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Touchline • Issue 16 • 3
FEATURES
8
Outlawing Ambush Marketing
10 Rugby linked to early onset
dementia
12 Concussion:
The hidden danger
15 Interview:
David Buttifan
t
18 Sports training in paradise
21 Triathlon tips with Peter Robertson
22 The Salary Cap:
How flat do we
want our sport?
31 Headguard decision may hurt
boxers
36 Boston’s shut down: The blow back
38 The scandal in Sochi:
A cold
reception for gay athletes at the
Sochi Winter Olympics
LEGAL FOCUS
24 High court rolls high roller’s
damages claim against casino
32 A tale of two warnings
RISK MANAGEMENT
42 Size does matter
44 Managing your risk
NEW ZEALAND FOCUS
4
New Zealand:
The home of Extreme
Sports
7
Player profile:
Just how good is
Daniel Vettori?
27 New Zealand Jet Packs
46 The Originals:
How New Zealand’s
All Blacks arrived
REGULARS
29 Sports Shorts
40 At Risk
WHAT MAKES
A SPORTS
STAR INTO
A LEGEND?
I love X-Factor. There, I have said it! I’m outed!
I was watching the Australian X-Factor finals a few weeks ago - it was the
week of pop and rock legends - which meant that all of the contestants had
to sing songs from music legends. There were songs from The Beatles, Rolling
Stones, MJ etc.…. .and Rihanna. That prompted one judge to question whether
Rihanna was a music legend and a slightly heated (by X-Factor standards)
debate took place without a conclusion being reached.
That prompted me to think about the labels that we put on our sports heroes.
When does a sports star become a legend, and are we diminishing the real
sports legends by attaching that label to just too many of those who, whilst no
doubt great sportspeople and athletes, are, in fact just that?
Several articles in this edition of Touchline refer to some of sports ‘legends’. So
what is a legend?
There are probably a whole list of names that we can reel off where there
would be little dispute about whether or not they are sport legends. Superstars
past and present such as Sir Donald Bradman, Pele, Michael Schumacher, Usain
Bolt, Sir Bobby Moore, Babe Ruth, Sir Jack Brabham, Tiger Woods, Muhammad
Ali and Michael Jordan, to name but a few. There are also legendary teams,
such as the current World and European championship winning Spanish
football team, the West Indies cricket team of the 80’s followed by the
all conquering Australian team that dominated the first decade of this
millennium, many of the New Zealand All Blacks and New York Yankees teams
throughout history, Busby’s Babes and the Real Madrid Galácticos . The list
goes on.
However, there are also a host of other great sports people and athletes
that are often referred to as legends that, in fact, will not necessarily be
remembered in a few years time except by a few die-hard fans. I would
venture to say that the real test of whether a sporting star is a legend is how
well they are remembered by a sizeable proportion of people some time after
they are no longer competing.
It is a fact that most of the current sports stars will not make legendary status
on this basis.
However, spare a thought for those athletes or teams who achieve incredible
success, yet because their sport is not one of the most popular, they fail to gain
the wholesale recognition that affords them legendary status. Sports people
such as five times world hockey player of the year, Jamie Dwyer, and Jahangir
Khan, who was unbeaten in competitive squash from 1981 to 1986. These are
legends in their field of sport.
But Rihanna……not in my book.
FROM THE EDITOR: