The tagline ‘The sport newsletter that sometimes has sport in it’ is a bit too accurate. Any mandate I have for writing about sport can feel tenuous, as my personal sport watching time has fallen off a cliff.
The only matches I consistently watch right now are getting up to watch Tottenham on replay most weeks (I’m on the Ange Postecoglu train big time and desperately want it to work). I catch a fair amount of the Australian and US Tennis Opens, generally the ones at viewing times convenient to me.
I watch maybe 50% of the All Black tests, and the Chiefs or Waikato as they get to the pointy end of their seasons. My ideal cricket experience at the moment would be an evening match or day’s play that starts at about 8pm so I can spend some quality couch time when the jobs are done.
Honestly, it feels like the trouble with sport is that it keeps happening. Rugby is a repeat offender in this area, always tinkering with formats and rules, while finding room in packed schedules for jollies to developing markets that feel offensively inconsequential. When each refresh of the Guardian app brings some fresh pile of shit in the news, worrying about sport gets edged further down the list of things to care about.
That’s what made last weekend, the one where we won everything (except Waikato, boo!), was a surprising but welcome way to re-engage. I was up at all hours with the cricket and yachting, and got along to Auckland FC’s first match, which was great fun and has all kinds of folks excited about its potential. Being part of something new was a great story, as was the White Ferns - there’s nothing like a big win you never saw coming, combined with great things happening to great people. Seeing Suzie and Sophie realise they’d have (at least) one Big Cup win in their Cricinfo profile was tear jerking stuff. I’m… back?
Anyway - thanks for reading Sport Review. Kudos to New Zealand’s wonderful sport writers for your contributions and the work you do. There should be more of you and it’s a pleasure to link to you every week.
I get a lot of satisfaction contributing (in a small way) to the sporting discourse, even if / when I’m just writing about All Blacks from the 90’s most weeks, or having petty, thinly veiled pops at pompous people in the community. But they’re both fun! I really enjoy doing it, making myself giggle over my early morning coffee, and appreciate getting kind notes from folks. I’m off Twitter and 95% off the drink these days, which were two key connection points with the sporting community, but feel much better for it, I recommend both.
Massive thanks to the folks who’ve signed up for a paid sub, which I quietly turned on a few months ago. There’s no pressure or obligation, I so appreciate it and you are all special, wonderful people.
Thanks again for being part of it, and bearing with me through the #300 navel-gazing. Normal service, such as it is, will resume next week.
Most popular editions, #201-300
An oral history of handover.doc, Scott Robertson's Crusaders legacy
1991 All Black bombshell: Grizz Wylie parts ways from John Hart
My name is Jeff Wilson and I am trapped inside the Sky Sport Now menu
Some of my favs
All the New Zealanders that are going to be interviewed on the streets of Paris during the Olympics
The most relatable bits from Sam Cane going waterskiing instead of playing rugby
Thanks for reading - Richard
This week's best NZ sport content
What a weekend eh? We won everything - Andrew Mulligan runs you through it [Picks, tricks and dicks]
The boys’ chat with Sport Review fav Andrew Merthens covers so much ground - you’ll learn a lot of stuff you never expected - but also leaves some meat on the bone for a return visit (Carlos? John Hart? John Mitchell?) [Between Two Beers]
Andrew Voerman runs through the White Ferns’ recent past and how it offered zero clues that they had a world cup win in them, while Harbour Heather is still processing the win [Stuff, Sportsfreak]
Micheal Burgess on why Auckland FC could be just what football here is crying out for, and Toby Manhire reckons he’s all in [NZ Herald, Spinoff]
Although Sport Review has officially lost interest in the NPC with Waikato’s exit, I will be supporting Bay of Plenty in the final and recommend this preview from Benji Crossley [Sportsfreak]
Video nasty
Extremely niche content - Roy Keane sings to David Beckham about his penalty miss in Euro 2004.
Long read
Just a 747 going missing, nbd [Smithsonian]
Recommendation
A Mistake by Carl Shuker, about a stressed, metal-loving surgeon dealing with a catastrophic incident, is a hell of a short, intense book. The film looks great too and is out now.
Happy Triple Tonne, Rich.