s. And maybe not another’s. But eventually there are enough votes cast in someone’s favour to come up with a winner.

And then I got thinking. And talking to various people. The winners rolled through the press room. Colleagues started offering their reflections.

And my view began to shift a little, like one of those dodgy winds off the coastline of Bermuda.

Yes, vast lands on this planet do not even know what the America’s Cup is, let alone give a brass razoo about who wins it.

But enough do. And those that enter spend millions upon millions of dollars chasing glory in it. Filthy rich people like Larry Ellison sink large amounts of their fortunes into it.

Team NZ ran their campaign on the comparative smell of an oily rag, they started late, they showed nothing early on that suggested they were even in this race.

But then they came roaring through, with their smart minds, their innovative approach and their brilliant sailors, and took the wind right out of Ellison’s sails. They metaphorically spat on James Spithill.

They came up with the cyclors concept, they produced a boat that was faster than anything one of the world’s software giants could design and they sailed it better.

And it meant a lot to every Kiwi. That also has to stand for something in these awards. They are New Zealand’s sporting gongs, not the world’s, after all.

This country loves its AmCup yachties, and their event. We live and breathe their every tack, every jibe. We can explain the aerodynamics of foiling and the pros and cons of the cyclor. We cried when they imploded from that seemingly unassailable lead in San Francisco in 2013 and we cheered when they exacted revenge in Bermuda in the middle of last year.

They’re all winners. But last night one stood above ‘em all, and really there was nothing to complain about. See: rule No 1.