Chris Rattue: My unforgettable confrontations

Chris Rattue recalls an amusing incident with Matthew Ridge. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

As we say goodbye to 2020 and welcome in 2021, it's a good time to catch up on the very best of the Herald columnists we enjoyed reading over the last 12 months. From politics to sport, from business to entertainment and lifestyle, these are the voices and views our audience loved the most. Today it's the top three from Chris Rattue.

30 years of friction

I've been in this sports-writing game for more than three decades and one of the constants has been a running feud, on my part anyway, with New Zealand rugby.

But beyond this disdain for how the national sport is run, I also had lots of scraps with individual sports people back in the day.

Conflict. It used to be part and parcel of covering sport. And an editor suggested I should go down this memory lane and write a piece on some of those battles both big and small.

There are far too many to include here. Some, were just amusing. Others more significant.

Sometimes a scrap might lead to a lifelong feud. Other times it is quickly forgotten. Sometimes it affects how you cover a sport or person.

Chris Rattue reflects on his most memorable confrontations across his career.

All Blacks selector Grant Fox. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Ian Foster must go after agonising loss

The first and most obvious thing to say about Argentina's brilliant win over the All Blacks, from a New Zealand point of view, is that Ian Foster must go.

Previous All Black coaches were very lucky – they had a bloke called Richie McCaw leading the way, setting the standards, showing how to keep your mind on the job, laying a long-lasting foundation.

But it was time for the dawn of a new era when the great Steve Hansen departed, the sound of an English World Cup stampede ringing in his ears.

Sometimes the biggest risk of all is to take no risk at all. Scott Robertson. Tony Brown. The future was with names like that.

It's time for an emergency procedure.

Rattue on why NZR needs to admit its mistake, and change AB coach at the end of this season.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster. Photo / Getty Images

The must-watch doco with the best sports character I've ever seen

A fly-on-the-wall gymnastics documentary named Over The Limit sounded intriguing.

As soon as Russia's head rhythmic gymnastics coach Irina Viner-Usmanova hit the screen, I knew it was a sports doco jackpot.

In a world with almost no live sport — save for darts players going for it in their living rooms — replays, movies and documentaries can fill the gap.

They are often better than the live thing anyway.

My advice is this: Find Over the Limit at all costs, but if you ever see Irina Viner-Usmanova heading your way, run like hell.

Rattue on why she is probably the most extraordinary figure he's seen in a sports film.

Irina Viner-Usmanova with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photo/ Getty Images