E45 | Scotty Stevenson

Episode summary | Scotty Stevenson

Scotty Stevenson is one of the most prolific media personalities in New Zealand – commentary, TV, author, columnist, personality – he can do it all.

We hear about why he left SKY Sport to join Spark Sport and the highs and lows of commentating the All Blacks for the first time at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

We learn about his transformative running journey, and the race that made him cry. He opens up on his biggest influences in sports media and the challenges facing the industry, all from being a bar tender in Auckland after dropping out of university.

Scotty is one of the cleanest thinkers in New Zealand and the breadth and depth of his institutional sports knowledge makes him an authority on so many topics. There were times in this episode when we were totally captivated listening as his fully formed answers seemed to fall out in incredible depth and ease. He’s got something pretty special going on upstairs.

Show notes | Scotty Stevenson

2.04 Scotty gets off to a fast start 30 minutes early for the pod with an early beer from the ACC fridge

4.51 Spark Sport and the 2019 Rugby World Cup

14.26 Commentating rugby v cricket

19.35 Dealing with commentary criticism and social media trolls

26.52 A bar tender in the Auckland scene who became one of the “cleanest thinkers” in sport media

34.30 The America’s Cup

41.32 Calling the All Blacks 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final loss and writing the Kieran Read autobiography simultaneously

45.03 The running habit, its mental health benefits, and entering the Old Ghost Ultra

1.00.31 Working with Mike Lane and the Alternative Commentary Collective

1.05.16 Scotty Stevenson on sports media in New Zealand

1.19.22 “Law firms don’t hang around schools at lunchtime”: Thoughts on rugby and

1.26.48 Some suggestions for football

1.33.00 Biggest influences in the sports media industry

1.36.00 A monologue to end from Seamus and last words from Scotty and Steve