Customs caught out

Press, 10 September 1988, Page 9

Customs caught out

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and the Auckland Customs Department follows that advice. , Instead, it judges books on their titles, and ends up with egg on its face. A Wellington sports journalist, Trish Stratford, has this week launched a book on champion New Zealand sportswomen, titled “Guts, Tears and Glory.”

The books arrived in Auckland last Friday from the Sydney printers but, rather than being released immediately, were held by Customs in Auckland, which thought the title raunchy and the book likely to contain indecent material.

It took some hurried telephone calls on Monday to have the books released in time to reach Wellington for the official launch by the Minister for Recreation and Sport, Mr Tapsell, at the Beehive on Wednesday.

Ms Stratford at first thought it was bizarre that Customs impounded the books, but she can see the humour in it. But she still wonders how the department could misconstrue the stories of 10 champion New Zealand sportswomen as being risque. The book was conceived two years ago. At the time Ms Stratford was a sports journalist with Television New Zealand, and among the people she had had to interview were triathlete Erin Baker and squash player, Susan Devoy. "We chatted about women’s things and it became obvious they were having difficulty getting recognition. It was also obvious there would be other women m

the same situation.” After careful consideration, Ms Stratford chose 11 women to feature in the book — Baker, Devoy, Neroli Fairhall (archer), Stephanie Foster (rower), Sylvia Hume (swimmer), Maree Lyndon (jockey), Margharet Matenga (netballer), Colleen Mills (athlete), Lois Muir (netball coach), Allison Roe (athlete), and Valerie Sloper-Young (athlete). She resigned from Television New Zealand to spend six months writing the book, which relates the personal struggles each woman has endured to gain recognition and acceptance. MS Stratford will know something of the struggle her subjects have been through. She has been told by her publisher that the more “intellectual” the bookshop, the less copies they require. She' has also had to fund the publication herself — “Publishers don’t like making advances for first books.” Ms Stratford is keen for the book to be accepted by young women. “I would like it to be widely read in secondary schools so that young women can read about the determination of these sportswomen to succeed. Hopefully it will help to change some attitudes.” Now that the book is behind her, Ms Stratford has returned to sports journalism as a freelancer, producing sports documentaries for television. Does she have an idea for another book?

“Yes. I would like to write one on sportsmen." ______