22 Comments
Jan 20, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

The phenomenal impact that Wayne Smith had turning the NZ women's team around from an absolute shower to World Champions indicates that there are sometimes great coaches that are worth parachuting in.

Keen to see your views on what killed NZ Sevens. How did it go from being an annual party event to being cancelled? Why did people stop showing up? Was it just the fun police?

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author

The sevens is a strange one. I was talking to somebody recently who had a bunch of mates and they all took their families to Wellington but stopped when it, in his words, just got too gross on the concourse and they didn't want their kids exposed to it. I suspect a lot of families did the same. The problem when the event just becomes a giant piss-up is that it's trendy for a while, and then young people find the next thing to move onto. Suddenly it's not cool anymore but by that stage you're never going to get the families back. Purely anecdotal, but probably some truth in it...

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Jan 23, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

Can't help but think that one ref call may have been proverbial straw that broke the camels back for Rennie. Had the ref not blown for time wasting, Aussie would have likely won and may well have had a head of steam up for the last Bledisloe - and who knows in that scenario? You could argue that he opened himself up to that vulnerability over the last 3 years - but had that call not happened, the 'Sliding Doors' alternate world couldve been very different.

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Jan 22, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

Kia ora Dylan - I can't scroll past someone asking for a sporting* book recommendation without suggesting ' How to Build a Car' by Adrian Newey. The most successful F1 car designer of all time, rips back the curtain on the behind the scenes detail that goes into designing and building those machines. An absolute must read for anyone interested in motorsport or Formula 1, right from the Drive to Survive fan through to the peak F1 nerds.

* Always keen to instigate a debate about is motorsport actually a sport.

Keep up the great work!

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author

I think I recall someone else recommending this once. I enjoy motorsport without being a "peak F1 nerd" (I prefer the tin-tops actually), so I'll seek this out.

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Hi Dylan, recovering from surgery these last 5 weeks I have watched a lot of cricket! I cannot understand the logic of the reverse sweep, the main culprits being Tom Latham & Darryl Mitchell. I can’t recall either batsman scoring from one, while they expose themselves to getting out in a number of ways. Unlike the ramp shot that regularly ends in a 4 or a 6, this relatively new cricket shot is very frustrating to watch. Enjoy your thoughts on the sports you cover - cheers Barry Larsen

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Jan 21, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

And I know golf ain’t your thing but A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein is a classic (30y old now) - such good insight about sporting up’s and downs; the biography of Sir Patrick Hogan - Give a man a horse is a good read about the drive and the success of the NZ icon; sadly now at rest, always remembered

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author

I read AGWS. Terrific book. I'm, not anti-golf as such, I just find the whole industry a bit of a rort and I can't watch it on TV unless its the last day of a big tournament. I enjoy playing it though, so it's a doing rather than watching sport for me. Haven't read the Sir PH book. Thanks.

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One other recommendation - cricket book - Bodyline Autopsy by David Frith - quite a read about the series

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Jan 21, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

40th anniversary of the release of Def Leppard’s best album - Pyromania; didn’t expect to see such a visceral tribute from the ‘caps in India overnight but there you go....

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founding
Jan 21, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

Comments on the Boult newsletter still appear locked but surely Boult could have been granted a sabbatical, similar to what the All Blacks allow long serving players? A home series to an in form England team, coached by a Kiwi no-less, surely warrants a unique adjustment for one of our best and longest servants of the game?

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Jo

David Peace is getting good press! 'Red or Dead', fiction but fantastically well researched, chronicles the rise of Bill Shankly. Completely and madly obsessive. Also a terrific novel by Benjamin Markovitz called 'The Sidekick' about the complicated relationship between a sportswriter and his childhood friend who has become a world class basketball player.

Dylan, you can always come into Unity Books Auckland and check out our Sports Section, (no rubbish allowed). Oh yes, one more. Sam Warburton. His autobiography 'Openside' is a cracker from the first page.

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Hi Jo, I LOVE Unity Books. When I worked in the city I used to spend many lunchtimes leafing through the books and occasionally buying. Reckon I bought every edition of Best American Sports Writing before the series was (sadly) discontinued.

Red or Dead was such a curious book. I nearly gave up after 20 pages but then you get absorbed into the repetition and the rhythm, slowly grasping that there's an underlying narrative that's actually quite sad. I'd be intrigued to know what others think of it because I'm sure a few give up before they realise there's a great story in there.

Thanks for the other recommendations. I've had a couple of novels suggested, and am keen to give The Sidekick a read.

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Dylan, good news. The 'Best of' series is back. We have the 'Sports 2023' in stock. Shall I save you one?

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author

Yes please!

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Jan 20, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

David Peace's "The Damned United" got the publicity, but I heartily recommend "Provided You Don't Kiss Me", Duncan Hamilton's account of his interactions with Brian Clough. Outstanding. Won the William Hill Sports Book of Year in the UK in 2007. One of the judges said "This year's shortlist...is probably the best of the decade.....At 8.30 we all offered a brief summation on how we assessed the relative merits of contenders and at 8.31 we had decided the winner. As debates go It was about as rewarding as an uncontested scrum. But what it does mean.... is that there is a book that is so brilliant you simply have to have it.....

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author

Thanks Paul. I've read both! Hamilton's book was brilliant. I enjoyed the film adaptation of The Damned United too.

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Jan 20, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

You've probably already read it but I would well recommend tennis book called String Theory by David Foster Wallace. Also would have suggested Barbarian Days. Another great surfing book full of interesting side stories and history is Walking on Water by Andy Martin.

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author

I haven't read String Theory, which sounds like a bad miss on my part. Thanks Eric.

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Jan 20, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

The same coaching disease afflicts the NRL. Boards of struggling teams opt for a safe pair of hands which = a guys who got a team to the top 4 in the last 20 years eg Nathan Brown. See also Dragons current coach.

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Jan 20, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver

DC - book recco: Barbarian Days by William Finnegan (staff writer at The New Yorker) . Pulitzer prize winning autobiography. It's a surfing book through and through, but, I believe, even if you're not a surfer you'll be captivated.

All time top 5 for me, and my Dad, in his mid-70's + never surfed a day in his life, loved it.

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author

Thanks Matt. Another reader just recommended a surfing novel. Must be something in the air!

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