Opposition (a new province for me as a spectator/fan): Southland. They’d been given a bit of a thumping by the Lions following the first test, five tries (all converted by King John) to nil. But, they had in their ranks an 18-year-old open side flanker, fresh out of Otago Boys High School in Kenneth William Stewart (3/1/1953-).
18 year old Ken Stewart was in the Southland squad that met the Magpies in Napier in August. The young flanker had ‘All Black’ stamped all over him.
Nicknamed ‘Balfour’, acquired from the small northern Southland hamlet near which his family farmed, Kenny Stewart was a rising star, having spent 1968-70 in the illustrious school’s 1st XV. In fact, his home-town faithful had all pointed out the fact that the young Stewart - of all the loosie’s around the traps in NZ - had not only played an outstanding game against the Lions, he’d caught King John more times than any other flanker on the rest of the tour.
I didn’t know a lot about the Southland side. I recognised a couple of names from Shield ’67, a Napier Daily Telegraph publication my grandfather had, a rap of the 1967 Ranfurly Shield season; Alan Blackler, Gerald Dermody, Hori Miller.
The two sides had both been beaten by similar scores by the Lions and it therefore was not surprising that that eked out a 12-12 draw.
Notebook out; first draw.
Once again, the rugby team from the village of Petone had secured for themselves, the prestigious Jubilee Cup. Three stills courtesy of the National Library of NZ; Petone village, 1971
Having beaten the Christchurch (New Brighton), Hawkes Bay (NHSOB) and Auckland (Ponsonby) champions in recent seasons, no one could deny that Petone were one of the strongest club sides in New Zealand.
The club had produced 20 All Blacks, four New Zealand captains and seven Maori All Blacks, plus supplying the Wellington representative side with in excess of 400 players since the clubs inception in 1885.
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Following his outstanding form of 1971, the good people of Petone were adamant that their 21st All Black was going to be John Patrick, latest of the famous Dougan family.
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During the reign of the Nicholls boys; Mark, Doc, Ginger and Geoff, the name ‘village’ was substituted for ‘Nichollsville’ and Petone All Blacks were publicly feted, driven through Jackson Street like royalty and given public farewells in theatres.
And it wasn’t just rugby. Name the sporting field and Petone had supplied either a champion or someone nearly as good; cricketers, footballers, hockey and croquet players, rowers, yachtsmen, axemen, men and women bowlers, boxers, badminton and billiards champions and cyclists.
On the same afternoon as the Jubilee Cup final, I was ecstatic to discover that the Aucklander’s had relieved Canterbury of a particular piece of treasured silverware. I shouldn’t have mentioned it at the time, as it set my father off; “fuckin’ Auckland c***s…”. He hated Auckland and Aucklander's (being born in Christchurch). In the sales office he ran for the NBS, he was absolutely obsessed with the Friday afternoon figures, where he had spent the entire week trying to get his sales staff to head off Auckland’s tally, doing whatever it takes to get that all important result.
Fortunes had fluctuated in fantastic fashion throughout the epic Ranfurly Shield encounter, the initiative and ebb and flow constantly changing throughout the match. It was a highly absorbing struggle, right from the first whistle, the crowd of 30,000 kept in a perpetual state of excitement during the gripping contest.
The game was so tight, that both sides had cancelled each other out in the first spell. The lead see-sawed back and forth and the teams went to the break locked at 11-11, a try a piece, on a cool and dull Christchurch day.
Although Tane Norton scored a sensational try for Canterbury, following a tremendous surge by Penrose and Wyllie - and the Cantab’s led by 16-14 - two late penalty goals by BeeGee Williams sealed their fate and paved the way for the prized amulet to return to the City of Sails.
Mark Sayers hadn’t totally convinced Frank Ryan yet either, of his intrinsic value to the side’s overall philosophy of attack and counter-attacking rugby. Dick Cleland (possibly because of his great partnership with Darcy) certainly appeared to have the inside running for the No. 12 jersey, but a knock received the preceding day in Petone’s thrashing of the Axemen prevented him from starting against Otago.
Named in the reserves, Twig was elevated to the starting XV (and bracketed with Cleland for the Southland match in two days time). He scored one of Wellington’s five tries and was no doubt instrumental in the imaginative going’s-on in the backline; use of the extra-man and ploys like scissors and double-scissors, switching play with long passes of the slippery ball.
Keith Murdoch was the outstanding player in the Wellington-Otago match, along with his fellow prop, Jeffrey David Matheson (30/03/1948-), they placed the home front row under considerable strain. He even caught Jim Brown from behind in open play on one occasion. Wellington’s pack overall though, were too cohesive for Otago and the backline had more verve and twinkle in winning the game by 25-9.
For the majority of the Wellington side, the match against Southland was their third competitive rugby match in four days and the effect on the side of that physical and mental exertion was reflected in the 9-14 scoreline.
Otago strongman, Keith Murdoch, embraced in a loving headlock from his Wellington counterpart, Al Keown.
Plus, those with their daggers out over this new razzle-dazzle bullshit in the backline, felt vindicated when Twig, after 26 minutes, failed to clear a routine touch-kick (owing to one of these new-fangled scissors things!) and Gerald Dermody, the Southland skipper, charged down the kick and scored between the posts.
Worst thing was, of course, that’s exactly the kind of crap one doesn’t try to pull on Athletic Park, on a ‘treacherously greasy and heavy ground’, with a ball ‘as slippery as a greased pig’! Especially given that those conditions have been totally favourable to Southland sides through the ages.
Collectively, the visiting backs were no match for Wellington on attack and given a dry ground, Wellington would probably have flown home. But Southland used the conditions to their liking, too their advantage, driving the Wellington pack apart up front, with close marking and tackling hard in the backs.
Wellington won their share of possession, but the visiting forwards were able to create enough havoc that Dave Henderson was constantly hassled and his service to Dougan laboured. Dougan, as a result, was indecisive and the rest of the backline seemed bogged down in the mud.
A split second of hesitation was fatal, for the ball arrived at the same time as the raw-boned Kenny Stewart and most of the backline learned what a ferocious and bruising tackler this young player was. He scored a grand try as well, peeling off a scrum near the Wellington line and powering his way through a couple of tackles to score.
Wellington tried everything they could late in the game and with only three minutes to go, surged 50m upfield to the Southland posts. With a clear overlap to the left, Dougan cut back in and elected to drop for goal. But the act was predicted by the defence and again, laboured in it’s execution, inevitably charged down.
Holes in the Wellington defence were then exploited by Southland winger, Murray Mitchell, who toed the ball ahead and scored in the corner, making the game safe for the southerner’s, Twig unable to overhaul him.
There was no rest for the wicked, as they say. On September 4th, just four days after the Southland match, Wellington were in Napier to play Hawkes Bay, whom they had not defeated since the last weekend of the 1966 season, the Magpies having just lifted the log from Waikato the week before. They hadn’t won in Napier in ten years.
The shield side was still relatively intact, containing seven former or future All Blacks, but the Bay’s 1971 form was about an equivocal sketchiness as Wellington’s. Wins had been recorded against East Coast, Poverty Bay, Nelson Bays, Manawatu and Otago, all but the EC game by narrow margins. They’d lost to Wairarapa-Bush and Bay of Plenty, drawn with Southland and been given the same smacking as every other province throughout the country by the Lions.
After the debacle against Southland, Wellington were not favoured to win, but as luck would have it, they struck a dry track (as was usual in Napier) and all the flair of the Otago match returned. Even after his errors against the maroons of Southland, Twig was retained for the HB match and to the delight of his coach, was - along with Jimmy Brown - the outstanding back on the park (until replaced by Cleland in the second half).
Two Darce Dougan dropped goals in the first nine minutes set the visitors on their way and the confident start was further boosted by the Wellington pack tearing into their work, their energy counteracting the weight of the big Bay pack.
Al Keown played one of his greatest games in the black jersey, his shrewd and swift responses winning his team quality ball at the front of the line-out. There was a lot to admire about his general play also, he drove and rucked with a will that inspired the rest of the forwards to a first-class exhibition.
Action from the match against Hawkes Bay in Napier, one of Wellington's finest performances of the season. (Left) Robert Gray receives a pass, with plenty of Bay players ahead of him; Crawford, McLeod, MacRae, Stuart and Pratt. (Centre) Graham Wiig leads the Magpie charge with Meech and Stuart focused. (Right) Another try for Robert Gray, under the Magpie posts.
And they needed to be at their best, as the big Magpie pack eventually found it’s feet and began to drive like the shield team of old. Kaaran Crawford found his fire and Bruce McLeod and Neil Thimbleby made some barging runs, always looking to set up second phase play.
Barge seemed to be the main ploy of Blair Furlong and Ian MacRae also, but Wellington’s backline were stout in their defence and the cover of Andy Leslie and Graham Williams was swift and sure.
In the 20th minute, up by 9-3, Wellington won a defensive line-out, almost on their own line. Henderson fed Dougan, who kicked to halfway. Wallis was up to bustle, Sayers snapped up the loose ball and flicked a neat pass to Dougan, to Brown, who cleared away to score.
Wellington hit the Bay with another all-team attack on the stroke of half-time, which resulted in a try under the posts to Robert Gray. Jim Brown had split the defence wide open with a couple of devastating side-steps. 18-3 to Wellington at the break. Hawkes Bay didn’t know what had hit them!
The Bay rallied and had a brief period of domination early in the second half, where Doug Curtis scored a try and Robbie Hunter on the other wing did likewise, only to see the touch judge with flag up.
But Twig Sayers again, latched onto scrappy ball at the tail of a line-out, took off upfield and cross kicked to Wallis, unmarked out wide. Support came in the form of the tireless Leslie, Brown and eventually Henderson, who scored.
But Wellington were not finished yet. Robert Gray showed his paces in a spectacular, side-stepping and swerving run through the disorganised Magpie defence to score a second try, between the posts.
The Capital boys had cause to be aggrieved following the announcement that evening of the North Island side to face the South the following Saturday. Not a single one amongst the team as chosen. Not even in the reserves.
The wins against Otago and Hawkes Bay had been top-drawer, the result of fine teamwork and a willingness to play the running and passing game, based around a solid forward effort. But as individuals, none had made any advancement since early season, or as adjudged by selectors; Burke, Gleeson and Walsh.
While the North were dealing to their southern counterparts by 31-9 in New Plymouth, aided by an 18 point haul from Counties fullback, Bob Lendrum, Wellington were despatching Wairarapa-Bush on the Park, with similar ease. The 52-6 scoreline included ten tries (four to Graham Wallis, three to Graham Williams).
Taranaki were next to visit on September 18th, where a Dave Henderson try was required right on time, for the hosts to snatch a late victory by 14-12. 10,000 plus turned up on a fine early spring afternoon, the ground perfect for running rugby.
Facing into the northerly breeze in the first half, Wellington scored two fine tries (Gray and Leslie), both sparked by Darcy Dougan and held the ‘Naki to a slender 9-6 advantage at the break. For the first 26 minutes of the second spell, they almost completely dominated, but fundamental mistakes were made, which negated the often brilliant play from Sayers and Gray in particular.
After 66 minutes, Darcy and Twig scissored, which sent Jimmy Brown away and resulted in Gray scoring a second beside the posts. The game looked safe enough, when calamity struck again through the misuse of this ridiculous new notion of running the ball at all costs. Damn those bloody Lions!
The culprit on this occasion was full-back Richard Whittington, who firstly should have cleared for touch, but decided instead to throw a loopy pass infield to Darce. Had it reached him, there was little the fly-half could have done but kick for touch also, instead the ball was plucked from the air by a rampaging Ash Gardiner who scored, giving Taranaki a 12-11 advantage with four minutes on the clock.
It was a try which need never have been scored and to dissenters, it highlighted the difference between intelligent and indifferent use of the questionable tactic.
Wellington’s most elusive backs on the day; Sayers, Dougan and Gray combined in a final assault, which saw Henderson show great strength in barging his way across the line for the winning score.
I was pretty keen to go to the Taranaki match and it was a tough call to have had to make, but I was also interested in another event on the same afternoon in Wellington; the 1971 Chatham Cup final at the Basin Reserve. Wellington City v Western Suburbs.
Notebook out; first football match.
There were a few football players in my class, as discussed in Chapter Four and their talk of this Chatham Cup being like the English FA Cup had got me a little excited. Wellington still had a game against Auckland at the Park on October 2nd and ‘Doc’ Campbell and Tzano and I had talked about going to the rugby and I was keen to add Taranaki to my list of teams seen. But a Chatham Cup final would be a watershed moment.
Western Suburbs, photographed with the Chatham Cup (Nat Lib)
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Graham ‘Hewie Pie’ Hewitt had been the main instigator behind the push toward the football extravaganza, assisted by his WDU team-mates in Alan Paterson, David Hough and Philip Wong. ‘Doc’ decided he was in as well and when Tzano (with a silent T) said he too was going to the football match instead, I made the decision not to be a killjoy and go with the rest of my classmates.
And I’m so glad I did. It turned out to be one of the great Chatham Cup finals ever and is still the only All-Wellington final in the trophy’s 97 year history.
I had gotten a little interested in ‘soccer’ after my great-grandmother had bought me a ‘Tiger’ Annual for Christmas in 1970. It had been frowned upon by parents, grandparents and Uncle’s, as it was full of British football stars and labelled an amusing error of judgement on behalf of a frail old lady.
The book wasn’t taken off me, but remarks were made regarding the sport itself and the possible influence it might have on a young boy and his later choice of sexual gender preference, just small things like that. It also featured racing driver, Graham Hill and ‘Roy of the Rovers’ comic strips. We didn’t have many books and I absorbed it from cover to cover.
It was full of information about a London club called Chelsea, whose home ground was a place called Stamford Bridge. And they had won that year, for the first time in their history, a trophy called the FA Cup, beating Leeds United in a final replay in a city called Manchester at a ground called Old Trafford. This soccer thing looked dead romantic in the pictures.
Prior to the changes in the organisation of the Chatham Cup in 1970, finals were always between North Island and South Island teams.
With the reorganisation of the draw, this was no longer the case and so the 1971 final became the first local derby ever to be played out in the Chatham Cup final.
New Zealand football was all rather complicated, so you’ll have to bare with me in that regard. Now, the club that ‘Hewie Pie’, ‘Houghie’ and company played for (and the club I asked my father if I could join), Wellington Diamond United, were formed in 1968, the result of a merger between Diamond (established 1893) and Zealandia, founded in 1954 by Dutch immigrants (and almost certainly why they played in orange shirts).
WDU’s chief rival in 1971, was Wellington City. I say 1971, because Wellington City had just been formed, again a merger, this time involving the 1966 Chatham Cup winners, Miramar Rangers (founded 1907) and Hungaria, formed in 1962 by Hungarian immigrants.
Lotsy Polyanzski, left, was one of the many Hungarian players to light up the Wellington football scene in the 1960s.
Hungaria are often referred to as the best team ever seen in New Zealand by those that were lucky enough to see them play. During the 1950’s, the Hungarians revolutionised football, most famous for their 6-3 thrashing of England at Wembley (and also winning the return game 7-1). A failed uprising in 1956 led many to flee Soviet oppression and many ended up in places like New Zealand.
During the five seasons before being accepted into the Central League in 1967, the Hungaria side had won 81 of the 118 League, Chatham Cup and Hilton Petone Cup games they had played, scoring an outstanding 508 goals and conceding 185, winning by an average score of 4-1.
They remained in the Central League, before being invited to join the first New Zealand National Soccer League in 1970. They finished seventh out of eight that season, winning just three games. It was the club's only season in the National League, they forfeited their place in 1971 to form a composite entry with Miramar Rangers, to be known as Wellington City.
So as Wellington City were WDU’s arch enemy, like Everton to Liverpool or Tottenham to Arsenal, the bros were all rooting for Western Suburbs.
Western Suburbs was established in 1906 as Mental Hospital AFC, initially as a recreational outlet for staff at Porirua Mental Hospital. They had tasted Chatham Cup success previously, winning the trophy in 1935.
In 1956, the club changed their name to Western Suburbs. Led by Hungarian-born coach Imre Kiss (who’d played professionally in Germany), they won the Central League First Division title in 1968 and again in 1969, also qualifying for the inaugural season of the National League the following year.
They were also the beaten finalists in 1970’s Chatham Cup competition. A 2-2 draw at the Basin Reserve necessitated a replay with Blockhouse Bay at Newmarket Park in Auckland, where the hosts were successful by 3-2, all three goal-scorers being New Zealand representatives in Clive Campbell, Iain Ormond and Colin Shaw.
In their 1971 semi-final, Wests were level at 1-1 with Nelson United at full-time, but managed to overcome the hosts by 3-1, scoring twice in extra time. They’d given themselves another crack.
As they often say in football, “you have to lose a final, to win a final”. And so it proved for Western Suburbs.
“We’d lost the final replay to Blockhouse Bay in 1970 (the first final replay in Chatham Cup history), so to get another chance so soon was a privilege. We had quite a few Wellington reps and a lot of talent, but we ended up winning it in extra time with the flukiest goal I’ve ever seen.”
Dave Wallace, Western Suburbs captain and first New Zealander to captain the All-Whites.
In a howling Wellington southerly wind, Wallace and Allan Jeffrey scored for Suburbs, while Paul Cameron and Julius Beck countered for City. With the scores tied, the teams went to extra time, where the game remained locked at 2-2 until the last moments. With the final kick of the game Barry Humphrey’s sent a long ball forward, which caught the breeze and bounced over the City keeper and into his net.
Ironically, for Western Suburbs, they finished bottom of the National Soccer League and were relegated, their spot for 1972 taken by New Brighton from Christchurch. Eastern Suburbs won the League in 1971, finishing with 22 points, the same as Blockhouse Bay had in 1970.
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Another key rugby union match-up on September 18th - and there were a few - was Auckland, after holding the Ranfurly Shield for just three weeks, with just the one successful defence against Counties, surrendering the trophy to their fierce Northern neighbours, North Auckland, defeated by 12-17.
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Equal hero and villain (as on most occasions), Super Sid was the star of the show as North Auckland were successful in their Ranfurly Shield quest against Auckland at Eden Park.
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Even the recently departed British Lions manager, Doug Smith (who had amazingly predicted the exact outcome of the test series; The Lions by two tests to one, with one being drawn), when rung in the middle of the night back home in the UK and asked his opinion, predicted that North Auckland would lift the shield from the Auk’s.
On the Saturday preceding the vital fourth test match, the Cambridge Blues had gone down by just 5-11 to the Lions and only a try by Welshman, John Bevan (which equalled the Individual record of 17 tries on a New Zealand tour, set by Irishman, Tony O’reilly in 1959) gave the tourists the relief which had been sort for the previous 79 minutes.
Although outscored by three tries to one, North Auckland’s was a grand affair. Ken Going entered the backline, passed to Rod Jones who, following a strong burst, fed the ball back inside to Joe Morgan. Evading the desperate lunge and attempted tackle of Mervyn Davies, Morgan’s break had left a hole for Richie Guy to waltz through and score by the posts. Ken Going converted and North Auckland went to half-time with a share of the spoils at five apiece.
In fact, the Northerner’s had shown more enterprise than the All Black backline could muster during the disastrous third test and Lions captain, John Dawes later eluded to the fact that they were one of the few provincial outfits that set about playing attacking rugby of their own, therefore forcing the Lions to concentrate on defence as well as their natural propensity to attack.
Unfortunately for them, their line was breached twice more in the second half, but their absolute resolution in defence, planned and implemented accordingly, had been a real feature of their performance. Equally, the exotic ‘triple scissors’ moves in the backline, courtesy of the Mid-Northern club representatives, the three Going brothers and Joe Morgan, had the Lions bamboozled on most occasions, despite their own pre-tour homework in this regard.
"Ken and I sort of messed around on the lawn and later Joe Morgan was involved at the end of the move and Ted Griffin encouraged us to try. We had the guts to try it. It's a shame those sort of things are not done now because we used to score heaps of tries from those razzle-dazzle, pretty loose and unorthodox sort of stuff.”
Brian Going (Northern Advocate, 2011)
Their favourite tag was confirmed with their defeat of Auckland, the Ranfurly Shield returning to Whangarei for the fist time since 1960. It was one of the great shield matches, in a ‘super-charged’ atmosphere, in front of 47,000 people crammed into Eden Park.
The match - for both good and bad - belonged to Sidney Milton Going. He darted from the scrum and outwitted the Auckland loose forward trio en route to what was becoming his customary try on Eden Park. The hero turned villain when a rush of blood saw him take a tap penalty instead of clearing his line, the resulting kick being charged down by Alan Watkins, who upon following up, scored a vital try enabling Auckland to regain the lead with only 17 minutes to play.
Ken Going was livid with his brother! Behind the posts, while the conversion was being taken, he had to be pulled away from his sibling by Richie Guy, fearing the worst may eventuate. Sid atoned for his erratic behaviour two minutes later, by kicking a sensational 53 metre penalty, in ‘round the corner’ style to the amusement/bemusement of the crowd, giving the challengers the lead back by 14-12. North Auckland then finished the match strongly, with Denis Panther adding a try to round out the scoring.
Their legendary coach, Ted Griffin, had coached three sides to shield glory; 1950, 1960 and now in 1971. The defeat of Auckland also saw the Coronation Shield returned to the northern-most union in New Zealand and both trophies were up for grabs the following weekend when King Country arrived to try their luck and despite winning a Lions share of the possession (and an 18 to 8 penalty count going in their favour), were repelled by 16 points to six.
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The Wellington rugby side finished the season in magnificent style, firstly (on September 25th) reversing the early loss to Canterbury at the Park, which I had attended, by beating the red and blacks by 24-17 in Christchurch. Graham Wallis contributed 15 points himself (a try, three conversions and two penalties), with Jimmy Brown grabbing a couple of tries for himself.
Then on October 2nd, the season concluded with a 22-14 win over Auckland at rugby headquarters. Scheduled as a shield challenge, had North Auckland not been successful a fortnight earlier, Wellington ran in six tries (Wallis (2), Head (2), Dougan and Robert Gray), ending their year in fine style and a far cry from the disastrous outset in May.
Why I did not attend this fixture I do not know. As a family, we’d have known by that stage that we were on our way south in three months time and it would have been a grand opportunity to have said goodbye to the Park, to Nectar and Twig, to the Wellington boys et al actually. Plus, I hadn’t seen the Aukker’s and would have been keen too I’m certain. Still, there must have been some valid reason.
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Action from the Canterbury-Wellington fixture at Lancaster Park in 1971. Wellington turned their early season loss to the Cantab's into a good win in Christchurch by 24-17. (L) Kevin Gimlett looks to cut inside Graham Williams (7), while Twig (at left) seems to have him covered. (R) Twig, extreme right, watches on as Andy Leslie and Richard Whittington hold up a Canterbury player, with Macdonald, Tanner, Burns and Cron and Davis zeroing in.
In fact, 1971 was then rounded out by another curve ball. Although my school teachers had eluded to the fact that (in their opinion) I had little interest in music, I’d developed an interest in music. What are opinions anyway?
But my experiences with the harmony, expression and motion of music were confined to Radio 2ZB in Wellington (news, talkback, horse racing, live rugby/cricket commentary and songs off the current Top 20 or from yesteryear) and my parents quite appalling collection of LP records.
In early November, a song was getting some airplay by a guy called Paul McCartney, well it was actually by Paul and his wife, Linda. The song was entitled “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”.
Paul McCartney, 1970. Photographed in Scotland by wife, Linda for the cover of their LP Ram.
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It was an utterly fantastic song, so I thought (when I was eight).
On November 22nd, “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” made #1 on the NZ Listener charts (displacing a beautiful kiwi composition by Shade Smith, “L’amour Est L’infant De La Liberte” by Rumour) and remained there for seven weeks. It was #1 right through the Christmas/New Year period, including when we boarded the inter island ferry to a new life in Dunedin.
As ironies go, the song was replaced in the top spot on the national charts in late January, by none other than John Lennon with his ‘out monster the monster’ hit/anthem/psalm/brotherhood of man statement, “Imagine”.
If I did have any interest in music, I would say of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", just this;
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is composed of several unfinished song fragments that McCartney stitched together similar to the medleys from the Beatles album Abbey Road. It is notable for its sound effects, including the sounds of a thunderstorm and rain, of clicking from a telephone dialing and then transitioning to an answering machine, where the sound of McCartney's voice, with a "telephone" effect, is heard and the sound of chirping sea birds and wind by the seashore.
Is there a coherent narrative to the lyrics, which relates to McCartney's emotions in the aftermath of the Beatles' breakup?
The "hands across the water" section which follows, could be taken as evocative of the command "All hands on deck!", rousing McCartney to action to compete with John Lennon, which he had not done since the breakup. The song then ends with the "gypsy" section, in which McCartney resolves to get back on the road and perform his music, now that he was on his own without his former bandmates, who no longer wanted to tour.
Marking that myself, I’d give it an A+.