By Dr Lawrence Patchett AE, Editors Aotearoa New Zealand
[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER – Dr Lawrence Patchett AE. Image: Janneth Gil]
[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER – Cover of Rugby league in New Zealand: A people’s history by Ryan Bodman, published by Bridget Williams Books in 2023. Image: Bridget Williams Books]
When I received an invitation to copyedit Ryan Bodman’s Rugby league in New Zealand: a people’s history, I was immediately interested.
More than a simple history of the sport, the book was, according to my contact at Bridget Williams Books, something of a “social (and class) history by stealth”.
As a freelance editor, one of my specialisms is in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. I’m also interested in the role that sport can play in building community. And as a passionate fan of several sports teams – some might say too passionate! – including the Warriors, New Zealand’s National Rugby League (NRL) team, I was keen to learn more about the sport itself.
But it was reading the introductory sample that really convinced me.
In a vivid opening scene, set in a classroom in the rugby league stronghold of South Auckland, Ryan takes readers straight into the social issues surrounding the sport. He also allows his oral sources to speak with extraordinary directness. Presenting his analysis in a fluid style, he signals later sections on the vital role that women have always played, both as players and in club life, in this ostensibly “male-dominated” sport. A further scan revealed text boxes on other communities I’d seldom seen in sports histories, including gangs, watersiders and the Kiingitanga (the Māori King movement).
I wrote back quickly to the publisher: “Yes, I’m available for this project.”
Balancing the book’s elements
The in-house team forecast a potential challenge: balancing the social history and the sporting elements. Specifically, they didn’t want readers to get lost in technical details about rugby league.
They set a useful test: I should imagine that their director, who has little knowledge of the sport, was reading the book. Would she understand everything and – perhaps a sterner challenge – would she find it interesting?
It surprised me that, applying this test, we had to tweak only a few sentences – a testament to Ryan’s focus on the diversity of people who play and nurture the sport, rather than the sport itself.
A structural editor had already been through the manuscript, but we also kept an eye out for repetition, trimmed some chapter conclusions, and ensured more tangential analysis was separated into text boxes on “Gangs in league”, “League and the Left” and other case studies.
Reflecting the strong connections between rugby league and Māori communities, much work was also needed to check that macrons were correctly applied – or not. In the Kiingitanga, double vowels are often used instead of macrons, and some rugby league clubs have never used macrons in their names and logos. In consultation with in-house staff, we developed bespoke policies and an editorial note to explain them to readers, many of whom would notice such differences.
Reflecting on what I would do differently
Recognising the strengths of Ryan’s writing technique, I tried to avoid interfering with his style too much. Sometimes I gave into a temptation to tweak sentences that, looking back, would have been fine stetted.
After editing this title I got the chance to work towards accreditation, taking the suite of exam prep courses and other IPEd training units along the way. A key principle I took from the accreditation process is the importance of taking maximum care to avoid altering the writer’s voice. This has since become a core element of my practice, thanks to IPEd, and if I was editing Rugby league in New Zealand: a people’s history again, I would hold back more on stylistic suggestions.
Celebrating the book’s legacy
The book’s great strength lies in the huge number of oral interviews Ryan conducted. For many decades rugby league was actively suppressed by rugby union administrators and its many class allies, and it has strong associations with working class, trade union, Irish Catholic, and Māori and Pasifika people.
As evidence of the trust he developed among these communities, Ryan was later invited to write an official history of Taniwharau Rugby League Club, which has deep connections to the Kiingitanga.
The qualities of Ryan’s book were also recognised with 2 best first book awards, from the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Historical Association.
For me, editing the book provided invaluable experience in working with oral sources from diverse communities. It has since led to further projects on history, rugby league and other sports.
Dr Lawrence Patchett AE is a freelance editor and proofreader from Ōtautahi Christchurch. His specialisms include literary fiction and nonfiction (history, health, conservation and sport). His clients include university presses from throughout Aotearoa, a whare wānanga and trade publishers. His own books of fiction include Have this heart, released in May by Te Herenga Waka University Press.