Meikle: Hi Jeff. A quick reminder for our readers — who are you again?
Cheshire: Kiwi in London, teaching assistant, mildly professional (mostly amateur) pianist, somehow still clinging to relevance from six years as an ODT sports scribe.
The most important question of all: have you been to Anfield yet?
Twice, actually. Tickets are almost impossible to get hold of, so the first time was just a stadium tour. The second time, my Kiwi flatmate Angus (also a Liverpool fan) and I got tickets for a Europa League match, through one of those third-party sites. I already had a holiday in Italy booked ending on that day. So I got up at 5am to fly back from Venice, got the train up from London and had not stopped when I made it into the Kop about 6.30pm — which was a relief after all of that, because I wasn’t sure if the tickets would actually work. Absolutely exhausted, looked and felt awful, but what a special night. You best believe I sang You’ll Never Walk Alone at the top of my lungs.
You’re a Liverpool fan, like all right-minded people. But am I right in saying you’ve developed a bit of a fondness for lower-league football? What’s the attraction there?
Hah, well I’d actually got into it a bit before I left, through Smiv’s On the Road YouTube series. I ended up living about three minutes’ walk from Champion Hill, home of the mighty Dulwich Hamlet FC. They play in the seventh tier of the pyramid, but they’re a real community club and everyone supports it. The games often sell out in advance (capacity is 3334 people, at $NZ30 a ticket), you see the beanies everywhere through winter, the local pubs and businesses are all into it and it’s just generally a great fan culture. It’s very good-natured and inclusive. The fans will sing and chant, and at key moments in the game everyone gets out their keys and rattles them. I’d often go with Angus on weekends when we weren’t doing anything else, and we just became part of it. I’ve only properly realised the past few weeks how into it I’d got when I went to my final couple of games this season, and realised how much I wanted them to win. In my farewell ODT piece, I wrote about emotional investment being the key to getting into a sport, and I’ve lived that here. I’ll miss it. It’s a set-up New Zealand Rugby could learn a lot from, I reckon.
Did you want England to win the Euros final? Be honest now.
I mean, it was going to be more fun the longer they were in it, so I definitely wanted them in the final. By that point, it didn’t really matter to me. We got to experience the build-up and that night, and honestly, you see how much it means to them when they lose. Would’ve been cool to be here when it finally came home. Although, if they won, I suspect they’d still want a World Cup.
Seen any famous footballers on your travels?
Dulwich Hamlet striker Danny Mills — does not get much bigger than that, in Dulwich at least. I was at the Team USA v Germany basketball game a few weeks ago, and had a couple of lads from Birmingham next to me. One of them points down to the sideline and says to his mate: ‘‘That’s Curtis Jones, England international — it doesn’t get much bigger than that.’’ This is while watching a game including LeBron James, Steph Curry etc. In all seriousness though, if we’re talking celebrity, I lived five doors down from Richard Ayoade for most of my time here.
Got to be Anfield, innit? That was the bucket-list one, and it didn’t disappoint. San Siro for Inter Milan was incredible, just so intimidating. Lord’s, obviously. I’ve been to pretty much every football stadium in London, League Two and above — White Hart Lane being a glaring omission. I think the Emirates is the coolest of those purely as a stadium, although The Den at Millwall is the most entertaining when you factor in the crowd. And, of course, Champion Hill.
Outside football, any other sporting highlights?
So many. My literal first day in London, I was at the O2 Arena when Federer and Rafa played doubles against Novak and Andy Murray. It was a Laver Cup public practice day. I thought I was just going to see them hitting a few serves. Apparently it was the only time they’d all been on court together, and the arena was only half-full. Watching cricket at Lord’s was a big one. Loved going to London Lions EuroCup basketball games. Saw a few international basketball games too — USA v Germany a few weeks ago, the Tall Blacks in Hamburg last year and Germany v Canada at that same tournament. I got to see Noah Lyles run a 19.47sec 200m at the Diamond League last year and JaVaughan Harrison jump 2.35m in the high jump.
Was there a fair dose of Olympic fever in London?
I wouldn’t say that, but also I wasn’t working during it, so wasn’t surrounded by so many people every day. There was obviously a bit around for it. But I think London is so big and so diverse, it is hard for anything to really consume the entire city. Honestly, the only thing that’s fully taken over the whole city while I’ve been here was the Taylor Swift Eras concerts. She played eight sold-out shows at Wembley, and you just could not miss it, wherever you went.
What did you miss most about New Zealand sport?
Not a lot, to be honest. I’ve kept up with it, but detached a lot more than I thought I would. Things like cheaper ticket prices and the easy access to getting them would be the main ones. Over here, to go to the big football clubs, you have to pay for a membership and then accrue loyalty points through going to games to get priority — which becomes a chicken and egg situation. By the time it gets down to people such as myself, they’re all gone. At places like Liverpool, it’s basically impossible unless you know someone, or take your chances with a third-party seller. Watching people from my own community that you’ve seen come through the age grades, especially in basketball and rugby, is another. Obviously, I miss going to Nuggets games. I think I’ll miss more about sports over here, than the other way around, though.
You left Dunedin in 2022 after guiding the Nuggets to an NBL title. The past two seasons haven’t been so good. What have you made of them from afar?
Guiding — I love it, ha ha. Last season was a lot of fun, and the team played really well at times. They could’ve easily gone back to back, although probably got a bit unlucky in that semifinal. This season, well, everyone saw what happened. I don’t think it was a huge surprise — the squad just didn’t have the top-end quality of the past few years, and it showed.
In terms of bucket-list sports now, what are you thinking?
I haven’t really thought that far ahead. I’ve always said the Boxing Day test at the MCG would be right up there, so I guess that’s got to figure.
