Lack of use by NZRU saddens Lomu

Not many New Zealand sports stars could warrant an update of their autobiography.

Richard Hadlee managed it, but then he had nearly 20 years of top-flight cricket and the likes of Peter Snell and Martin Crowe had post-career updates long after their competitive days were over.

JONAH - My Story. Published by Hodder Moa

But it is fitting that All Blacks' colossus Jonah Lomu has managed the feat.

His was a genuine international best seller which was hardly surprising given the profile he enjoyed in the sports world.

He also had some notable occurrences in his life after the publication of his first book, especially the kidney transplant he received, and which was the forerunner to his attempted comeback in the game.

Both issues are dealt with in his reissue as is the falling out with his former manager Phil Kingsley Jones.

Lomu also talks about the rough time he had after his appearance at the Rugby World Cup opening in Auckland when all in the stadium of four million could see that he wasn't at his best.

It turned out, within hours, that his transplanted kidney had gone into meltdown and couldn't be saved after seven years. And as a result Lomu has gone back on the waiting list for a new organ. His efforts to make sure he could attend the World Cup final show the level of determination that has marked the latter years of his life.

One regrettable point Lomu outlines is his lack of use by the New Zealand Rugby Union. He said it was a pity, since he stopped playing, that their relationship had not been closer.

"Unlike adidas, they just don't seem to want to have me involved. Even when I came back to rugby with North Harbour, they weren't interested.

"I never spoke to anyone from the union and it's pretty much been that way since I finished playing for the All Blacks.  Back in 2004, I would have thought maybe a get well card after the transplant operation might have been a nice gesture. Instead I got nothing. Not even a call," he said.

Lomu heard the NZRU had not been happy that he 'supported' Japan's bid for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. But he said he was asked by a journalist if he thought Japan would benefit from getting the 2011 World Cup? He said: "Yeah, of course it would be good for the world game. Asia is a big, untapped market."

But he added: "That was a hell of a long way short of me actually supporting their big over New Zealand's. No one was happier than me when we won the rights for the cup in 2011."

Lomu said with his work with sponsors he had learnt plenty and felt he had something to offer but the lack of a relationship with the NZRU was disappointing.

"Ultimately, it's their choice - we all have choices - but I would have thought they might have taken a bit of time, especially in recent years, to ask if there was anything I could do for them.

"Anyway, my door is always open. I've been loyal to the game and the jersey.

"I've never taken a handout in my life, and I don't ever expect any now. That's the way it will always be," he said.

Fulton and Southee take NZ Almanack honours for 2012-13

Batsman Peter Fulton and bowler Tim Southee were named the players of the year by the New Zealand Cricket Almanack.

Editors Francis Payne and Ian Smith described Fulton’s efforts in 2012-13 as ‘the best form of his career’. He totalled 1249 runs, capped by a century in each innings of the drawn third Test with England at Eden Park, a feat only surpassed by Martin Crowe.

The 66th New Zealand Cricket Almanack of 2013. Edited by Francis Payne and Ian Smith. Published by Hodder Moa. Price $55.00

Southee had achieved the best bowling performance by a New Zealander in India at the start of the season when taking 7-64 and he finished with 10 wickets in the Lord’s Test against England. At the start of the season he had been 33rd on the list of New Zealand’s wicket-takers but his 38 wickets during the summer saw him shoot to 17th with his total at 83 Test wickets.

The promising players of the year selected by the editors were left-arm fast bowler Mitch McClenaghan, Daryl Mitchell and Craig Munro.

One of the most interesting features of the Almanack every year is its Happenings section and just some of the details are listed below:

+ It is difficult to believe but leg-spinner Todd Astle was the 25th player to be on a winning side in his maiden Test. What is even more interesting is that the first player to achieve the feat was double international Keith Thomson, he played hockey for New Zealand, in 1968 which means that in 34 years, nearly one player a year has featured in a maiden Test win.

+ At the moment Astle shares a distinction with two others on the list, Gary Robertson and Andre Adams, of that being the only Test they played. However, Astle does have time on his side.

+ Given all the events in New Zealand cricket, it was somewhat incredible that the fact that New Zealand fielded the same XI in four successive Tests this year was the first time it had been achieved.

+ Central Districts and former New Zealand batsman Jamie How holds a unique record in the game. He is the only player to have taken part in a 400-run stand in first-class cricket, a triple-century stand in one-day cricket and a double-century stand in Twenty20 cricket.

+ Left-arm spinner Bruce Martin’s feat in playing 115 first-class games before making his Test debut is a New Zealand record.

As always, the Almanack is a fund of detail on the New Zealand season and a must-have for genuine cricket fans. There’s much more inside this 66th edition.

Armstrong's rise and fall outlined in compelling book

It is doubtful a more compelling account of Lance Armstrong's demise could be presented than that achieved by Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell in their book Wheelmen.

The two Wall Street Journal writers have provided an in-depth account of Armstrong's life and it is not a pretty read.

Wheelmen by Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell. Published by Hachette NZ.

Criticised throughout his domination of the Tour de France for his bullying attitude, Armstrong still managed to win support for his feats because of the seeming quality of his achievements.

The constant defence that he was the most tested rider in the world was a deliberate and calculated ploy to stave off those who wanted to know why more was not showing up in tests done on him. There was a fear he was one step ahead of the chemists and so it proved in a sport that had an on-going problem on the basis of past inaction on doping matters.

His dominance also started to hit home to others that all was not quite right.

Former Tour winner Greg LeMond recalled to the writers the first time the question of Armstrong doping was raised with him. It was in 1999 on the climb on Sestriere when the American blitzed the field on the climb.

"As Armstrong conquered Sestriere, everyone in the room, including LeMond, was cheering like mad. Except one man. A former mechanic on the Festina team named Cyrille Perrinn tapped LeMond on the shoulder and whispered to LeMond, 'sur le jus'.

"LeMond knew what this meant – Armstrong was juicing [taking drugs]. But how could the mechanic know this? 'What? Why?" LeMond asked, among the commotion and cheering.

"'No effort,' Perrin said. 'Look at his eyes, his breathing,' he said. Perrin went on to explain that cyclists were now using a powerful cocktail of drugs that propelled them up mountains without effort. 'They feel no pain,' he said to LeMond."

As much as the blatant cheating on the bike there were the machinations on the periphery of the game and those involved on the corporate side of the  Armstrong phenomenon. One example the authors highlighted was the relationship with Thom Weisel whose USA Cycling Development Foundation became a power player in the administration of the sport.

When Weisel gained control of USA Cycling, he appointed Jim Ochowicz as president while also installing him as a broker in his own banking firm. When Ochowicz joined him, one of his clients Hein Verbruggen went with him. Verbruggen was the head of the sport's world body, the UCI. That, the authors claimed, opened up ways in which Weisel could influence UCI decision-making.

They said: "Verbruggen now had several disincentives to police Armstrong's doping, and Armstrong would be thankful for them at various times throughout the remaining years of his career."

Armstrong wasn't beyond exerting his own threats, as LeMond found after he talked to British journalist David Walsh when Armstrong's links with controversial doctor Michele Ferrari confirmed to LeMond that Armstrong was doping.

LeMond said to Walsh: "When I heard he was working with Michele Ferrari, I was devastated...If Lance is clean, it is the greatest comeback in the history of sports. If he isn't, it would be the greatest fraud."

Armstrong attacked LeMond through their corporate connection with Trek bicycles saying one call to the company boss could shut down LeMond's work with the company.

An example of Armstrong's vindictiveness and control was seen when in 2004 lowly-placed rider Filippo Simeoni attempted to form an inconsequential breakaway group which would have no bearing on the final outcome of the race. But sensing sponsors would not be happy with lowly riders getting some publicity, Armstrong chased them down.

A factor in that thinking was that Simeoni had testified against Ferrari and  sued Armstrong after he criticised Simeoni. Armstrong rode them down, and in a famous scene that had television commentators wondering what was being discussed as he had his hand on Simeoni's back, delivered the message to the rider.

What Armstrong told him was: "You made a mistake when you testified against Ferrari and you made a mistake when you sued me. I have a lot of time and money and I can destroy you."

He told the rest of the chasing group they wouldn't get away as he would not let the breakaway survive. The other riders put pressure on Simeoni and they drifted back to the peloton. When they got there Armstrong made a zipping motion across his mouth to warn there should be no more talk about doping.

The authors also gave full coverage of the plight of Floyd Landis and the battle he had in potting Armstrong who had unleashed a smear campaign against him. Things looked to have succeeded when the US Attorney for the Central District of California was ending its two-year investigation into Armstrong.

It was to prove the lull before the storm.

As the full facts surrounding Armstrong's use of drugs emerged via USADA, the US anti-drug agency, the collapse of the Armstrong empire was prompt and graphically caught by the writers.

Theirs is a readable and graphic account of all that occurred in the Armstrong era appearing well-sourced and a permanent reminder of what may well prove LeMond's words correct, 'the greatest fraud'.

The Passing Parade 2 (In memory of Bryce Courtenay)

The second in a random series on experiences and conversations in my journalism career. All the people involved were spoken to face-to-face in interviews but some extra material by way of background may have been added to round out the experience, especially when looking back a considerable number of years.

Sometimes luck reveals itself in strange ways.

It was the practice at The Evening Post in Wellington for the books editor to place in a large box all of the books he didn't think were worthy of a review in the esteemed newspaper.

Any half-respecting bibliophile couldn't but help poke their nose in the box at least once a week (well, people did read books in the late-1980s).

On one such occasion there, sitting looking back at the observer, was a book titled "The Power of One". It didn't have one of the great covers, but picking it up revealed it was about a young South African orphan who had to grow up tough and who used boxing as his means of defence.

It struck a chord and so it was taken home and soon revealed itself as a first-class read. It had many fine strands and one little story stuck in the mind, and has remained there whenever the notion of luck is applied. It was provided via a character in the book, a professor, whose use of absoloodle to every positive response was another memory.

Courtenay related the story of the impoverished Russian Jew who one morning while making his breakfast toast had the misfortune to drop it on the floor during the spreading process. But to his disbelief the toast landed butter side up.

How could this happen? He was a poor Jew, this sort of thing did not happen to people like him. Luck was not part of his vocabulary.

He took the situation to his rabbi and the rabbi agreed that this was indeed an amazing situation. He had no answer but would take it to his superiors. They heard the case and were also intrigued and at a loss for an explanation. But after much deliberation they arrived at an answer.

The poor Jew was called to hear their finding and he was told that it was the collective belief of the assembled brainpower that there could only be one answer. It was that he had clearly buttered the wrong side of the toast!

Picking up The Power of One was like finding your toast had fallen butter side up.

Once completing the book the afore-mentioned book editor was appraised of his unworthiness for the role and how could he dare to put such a book in the remainders box? Not only was the book a thrilling read, it also contained some of the finest boxing description it would be possible to read.

Some months later, the book editor recalled the discussion and said that the writer of the book concerned was returning to Wellington to promote the paperback version of the book and would be available for an interview. Would there be any interest in that? he asked.

There most certainly would, he was told, and the booking was made for an interview.

When introductions had been duly completed, Courtenay was informed that he was being interviewed by a sports writer who had been intrigued by the quality of the boxing writing in the book. He said that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, he had fought 150 amateur bouts, and just out of interest Sports Illustrated had agreed with the sentiment about the boxing writing.

In the same interview he was asked what future projects he might have in mind. Courtenay explained that he had recently been in Tasmania doing some research on his then wife's family, Solomons by name, and in a little church he had left a note in the registry book that if anyone should have any information on the Solomons, and especially a gentleman by the name of Ikey Solomon, they should contact Courtenay at the phone number attached.

Some time later at home in the evening, the phone rang and it was someone with some information who had seen his note at the church. Courtenay related that the person had asked him: "You do know who Ikey Solomon was?"

Courtenay replied that he didn't. His caller informed him that Solomon was the model that Charles Dickens used for his great character in Oliver Twist, Fagin. The book he would next write would be about Ikey Solomon's life.

Without saying too much more it is now known as The Potato Factory, the first part of a trilogy which included Tommo and Hawk and ended with Solomon's Song. Writing follow-up stories was part of the early Courtenay approach as Tandia followed the story of his original The Power of One.

Further interviews with Courtenay followed in later years. One moving discussion was when he was promoting the paperback version of April Fool's Day, the story of his son's battle with transfusion acquired AIDS.

Another was when he was promoting Tommo and Hawk, the occasion when he courteously signed that earlier first edition copy of The Power of One. "Did you know," he asked, "that this is very valuable?" The hardback version had been a disaster, he said and it didn't take off until issued in paperback. There were not many hardbook copies around. Try and find one in a second hand sale – it's hard work.

Courtenay never claimed to be anything more than a storyteller, something that didn't seem to sit with more highbrow writers who may have written more stylishly but who sold nothing like the numbers of books that Courtenay did.

"I just sit down and start yakking on paper or into a word processor," he said.

Courtenay believed in the need for storytelling and the benefits it had for literacy.

"Literacy is the biggest single problem facing Western culture. As soon as language evolved, imagination evolved and imagination can only work at its optimum in a literate people.

"Without literacy we are less able to cope with the environment we live in," he said.

Courtenay, who had a career in advertising, during which time he was responsible for the creation of the Milky Bar Kid, related that he used to immerse himself in his novels. When writing The Potato Factory he often had to shower after each composition session because he felt all the filth of inner-city London in the days of the Industrial Revolution sticking to his skin while he could smell the foul odours associated with the conditions so well did he imagine his surroundings.

He was the ultimate story teller and it is sad that the pen has been stilled so swiftly. He will be sorely missed by his legion of fans.

A dark day for the All Blacks

October 30 was a significant day in New Zealand rugby, not just because the 2014 batch of Super Rugby squads were named.

It was the 50^th anniversary of the day Welsh club Newport beat the All Blacks, the only loss the All Blacks suffered on their 1964-64 tour of Britain, Ireland and France.

Wilson Whineray's men went down 0-3 when Newport centre Dick Uzzell landed a dropped goal in the 17^th minute.

Try as they might, the New Zealanders couldn't escape the passionate grip of the home team who achieved a great day in their club's history.

Welsh teams don't beat the All Blacks too often.

The occasion was marked by a renunion of the team on Wednesday evening and all but two members who had died, were able to attend. The players were given the freedom of Newport in honour of their achievement at the Rodney Parade ground.

Captain Brian Price, who toured with the British and Irish Lions, achieved Triple Crowns and Five Nations championships, told the South Wales Post: "It's difficult to say if it was the pinnacle of my career – getting picked as an uncapped player for the Barbarians side which beat the Springboks in 1961 and taking away their unbeaten record on the last match of their tour was special, as was winning your first cap for Wales and then going on to captain your country.

Brian Price - Win was memorable because he was playing with his mates

"The great thing about the New Zealand game was the victory over the All Blacks with Newport also had the distinction of being one that was achieved while playing with your mates, the people you played with week in, week out," he said.

Among various parts of the build-up to the game he recalled that Uzzell was nursing a hamstring injury that they had to keep quiet about. He was only passed fit two hours before the game, and then only after an injection from the club doctor.

While they had never been in control of the All Blacks pack they had been holding their own, he said.

"Some said our tactics were negative but we were out to stop them from gaining any momentum and from preventing [Don] Clarke from getting any penalty kicks at goal.

"I remember Brian Jones and Uzzell were superb in defence and we had five kicks at goal that day, all long ranger, while they didn't get one shot."

Uzzell's dropped goal attempted 'wobbled and scraped over the bar', he said.

"Wilson Whineray came into our dressing room afterwards and said to us: "Congratulations boys. There's no doubt about it, you were the better side on the day. I just hope you all get selected for Wales so we can have another crack at you'," he said.

Uzzell told The Rugby Paper: "We'd gone into the match determined to give a good account of ourselves and not let them run away with it.

"I never planned to drop a goal, not least because I was never a drop-goal specialist.

"It was done on pure instinct. I saw these three All Blacks charging at me and set myself up for the shot. I never saw it go over because they flattened me, but I heard the roar," he said.

Newport, joined Swansea (1935) and Cardiff (1953) as clubs who beat the All Blacks, with Llanelli joining them in 1972.

The 'Key' to superannuation

Superannuation - What is it about National Governments and their inability to make decisions in the interests of the country when it comes to the basic issue of superannuation?

Prime Minister John Key has painted himself into a corner over his claim that the age of eligibility for superannuation, 65 years, will not change on his watch.

It is patently obvious that superior lifestyle has resulted in people living longer. In many instances that means people are capable of working longer. Of course, there are exceptions and there are people to whom working beyond 60 years is an issue.

But, generally, New Zealanders can expect that the majority of the population will be capable of working longer in the future – in many cases they will have to because the drain of young people offshore looking for work, a drain that the said Mr Key was going to stop when he was campaigning against Helen Clark and Labour in 2008, has reached epidemic proportions

It remains a frustration for this observer that in the leadership debates of that campaign the incumbent Clark did not challenge Key when he was blathering on about stopping the brain drain. All she had to do to end the argument was ask where Key had earned the money that allowed him to have the lifestyle he enjoyed? It certainly wasn't from years spent working his way up from the back benches in New Zealand.

But then again the fight was no longer in Clark – she had had enough it would seem.

However, it seems that in sticking to his claim over the eligibility age that Key is determined to avoid the back flip that George Bush the first suffered over his pre-election campaigning on 'No More Taxes'. A promise that was very quickly undone once he replaced Ronald Reagan in the White House.

Back in New Zealand the age of eligibility has become an issue for which the public may well be prepared to punish the government, which is plugging austerity in all other areas of the economy.

Let's not forget that it was Robert Muldoon who showed a flagrant disregard for the future by throwing out the compulsory superannuation scheme set up by Roger Douglas in the Kirk-Rowling Government of 1972-75.

Dancing Cossacks flashed across television screens, catching the eye of those nearing their retirement sufficiently to put Muldoon in power with his promise that he would close the scheme down and install a scheme that would mean once reaching the age of 60 people would be able to receive National's superannuation, even if they were still working! Let's not forget that – they were still able to receive the payout if they were still working.

It is little wonder that generation were known as 'The Greedies'.

In making that choice Muldoon sent New Zealand into permanent debt. There are two thoughts here: how much of the country's financial frustrations of the moment are a direct result of that decision and, more importantly, how much better off might New Zealand be had he not made that choice?

Muldoon trumpeted that the New Zealand Superannuation Scheme was going to result in the nationalisation of New Zealand's industries. It was going to be communism by stealth. The Greedies were sucked in lock, stock and Think Big.

In fact, and to their shame the Labour Government of the day did not make this point sufficiently, it was enshrined in law that the NZ Super Scheme would not be allowed to invest any more than 15 percent in any New Zealand company. 15 percent!!

That figure is important because Key and his Cabinet are asking that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund set up by Labour's Michael Cullen should invest up to 40 percent in New Zealand companies.

What would Muldoon make of that? If what he canned in 1975 was communism by stealth what does 40 percent investment represent?

Just as Muldoon's failure hamstrung a generation, so Key's foot-dragging is likely to do for the generations who follow those who move into retirement over the next 20-odd years.

It is only commonsense that a phased rise in the eligibility age be introduced as soon as possible.

So poll-driven has the Government become that there is a chance that Key will see the error of his ways and make a decision forthwith.

His highly unpopular austerity measures continue in other aspects so it defies belief that the one popular measure he could implement, and with exceptions for those whose work might qualify for a maintaining of retirement at 65, could elude him.

Failure to act leaves him facing the same sort of legacy his predecessor Muldoon enjoys for his greed for power at any cost.

THE PASSING PARADE No.1

A random series on experiences and conversations in my journalism career. All the people involved were spoken to face-to-face in interviews but some extra material by way of background may have been added to round out the experience, especially when looking back a considerable number of years.

JAMES A MICHENER

It was one of those moments when opportunity jumped out of the pages of a newspaper. All newspaper offices hold exchange copies of other publications whether locally, nationally or internationally. Often on slow news days a perusal of other newspapers could provide an idea for a local angle to be developed.

On this occasion, in early 1976, it was a brief mention that James A. Michener would be returning to New Zealand as part of the American bi-centennial celebrations during which he would be giving some public lectures, mainly in Auckland and Wellington that caught the eye. But there was also a reference that he hoped to do some travel in the South Island.

As a young general reporter on The Southland Times, in my third year on the job, I recognised it might be worthwhile contacting the Department of Internal Affairs, the government organisation hosting the legendary writer. So I sent off a letter, duly receiving a reply that Michener would be in Invercargill and would be available for a chat.

Never had so much preparation been done for an interview. My first contact with the Michener method had been his book The Drifters which struck a chord, as it would for many who grew up through those memorable 1960s. I had also most recently completed Centennial, parts of Rascals in Paradise, and had consumed The Fires of Spring, The Bridges at Toko-ri, The Bridge at Andau, Kent State: What Happened and Why and A Michener Miscellany.

In most instances these were not small books but they had a captivating quality that got right inside the subject matter.

So the moment arrived, at Invercargill's Kelvin Hotel, right next door to The Southland Times as it happens. Introductions were duly made and the folder was opened with a set of questions laid out. First things first, what on Earth had made him come to Invercargill?  Having been born and bred in Southland there was an awareness that not a lot of interesting people tended to visit.

However, it turned out that during his youth when studying in Scotland on a scholarship, Michener had visited a town on the west coast of Scotland known as Oban, and he wanted to visit the other Oban that he was aware of, on Stewart Island, across Foveaux Strait from Bluff, just to the south of Invercargill.

"I'd sooner come to Invercargill than go to a tourist spot. It's not majestic, or a great centre, but I have always been interested in it," he said. "I'm a trained observer. I love the world, and I have an affinity for what is going on in it."

But with the niceties aside, it was into his writing and its development. His experience in naval aviation with the US Navy in World War Two first exposed him to the South Pacific and its stories, most notably represented through South Pacific which became a top flight Rogers and Hammerstein musical and film.

That was followed a semi-biographical novel titled The Fires of Spring. Hawaii became another movie from his books and then he spread his wings with books like Caravans and The Source.

And then, of course, The Drifters.

"Pamplona was where it all started. My wife and I would go there and sit in a public square for a while and then young kids would find out who I was and start talking to me and firing questions at me. We would talk and argue over points. I learned while I was talking with these youths."

From that he developed the plot line of a story which caught the spirit of the youth of the age, unsettled and revolutionary as it may have been but also questioning and enquiring, an aspect that Michener appreciated – it was his own modus operandi.

Michener was also a patriot and at the time in the post-Watergate years he commented that while the US had enormous opportunities to accomplish good she contained within herself the seeds of her own destruction.

"This is more true now than when I wrote it. The day could well come when Japan could exist as a homogenous nation while the United States could have blown apart into four or five regions. [He wasn't far off the mark, replace Japan with China and you see his point.]

"We in the United States are a disparate society, with different religions and races. If everything goes bad we could fall apart," he said.

There were parallels in his observations of those days with modern America. He described the experience of Watergate which was notable for, as he put it, 'the actions of unelected men around the President, Richard Nixon' as being 'pretty frightening in a democracy'.

He hadn't been impressed by the influx of students into journalism courses as a result of it – that was leading to a lot of scandal-mongering as everyone tried to emulate Woodward and Bernstein, the journalists who broke the Watergate break-in.

His observations about a potential role for New Zealand in the future of the world were also interesting.

Keeping in mind the alarming rate at which the world population was increasing, he said Australia and New Zealand would have to deal in their own ways with the burgeoning population in Asia.

"It may be New Zealand's destiny to provide a surplus of educated people to emigrate overseas and pass on what they have learned," he said. New Zealand had a very good education system which produced an 'extraordinary' number of graduates who were literate compared to the US where people were leaving college unable to read or write.

Sadly our time was over at that point. Michener's wife Mari, and his Dept. Of Internal Affairs minder were conscious of the fact he had not long before suffered a heart attack and was on a prescribed programme which meant he had used up his time and would have to conclude the interview.

But the memory, as they say, lingers on. It was easy to understand why Michener had been able to relate to people of all ages in going about his work. His reasoned responses to questions, his friendliness and his basic class towards a young journalist setting out on the road was an example that has never been forgotten. Scouring through yesterday's newspapers from other regions had proven its worth yet again.