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Mirounga leonina, southern elephant seal. Although seals spend a lot of time in the water, they evolved from a land-dwelling ancestor over 25 million years ago and still have to come back on land to breed.

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World cup crazy!

Mindy, Thursday 24 June 2010

Temperature: -34.5°C
Wind speed: 0 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -34.5°C
Moonrise: above horizon
Moonset: above horizon

You’d think that an international soccer (sorry, football) championship over 5000km away would be the last thing on our minds here in the Antarctic – but that can’t be further from the truth! FIFA World Cup mania has solidly hit Scott Base, the New Zealand Antarctic research station. The marvels of modern technology ensure that matches are available via satellite, so we are able to catch every game we want to see. More specifically, we are interested in following the ‘All Whites’, the New Zealand national team. While many of us wintering at Scott Base are from countries other than New Zealand, we are united in our support of this Cinderella team.

Scott Base shows its support for the All Whites' 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign © Steve Williams

Scott Base shows its support for the All Whites’ 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign © Steve Williams

It’s amazing that the love of a sport like soccer (sorry, football) can transcend nations and even centuries of time. Apparently even Captain Scott and the lads of the British Antarctic Expedition were quite into the game, playing as often as they could until they lost the light. Current day Ross Island inhabitants are fortunately able to play indoors every week in a small gymnasium at McMurdo, the nearby United States research station.

Soccer action at McMurdo Station © M. Bell

Soccer action at McMurdo Station © M. Bell

Team photo - soccer enthusiasts of Ross Island © Gabriel Cartwright, U.S.A.P

Team photo - soccer enthusiasts of Ross Island © Gabriel Cartwright, U.S.A.P

Here at Scott Base we’ll continue to watch the FIFA drama unfold. The All Whites are having a great tournament and we wish them all the best. We’ll definitely be watching their upcoming match against Paraguay. Go All Whites!

Posted in McMurdo, Scott Base, Social life

3 Responses to “World cup crazy!”
  1. June 28th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
    Neil Turner says:

    Quality. Miles away from civilisation and Football still rears its head. Pitty both the US and England are out though.

  2. June 29th, 2010 at 9:57 am
    Alex says:

    At least New Zealand were unbeaten in the tournament, though. I bet that’s something none of us expected!

  3. July 2nd, 2010 at 9:34 am
    Steve Dolder says:

    Yep - you probably would have got good odds on New Zealand unbeaten. Hindsight and all that!

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