Tomorrow 1News launches an exciting weekly newsletter for lovers of sport. Written by straight-talking and passionate presenter of sport Scotty Stevenson, On the Sidelines will provide a Monday morning fix of smart analysis and honest opinion. Ahead of the launch, Scotty shared a little about his life both on and off the sidelines with Emily Simpson.
I wanted to do what I do from the age of ten. I was watching the inaugural Rugby World Cup and while most of my friends were dreaming of becoming All Blacks, I thought Keith Quinn had the best job in the world.
I’m not big on listening to myself. I’ll hear highlights and my usual thought will be, “what could I have done differently there?” As live sport commentators, our voices are attached to the historical record of sport so, without being overblown about it, I take that responsibility seriously. Sure, sometimes I have made mistakes but I don’t have any huge regrets, I’ve never woken up in the middle of the night and thought “that was an absolute shambles”.
My sons? They never listen. They get a running commentary on their life from me, so my work is of no interest to them. They’re not huge sport boys, they’re into other things and I appreciate that. I think it’s great that in our household we’ve got three boys (myself included) who all have different interests and passions.
I am a big prep guy. I never know what’s going to happen in the game but I always want to have something I can lean on and talk about with some intellect and understanding. Researching the players, knowing their names, being across the details – that’s important.
You do get your favourites. Plenty. I loved Marty Banks, your quintessential footy battler, he was such a champion and it was always a kick talking him up. And Wyatt Crocket! I like to back the underdog. He’d been written off and he went on to play more Super Rugby games than any other player.
You see players with a preternatural ability but what resonates most is the workers. I think we have a strange relationship with the concept of talent, we assume some people are born that way, but I think unless it’s alloyed to a serious work ethic it’s not going to get you far in life.
You have to have that chemistry with a co-commentator. Some are seriously funny, some are incredibly analytical. In cricket especially, you’re on the road for a long time and you get to know your colleagues really well.
Katey Martin is sensational. She’s always been wickedly funny and she has a really busy mind. She’s also incredibly analytical it surprises no one that she’s carved out a niche here and internationally. Frankie Mackay is a deep thinker and the most authentic human you’ll ever meet. And Rebecca Rolls is a wonderful woman imbued with mana and a great passion for sport. We’ve normalised their voices. It doesn’t matter now whether it’s male or female behind the microphone and it’s one of the things our commentary team is proud of.
Cricket or rugby? I love both. I’ve been privy to some special moments in both, along with many other sports. It’s often the little things – Buller winning its first national trophy in 2012, and we were sitting in a scaffold commentary box in Westport with locals hauling chilly bins of crayfish and whitebait up the ladder for us.
I grew up in the small town of Ruakaka just south of Whangārei, Bream Bay was my stomping ground. It was beautiful, we loved it, we had the illusion of freedom. But growing up in a rural town, you always knew that someone’s mum was watching.
At the end of fifth form I was shipped to boarding school, Auckland Grammar. I went from a co-ed school of 300 kids to one with 2000 boys who all looked like they’d been dunked in an ink well. It’s hard when you’re a bit older and all the peer groups are set, but it was rewarding and I felt privileged that my parents had the wherewithal to make that decision on my behalf. I did another year of secondary school in South Africa. It was 1995 and invigorating to be there at that time of change. I met people who I’m still friends with 30 years later.
My mum came to New Zealand in the early 70s which was pretty brave. She’d met my dad when he was teaching in South Africa. It would have been a huge cultural shift – Durban to Whangārei in the 1970s, she certainly noticed the differences. She was a rare South African in New Zealand at that time when opposition to the Apartheid regime was growing. We knew all about apartheid growing up. I had grandparents who’d lived through the instigation of it. It didn’t sit well with my family that’s for sure.
Most commentators are story-tellers at heart. The action unfolds and we narrate a live story. I was always involved in speech and debate through school and writing was always something I was drawn to. Summers were for Surf Lifesaving or waterpolo, winters for hockey and then rugby. As an adult I chose more social pursuits, but I played club and representative rugby until I was 19 when injuries and repeat concussions forced me to put away the boots.
I pretty much limit myself to running these days. Trail running. Usually alone. If you’re on the road you just want to get it done but if it’s a trail you’re out in nature, you’ve got a thermos of coffee and you can make a day of it, it’s as much for mental as physical health. Running is something I picked up rather obsessively about six years ago. I try to run most days. Or shuffle. I’ve never been much of a gym person. You won’t find me under a barbell. I’m not overly restrictive in my life. Enjoy your beer and go for a run. I would hate to be obsessed with a diet. I do like to cook. My specialty? Bearing in mind I have teenagers with a limited palate so there are a few dishes on rotate but my roasted salmon with a beurre blanc is simple and delicious.
My favourite sportswriters are likely to be American. Norman Mailer was fantastic, Grantland Rice, Wright Thompson, there are plenty more. Sports writing can fall into the grey but there is never a lack of colour with those writers. The American tradition grasps the notion that a sports story is a human story. It’s not just facts and stats. I think it was Tom Robbins who said “never be afraid to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans”. Having written several sports biographies myself, I don’t read a lot of them but Andre Agassi’s Open would be one of the best. For sheer scale and scope The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown is one of the greatest stories.
I’m looking forward to writing a newsletter that explores the issues for people to enjoy on a Monday morning. People who are passionate about sport have hard and fast opinions – there are no shortage of them. I’ve never been afraid to call it as I see it so that’s what I’ll keep doing.
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