Bookshelf: D. B. Clarkes Story

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 11

Bookshelf: D. B. Clarkes Story

“The Boot,” by Don Clarke and Pat Booth (A. H. and A. W. Reed; 194 pp., 255). D. B. Clarice's second effort as an author is far more digestible than the dish he served, in collaboration with R. J. Urbahn, after the Springboks’ tour last year. This tune he has Pat Booth as co-author and tne result is a sporting book of considerable merit. Clarke had an evenful career in Rugby and Booth has helped him weave it into a compelling story, which, at the same time, reflects public attitudes on the national game and the men who play it. Clarite is as direct in his approach to a number of vexing Rugby questions as he was to kicking a ball. He is critical of men being played out of position in tests; he favours replacements in international matches; he fixes three months as his maximum for an overeeas tour; and he takes a long, hard look at the increasing number of charity matches to which leading players are being invited. But he cuts across many widely-held opinions as well. He disagrees that his success as a kicker shaped New Zealand’s tactics for a long period; he regards his matchwinning conversion against France in the hurricane at Wellington in 1961 as “an absolute fluke" and he seeks to elevate the general estimation of New Zealand's

one-point victory against the 1959 Lions, when he kicked six penalty goals. The book establishes Clarke as a strong man with an admirably staple philosophy: to do the best for his side, to use his skills to the greatest advantage. The ordeals of a champion are recounted with feeling: the late tackles, the stolen boots, the “treatment’’ in rucks, and the loud-mouthed. 111-informed criticism of some spectators. In this respect he states that the worst example of mass bad sportsmanship he experienced in his whole Rugby life was the booing and jeering of a portion of the crowd at Lancaster Park at the 1963 inter-island match. There are many criticisms of Rugby critics in the book and one chapter is devoted to the sporting press and why it should respect the privacy of footballers. Yet Clarke, for all his references to critics’ words which rankled, is not above lifting a 1960 description of his plav in the second test against South Africa from one of the men he attacks. Booth has brought his craft to play in the attractive manner in which the material has been assembled. This is not a dull chronological progression of a footballer’s career. Each chapter is complete within itself: the events of a tour, a series or a season are skilfully woven into the development of a general topic.

As the champion goalkicker, Clarke’s comments on kicking a football in a 12-page appendix are worth particular study. He does not reveal any shattering secrets about the art of good goal-kicking; indeed, apart from laying down a few basic principles he leaves much to individual preference. One might well wonder, however, how many of his Rugby playing readers will give up in despair when they learn that “natural thump” is a prerequisite to success. One can sense the hardening of Clarke’s attitude as

the image of the widely acclaimed hero of 1956 fades to become the grim spectre with the massive boot in 1959 and then the symbol of the colourless “55yd Rugby.” Clarke survives these transitions with dignity, because of his willingness to acknowledge the many criticisms made of him and answer them in a balanced, unemotional fashion. Sincerity is one of the keynotes of the book; it is this which puts the seal on Clarke’s mountain of memories and Booth’s polished treatment of them.