Will some media tell the ASB Classic to get stuffed?
PLUS: The Week That Was and a dangerously square-eyed Weekend That Will Be
A curious little in-house tale of media intrigue leads this end-of-the-second-Elizabethan-Age offering.
Believe it or not, one of the most fiercely fought rounds in New Zealand sports journalism is, wait for it… tennis.
While tennis has become, to the wider NZ public at least, a two-weeks-of-the-year sport played mostly for the benefit of corporate Auckland, the main players in the media battle are far more invested.
You might like tennis; they absolutely bloody love it.
The undisputed king is Matt Brown, who not only commentates enthusiastically and often brilliantly, but is also a keen newshound with an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport. You want to know who won the Profab Expandable Solutions Thames Valley Mixed Doubles Championships of 2017? If Brown doesn’t know, you’re out of luck.
Snapping at his heels are Stuff’s David Long and the Herald’s Michael Burgess. Both know the difference between a drop volley and a shop trolley and can dish out backhand compliments with the best of them. Chris Chang at TVNZ loves to serve up the odd Stanley St sit-down interview, while that sympathetic and sober narrator of our nightly news, Simon Dallow, is so besotted by crisp whites that he’s MC’ed the event.
Radio and television journalist and commentator Rikki Swannell adores a crosscourt forehand, while left-field media genius James McOnie was a tennis coach before he was a journalist. While it might be stretching it to call him a pro, he was definitely paid for it.
Dave Worsley, who’s been on the media scene as a stringer or comms man for a few decades now, has been to more grand slams than Jimmy Connors - probably.
There are more journalists scattered across our newsrooms desperate to cover tennis than there are New Zealanders in the top 1000 of the men’s and women’s rankings combined.
This week it was announced that NZME - which owns both NewstalkZB and the Herald titles - had secured an exclusive media partnership with the ASB Classic.
“We’re so excited to be bringing the ASB Classic back in January 2023 and we are looking forward to working alongside NZME, utilising the full strength of their audio, print and digital channels to promote the tournament’s return,” said tournament director Nicolas Lamerin.
It’s a partnership that makes sense. If you’re going to tap into tennis heartland, then NewstalkZB and Coast FM are probably the most effective vehicles outside of Ryman Healthcare’s weekly bulletins.
But media partnerships - especially ones framed as exclusive - come with scrutiny.
The announcement came little more than a week after two-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud was announced as a marquee signing for the 2023 tournament - news that made its way into the New Zealand Herald but not Stuff’s major print offerings, the Dom-Post and the Press.
Foot fault! Cue a bit of consternation at Stuff sports HQ and low-level recriminations.
Surely commodity news was not going to be farmed out exclusively to the media partners?
It is an interesting and fraught dynamic. While The Bounce understands the partnership revolves around promotions and marketing and does not include editorial, it is hard to understand how a press release embargoed for 6am found its way into an NZME print product and not its main competitor (presses for the morning newspapers start rolling the night before).
Perception is a hard thing to shift and if anything, it’s just made life awkward for Brown and Burgess. Both are diligent chasers of news and if they’re doing their jobs properly they will be eagerly chasing tennis scoops.
If they’re successful, the assumption will be made that it was handed to them by their “exclusive” partners.
If it happens too often then maybe when it comes to covering the actual event, their rivals might say “stuff you”.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Hawthorn had more than 20 First Nations players in the period of the review. Three families involved told ABC Sport about incidents in which club staff allegedly bullied and removed First Nations players from their homes and relocated them elsewhere, telling them to choose between their careers and their families.
In some cases, coaches allegedly coerced at least two players to remove SIM cards from their phones and insert new ones in attempts to cut them off from their partners and focus them entirely on the club's pursuit of football success. In each case, the player was a young First Nations draftee in his first five years with the club.
Kudos, too, for Jackson going on the offensive when TV big-noter Eddie McGuire lazily and incorrectly demeaned his reporting.
I hate this story so much because of what it signals. That is that we’re going to be seeing and reading a lot more of these in the months and years to come.
Mario Fenech was a hard man in the era when I loved league the most - the ’80s through to about the mid-’90s.
Mario spoke at [his son Joe’s] wedding but… by the next day, his memory was gone.
“The really sad part of this story is that when my parents woke up in the morning, the day after the wedding, my dad turned to my mum and said, ‘Oh, I'm really excited for the wedding, when is it?’,” Joe said.
Some of my favourite players of that era, and ones that I loved to hate, are now the victims of neurodegenerative diseases and almost certainly CTE, although it’s still only diagnosable in post-mortem. Guys like Steve ‘Turvey’ Mortimer, the late Steve Folkes (who did have CTE), Mark Broadhurst, Royce Simmons and Ray Price are all suffering, and you can guarantee there are many, many more who have chosen not to go public with their struggles.
Fenech is not the first and he will be a long way from the last.
Somebody needs to get to the bottom of the netball shemozzle. What should have been a blue chip series between the defending world champions and the Commonwealth Games silver medalists was over as a contest before the plane left Kingston.
My very limited netball sources indicate that Netball NZ are 99.975 percent free of blame, but what access do they have for reparations in terms of lost revenue and lost opportunities to engage with the sport’s large fanbase in a meaningful way.
The fallout from this farce - NZ won 70-45 and 75-35 - should reverberate long and loud through the netball world.
Speaking of fallout, the case of the chess cheating saga gets weirder, and I mean really weird. The allegations include the use of (gulp, NSFW) anal beads.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Last weekend I barely turned the telly on. This weekend it might not go off.
What a week in the history of transtasman rugby relations. Fresh off the Mathieu Raynal time-wasting saga, we have Dave Rennie accusing Rieko Ioane of dickheadery around the haka.
“Rieko Ioane had a lot to say to our boys after the final try, mouthing off at Folau Fainga’a around disrespecting the haka,” Rennie said. “Which is a bit odd because as New Zealanders would know, when a team does a haka, you respond with a haka.
“We don’t have the luxury of having a haka so our response is in the boomerang shape and to move forward. They’ve thrown down a challenge and we’re accepting it.”
I’m a big fan of the haka. It’s a powerful way of tying the country’s unique cultural heritage into our national sport. It’s far less appealing when it’s used as a shameless marketing tool and even less appealing if the All Blacks are not just the performers of the haka but the sole arbiters of how others should react to it.
If Rennie’s interpretation of Ioane’s actions are accurate, that’s a real pull-your-head-in-moment. Australia would not be out of line to sing their anthem at Eden Park and return to the changing sheds for five minutes while the All Blacks haka if Ioane is going to be upset with them facing it in a boomerang formation.
Aside from that nonsense, if the test provides even half the drama of Melbourne it should be a cracker, although it’d be nice for the ball to be in play a bit longer. There’s plenty to ponder too, as Ian Foster crams Richie Mo’unga and the Barrett brothers into the same starting backline, while steadfastly refusing to hand Ardie Savea No7.
In an intriguing curtain-raiser, the Black Ferns World Cup preparations continue with a test against Japan, their last before the tournament starts.
Joseph Pearson neatly wraps up the big questions ahead of the match.
Black Ferns v Japan, Auckland, tomorrow 4.30pm, Sky Sport 1
All Blacks v Australia, Auckland, tomorrow 7.05pm, Sky Sport 1
Big fight for Joseph Parker. He’s looked a lot sharper since hooking up with Andy Lee in Morecambe but faces a tough task against Brit Joe Joyce (14-0) for the WBO interim heavyweight title.
Joyce is the betting favourite but I just don’t see it. Parker (30-2) is younger and much quicker and as long as he doesn’t chew on too many of Joyce’s jabs, he should have enough in the tank to swamp him in the final rounds. What Joyce does have is a good chin and an enormous engine. He keeps coming, so Parker might have to do rack up the shots to win on points.
It’ll be close.
Joseph Parker v Joe Joyce, Manchester, Sunday (card starts 6am), Sky Sport Arena $
Is there anything more predictable in New Zealand sports journalism over the past year than a story saying how well the All Whites played while they have a 0 next to their name on the scoreboard?
That sounds awfully cynical, but we’ve been told for a long time now about just how talented this generation of New Zealand footballers are, but while they can bully Oceania opposition they’ve now put up the zeros in binary code matches against Australia (0-1), Peru (0-1), Oman (0-0), and, most famously, Costa Rica (0-1) in their past four matches.
You can cite as much bad luck as you like, but you’re not going to win many important matches until you can regularly put the ball in the back of the net against quality opposition. There was a lot to like about the way they went at the higher-ranked Australia, however, so there must be some optimism heading into Winston Reid’s swansong at Eden Park on Sunday.
Being an All Whites fan must, however, feel similar to following Preston North End. The famous Lancashire club have achieved the extraordinary feat of playing 10 Championship matches this season and have scored just three goals. That wouldn’t be so bad if they were useless, but they’re actually pretty good, especially on defence, with the opposition scoring just four. Their results this season - 0-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 0-0, 0-2 - mean that if you go to watch them, you’ll have more chance of seeing a nil-all draw than any other result. Joy!
All Whites v Australia, Auckland, Sunday 4pm, Sky Sport 1
Long-suffering Parramatta fans must feel like a grand final is close enough to touch, but going to Townsville will not be easy.
As for the other semifinal, expect brutality on top of physical carnage with a splash of testosterone and sprinkling of creatine.
North Queensland v Parramatta, Townsville, tonight 9.50pm, Sky Sport 4
Penrith v Souths, Sydney, tomorrow 9.50pm, Sky Sport 4
Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans might not provide Melburnians with that suburban tribalism they love in AFL (though some still think of the Swans as South Melbourne’s team), but they’re the two most consistently excellent clubs of the 21st century. This will be the sixth grand final each has played since 2000 - the most.
Geelong v Sydney, Melbourne, tomorrow 4.30pm, Sky Sport 3
The men’s and women’s cycling world championship road races take place around the edge of Wollongong this weekend. It’s probably not necessary to watch from the start, but one-day races are rarely boring.
Women’s elite road race, Wollongong, tomorrow 2.25pm, Sky Pop-up 1
Men’s elite road race, Wollongong, Sunday 1.15pm, Sky Pop-up 1
Some nice contributions in the middle order from Maddy Green, Lauren Down and Brooke Halliday in today’s series deciding win against the West Indies. They’re going for a sweep in the ODIs very early Monday morning but hey, it’s a long weekend.
West Indies v White Ferns, Antigua, Monday 2.30am Sky Sport 4
I am deliberately avoiding Roger Federer’s swansong as he plays doubles with Rafa Nadal in the Laver Cup. I’m sure it will be sugary sweet, but that’s not how I want to remember the Swiss maestro. There is plenty of other stuff on too - rowing, NPC, T20I cricket, NFL, MLB’s race for the playoff spots - but you have to draw the line somewhere.
Whenever I read about Joseph Parker's next fight, I can't help thinking of Martin Snedden's advice four years ago, and his assessment of Parker's abilities and potential.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/boxing-joseph-parker-should-retire-says-former-duco-boss-martin-snedden/BW5TA4AGXQWBFXAOMBDHPYI4VU/
And then I read about Mario Fenech........
Interesting about the tennis. Based on this many people having an interest how come we see so little reporting of how NZers are doing overseas in the doubles (or maybe I'm not looking in right places)? Also at the risk of being banned from commenting I'd suggest you watch Feds last match. It was sugary once it ended but otherwise it was a reasonably good game with some great rallys and passion.