Fully Committed: The Ben Sigmund Story

Even in that tiny little piece of the book he talks about how hard it was to lose respect for Ricki because of all the good things that Ricki did for him.

All these people commenting on this are probably just reading the headline rather than actually what Siggy's said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/794...

Disappointing that he didn't addresses the why of it head on. Also petty harsh on Rikki. We all heard the rumors of course.

Can't wait for David Mulligans book to come out Riki didn't speak to him for two years and didn't play at the world cup or the Phoenix for that matter but at least he didn't stomp on anybody so if anybody has a gripe with Herbert its Mulligan but I suppose he doesn't need the cash.

Seriously, bro, did Siggie bully you in high school or shag your gf once?

That's not nice Doloras just stating the facts as I see them read them and know them and as for being bullied I would eat a cry baby like you if those comments reflect your persona

Doloras does have a point though. You rag on Sigmund for having a crack at Ricki is irony in the purest sense.

Based on siggys comments you wonder how many players didn't reach their potential because of sub par coaching and why the likes of Ryan Nelson who knew better put up with it.

Maybe Jeff but if you look at Siggys career as a footballer from the time Ben made a NZ23 squad to Japan in which I think he was the only player not to get a game to his 30 odd AWs plus Phoenix career he owes tricky Riki  a fair shake and their are other players with better stories to tell and as i said before I'm not a Herbert fan but I just seems like cheap shots to help sell a book.

well if he did then Siggy needs to have a go at Nelson for not picking him

Why didn't he tell nzf though that they needed to get rid of Ricky? A player revolt.

Sigmund wasn't having a go for not being picked, he was having a go for not having his work to get them there acknowledged.

so how was he wanting to be acknowledged? A spot on the bench, a pat on the bum from Ricki? More coin?

read the book and find out. 

IO read the excerpt today from the SSTimes and my impression was that Siggy still hadn't owned up to the horrendous nature of what he did. It was all 'woe is me, it was so hard...' how about the poor bastard he stomped on?

Andy Barron got WC game time...

Um...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/9162320/Ben-Sigmund-apologises-for-stomp

This is classic of people falling for media spin. You get one snippet of a story and think that paints the whole picture in Technicolour with Supermarionation.

How about buy the book and read the FULL story then come back here and justifiably slag him off if you still feel the same. I suspect then, you are less likely to get as much pushback as you are now.

I am sure you know this Vader but the whole point of giving sections of the book to media like stuff, is to spark interest in the book and to get people to buy it.

I am sure that the juicy bits told thus far will have that effect and there seems to be a great deal of interest in buying the book on this forum with people saying "just buy the book"

As I said at the start when this kicked off, I was initially going to buy the book. I like Siggy and think he has a story to be told. If you check my history I have never had a bad word to say about him and I am no cheer leader of Herbert.

He has however lost some respect in my eyes however by dishing Herbert and as previously said I don't think anyone owes Ricki more then Siggy.

At times loyalty is to be respected. I just think Ricki is a cheap mark who is being used.

So on this occasion it has had the opposite effect. I will wait until a tatty copy hits the library.

After reading this thread I guess I'd like to know who decided to release these specific exerts.

Movie trailers release the most "exciting/funny/dramatic/scandalous" bits to get buy in from the audience. The same is being done with this book.

For all we know there's another chapter about Ricki that paints him in a more positive light?

I dunno. Each to their own though. Read the book or don't but I feel like opinions (positive or negative) will be more well received after it has been read.

Siggy, in consultation with Piney.

Working...

You paint yourself as a smart guy but surely you can see that its just one little snap shot. I am sure the part about how he was pushing for a Phoenix gig and Ricki gave him a shot would be in there too, just not as likely to sell books because it has no scandal around it.

This is nothing more than the cover story of a Womens Weekly that scream 'Brad and Angelina split'... from the Bahamas for the south of France for the week.

Lets draw a parallel here.

I don't now the full entire history of the Fever, but from what I can see Hard News and Smithy has had a big part to play.

Now let's say they give a young bloke called Patrick a chance when no one else was going to. They stood by him by thick and thin and he rose to a point where he was running a pod.

Patrick took the opportunity and rose quickly through the ranks, enjoying a cult following. He had women wanting to pash him left right and centre and grew famous.

Then one day, when News and Smithy were old and feeble and not really in a position to reply, he slagged them off.

It's obviously not important to some here, but loyalty goes a long way.

Wait, what? Ricki is old and feeble and not in a position to reply? Are you saying they don't have email in the Maldives?

In any case, for your analogy to have any teeth, you would have to have had News and Smithy do some sharkty things to Patrick, for which he would be justified being grumpy despite the good things. To put it another way - if I do you a favour, that doesn't mean I own you.

it'd be fine if they did those things, as long as he wrote it in context of all the good stuff too. It's not so much slagging off as stating a sequence of events from his own perspective. Which is exactly the point of writing a book like this. 

He has plenty of options to reply.