Hawke's Bay United

Welcome to Hawkes Bay and the rubbish we have to put up with from Mr Singh.   I really believe that no publicity is often better than the crap served up regularly by this muppet.

The guy is a tosser. Was looking forward to reading a good article about HBU and their chances for the upcoming season and instead just end up reading about all the old players

I used to get frustrated with the football articles in the Gisborne Herald which were very much the same every week except change the team names and insert player names where it says who played well - which was just about everyone (from both teams) etc. But Singh's articles are pure horseshit, it's easy to tell he has little football knowledge and consistently gets his facts wrong. I think they would be better off getting one of the old ex players to write something about the game each week.

step up david geary...

Home Kick-Offs on Saturday's at 5pm confirmed.

 

And a game against Auckland City in Taupo on Saturday 19th at 2.30pm.

Same kit as last season i presume? anyone know?

Black and White stripes again, not sure if they'll be in the new kit this weekend though.

Hello.

Can somebody clarify what exactly the errors were? 

I read the article and found it relatively informative - though I am not a core HB follower obviously.

I must say that if the names are wrong - or omitted - the blame could possibly also be anchored to the club. Their website is hopelessly out of date. How proactive are they in getting the correct information out there? Or do they just leave it to the best devices of the fourth estate to try and Sherlock the info? 

If you are going to slag a journo, it would be helpful to substantiate the criticism with examples of what exactly it is you don't like/think is wrong. I note the chap in question has won national awards for his writing.

The criticism has spanned over the last few years and generally when he has been criticised on here people have provided links and quotes. He's built himself a bit of a reputation and I'm not going to go back to find every example that has been raised because you missed it, sorry.

its funny because its true!

the only error i could see was that he called grant robson grant robertson or something like that

hardly a hang-able offence

years ago we were struggling for any coverage whatsoever and now those like billy harris, danny hay, burgess, singh or whoever who have managed to shoulder their way into the rugby-centric mainstream just get murdered on these forums and i don't understand why

Hello Top left,

Thanks. Not asking anyone to re-litigate old issues, just to substantiate their current unhappiness. I was at a loss to understand the current complaint from what was recorded here. Watching from afar, it seemed a reasonable summary from an independent, non-partisan source (as opposed to say, a club press release). A a football reader I guess I'd have been happy unless there were major errors or omissions.

As a former football journalist - and current football administrator - I've kind of seen the symbiotic relationship between the media and the game from both sides, so take an interest.

I can appreciate the aspirations those at the heart of the game have for football reportage - but also the brief of the journalist and the restraints and realities he works under in the modern media environment (not to mention the distinctions between journalism and PR).

I've met the chap in question a couple of times and actually found him to be very inquiring, open minded, and willing to go against the "party line" presented by officials on matters of note - always a good media quality. And from games I've attended I have (so far) thought he presented a fair summary. 

So it has always surprised me that he cops so much flak here. 

Still, I readily acknowledge I lack any depth of knowledge in Hawke's Bay matters, so really appreciate when someone can pithily zero in on the essence of what they perceive as media shortcomings there.

Personally I'm a supporter of him. He is a little bit flowery in his prose but there is no denying that he provides a level of football coverage in this area that you'd struggle to find in any other parts of NZ, the main centres included. I know a couple of players that absolutely hate him but I think that comes down to the fact that if you're playing like a c**t, then he will write you played like a c**t.

Just like reading the match threads here, when I read his write ups sometimes, I wonder if we were at the same game, but that's not a hangable offence is it?

I know he also plays social football for one of the Napier clubs and used to do the same for a Hastings club and I've seen him at games ranging from NZFC down to age group football via the often dire womens' 2nd division, so I give him kudos galore.

 

In Danny Hay's case if he ever wrote a positive "opinion" piece about something i think the world might cave in on it'self - if that's what he is like he must be a barrell of laughs at home... not.

 

I would rather a real journalist with actual skills who had a passion for football rather than an ex-all white with a chip.

I think the main annoyance down here is that he tries to create scandal when there is very little usually, he uses quotes from the crowd rather than players or coaches or uses lines like this far too often; 'According to sources, Peverley discovered through a series of text exchanges that he was not required this summer'. This line is simply not true and it is naughty of him to print this without speaking to anyone from the club. Because a player has a chip on thier shoulder that talks didn't go the way they wanted, he shouldn't take that as gospel without consulting other parties surely. Peverley has not told the truth and that is unprofessional of him, but just as unprofessional is the reporting in my opinion.

The above is just an example and this kind of thing has been going on for a long, long time. Lots of racism rows, inter-club slanging etc. I believe other sporting codes (basketball, cricket, rugby) have banned him or asked him to be banned from reporting on their games and he would have recieved a lot of formal complaints over the last few years. As long as his boss likes him, I guess that's all that matters.

Thanks Whitevan.

You are right - it would have been good to have put the texting proposition back to the club and I agree, there is always a weakness in unnamed sources.

But in this instance the journalist is not inserting them in lieu of having not talked with the club - he very clearly spoke with the HB's Treweek - but more at the expense of having a direct attribution from Peverley.

The journalist is nodding to the fact that he has sourced his story from a wider base than just one club talking head - who has himself acknowledged there were clear differences of opinion.

Conflict is a very valid news angle in any sphere, and there would appear to have been an element of that in the departure of Peverely. So in a sense it would have been far more perverse if the journalist didn't cover off on it in some manner.

The club would have a right of reply if they took exception to the unnamed source attribution about the texts - but clubs alone should not be seen as the arbiters of what is truth and what is not.

However overall it is hardly a negative angle. He could very easily have nosede the whole piece on an All White falling out with his club.

As for quoting the crowd, that's excellent. In all other spheres of journalism we quote consumers and well as producers. There is nothing invalid about solicting comment from those who pay at the gate.

As for his supposed upsetting of other groups, in media I always go back to Lord Northcliffe's famous dictum: "News is something someone somewhere doesn't want printed. Everything else is advertising".

I'd be interested in some examples of this racist and inter-club slanging spoken of here. I know that a previous coach of a well known team [after a bad loss and some tough questions asked of him] told him to bugger off back home [Fiji]. this was well covered in the HB Today and I believe there was an apology from the coach published. I've been around sports administration [in a number of sports] for a long time and the level of pettiness and self importance is huge. I'm sure I'm not telling most of you anything new. The number of people you can actually trust to do what they promised and in a non partisan way can be counted on one hand.

I wonder if he's been stonewalled by the club before? if so he might not have bothered going to them for their response. A natural reaction and not quite the best journalistic endeavour but he hasn't simply made it up or taken it from an internet forum. I heard a while ago that Cole wasn't being signed as a result of him wanting too much, so the story was out there long before he published anything of that nature. Word was also out that Mulligan was being signed but he didn't jump the gun and publish that either. He waited until the club officially announced their team. A journalist who was hellbent on undermining the game/club would of printed this long ago, especially given that the locals have been waiting forever to hear what the team was for this season.

I have never spoken to the man but observed him and read him and I am in no doubt he is a dedicated journalist that has a different writing style to most but is informative and in my view does not shy away from a contraversal story no matter who is involved. The HB football public should be rolling out the red carpet for the guy with the amount of coverage he brings.

Fitzy - sorry for the late reply - I was busy cutting grass and writing assignments.
100% we can be friends. Look forward to sharing laughs and happiness together. 

Interesting we're now talking about Anendra. My favourite Anendra moment follows:

AS: "psst, keeper"
RM: [ignores]
AS: [moves closer]
AS: "HEY MATE"
RM: [ignores]
RM: [turns around to get a drink because I am exhausted from working so hard]
AS: "what's the right back's name?"
RM: "Keiran Venema" (I think)
AS: "who's your left midfielder?"
RM: (really can't remember who, but told him)
AS: [proceeds to get the entire line-up from me, including subs, during a match]

Sometimes, I hate him. Because he's offended/annoyed me, or one of my mates, or just written shit.

Then I get over it.

And, as 'Napier Phoenix' said - he gets publicity. I'm pretty sure HB Today's got a decent readership. And their website would get a hammering from people on here following links provided by people slagging him off.

My Anendra position is, all things considered, he's probably still in the positive as far as football is concerned.
And, he's usually willing to have a chat. And, if you're nice to him - he's nice to you.

Another thing worth considering is, he can/will only write the information given to him. I've seen/heard first-hand people being outright short with him - consequently, he had to write something, and it wasn't particularly accurate. But, he's got a story to write, can't be at howevermany places at once, so can only be as good as the information provided to him. 

But if you don't like Anendra - don't read his stuff!

Or better yet, as someone suggested (probably Bruce, and if it wasn't you Bruce...why not!) - start writing yourself! Dave's got too many houses to paint.

Either way, it's free advertising for football.

Excellent, Ryan. You really should have written more, all these years, you know.

Yussssss. This is the best day ever. 

the world's full of former international's writing and presenting.

i don't always agree with him, but i always read his articles and think he does well

i'd like to live in a world where we had 4 times as many people writing about football - ex internationals, journos, former miss world contestants, whoever. 

i just think it's beyond his writing skills to write a well rounded balanced article (whilst maybe pointing out some failures in whatever he is talking about).

I can deal with Billy Harris i think he is quite good - but for me Danny Hay is just trying to sell "papers" by being a Football Chris Rattue.

i agree mate, but i actually find that quite entertaining

i enjoyed him bringing ricki herbert to task after the fiasco in the solomons when no one else did

(i also appreciated ricki's response to what hay had to say)

it made for good debate

From a basketball perspective, I sometimes wonder what on earth Anendra is talking about, sometimes he has completely wacky introductions and misuses all the terminology.

For football, he seems more on the ball (excuse the pun), but there's the occasional thing which makes me scratch my head. However, as someone has already said - he gets readers and viewers. And that's half the battle. Personally, I've heard some people have left the paper because of him.

I'm working at the Nix game in Napier next week, hopefully I can make his acquaintance and see for myself rather than all the hearsey. 

Love your work Ryan, you should post more. I just remembered one incident that was a bit of a head scratcher. After a game at Bluewater Stadium Mr Singh interviewed a couple of players - one being the keeper who had an outstanding game, was the center of much of his newspaper article...only problem was he confused him with the reserve keeper, who didn't get on. Now this is often just a small mistake but he interviewed that keeper, talked to him personally. No issue with the match program either

without a doubt he covers the sport well, all levels of the game which has to be positive, he is often at school and women's football watching his young daughter. Although sometimes I do wonder who wants to read about women's div 2?  He has reported on issues racism and the like which are not a good look for the game! Was it last year something out at Havelock about racism? And then continued to get Magpies mug in the paper questioning central football about structure of the league... do things like this need to be in the paper? do they portray the game in a positive light? 

Anyone going along to the pre season game today? i understand its in taupo though

 

Auckland won 3 0 Alex F, Dickinson and Rory T

Yes to the first question and No to the next. Remember he is meant to be a reporter not a cheerleader.

haha thanks mate. And don't worry - it's coming (probably)

Tell Steve to make me an offer once he gets in the big seat!

Any write ups on the game? havent seen one in the HB today yet?

http://www.aucklandcityfc.com/news/article.asp?ID=763

Today HB vs WaiBoP friendly 13:00 Taupo...

Have to say you guys didn't look too flash, not too much go-forward - McNeil only had one save to make it seemed. I assume things will get better with Mulligan more integrated, Robinson back etc.

Who was upfront for  HB united?

Lovemore and Mosquera, with a young number 13 who looked quite decent playing in an attacking midfield role.

Sean Lovemore, Tom Mosquera up front mostly from memory.

I agree with N Bomb. From a Waikato perspective it was reassuring to think that there is at least one team in the league you should have no probs with. Mulligan played a few nice balls, Biss is a work in progress. Gillespie made a couple of good saves though Waikato should have easily potted 3 goals in the first 20 minutes.

Robertson would have tidied the back up a bit if he was there, but HB were up against what looked like a relatively makeshift Waikato backline, and gave them few worries.

It was also extremely refreshing to turn up at a pre-season match and find Waikato weren't the team with the crap-looking kit.

Hb not play in black and white strips?

You can see a few photos here:
http://www.waibopunited.co.nz/match/595/