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This is a great photo of rugby league player Johnathan Thurston enjoying Grand Final victory with his daughter last Sunday. Australian photographer Cameron Spencer said it was one of the most emotional photos he’s ever taken. “He could have been off with his mates running around with the cup, but instead he walked with his…

Former England rugby player Matt Dawson has caused controversy by promoting the “Hakarena”, a mock version of the haka. Matt urges English fans to perform the dance throughout the Rugby World Cup to “inspire” the English team. You can see the ‘Hakarena” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHS_Mn7nWE This reminds me of the recent debate surrounding former All Black…

The first All Blacks vs England test took place in 1905 and New Zealand won 15-0. The referee of the match was Welshman, Gil Evans. After the game Gil gave the match whistle to another referee, Albert Freethy. Almost twenty years later, Albert was still using the whistle! He used it during the 1924 All Blacks Invincibles tour…

The Rugby World Cup begins this week and to celebrate I’ve just released two new books about rugby. Each day this week I’m sharing interesting information about rugby to help you “warm up” for the tournament. Day 3 The 1888 New Zealand Natives rugby team were the first sports team to wear a silver fern…

The Rugby World Cup begins this week and to celebrate I’ve just released two new books about rugby. Each day this week I’m sharing interesting information about rugby to help you “warm up” for the tournament. Day 2 Famous All Black traditions like the black uniform, the silver fern and the pre-match haka originated with…

The Rugby World Cup begins this week and to celebrate I’ve just released two new books about rugby. Each day this week I’ll share interesting information about rugby to help you “warm up” for the tournament. Day 1 Did you know that a New Zealander with the awesome name William Atack, was the first person…

Malo e lelei everyone and happy uike kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga (Tongan language week)! This week I thought I would write about my favourite current Tongan sportsperson. Not Steven Adams, though he’s pretty amazing. Not Manu Vatuvei, but much respect for Manu. My favourite Tongan sportsperson is Bill Fukofuka, a former Tangaroa College student…

A real highlight this week was watching my year 12 Drama class perform a children’s theatre show, Fatu and Clicks at the Vodafone Event Centre in Manukau. The play is based on a story from my book Samoan Heroes. Here are some images from the show. Excited children waiting for the show to begin at…

This week the NRL celebrates Indigenous Round, paying tribute to Australia’s Indigenous people. Rugby league is doing a lot to promote positive cultural relations in Australia. This year six indigenous Australians started in the Australian league team that played the Kiwis. That was a record for an Australian sports team. This is one aspect of…

It was inspiring attending the Schools Trash to Fashion show at Mangere Arts Centre last week. The creativity of the designers was amazing. Better still is the thought that materials thought of as ‘junk’ and valueless could be transformed and reused as wonderful pieces of art. There’s a future thought about how we sometimes regard…

I recently read an interesting book called Worn Stories by Emily Spivack. The idea of the book is that most of us own at least one piece of clothing that has an interesting story connected to it. That got me thinking about the stories/symbolism that are told in the design of many of today’s sporting…

Really excited to hear that award winning film maker Taika Waititi is working on a movie adaptation of Kiwi writer Barry Crump’s novel Wild Pork and Watercress. The film is called Hunt for the Wilderpeople and is about an uncle who takes his nephew to the Urewera forest so he won’t be fostered. I read…

Friday 12th June was a special day as we launched my new book Samoan Heroes at Tupu Youth Library in Otara. It was such an inspiring evening, especially to see so many young people there. One of the guests wrote, “Where else would you see contemporary dance, an interview with a local NRL player, soulful…

Here’s a great blog post idea for those of wonderful people who run school libraries. King’s College in Auckland have a librarian’s blog and in their latest one featured my books for young people. https://kingzone.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/great-new-series-of-sports-books-in-the-library/

It’s NZ Music Month and X Factor grand final time so this week I want to honour a Samoan hero who has achieved international success and broke a ceiling for Pacific hiphop. The artist? Demetrius Savelio, better known as Savage. What I love the most about Savage’s story is how he overcame a tough beginning…

It’s been a long time in the making … but the Samoan Heroes book is just a few weeks away from release. The books are on a ship coming from China, due to arrive late this month, just in time for Samoan Independence celebrations! In anticipation, the next few posts will be some extracts from…

It’s National Library week in America and Topeka Library made this parody of Taylor Swift’s song “Shake It Off” to celebrate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfNfnL64rOQ&feature=youtu.be Big shout out to all our local librarians including Richie (@TupuYouth), Max (Manukau), Atoy (Botany). Thank you for what you do guys. .

Samoan hero Troy Polamalu retired from the NFL this week. I love what he said in an interview in 2010. Reporter: “You play the game so violently, are you a violent person off the field too? Do you like violence?” Troy : “No, I don’t like violence and I don’t like hitting the other players…

Today I had to tell my year 9 tutor class that I won’t be their tutor teacher next term. It was pretty hard because we’ve built up a bond and just started to get to know each other. I’ve enjoyed working with these junior students, trying to share with them things they need to know…

Just found out that my book Off Loading with Sonny Bill Williams made the longlist for the LIANZA Childrens Book Awards. That’s pretty cool! I enjoy speaking about SBW with students, showing them how he loves to read, carries exercise books around so he can take notes at training and believes digital literacy is as…

Last week I wrote about how I believed young people will read books, if they find books that are appealing to them. About how I had a feeling about what kinds of books those are. And how I just started writing them even though publishers told me they doubted there would be interest in the…

It’s been three weeks since I released Jammin with Steven Adams and the feedback I’ve received has been awesome and really encouraging! I’m so thankful to the educators and librarians who took a chance on a self published author for the sake of their students and really happy for the young people I write for. And I’ve been…

Hey everyone just letting you know that the exciting new biography on Kiwi NBA player Steven Adams is now available for purchase! The cost is $25 plus postage. Send me an e mail if you would like to order a copy for yourself or a young person that could do with some inspiration. davidrileynz@gmail.com

Hey everyone the Steven Adams book will be available after Christmas but if you like e books you can get the e book version now here:

To celebrate SBW’s return to the All Blacks I’ve updated the biography I wrote on him for young people and got a new cover designed. What do you think about it?

Jesse is the most successful Samoan NFL player ever. He played for 15 years and won four Superbowl Championships with the San Francisco 49ers. His position was Offensive Lineman. Jesse was born in Toamua, Upolu in 1961. ‘The foundation of my values and beliefs are based on my Samoan culture,’ Jesse says. ‘I’m thankful for…