Book review by Anne Akers
You love sport and have reported on everything from the World Cup to tennis grand slams. Then, in your mid-50s, life throws you a curve ball, your job is gone and you’re wondering what to do next. Represent your country at sport? Possibly, but for Neil Squires, he knew anything requiring speed, youth or years of training just wasn’t going to work, the options were limited.
It took a few pick-me-up pints with his mates, a lot of Googling, and a WhatsApp from his son who was backpacking Down Under to come up with a sport they could possibly excel in, but they had the answer. Mölkky, a kind of Finnish skittles with a cunning scoring system. Yes, they could do that.
And that’s how their Ridiculous Adventure began.
It would take Neil, from Calverley, and his three mates to Japan via their training ground at the Leeds Pétanque Club (just opposite Kirkstall Abbey). And yes, they did it, against the odds, they represented their country and what a journey that was. For a change, Neil turned his sports writing skills to writing about his own sporting achievements and tells their story in his new book.
The Fall and Rise of the Mölkky Bar Kids launched by Neil at Truman Books, Farsley, started the way any story of an unfamiliar sport should, with a demonstration of how it all worked, it didn’t look easy, especially when the usual pitch of 3-4metres was only just over a metre, but we got the picture.
He took us through how they mastered the game itself, then somehow went on to represent Great Britain in the World Mölkky championships in Japan. They had quite a miss and hit journey and while they probably wouldn’t have used the word ‘mastering’, they did all right. The fact that they were the only Brits in Japan was neither here nor there, they proudly wore the Team GB kit, even if it didn’t fit very well. They didn’t win, but it’s the journey and taking part, isn’t it?
This is a lovely book about friendship, finding yourself, sport (lots of sport), having fun and not letting the lack of skill or experience get in the way of having what they came to call a Ridiculous Adventure.
The Fall and Rise of the Mölkky Bar Kids by Neil Squires is now on sale price £20. Neil is ex chief sportswriter at the Daily Express and is now a freelancer and ghostwriter, writing for national UK newspapers including The Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Sun.
He has covered World Cups in football, rugby and cricket as well as the Olympics, golf majors and tennis grand slams. He continues to play Mölkky. Sometimes.
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