Hard to find the words edition

It's been a subdued week for sport and rightly so.

When I saw someone tweet 'Oh god no Chch' out of the blue early last Friday afternoon I was worried about earthquakes. Shortly afterward Cricinfo's Bangladesh reporter Mohammed Isam tweeted his shaky video of the players scrambling away from Deans Avenue that starkly illustrated the panic that was going on - you can read his account of how the team missed entering the mosque by minutes and the Hagley Oval lock down here.

Saturday's Hagley Test was called off by 5pm Friday, the Chiefs and Hurricanes played a distracted draw a few hours after the atrocity (after an immaculate minutes' silence), while some Canterbury teams understandably decided it would be better not to play at all.

Hearing from Muslim sportspeople like Ajaz Patel and Sonny Bill, who the Blues released for a trip to help out in Chch about how it's affected them and their communities has been great, I hope to hear a few more.

Normal newsletter service will resume next week, sorry but it didn't seem right to blather on. I did enjoy the story of the rural Canterbury cops who performed a non-compliant car-ramming arrest to take down the shooter. It's hard to take that something like this has happened to New Zealanders, but stories about empathy and people offering practical help have certainly helped me. I hope you're going OK.


Thanks for reading - Richard

The week's best NZ sport writing

Wellington's TJ Perenara is a rare bird, an All Black that's not afraid to speak up on social issues many others just don't touch, even though their voices may be powerful. A proper leader [RNZ]

Is there a word for inertia coming at you fast? Eden Park and the speedway lot are winning the stadium wars, says Tim Murphy [Newsroom]

Jamie Wall argues the Crusaders have to change their name, now. Interesting to see how this plays out in a sport that's not afraid to chuck out other 'traditions' at no notice [RNZ]

Video nasty

Kiwi Richie Jackson is a trip on a skateboard.

Long read

The KLF's seminal guide to making your very own UK number one single is still a joy to read [Fresh on the net]

Selected weekend fixtures

• The Blues and Highlanders play tonight at Eden Park at 7.30pm, while the Crusaders are away to the Warratahs on Saturday night at 9.45pm, they're on SKY.

Bring back the gif

Please enjoy.