Masterton: Rugby cartoons replay history | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A cartoon history of New Zealand rugby - Having A Ball - launches in Palmerston North tonight after being slotted between the uprights in Masterton.

The book, compiled and written by Masterton author and historian Ian Grant, is the sixth publication to spring from the New Zealand Cartoon Archive that he founded in 1992. The 112-page volume sketches New Zealand mores and morals - on and off the paddock - across more than a century of the game, Mr Grant said.

The idea for the book came after Mr Grant was invited to curate a cartoon exhibition of 60 works for the opening of the revamped New Zealand Rugby Museum at Te Manawa Museum in Palmerston North. The book, featuring 65 cartoons from more than 30 cartoonists, launches tonight at the opening of the exhibition, and the museum, of which fellow Masterton man and Kiwi rugby legend Sir Brian Lochore is president.

According to the foreword, Having a Ball "looks at the triumphs and disasters, the amateur code that morphed into the professional era, the game at the local park and internationals in huge arenas, as well as rugby's effect on the national psyche and the agendas of politicians".

"It is a story brilliantly told in a short introduction and through the perceptive, telling and funny insights of New Zealand's leading cartoonists."

The book features cartoons from earlier generations by Trevor Lloyd, Sir Gordon Minhinnick, Sid Scales, Neville Colvin, Eric Heath and Neville Lodge.

Contemporary award-winning cartoonists also gracing its pages include Peter Bromhead, Bob Brockie, Chris Slane, Murray Ball, Murray Webb, Garrick Tremain and Tom Scott.

The foreword for Having a Ball was written by David Kirk, captain of the All Black team that won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and a timeline of important dates in Kiwi rugby history is also included along with feature profiles of the contributing cartoonists.

The cover of the book features a cartoon by Murray Ball that was originally commissioned for auction and has not been previously published.

Other cartoon histories by Mr Grant of life in the Shaky Isles include The Unauthorized Version: A Cartoon History of New Zealand and The Other Side of the Ditch: A cartoon century in the New Zealand-Australia relationship.