About MATCHDAY
Author Bruce Holloway was a contributor to the Waikato Times from 1989-1991, and then a full time journalist with the paper from 1992-2011, working the majority of his time in the sports department. From 1997-2005 he edited Sitter!, the New Zealand football fanzine and also edited BULL-SHEET, a limited-edition Waikato United fanzine from 1993-1996. He was chairman of Melville United AFC from 2005-2017, a former Waikato United board member (1990-91) and a former Waikato FC board member (2011-12). He has three times won NZ Football Media Writer of the Year. and three times won Publication of the Year. Another of his publications, The National League Debates, can be purchased from the following website... https://nationalleaguedebates.weebly.com/ |
“MATCHDAY: An eclectic anthology of 40 Waikato United, Waikato FC, WaiBOP United & Melville United match reports” is available for purchase electronically (via email) in PDF format for $10 through the BUY A COPY page on this site...
ABOUT THE PUBLICATION The football match report has pretty much disappeared from the New Zealand media landscape these days. Daily and weekly publications, and even online and social media, have increasingly abandoned the written match report in any guise. Apart from a few staunch outposts, today football match reports are fast disappearing as a cultural-literary phenomenon. But for decades the humble match report was the bread and butter of football fandom. This anthology is a tribute to the dying art of the football match report. The match reports here represent a cross section of reports from games involving Waikato United, Waikato FC, Waikato FC, WaiBOP United and Melville United over a 27-year period. So as not to confuse the point of the anthology, while there are some heroic wins recorded here, it should be noted this is not a homage so much to on-pitch events themselves as to the art of recording the vibe of matchday. Inept losses, frustrating draws and lucky escapes are highlighted almost as much as stirring victories. And while the matches chosen are mostly from national league, Chatham Cup and the northern league, there are also a couple of peeks at the code down in the bowels of recreational-level football. Reports are drawn from contributions to club programmes, fanzines, websites and blogsites as well as newspaper filings. As a result, more often than not, events are chronicled from a partisan fan perspective rather than some impartial helicopter view. The writing is passionate, zany, exuberant, impudent - and invariably as unbalanced or disrespectful as the audience at which they were originally pitched. NB. This publication is sold in PDF format ($10) and emailed to purchasers who can make up their own mind on whether to print it out of read from the screen. |