SAD isn't the word for it

Maybe it's been due to the abysmally unseasonal weather to have hit Auckland, New Zealand over the Christmas-New Year holiday break. This is the time when living in the southern hemisphere is supposed to be all about living outside, getting some overdue sunrays, although not too many of them, on the body and reviving yourself for the year ahead.

In the instance of 2011-12 it was about finally getting over the heights associated with New Zealand regaining the Rugby World Cup – something the 'stadium of four million' had been preoccupied with for 24 years. While that was successfully achieved, it was not made any easier by the Cup final against France being replayed persistently on SKY Television's Rugby Channel, Auckland, and much of the North Island, lived under a permanent rain cloud which shows no sign of abating before March. And that's according to the forecasters who, it has to be said, do not hold any records for accuracy.

That left time for scouring the internet to catch up on some overdue reading of happenings around the world. With this in mind it was with disappointment that another leader in terms of his comprehension and presentation of sport beyond the result absented himself from the mainstream media. George Vecsey had a long and distinguished record of service with the New York Times. In that time he penned one of the great sports autobiographies on Martina Navratilova and among other books recorded a year of action in A Year in the Sun. Vecsey was different from your usual American columnist, he wasn't tied to American sports. He carved a name for himself in writing about football, or soccer, while his Postcards from the various Olympic Games he attended always provided a fascinating insight into activities and athletes not immediately obvious to the beat writers or the cheerleaders providing the television coverage. Vecsey will not be lost, however. He has joined the blogosphere and his material will be available at georgevecsey.com. It is well worth bookmarking right away.

Vecsey's switch has encapsulated a significant change in the literary world, and that is in the widest sense of the words. Another star who has emerged on the internet has to be Dave Zirin. He writes for The Nation in the US but also has his own website, edgeofsports.com. At a time when right wing politics have reached extreme levels in the US, Zirin's dialogues are a breath of fresh air and reason at time when both are in danger of swamping the great unwashed.

Dumbing down of newspapers and the loss of experienced journalists across the board was never more apparent than during the election coverage in New Zealand in 2011. Inexperienced reporters were easily side-tracked by media minders resulting in coverage being confined to flim-flam items and more akin to the society pages of weekend rags than actually providing anything of substance for voters to ponder in the most important event of the triennium. Little wonder that the voter turnout was the lowest since the 1880s. But it showed that if you make political coverage lightweight enough, and apologies for seriously mangling the message from Field of Dreams ("If you build it, they will come"), if you don't do it, they won't care. The consequences of indifference for any democracy are horrendous but sadly that is what is happening in New Zealand. But all is not lost, at least if you have access to the internet. NZ Politics Daily will go a long way towards filling the void the newspapers no longer care about, even moreso in the absence of NZPA.

However, it is not only newspapers. The publishing industry in itself is still attempting to come to grips with the advances of technology. The obvious demise of the heavyweight book-selling chains did not help but showed the appalling mismanagement has had severe consequences for the advance of knowledge, especially at the expense of the local economy. Why would you pay the exorbitant rates for books as these chains were charging when you could do so much better by buying cheaper, and faster, from overseas? Now publishers want the government to add GST to books purchased overseas as a form of disincentive to following the practice. Fat chance, especially as the number of electronic readers grow.

The miserable weather did nothing to change the view that commercial television has any redeeming virtues. An accurate description of what it has to offer is impossible unfortunately. Any attempt to watch it tends to coincide with lengthy advertising breaks or reality shows. And when the quest is for information in news programmes, it is back to the lowest common denominator. As for commercial radio...dear oh dear.

But what, if you think this is all doom and gloom, there is a reason. It may have to do with 'seasonal affective disorder'. This is exactly as it sounds, SAD, except it is usually something associated with winter rather than summer. But then again, that may say it all.

Fred the Needle tells his story

New Zealand rugby literature had always had a gap in it – until now.


The country's most successful coach of the All Blacks Fred Allen, his 100 percent record is almost Bradmanesque – the only reason it doesn't match that description is that his time at the helm was much shorter than the great Aussie batsman - has finally committed his life story to print.

Fred the Needle by Alan Sayers and Les Watkins. Published by Hachette New Zealand.

But in many ways his influence, on the game especially, was as significant as that of Bradman in cricket.

Allen, whose own playing career was marked by the spark of brilliance he injected as a lively and constructive first five-eighths, had the All Blacks from 1966-68 and, to the regret of many, decided to forsake a job he must surely have loved because of the politics of the Kremlinesque New Zealand Rugby Union of his day.

Allen did things differently, like allowing top-flight sports journalist of his day Alex Veysey into one of his team talks during a tour of Australia. Allen had thought it was only for background but somewhere along the way the wires got crossed and Veysey filed the story for the next day.

Allen's team talks were regarded as well worthy of hearing but the alickadoos back in the Huddart Parker building in downtown Wellington were unimpressed.

Sharing Allen's style with the world wasn't deemed appropriate. So rather than wait to be shot down, especially after he had refused to accede to the NZRU's request not to take Colin Meads, Ken Gray and Bruce McLeod on the famous 1967 tour to England, he resigned.

Normally it might not have mannered and the New Zealand rugby goliath would have rattled on. But New Zealand, in their unbeaten state, were shaping for a crack at South Africa in 1970, and a chance to finally win a Test series in the Republic.

However, Allen was not going to be the coach and to the eternal regret of his players, and the New Zealand public he wasn't at the helm when the tour occurred with the usual result.

All is told in full in his autobiography, penned by Alan Sayers and Les Watkins.

The great coach also talked about his desire to rid New Zealand rugby of the stodgy 10-man game which was almost strangling all who embraced it – a dreadful form of kick to touch, lineout, kick to touch, lineout, all the way down the sideline until reaching ground close to the line and pressuring the opposition into a mistake and scoring a try.

Allen had played his rugby in the spirited days after the end of World War Two with the famous Kiwis team which toured Britain, France and Germany to win a special place in rugby's annals for their celebration of life in rugby, freed from the restraints of conflict.

He wanted his team in 1967 to play similarly – and they did, unleashing a 15-man game which great Lions coach Carwyn James said later had transformed the game forever. James, four years later would coach the British and Irish Lions to their only series victory in New Zealand.

Because of his ability to inspire, there are many stories in his book that have not been published previously and they provide a sometimes emotional understanding of the forces that made him. His military service, his tough upbringing and his frustration on the 1949 tour to South Africa where New Zealand lost 0-4 are all part of the fabric of his life and have been faithfully recorded in a book which ensures his example will never be lost.

When placed alongside the earlier book written in partnership with TP McLean, Fred Allen on Rugby – more of a coaching book, the Allen method is well and truly captured for posterity.

Conquerors of Time goes e-book

Conquerors of Time has become available as an e-book and is available at the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Conquerors-of-Time-ebook/dp/B004TVO7S2

You don't have to have an e-book to read it as you can download a reader for your home computer, it's called Kindle for PC, if you do a web search.

Remember the review comments for the book:

1: Roberto Quercetani's Review of Conquerors of Time (Translation)

"In these days of hustle and bustle there is an element of great joy in seeing a book dedicated to great middle distance athletes of over 70 years ago, especially one that has on it’s cover a great picture of Luigi Beccali and Jack Lovelock in perfect unison at the head of the pack at the Universiade of Turin in 1933.

"This was an indeed a great era, one during which the Italian equalled the world record of 3’49’’2 in the 1500 events.

"One could think that the efforts of those athletes pales into insignificance when compared to those of today and that their achievements should be just an obsolete memory, but in sport as in life, every generation is judged by its achievements and this book pays tribute to great athletic achievements of the day.

"Lynn McConnell from New Zealand is a historic journalist who has a strong attraction to the era and to the small group of middle distance runners that dominated the 1500m/one mile events between 1932 and 1936.

"Jack Lovelock, a New Zealander, is the principle subject of the study as the era culminated in his victory in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and a world record of 3’47”8 ahead of the American Glenn Cunningham and our own Beccali.

"All the great races of the period are analysed with great attention to detail starting with Beccali’s victory in the Los Angeles games of 1932. The author has travelled the world and has contacted the descendants of his ‘heroes’ reconstructing in great detail the ‘entourage’ in which they lived and operated.

"To the most common names are added those of other great athletes of the age such as the Americans Bill Bonthron and Gene Venzke and the Englishmen Sydney Woodersoon and Jerry Cornes. The entire group is carefully dissected in splendid detail by the author.

"The men who ran in those days did so purely for enjoyment and National pride, but in doing so created history and in many cases formed great friendships that lasted for many years.

"Lovelock, who died tragically under a train in the New York Metro, is one of the athletes who have attracted the curiosity of historians - Of the books dedicated to him this is the most profound."

Athletics Weekly, Jan 21, 2010:

"Lynn McConnell brings alive a golden era in middle-distance running that few people today were around to witness. Conquerors of Time is the story of the race to win the 1936 Olympic 1500m title – a classic confrontation won by Jack Lovelock of New Zealand.

"The cast of athletes during the period was a who's who of milers. In addition to Lovelock, characters included: Glenn Cunningham, the world mile record holder from the United States; Luigi Beccali, the Italian who had won the 1932 Olympic 1500m gold; Jerry Cornes, the British runner-up in 1932; and Sydney Wooderson, the bespectacled hero of British athletics who would go on to break the world mile record in 1937.

"McConnell's book charts the progress of these runners, plus others, from the 1932 Games in Los Angeles to the Berlin Olympics itself. It also looks at what happened to them after their athletics careers were over.

"Such was the anticipation before the race in Berlin, the start was delayed slightly to allow Adolf Hitler to take his seat. The crowd was not disappointed either, as the race was won in style by Lovelock in a world record time.

"This is a terrifically researched book and a glowing endorsement has also been given by former AW editor Mel Whatman, who recently reviewed the book in Athletics International and wrote:

'Races at these distances are superbly reconstructed by Lynn McConnell, an award winning writer and editor from New Zealand who provides particularly acute insights into the career and personality of his compatriot thanks to reference to Lovelock's diaries.

'The other towering figures of that period are also well drawn and there is much for the enthusiast to savour in this 244-page paperback. It's a terrific, nostalgic story of the fascinating characters who contributed to an enchanting era in miling history.'"

Jamie McKay in The Southland Times, February 26, 2010:

"On a winning note, former Southland Times sports editor Lynn McConnell really has struck gold with his Jack Lovelock book Conquerors Of Time.

"As chronicled last week, the story revolves around the 1932-36 period and looks at the lives of Lovelock and his rivals for gold in the 1500m at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

"His two main rivals were the Italian Luigi Beccali (who won gold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932) and the superstar American Glenn Cunningham, whom many considered the favourite for Berlin.

"The chapter on Cunningham makes compelling reading. Growing up on a remote farm in Kansas, Cunningham triumphed over terrible childhood burns in 1917 that left one leg shorter than the other and took several years of constant self-massage before he was able to maintain balance, let alone run properly.

"He escaped another childhood brush with death by hanging on to a cow's tail in a snow blizzard (a practice he'd developed during his recovery process to help regain his balance), the family cow getting him home safely to the barn when he would have otherwise perished.

"Then in 1928, as his athletics career was starting to flourish, a high school baseball accident saw him ignore the ongoing pain of several loosened teeth.

"It was only when he undertook a medical for entry into the US Navy at the advent of World War II that the full extent of the injury was realised.

"His teeth were badly abscessed, the dentist saying with all that poison flowing into his system, it was a wonder he could walk during his athletic career, let alone run through the constant pain he'd wrongly associated to his legs.

"For the record, Cunningham finished second to Lovelock in Berlin with Beccali third. Sports historians will thoroughly enjoy Conquerors Of Time."

Grassroots rugby in NZ gets a boost

For a country which has books of photographs showing off all its scenery spilling over on shop bookshelves, New Zealand has not been especially well served with photographic records of its national game.

But the times they are a changing.

Photographer Gregory Crow has taken to the road to capture the images of grassroots rugby in New Zealand, the oft-quoted foundation block of the game, and Gregor Paul has been enlisted to add the words.

For the Love of the Game by Gregory Crow and Gregor Paul. Published by Exisle. Price $49.99

The result, in Rugby World Cup year is a satisfying depiction of the game as it exists, largely in the provinces, and which is so vital to the sustenance of the more high profile professional game.

All the usual aspects of the game are covered, with written emphasis delving into both the origins and meaning they give to the game and the result is a seamless combination of picture and word.

The book follows in the path of the grandfather of them all, Peter Bush's outstanding, The Game for All New Zealand – a book based on the baseball classic, The Game for All America.

Bush produced some more, albeit based on the All Blacks, but his original took in all aspects of the New Zealand game in an outstanding record. It took rugby photography beyond the tour publications that used to follow major tours of the country by the likes of the British and Irish Lions and the Springboks, during the 1960s and 1970s.

Others have followed but more focused on the retail appealing international scene.

This is where For the Love of the Game marks its difference. It is devoted to the club, and it comes through superbly.

For the reviewer the section devoted to Bluff v Riverton, two of the oldest ports in New Zealand, and two of the oldest rugby rivals is especially poignant.

The image of club stalwart Ron Rouse, Southland representative and club identity as coach and administrator is a reminder of years spent covering rugby in the south. It is also sad that Rouse has subsequently died, around the time of publication.

Yet his presence in the book is a reminder that his involvement at his club was something replicated at every club in New Zealand. His generation did a fine job in ensuring the rugby message was passed through to subsequent generations.

It is up to those generations to pass the rugby flame – so long as they do New Zealand's rugby future is assured.

Crow and Paul have offered firm evidence that the ingredients for continued survival are there, they just need to be applied in the right fashion. And perhaps it is not without some relevance that the centrepiece of the striking cover photo, grassroots rugby epitomised, is a referee.

These are the people who are the most obvious sign of the health of the grassroots game, if refereeing numbers are down the problems arise.

Rugby is at a crossroads in New Zealand. The professional game has been bedded down, the amateur game is still finding its way. But Crow and Paul have shown the value of the amateurs in a memorable package.

Hayden story makes compelling read

Matthew Hayden has produced an autobiography as tough and unrelenting as his batting.

Having to battle so hard to claim a permanent place in the talented Australian side of his era, he made sure that once his chance came he made the most of it.

It is refreshing on this side of the Tasman to read a story full of all the benefits of hard work and application towards achieving a goal.

Those qualities are not so apparent in the less competitive structure of New Zealand cricket where international status is often acquired too early in the apprenticeship with the resultant downstream effects and inability to turn things around when hardship comes into the game.

That's not to say Hayden did have an answer in those situations, initially at least. But he made good use of his early support systems to build a foundation later in his career, and what a solid base he had.

That is apparent in Standing My Ground. Published by Penguin . Written in association with well-regarded Australian cricket writer Robert 'Crash' Craddock it has many lessons for cricketers the world over.

Rather than being frustrated by non-selection, Hayden used it as a weapon. "As much as I felt ready for big-time cricket and desperate for any opportunity that came my way, I also knew I was far from the finished product. I was risk-averse...People have often said to me it must have killed me to play just seven Tests in the six years after I was first chosen for Australia, but it didn't. I was so dedicated to improving myself that I actually found those years rewarding."

New Zealand featured significantly in Hayden's career, not least when he assured himself of selection for the 2007 World Cup on the back of an outstanding innings of 181 not out, much of it on one leg after breaking a toe.

"I always felt we played our best against the Kiwis when we treated them with total disdain. Eventually they would wilt under the pressure, almost as if they believed they were inferior. But they were great planners and, at times, a feisty and very willing opposition," he wrote.

"Because the Kiwis had limited resources, they felt they needed to squeeze absolutely everything out of what they had. I used to hate 'just getting by' against New Zealand, in that way that you'd take offence at being stretched by your little brother in the backyard. I wanted to completely destroy them because I felt there was not one area of the game where they were superior to us."

Hayden has shown a feel for the all-round involvement in cricket, not just as a player but through the Players' Association and now with Cricket Australia. It is a welcome trend in the modern era and as an observer he has a message for the media. Players are reading the papers less than before and there is a challenge for the media to learn to cope with constantly changing technology.

"Cricket coverage must embrace new ways of communication to remain relevant, topical and fresh," he said.

Challenged to itemise problems in the game, and possible solutions, he felt Tests deserved a bigger audience, remove the mismatches (effectively dropping Zimbabwe and Bangladesh), reduce the conflict between Tests and Twenty20, provide up-to-date venues for matches, reduce the number of confusing one-day competitions and establish a global calendar.

This is much more than another player autobiography – it is a solid, sensible read by someone with a holistic view of the game.

Older journos and an All Blacks legend

Difficult as it may be for younger people to believe there is a lot to be said for experience and it is symptomatic of that fact that three of the books to hit the sports market ahead of Christmas in 2010 are based on sporting senior citizens.

In keeping with the mood of nostalgia that appears to be gripping the world, did someone mention Depression?, the desire for knowledge of past sporting events has found a ready market with three volumes.

Cricket's itinerant septuagenarian Richie Benaud offers new angles on ground he has ploughed before in his book Over But Not Out – My Life So Far, published by Hachette NZ.

One of New Zealand's famous All Blacks captains, and a relative man of mystery to your average rugby follower is profiled in a biography by Bob Howitt A Perfect Gentleman, published by Harper Sports.

And the most famous of New Zealand's rugby writers, Sir Terry McLean is the subject of a biography, The Life and Times of Sir Terry McLean, published also by Harper Sports and written by Paul Lewis with Jock McLean.

Benaud's book is his 10th and follows a familiar vein to his more recent books with an early description of his upbringing in the game, and some more in-depth stories of his earlier playing days as he sought a permanent place in the Australian team he would eventually lead.

Another angle is provided on 'The Greatest Series', although it is not the Australia-West Indies series in which he and Frank Worrell combined in 1960-61, rather the mantle has shifted to the Ashes Series of 2005. Aspects of modern cricket come under his gaze and unlike many older fans he doesn't look back to his days with rose-tinted glasses. Benaud has never had an issue with adaptation in cricket.

One point of special worth he made was in his dealings with leg-spinner Shane Warne, the greatest bowler of them all in Benaud's mind.

"On the occasions Shane did call to discuss a possible problem, or to check how he was bowling, I always tried to avoid a coaching answer in suggesting what, if anything, he should do.

"Instead I tried to pose him a question which would make him think about why the problem might exist...To me this approach is far preferable to providing a long, involved coaching answer.

"The important thing is that the player must be able to think and solve the problem for himself – there is no coach standing by your side in the centre of the ground if things aren't going right," he wrote.

Oh that such a wise approach was taken more often.

Sir Wilson Whineray's story is a reminder of an era long gone in rugby, but one which set a foundation for the game as it is now known.

Diehard believers knew the details of Whineray's career, and those who had followed his later business achievements knew that this was no ordinary All Blacks captain.

The deeds of his playing and working life are deserving of an in-depth study of the man, but given his own reluctance to commit his story to paper, A Perfect Gentleman will have to suffice.

A perspective of his rugby-playing career is much easier achieved than his business life and author Bob Howitt has ensured the Whineray style is well described.

Whineray had significant influence, perhaps more than the general public understands, and it would have been interesting for his time at the helm of the Hillary Commission, now SPARC – the government sports funding agency, to have been assessed.

Whineray was also the person charged with making the decision about where Wellington's regional stadium should reside – he chose the waterfront – and it would have been interesting given his involvement with Eden Park to have had an assessment of what he felt was Auckland's best option.

Sir Terry McLean's story was the surprise package of books offered this year – does Joe Public really care about sports journalists' lives?

Much has centred on his affair, or not, with South African Opposition MP Helen Suzman and anyone who read Battling The Boks could not have been but impressed by the change in attitude towards South Africa that overcame McLean.

But there is more to the story than the affair, not least details of McLean's youth and upbringing and his desire to be a sports journalist.

His relationship with his employer, Wilson and Horton, and his publisher Reeds NZ is also of interest.

South Africa did loom large in the New Zealand psyche of the day, and McLean was an important gauge in changing attitudes. While it provided him with a lucrative income for his free-lance writing it also proved a vehicle for informing South Africans of views in New Zealand.

Little wonder that his great rival/nemesis Danie Craven, the former captain, coach and el supremo of South African rugby, in opening the 1983 International Rugby Media Congress in Cape Town, and various other centres over a two-week period uttered, upon seeing many well-known names in world rugby journalism in the audience, "...and I see Terry McLean is here, will he never die?"

That McLean is a central part of rugby life in New Zealand but not necessarily a pillar whose life work has entered his works into the 'hard-to-find-must-have-at-any-price' realm of rugby literature was hit home at a significant memorabilia auction.

His books failed to sell, even at bargain basement rates, and taking this up with the auctioneer later was enlightening for the reviewer who expressed surprise at the non-sale.

"Well why didn't you buy them, they would have been cheap enough?" the auctioneer asked.

To which I replied that I already had them.

"And so has everyone else who is interested," he said.

McLean was mass market material in days when television coverage made tour books a vital part of the information structure, his take on the game always a source of worth. His biography is informative and will form an important part of the understanding of his role during an important era, and it will tell more of the man than the public of his day was ever allowed to know.

Book Review: Shane Bond delivers bouncer

Shane Bond was a meteor flashing across New Zealand's cricketing sky.

Fast bowlers of his quality have been few and far between. It's not quite as rare as seeing Halley's Comet every 75-odd years but it's not far away.

You could name them during New Zealand's Test history as being Richard Hadlee, Gary Bartlett, Bond and perhaps Jack Cowie.

Looking Back, Shane Bond with Dylan Cleaver. Published by Hodder Moa

Bond was different in so many ways. He had been a first-class player for several seasons before he acquired the speed that made him such an impact player. He had a career away from cricket, as a policeman, and that training was where he recovered the stability in his fitness that allowed him to prosper for New Zealand.

He broke down regularly as his back failed to last the distance. But when he was on song, he was outstanding.

It's a measure of his quality to see some of the batsmen he regularly dismissed.

In Tests, where he took 87 wickets he had Ramnaresh Sarwan four times, Chris Gayle, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag three times each.

But ever more impressively among his 147 ODI victims were: Ricky Ponting seven times, Brad Haddin four, Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Damian Martyn and Sehwag three times each.

That was the beauty of Bond, he got the good batsmen out. Who will forget his effort at Eden Park against the West Indies when they needed 291 to win and were cruising at 157-1 when Bond removed Sarwan to an injury before claiming when he returned but then claiming Lara with the next ball.

He then came back after a minor recovery to end the resistance and take a five-wicket bag for a 27-run win.

It was the same in the summer of 2009-10 in his solitary Test, at Dunedin, against Pakistan when on the final afternoon it seemed the Pakistan side might be stealing a win before Bond and Iain O'Brien produced a stunning display of determination and speed to seal another win by 32 runs.

That was Bond, calm under pressure.

It must have been quite a shock for NZ Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan to see Bond explode in Vaughan's office when he realised he had been hung out to dry by NZC after he followed the book in seeking approval to play in the Indian Cricket League.

The details of the volte-face by Vaughan are included at the start of Bond's story 'Looking Back' and they are an indictment of the methodology by which cricket operates. NZC has every reason to be grateful that Bond did not take them to court. The consequences would surely have strained the exchequer.

Sadly the ineptitude of the New Zealand administration is a reflection of that which guides the game at international level and which has so far proven unable to come to grips with the many issues now confronting the game.

But Bond, who was treated unfairly by armchair critics hiding behind the anonymity of talkback radio throughout his career, has shown his mettle and fortunately for cricket bears no apparent grudges toward the game. Central Districts' bowlers are going to be the immediate beneficiaries of his skills which will fortunately not be lost to the game.

His story will be a reminder of the fleeting moments of delight he brought to New Zealand's game, a genuine fast bowler, who had a happy knack of knocking over top-quality batsmen but also represented is the changing nature of the relationship between players and administrators, and sadly it is the players who so far appear best to have appreciated the requirements of professionalism.