Letter to the Editor of Salient Magazine

Letter to the Editor of Salient Magazine

I read this week's edition of Salient (Victoria University student magazine) today. Good on you Toffeeman for raising some great points with your letter in reference to the Phoenix and the rise of football in Wellington and New Zealand. Although I won't be at Victoria next year, I hope prospective students  will be treated to some proper Sport articles rather than the mind numbing egg chasing dribble we were treated to this year, as you pointed out in your letter.

Umm, as much as I'd like to take credit for being a litarary genius, it wasn't me. Is there a reason you thought it was me. I graduated from Vic but that was nearly 4 years ago.

It was written by "The Toffeeman". I assumed it was you?

I knew I should have slapped a copyright on the name. Its blatent plagerism. I may take legal action for defimation of character. People might think I have intelligent things to say when we all know that simply isn't true.

The writer of the Salient sports column just won Sports Writer of the year at the Uni journalism awards - what was wrong with the Phoenix article? I'd be interested to see what the letter says...

As long as we get all the 'Toffeemen' down to the Lounge on Saturday to shout at the Redsh*te!!!!!

i think all four of you new zealand based everton supporters are in for a rather rude shock

Here is the letter written to Salient:

The Beautiful Game

Vic has its rugby scene. They even have a scholarship for people to come from overseas to play rugby!

I've started a Phoenix group on myvictoria, so hopefully there'll be a few more students catching the Fever

Looks like you've become a 'brand', Toffeeman, or a franchise

Reg22 do you want to check out the everton topic in the english football forum. ithink you'll find theres more than 4 of us

What a whiney letter that is...embarrassing.

Agreed. Eh, could be worse I suppose..

What do you expect, it's Salient!

Salient should be re-named whiney-lient

also what is myvictoria - never heard of it

Vic is bringing all the online student services together into one interface with some social networking overtones ala Facebook, Bebo etc. The have groups on there but they seem pretty under-used....I created a Phoenix one anyway just in case haha

Yeah the letter is pretty sad. Why are people impressed by it?

I have to agree, thats a very whiny letter. Though it does raise a couple of good points in that the Salient articles have been very rugby oriented (though really what do you expect from a RWC year?) and that the Phoenix are perhaps not up to Premiership quality....yet

Nice article,

Here's hoping he backs up that promise and ends up with a severe case of Yellow Fever! If this is what it takes to get him supporting the Nix, the AB's loss could be the best thing that ever happened to him

Greetings, Yellow Feverites, on behalf of the bastard for whom the "It's FOOTBALL not SOCCER, you filthy rugby-supporting, student-magazing-writing philistine!" letter to Salient was written about (and someone, I must add, who fully intends on making good on his promise to catch yellow fever).

To be honest, I thought the letter had a few good points, the major of which stemmed from an apparent dearth of football knowledge by yours truly. While it's true I was raised on a hefty diet of rugby (served with rugby pudding a flattering slice of rugby pie), I by no means detest the beautiful game, rather I've never really sought to learn much about it. It's a personality flaw the likes of which can only really be analysed by those with phDs, but with the rise of the Phoenix, I find myself with ample opportunity to embrace the sport, and, indeed, develop a deeper appreciation for how far it has come in this country.

Salient this year has had a policy of writing for the sake of garnering attention (hence its decision to showcase the inane babble of that misinformed douchebag Lindsay Perigo), but I was given virtually complete creative control over what went in the sports section. I had  been wanting to write a feature about the Phoenix (with a special nod to the hale and hardy of the Yellow Fever zone) for some time and pitched the idea to the editor back in late August/early September. The interview with Steven Old was intended to  be a full page 800+ word "mini feature, but things changed at the last minute and the article was sliced down to the size of a regular sports column (editorial decisions and the like).

I have to admit, I felt quite guilty since I had soaked this year's columns with "rugby this" and "rugby that," and I had been excited to hear about the type of fervour the Phoenix had gathered this year (I know a couple of Yellow Fever fans who go out of their way to use the "WHO ARE YA WHO ARE YA WHO ARE YA?" chant at every single opportunity, regardless of how hilariously inappropriate it is, and bugger me if it isn't catchy). I really wanted to do the team and Steven -- since he was an awesome guy to interview and has a real sense of how NZ football functioning at the moment -- justice. Sadly, I think I fell short of achieving that, but I'm adamant that next year the 'Nix and the fans will get the kind of coverage they deserve.

So, yeah, I didn't think the letter was that whiny, (I promise to never, ever address the beautiful game as that heathen yank-inspired "soccer" ever again), and here's hoping I do catch a bout of beautiful yellow fever, because frankly, I could do with an illness that actually works for me.

Cheers, love the forum, and I'll be giving those bastards from the Australian Mariners hell on Sunday.

Michael Oliver,
Salient Sports Bum
Michael Oliver2007-10-19 17:16:12

Actually, just to be a pedantic sonuvabitch, I feel that I should note out of the 25 articles published this year, 15 weren't about rugby at all. That's, like, a majority or something.