Damn. That is rough news about Carl Hayman.
Hayman, the former Highlanders and Otago prop who would have been an All Black great had he not headed overseas, where he carried on playing at the elite level for a long time, revealed all to New Zealand’s leading sportswriter, Dylan Cleaver, in The Bounce this week.
There has rightly been a lot more focus in recent years on the dangers of contact sport and the risks of serious head injuries.
But we have only scratched the surface. The years ahead are going to bring a potential reckoning for the likes of rugby and American football.
Look at the work done by the Boston University CTE Centre in the US, which found alarming links between trauma suffered by gridiron players and degenerative brain diseases.
That study led directly to the NFL paying out $US1billion ($NZ1.4billion) in settling concussion claims.
It is a tricky issue, especially as CTE can only conclusively be diagnosed via autopsy, but it is the biggest issue hanging over a sport like rugby.
Doing the double
Has this happened before?
Last Sunday, there was a rare double in Otago sport.
Otago’s win over Wellington in the rugby game (non-NPC but still significant) in Dunedin was followed barely an hour later by the Otago Whalers’ win over Wellington in the rugby league final in Christchurch.
That double followed an earlier double when both Otago teams beat their Canterbury counterparts in the same week.
A super start
Things are starting to feel very real for women’s Super Rugby following the announcement of the inaugural squads this week.
This is a big step for the sport but I hope Aupiki is given some time to evolve.
We do not need constant blathering about the cultural resonance or the wider social significance of this competition.
Just let it get started. Get excited, by all means, but let it carve out its own legacy rather than invent one before the first ball has been kicked.
The streak continues?
It was not, to be blunt, a great week for the North Otago rugby team.
After a blowout loss to Whanganui, two players were in court on drink-driving charges.
I guess a third blow was the sight of that dreadful team from Timaru still at the top of the table and seemingly destined to win the Meads Cup for the first time. Ugh.
The Old Golds can’t make the Meads Cup final, and will need other results to go their way to make the Lochore Cup final.
Which raises the question: if they end up in the fifth-sixth ‘‘final’’, created this year for the Covid-disrupted season, will that mean they have extended their New Zealand-record playoff streak to 22 seasons?
I think so. The top eight in Heartland rugby usually makes the playoffs, so finishing fifth or sixth would normally be fine. And the fact it is a proper game — it just needs a name now, so watch this space — means we can sleep soundly knowing the Old Golds’ run continues.
Moments of glory
Keen readers will recall that magnificent 150 Greatest Moments in Otago Sport series that ran in this newspaper 10 years ago.
It just seems mad today but we counted down those 150 moments, one a day for 150 days, until we crowned Danyon Loader’s Olympic double No1.
Ten years have passed, and a lot of other great sporting moments have happened.
So, be sure to keep an eye on the annual Summer Times feature — curated this year by our own Adrian Seconi — to discover the 10 other moments that have been added to the series.
The champ is here
There are winners. Then there are WINNERS.
Check out the record of Australian basketball star David Andersen, who retired recently.
Andersen played 23 years of professional hoops, including stints in the NBA (he was drafted by the Hawks and had stints with the Rockets, Raptors and Hornets) and Europe.
Astonishingly, Andersen won 22 professional championships or trophies. He was a two-time Australian NBL champion, a three-time EuroLeague champion, a three-time Italian league champion, a four-time Russian league champion, a Spanish league champion and a French league champion, and he also won various team cups in those countries.
