Sailing: Blackhearts expose the dark side of Kiwi sport

This is not just a family feud, neighbours bickering over the garden fence. The bitter rivalry between the America's Cup holders, Team New Zealand, and, next door, the Alinghi challenge of Switzerland has, so far, only been simmering.

As the Swiss team, led by former TNZ skipper Russell Coutts, and with a clutch of other top TNZ sailors alongside him, look more certain to be the Louis Vuitton Cup winners who line up against TNZ in February, so the battle is set to become a lot more bloody, the swipes more venomous, the appeal to the nation and nationalism more strident.

The Kiwis are fickle. They like to support winners, and they love to be underdogs, as long as they are also winning. If the All Blacks are winning, they support them. But until the current side plays well enough, the jury is out.

On the other hand, New Zealand holds the America's Cup and, right now, many say the America's Cup enjoys more support across the country (though some in Wellington and Christchurch may disagree) than All Black rugby. Not because all Kiwis love sailing, but because it represents pre-eminence on a world stage by what is a tiny, and often insecure, nation of just 3.8 million people.

Now, the enemy are hammering at the door, led by one of their own. Coutts won an Olympic gold medal for them, brought the America's Cup back from San Diego, and saw off in devastating style the first attempt to take away their prize and their pride.

He has clearly rattled his previous supporters. A spate of nationalist fervour, which extends far beyond sport, has given rise to a "Loyal" campaign, usually featuring the single word and the silver fern on a black flag. The word has a specific significance because of a song of that name by local troubadour Dave Dobbyn, who, like L&P lemonade, is world famous in New Zealand.

Ferns are one thing. But there is also rather more disturbing black and white imagery of people with clenched fists clamped over their hearts. In parallel, the Cup has spawned a group which calls itself Blackheart, with scant regard to the malevolent overtones of the name they have chosen.

Blackheart is the sort of beer-fuelled, bar-stool bravado that is usually remembered only with embarrassment the following morning.

In this case, the boys organised a lunch, collected some money, put up some jeering posters, with Coutts singled out as their prime target, and quite knowingly pursued a policy of stirring up hatred.

Their line since is that they have been misunderstood, that the purpose was entirely innocent, just showing support for TNZ. They would never dream of condoning, never mind making, an attack on those who are in their sights. Team New Zealand are quick to say "nothing to do with us" and to emphasise that they have been given no money by Blackheart.

All at a time when, in the wider national context, one of the more prominent politicians, Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First party, has been calling for better controls on immigration.

The Government immediately responded by raising the bar of an English language comprehension examination for immigrants, and denied it had anything to do with Peters. He, in turn, saw his opinion poll ratings lift him to second-place in the acceptability rankings.

Peters is a supporter of the Blackheart campaign. "I have been to a couple of Blackheart meetings," he says. "There is a lot riding on this, a hell of a lot riding on this. We are just putting 150 per cent of our weight behind our own team, and our own economy. It is unashamedly nationalistic and patriotic, but this is a law-abiding country and there is nothing persecutionist about it, nor is it a matter of personalities. We just need to say how important the America's Cup is to us."

He also believes there is even more America's Cup interest than there was in 1999/2000 and that, while the country would always have the All Blacks, it has no such permanent right to hold on to the America's Cup.

He may not be aware of those who say that, if Coutts and co were to take the cup away, it would be a good idea for them and their families to leave New Zealand.

There is no way that Blackheart speaks for the majority of Kiwis and methods which are also a little black-shirted have led to some stern words behind the scenes.

A recent book about All Black rugby by Joseph Romanos is called The Judas Game. Rugby, says the blurb, is a game taken over by money and avarice. The traditions, the camaraderie, have all been betrayed, and rugby could be overtaken by football because that is the passion of immigrants from Korea, China and Japan.

Civil war polarises a whole community. Could a sailboat race achieve that?