Palmerston North - Massey University in New Zealand is offering grief counselling advice for dejected rugby fans in the wake of the crushing All Blacks World Cup defeat.
The Palmerston North campus, believing the defeat may have a far reaching effect on the nation's psyche, has released a list of five experts who may be able to help those struggling to cope with this major national disaster.
The group of lecturers and professors is among a host of experts "ready to answer questions with authority and from a number of different perspectives".
Gary Hermansson, recently appointed sports psychologist to the New Zealand Olympic Games Team for the Sydney Games, has been listed as an expert who can "analyse the plight of the players, individually and as a team, and the outpouring of collective grief".
Sport management lecturer and sports psychologist Trish Bradbury looks at the responsibilities of the NZ Rugby Football Union and the shock suffered by team members.
Graeme Bassett, of the School of English and Media Studies, saw the defeat as a major blow to the self-esteem of a large segment of the population.
"It is as if the team represents the self-worth of the country. People may say 'It's only a game' but emotionally it isn't only a game for a lot of people.
"Even the most intellectually reserved and critical minds can be moved by the passion and spectacle of it all."
Bassett said New Zealand had a fragile sense of its own identity, and the worth of the country seemed to be tied up with sporting achievements.
"Nationalism is the identification of a disparate and heterogenous group of people under a few headings. We are New Zealanders, or we are Kiwis. It is an attempt to belong. We tend to define ourselves by our performance against other nation states, in a them-and-us situation."
Exploits of individuals such as Sir Edmund Hillary, Ernest Rutherford, John Walker or even Billy T James provided the opportunity for people to bask in the reflected glory, and feel as if they had some small part in the achievements by virtue of coming from the same country.
Lynne Star, from the university's School of Sociology and Women's Studies, said she could see a strong connection between the old festival of carnival and this country's favourite pastime.
"Carnival was a time when all classes of society would get together to play a rough version of football, kicking a pig's bladder around.
"It was a time when normally offensive behaviour was condoned: fornicating, fighting, baiting or attacking groups like gypsies, ugly women and foreigners."
Star said carnival was a time when people would dress up in outlandish or frightening costumes, and drew a parallel between that and today's face-painting, nun's habit-wearing crowds.
Rugby was also an occasion where males could safely watch other males without inferences of homosexuality, she said.
Star said the pleasure of watching another human being doing something they excelled at was an undeniable thrill.
Other Massey experts include Robin McConnell of the School of Management and International Business, who is author of Inside the All Blacks, and can give valuable insights into individual team members.
The All Blacks spent a great deal of time at Massey University training for the World Cup. - Sapa-NZPA