{"id":3166,"date":"2013-10-18T16:17:28","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T15:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3166"},"modified":"2016-02-05T19:39:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:39:54","slug":"a-passion-for-sport-ian-mcmillan-and-owen-sheers-reviewed-by-sara-allen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3166","title":{"rendered":"<em>A Passion for Sport<\/em>: Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers, reviewed by Sara Allen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Passion for Sport : Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers. Manchester Literature Festival at The Green, Oct 16th.<\/p>\n<p>Reviewed by Sara Allen<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"_GoBack\"><\/a>As I walk through the heavy doors of Manchester\u2019s premier sports bar \u2018The Green\u2019 with its leather sofas, virtual golf machine and snooker tables, I can\u2019t help but think it the most fitting venue to see Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers express their \u2018Passion for Sport\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Owen Sheers, poet, dramatist and author, is well known for poetry collections such as \u2018The Blue Book\u2019 and \u2018Skirrid Hill\u2019, in addition to his verse drama \u2018Pink Mist\u2019 commissioned by BBC radio four, which I am assured by a woman in the audience is \u201cincredible\u201d, so much so that it brought her \u201cto tears\u201d. Immediately I am expecting big things from his new book \u2013 \u2018Calon\u2019 (meaning heart in welsh) : A journey to the heart of welsh rugby, and his time as Welsh rugby union artist in Residence. Not forgetting the hilarious Ian McMillan, poet, journalist, playwright and broadcaster author of verse autobiography \u2018Talking myself home\u2019, as he talks about his role as writer in residence for Barnsley F.C.<\/p>\n<p>In the interest of sportsmanship, the pair toss a coin to decide which will speak first. As Sheers exclaims \u201ctails for wales!\u201d he wins the toss and is welcomed to the stage with an enthusiastic amount of applause. He describes writing the book as beginning like a \u201cblank canvas\u201d to then learn what tethers the Welsh so devotedly to rugby. In his book he is able to show the fragility, and even pain that the players endure due to their dedication and love for the sport. He explains how after witnessing \u201cThe wedding game\u201d (winning), and \u201cThe funeral game\u201d (losing) he then had the full narrative of the book, showing the shocking extremes of emotion from the players behind the scenes. Aside from various witty comments and anecdotes it\u2019s easy to see how passionate Sheers is about encouraging readers to get into reading through their passion for sport, a view also shared by equally passionate Barnsley supporter, Ian McMillan.<\/p>\n<p>An extremely entertaining man, with his strong Barnsley accent he keeps the audience laughing throughout the evening. McMillan begins by telling the audience how he became Barnsley FC through \u201ca drunken phone call\u201d and a bit of courage. He explains how through his role as residence he was able to connect with people who \u201cdidn\u2019t usually read poems\u201d. Going by the name of \u201cpoetry man!\u201d he was recognised and clearly adored by the football fans, despite some minor occasional heckling. When asked in the Q&amp;A part of the evening why there is such a gap between sport and poetry, both men agreed that thankfully that gap is recently getting smaller. McMillan simply exclaims \u201cYou can put a poet or a writer, or an artist anywhere\u201d. Making comparisons to sports commentators and poets, McMillan shows how \u201csport always has a narrative\u201d, something clearly and humorously shown through McMillan\u2019s poetry, and likewise displayed in Sheers\u2019 book.<\/p>\n<p>From the witty readings of McMillan\u2019s poetry such as \u2018under 14s\u2019 and \u2018how the mighty fell\u2019, and the humorous anecdotes from Sheers, at one point comparing himself to the welsh rugby team as \u201cold enough to be their father, short enough to be their son\u201d; it\u2019s clear how the pair both share so much enthusiasm for their favoured sports, and how it truly shines through in their writing. With one last question answered, it\u2019s as if the audience are supporting their teams at a match; the two men are practically cheered off the stage. And I leave a truly entertaining night, with a deeper understanding of literature and sports, along with a strong desire to never get caught in a scrum.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Passion for Sport : Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers. Manchester Literature Festival at The Green, Oct 16th. Reviewed by Sara Allen &nbsp; As I walk through the heavy doors of Manchester\u2019s premier sports bar \u2018The Green\u2019 with its leather sofas, virtual golf machine and snooker tables, I can\u2019t help but think it the most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[16,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Passion for Sport: Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers, reviewed by Sara Allen - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Passion for Sport: Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers, reviewed by Sara Allen - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Passion for Sport : Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers. 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