Tackling a big topic one page at a time

Historian and league man Ryan Bodman is doing a one-time session at the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival on his social history epic Rugby League in New Zealand — A People’s History. Ahead of his visit we took the opportunity to find out more about him and his work ... 

I wanted to tell this story because: the history of rugby league in New Zealand is a history of ordinary people sticking up for themselves. And that inspires me.

I’m connected to Dunedin because: it’s where much of my wife’s family settled across the second half of the 19th century. And until recently, Holly’s beloved great aunt — Mary Anne Philps — was a long-time resident of the city. Rest in peace Aunty Mary.

My own rugby league origin story is: watching the Winfield Cup as a kid and becoming quite fanatical about the Warriors when they entered the competition in 1995.

My perfect Saturday is: spent somewhere outside with family and friends.

My writing ritual is: to write in the morning for an hour or two, and then move on to more passive tasks for the rest of the day.

An interesting thing about my book is: that it took me close to a decade to complete, as I worked on it around paid work and as I became a dad for the first (and then second) time.

The best place to relax is: close to a river or stream, where the burble of the water is in earshot.

When I get stuck: I try to be patient with myself. And if I get really stuck, I go outside for a walk or a bike ride.

A rugby league identity I’d love to have dinner with is: Cowboys legend and Queensland great, Jonathan Thurston.

A soundtrack to rugby league in New Zealand would include: something by West Auckland wordsmith, Tom Scott.

One thing people usually don’t know about rugby league is: that women’s formal involvement in the game has a history in New Zealand that stretches back almost 100 years.

The way I researched this book was: one step at a time, which helped me to avoid feeling too overwhelmed by the enormity of the task I’d set myself.

A secret influence on my writing is: my spirituality.

North or south: North, but only ’cause it’s where I’m from. I have always loved my time on the mainland.

My desert island book would be: any and all of the Gospels, including Leo Tolstoy’s. And Ursula Le Guin’s translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.

In conversation

• Catch Ryan Bodman at the festival in conversation with host Matiu Workman: Mud, Sweat and Social Revolution: Telling Aotearoa’s Hidden History.

• Dunedin Centre Conference Room 1, Sunday October 19, 9.30am 

• Tickets: dunedinwritersfestival.co.nz