Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Fifty odd years ago, when I first got involved in sports administration as a volunteer, the major communication tool was a paper newsletter sent out to the membership by snail mail.

Preparation for this week's blog told me that ‘a newsletter is a small publication, such as a leaflet, containing news of interest chiefly to a specific group.'

Grassroots sports clubs throughout the country relied on regular newsletters to keep their membership informed of the activities of their organisation. In essence, the newsletters were a written calendar of events and activities laid out in order of proceedings.

In the early 1990's, I got employed in surf lifesaving, which then as is now is a mixture of community service and sport.

Thirty years ago, surf rescue relied heavily on news media to deliver surf safety messages. Radio BOP and the Bay of Plenty Times, were heavily involved in Western Bay of Plenty surf rescue stories on a daily basis at the heart of the summer holiday season.

Press releases were typed up and faxed to the local print and radio media which often produced requests for interviews and quotes.

One hot potato, which produced big headlines, was the local councils funding (or lack of) for professional lifeguard patrols on weekdays during the holiday season.

As the 1990's rolled into the new millennium, cell phones and personal computers became the tools of trade, for both the media and sports communication with the media.

The advent of email and texting from cell phones was the big leap forward from faxes and the earlier digital communication tools.

Sporting organisations could now communicate directly with their membership and wider stakeholders at the touch of a button.

Sport sponsorship drove organisations to front-foot publicity with media slowly buying into the use of sponsors names in copy.

Unwritten rules evolved in local media, whereby the sponsor's name would be mentioned at the start of stories with little other attention. To attempt to saturate a media release with the sponsors name was an invitation to have article torpedoed completely.

Unimagined growth of social media locked traditional media into a battle for survival. Grassroots sport quickly jumped aboard social media vehicles such as facebook, twitter and Instagram, to regularly connect with their membership.

Traditional media were still engaged in the battle during the 2000's, before it all came to a grinding halt with the advent of Covid 19.

Almost overnight traditional local sport coverage in the media disappeared completely. Weekend regional sports roundups, which had been an institution since the start of the twentieth century disappeared without trace.

Since New Zealand has learned to live with the pandemic, attention has again turned to finding out what happened on the local sports fields on the weekend.

Several of the sports that I am involved with have gone full circle back to regular newsletters to communicate with their membership.

Western Bay rugby has instituted a regular Sunday morning review of Saturday's senior footie, with a wrap, results, points tables and draws.

The difference between the new and old newsletters is found in the distribution. 'After the Final Whistle - What Happened in Western Bay Rugby on Saturday" is written and delivered by email to local rugby fans by mid-morning on Sunday.

Club rugby facebook followers receive the newsletter from their club Facebook administrators, while a local rugby database delivers the news to individual fans email addresses, along with posting on club websites.

The return of the newsletters keeps keen Western Bay rugby fans in the loop by way of electronic delivery.

While the distribution of Western Bay rugby happenings has changed - the want to keep up with the latest local rugby gossip remains undiminished.