Back in my day....

Normally when I hear a 50-something going on about how people were tougher and things were better back in my day I sigh, shake my head and walk away. Occasionally I will enter into discussion just to keep the brain going but I find that is only when I am with my grandparents these days. Their adherence to the philosophy of  'I heard it on ZB talkback so it must be true' can push me into lengthy the world has changed monologues any day of the week.

I especially think like this when it comes to people talking about Rugby. Again ZB features prominently, if I happen to stumble across Deaker having a talkback session on Rugby I quickly reinsert the Glee CD and sing-along to that. Rugby back in those days was simply not better. Not that I have actually seen that much of it but the stuff I have had the displeasure of watching has been absolutely horrid. A general lack of skill and athleticism as we know it today makes the game of yesteryear nigh on impossible to watch. Not that I am ridiculing the people who loved the game back then or the great players of that era I just believe things have changed and we should never compare rugby of that era to rugby played now.

The purpose of this post though was to talk about two books I have read in the past week. Both largely about rugby in that era. TP: The Life and Times of Terry McLean and Sir Wilson Whineray: The Perfect Gentleman. What both books do, and I think the reason I enjoyed them so, is open a window to the reader of my generation into the game back then without the condascending 'we were tougher and therefore better' tones.

New Zealand Rugby in the 50's and 60's isn't something I know a whole lot about.  I have heard, as most rugby mad Kiwis of generation has, of all of the great players and know the general story about the struggles in Africa and the 4-month tours of Europe. What these books taught me about was the dynamics; the role of the media, the respective roles of captain and coach, the team culture and the personalities of some of New Zealand sports iconic figures.

We probably wont see journalists like McLean or leaders like Whineray in our game anymore. Keith Quinn is the last journalist of that era, and even he was coming onto the scene as McLean was leaving it, but he is no longer prominent in the Rugby media. Funnily enough, after saying we would never see another leader like Whineray in our game today, I see a bit of him in McCaw. Both incredibly smart men who have that of the country feel that so endears them to so many people. Articulate men who can relate in any environment. Maybe the country will never know the real McCaw in the way that many people probably felt they knew Whineray but the similarities are there. Revolutionaries in their positions is also a slogan that can be thrown at both men.

So while I spent the first part of this post rambling about how I hate the better in my day attitude I am sad in a sense that the game doesn't have that charm it used to have in so many ways. Sure it has plenty of new charms but just sometimes dont you wish we could combine the best of the past with best of the present...