All Blacks around the World (I): Spain

I start a new post with a new theme: How are the All Blacks seen around the World. I think that it is a pity that people in New Zealand don't realise how much their team is cherished and respected abroad.

So, let this post be a way to know what the All Blacks mean for people outside the Island of the Long White Cloud. We'll start with a country I know well: Spain. In Spain rugby is not among the top 5 sports... nor the top 10 sports... nor the... ok, rugby is a completely unknown sport, an amateur sport in a time when even Canadian Canoe C1 specialists (not that it is the most popular sport in Spain, either) get enough money to live.

However, the All Blacks can be proud of having a name in Spain, and more people is likely to recognise the haka than to tell the name of any single one rugby player past or present. We can, by the way, even find a bar with a section fully dedicated to the All Blacks in Madrid.

Yes, here you will find it:

Steinlager Madrid

Provided you are patient enough to deciphrate articles in spanish you will get a piece of information about the bar and its relation with the All Blacks, history of the All Blacks, a guide to do the haka and a vast description of the activities that the bar offers.


(Can you think of a farther from New Zealand place dedicated to the All Blacks?)