Rodney Hide: Silent majority? Yeah right

I explained I was unable to function this past week and her question about the All Blacks losing was unthinkable to me and impossible to answer, Rodney writes. Photo / Brett Phibbs

What a week! The All Blacks edging South Africa was stressful enough - then I discovered family and friends were faking it.

That was the finding of research by associate professor Toni Bruce.

A "silent majority" of us aren't interested in rugby or the World Cup. I was beside myself that some of my friends and family must be unpatriotic and their passion faked.

The "vast majority" of the professor's survey respondents declared the World Cup not personally important to them. They didn't care. How could that be? In New Zealand?

I was a mess. The stress of last week's semifinal plus the thought that those close to me were "silent majority" types not backing the boys proved too much. I sought help.

My doctor said I needed a rest and to distract myself. I had to get my mind off the game.

I tried doing other things. I googled Toni Bruce.

I found out her research interests at Auckland University were "gender, race and ethnicity" and her work was "informed by feminism, interpretive interactionism and cultural studies theories". Her research interests made me think she wasn't keen on rugby.

Her press release this week, titled "Rugby World Cup a turnoff for many", provided a link to her survey. I spent 20 minutes filling it out. That's right. It's there for anyone to complete.

After the preliminaries there was a question on how I had found out about it. The first three options were "email from the researcher", "in class" or "face-to-face from the researcher".

Hang on. The survey was not of random people but rather those who knew of it and chose to do it.

And the most likely reason provided for undertaking it was that respondents received an email from the professor, sat in her class or bumped into her.

I guessed those into "gender, race and ethnicity, informed by feminism, interpretive interactionism and cultural studies theories" aren't into rugby.

The very people most likely to complete the survey are most likely not to think rugby is the be-all and end-all.

Only 197 people had completed her survey. I suspect the bulk of them were her students and friends.

Well, among that lot, she now has a balancing response.

I explained I was unable to function this past week and her question about the All Blacks losing was unthinkable to me and impossible to answer.

Thanks to my doctor - and Google - I spent the rest of the week concentrating on the game. The stress that my friends and family mightn't be passionate was gone.

I only had the game to worry about.

I saw the headline but never read the report about bacon being as bad as cigarettes. I didn't want to go there. I'd had enough of a fright already without being scared off bacon.