Summer reissue: Crowd entertainment at sports games is a hard task, but please let’s stick to T-shirt cannons and on-field japes instead of watching strangers smooch, eh? First published July 13, 2020. Funny kiss cam footage is a key element of any viral fail video compilation. A “she’s my sister” sign pulled out of a … Read more
Summer reissue: After last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup match, Justin Latif asks why we’ve fallen out of love with drop kicking. First published October 17, 2020. October 6, 2007 was truly one of the darkest days of my life. To many New Zealand sports fans, just hearing the words “two thousand and seven” elicits cold sweats … Read more
Summer reissue: The crowd’s attention wasn’t primarily on the ball when political editor Justin Giovannetti went to see his first rugby game. As the parliamentary team faced off against the local Centurions all eyes were on the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, starting at openside flanker. First published on July 26, 2020 Independent journalism … Read more
From winning two world cups with the Black Ferns to heading up TVNZ’s sports and events department, Melodie Robinson’s career has been one full of remarkable firsts. She joins host Duncan Greive to talk about it on this week’s episode of The Fold. When the Ministry of Education decided to start a children’s educational channel … Read more
When the Wallabies’ Oikoumene ‘Hunter’ Paisami and All Black Ofa Tu’ungafasi face off this weekend they’ll not only be representing their respective nations, but also their former school of Māngere College. A small high school in South Auckland will be cheering for both sides tomorrow at Eden Park – they’ve got old boys in the … Read more
After last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup match, Justin Latif asks why we’ve fallen out of love with drop kicking. October 6, 2007 was truly one of the darkest days of my life. To many New Zealand sports fans, just hearing the words “two thousand and seven” elicits cold sweats and furrowed brows. If you’re unsure what … Read more
With Sprigs, Brannavan Gnanalingam delivers a great New Zealand novel, writes Uther Dean. Since 2011 Brannavan Gnanalingam has pumped out Major Work after Major Work. Every two years brought another book: Getting Under Sail; You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here; Credit in the Straight World; A Briefcase, Two Pies and a … Read more
In the Counties-Manukau and Auckland Blues teams of the late 1990s, ‘Big Joe’ was one half of a double act the likes of which we may never see again. Only a handful of players, maybe fewer, could ever claim to have equal billing in a match featuring Jonah Lomu – but Joeli Vidiri was one … Read more
The crowd’s attention wasn’t primarily on the ball when political editor Justin Giovannetti went to see his first rugby game. As the parliamentary team faced off against the local Centurions all eyes were on the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, starting at openside flanker. People like Ashley Bloomfield just aren’t supposed to exist. To … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fallout continues from Falloon scandal, significant damage to Tairāwhiti from storm, and Labour MP Raymond Huo announces retirement. Much more emerged on the scandal around outgoing National MP Andrew Falloon yesterday. The police will now be reopening their inquiries into the matter, after previously finding that … Read more
Crowd entertainment at sports games is a hard task, but please let’s stick to T-shirt cannons and on-field japes instead of watching strangers smooch, eh? Funny kiss cam footage is a key element of any viral fail video compilation. A “she’s my sister” sign pulled out of a pocket as the camera accidentally pans to … Read more
Three’s new rugby-themed drama is both original and feels like it could have come from nowhere else, writes Duncan Greive. Over the past decade, New Zealand’s prestige (read: most well-funded) drama has established a trend of revisiting some of the country’s most celebrated characters and notorious incidents. Dear Murderer, Runaway Millionaires, Resolve, Jonah, Jean – … Read more
Jamie Wall reviews 2nd Chance Charlie, where lower grade rugby players compete to have another go at rugby stardom and success. Here’s a show for all the battlers: one of the oldest male traditions in New Zealand, the “had it not been for [insert reason here] I would’ve been an All Black” story, has been … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Thousands of NZers join solidarity protests, increasing questions about alert level move, and Muller pushes hiring bonus policy. Protests have taken place in New Zealand cities in solidarity with the Black Lives matter movement in the US. All up thousands of people attended the various events, … Read more
In their first game of the new all-local competition, Super Rugby Aotearoa, the long-struggling Blues take on their star new recruit’s former team. Can they keep up the cautiously promising return to form the pre-Covid Super Rugby season hinted at? After a 12-week lockdown-enforced break, normal media service resumed for the Blues rugby team last … Read more
The brains trust at World Rugby have conjured up some optional law trials to obviate the risks of coronavirus. Scotty Stevenson is intrigued. The World Rugby Executive Committee yesterday announced that it had “approved 10 optional law trials which are designed to provide national member unions with Covid-19 transmission risk reduction options if required”. This … Read more
In a world where players have unfettered access to fans through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it raises the question of whether traditional media still has a role to play. But as Scotty Stevenson explains, a player-driven model powered by social media can only go so far. Among the many weird and wonderful tales of the … Read more
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. Hey Dad, I knew once I … Read more
Eden Park has been home to Kiwi sports fans for 120 years, but now it’s launched a new effort: to be a leading NZ venue for big music events. The battle between the managers of Eden Park and residents of the leafy streets surrounding the stadium is about to resume, with a resource consent application … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ardern gets diplomatic, fuel market legislation released, and police pinged over employment records breach. There hasn’t really been much coverage of it in The Bulletin, but it’s worth looking back at quite an important diplomatic week for the PM. She has been in Fiji for several … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Two disturbing stories around extremism, a significant milestone reached at Ihumātao, and gang tensions flare in the Hawke’s Bay. In the space of a day, two disturbing stories emerged about the presence of extremists within the community. The first was around charges against a soldier who … Read more
The exhibition T20 Black Clash, between Team Rugby and Team Cricket, will take place this Friday. Here Alex Braae sets out why the game is such a joy to watch. There was a moment near the start of last year’s T20 Black Clash which summed up why it connects so well. Stephen Fleming, one of … Read more
Yesterday Ian Foster was announced as the new coach of the All Blacks, having already spent eight years as part of the coaching setup. Here, Jamie Wall recounts first meeting Foster in Buenos Aires, and how he marks a departure from Steve Hansen. It was a Friday night earlier this year in Buenos Aires when … Read more
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday. In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises in divining breakups and … Read more
Jamie Wall reviews Jonah, the two-part Three telefeature that follows the life of our most famous All Black, and finds it an effective but mixed retelling of the legend. Honestly, it’s a wee bit disappointing that the only notable on-screen dramatisation of the All Blacks in recent years was centred on replacement first five Stephen Donald. … Read more
Brothers Fred and Kawhena both wore the black jersey 40-odd years ago, and now their achievements have been outdone in some style by the next Woodman generation, writes Jamie Wall in this extract from his new book. “All I heard growing up was: oh, is your dad Kawhena or Fred? Ohhhh, I played alongside your … Read more
Fifty years ago today the anti-apartheid group Hart – Halt All Racist Tours – was formed. Founding chairperson Trevor Richards looks back to the 1960s New Zealand into which Hart was born, and how it launched a battle for the country’s soul. It has been said that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren’t … Read more
When the Māori All Blacks play Fiji this month, MP Peeni Henare will be in the commentary booth calling the match in te reo. Don Rowe reports on an initiative to normalise te reo through the medium of sport. Around 500 years ago, in 2011, Māori TV broadcasted all 48 games of that year’s Rugby … Read more
Twenty-seven years ago, Trevor McKewen’s book about New Zealand rugby heroes celebrated a stoic, machismo national character. Recently his daughter asked him: would you want your grandsons to read that? I had always wanted to write a book. For a lot of my early working life, I was a sports journo. So I wrote a … Read more