That really was 'A Week That Was'
PLUS: A slightly trimmed down but still box-office Weekend That Will Be
THE WEEK THAT WAS
No mucking around today, straight into The Week That Was because I’m cooked. Partly it’s because I’ve watched far too many inconsequential games of T20 cricket into the small hours; partly because, as I mentioned yesterday, I didn’t quite anticipate the impact that Wednesday’s piece about Carl Hayman would have.
The latter seems a logical point at which to start TWTW.
Long-time All Black and Warriors team doctor John Mayhew was widely quoted. He is, perhaps understandably because of his long history in sports medicine, a go-to for the media whenever the subject of rugby, head injuries and brain disease comes up.
A couple of his quotes raised the attention of some high-profile CTE researchers, prompting this fiery Twitter-thread rebuttal.
To be fair to @nzherald, it was a radio interview that was picked up in other media as well. Nowinski is a former pro wrestler and co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, but he wasn’t the only expert working within this field to be disturbed by what they read.
It’s a shameless plug for a story I wrote a while back for the Herald, but if you want to see how messy the nexus between science, funding and the athletic industrial complex can be, here’s a decent place to start.
Some other great reading on the subject, this time from Patrick McKendry ($). He writes: “At the top level, tinkering with tackle heights and flashing red cards for contact with the head is the easy bit compared with how many games players are expected to be available for – and that’s not even considering the training that goes with it.
“Due to the competing interests of clubs and nations, a potential global season, the promised land in which quality is celebrated over quantity and all test matches are part of a mechanism – all wheels turning in the same direction driving support, revenue and perhaps most significantly, meaning – is continually put in the too-hard basket or ignored completely.”
Over at The Roar, Geoff Parkes cites the hopelessly compromised Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport in his report on the NRL’s ticking concussion timebomb.
On to more pleasant matters, the Black Caps remain on track for their third World T20 semifinal appearance after beating Scotland. It was a tougher than expected victory after New Zealand, with the exception of Martin Guptill, struggled mightily with the bat, especially when facing left-arm spinner Mark Watt, who posted this lovely tweet.
Another story that caught my eye was Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s pitch-perfect example of how not to handle a racism inquiry - or any inquiry for that matter.
One of the more startling findings was, to paraphrase, that consistently calling someone a Paki was just friendly banter, but calling someone a Zimbo was actually quite offensive.
Yorkshire’s shocking failure has proved very costly from a financial standpoint, but even more so reputationally. Writes Jonathan Liew in the Guardian: “When a former player raised serious allegations of longstanding racist behaviour three years ago, the club initially did nothing and then reportedly offered him a six-figure payout to keep quiet. Under investigation, they have chosen at every turn to prioritise their own reputation and their own people. It is true that an investigative panel found that Azeem Rafiq’s exclusion from the team was based on his cricket, and not his race. It is also true the panel may not have found sufficient evidence to conclude that Yorkshire are institutionally racist. But frankly, to me, to draw any other conclusion is not simply a refutation of the available evidence but a form of moral cowardice.”
Congratulations Emma Gilmour, who will be joining McLaren in the Extreme E series being launched next year. While it feels like a watershed moment for motorsport and female drivers in particular, it’s the palpable excitement of Gilmour that made the moment.
“Right now, it’s like being called up to play for the All Blacks - but you’re going to be the first female doing it,” Gilmour says. “The name McLaren is so well regarded in New Zealand and while I never dreamed about it, as I’m not an F1 driver, it does still feel like a dream come true and I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it.”
There was another telling quote from the story: “I’ve been in motor racing a long time and it’s the first time I’ve been given equal machinery to my teammate.”
I’ve got no great love of the Atlanta Braves but I do have loads of antipathy for the Astros. So…. result!
Most disgusting “sports” story of the week. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“[Henry] Ruggs, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, was driving 156 mph mere seconds before the crash, over 110 mph above the speed limit in the residential area, according to his arrest report. When the Corvette’s airbags deployed, it had ‘slowed’ to 127 mph.”
Spoiler alert: The Raiders wide receiver was twice the legal blood-alcohol limit when killing Tina Tintor in a fiery crash.
Quick apology. There should have been a BYC World T20 special podcast right about here but the un-lockdowned Paul Ford was at the airport about to be spirited away somewhere and Jason Hoyte is caught up in a mysterious police operation out West Auckland way, so it’s postponed until Monday.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Possibly the most stupid confession a sports newsletter writer will ever make, but here goes: I’ve sportsed myself out a bit recently, am intending to dial it back a bit this weekend and maybe look to get a bit of fresh air, so sorry if that thing you think should be previewed here isn’t.
(On a side note, I wonder if business journalists ever get sick of reading damning economic-impact reports?)
There is an All Black test on, though if I had to rank their semi-regular opposition in terms of watchability, Italy would be in a subterranean category all of their own. This tweet is happening, however, and that’s about where my interest starts and ends.
Italy v All Blacks, Rome, Sunday 2am, Sky Sport 1
Of more intrigue will be seeing whether the Black Ferns can bounce back from a ropey old time of it in Exeter. It will not be easy as they were comprehensively outplayed by England in the first test, but after a long, long period in hiatus, that was possibly to be expected.
England v Black Ferns, Northampton, Monday 3.45am, Sky Sport 1
A weekend double-header for the Black Caps at merciful start times too. Tonight they meet minnows Namibia before what is shaping up to be the crunch match against better-than-you-realise Afghanistan. Hopefully Martin Guptill has spent the past 48 hours eating and drinking (water) after losing 4.4kg facing just 56 balls on Wednesday night.
New Zealand v Namibia, World T20, Sharjah, tonight 11pm, Sky Sport 3
New Zealand v Afghanistan, World T20, Abu Dhabi, Sunday 11pm, SS3
I’ve been accused of being a Manchester United fan after regularly promoting their fixtures in this space. For the record, I am so NOT a Man U fan but I do find them intriguing and come on, it’s a Madchester derby.
Manchester United v Manchester City, EPL, Sunday 1.30am, Spark Sport
Will Red Bull’s Sergio Perez pull over for Max Verstappen at his home grand prix? Will he even need to? Where’s Lewis Hamilton in all this? Tune in, find out.
Mexican GP, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Monday 8am, Spark Sport
Just a wee bit of housekeeping. Yesterday I cited The River People multimedia feature as one of those “I wish I had done that” moments. What I didn’t do, to my discredit, was pump the tyres of Nick Reed, whose camera, both moving and still, played such an integral role in the story.
Mike Scott, a fellow visual journalist, writes this about Reed’s stellar work: “The scope of Nick’s work on that story was incredible. He built relationships, self-funded filming and interviewing in New Zealand and Canada before bringing the story to the NZ Herald table. It is an awesome read from Dana [Johannsen] and... as a young idealist visual journalist, Nick’s dedication to producing this story no matter what the cost, time or obstacle (to the point most people thought he was crazy), I have never seen replicated.”
Quite right, too. Every now and then I will link to features that highlight the best of NZ’s visual journalists.