yet another great "pub" band..I saw them with other great bands in the late 70's and recall it was s such a fun night with fun people just enjoying a great night out. Always loved this ear growing up here in Australia we had such a wide variety of fantastic music available to us. Keep Safe Keep Strong 🦘🦘🦘🦘❤❤🎶🎶🎵🎵🎶🎶

Sports also did the Sydney circuit. I saw them a few times. 🙂

Great song & band. We were so lucky in Aus to have so many amazing local bands playing in the pubs.

First time I heard this was in my dad's car as he drove me back home from Girl Scouts. It must have been a Friday night, because that's when those meetings took place. The following Sunday, The Sports were on Countdown performing the song. That's my memory. 🙂

... A plea from a New Wave megafan from Boston, but lived in LA in the 80's.. Please do Eurogliders ''Heaven''! I loved this Australian band, they had so many great songs in the 80's, Aussies need to give more love to Eurogliders! Heaven is a masterpiece!

I loved this as much as I loved Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons' ''Hit & Run''.

I went through a bit of a journey with this band. My wife and I used to watch them play around Melbourne, particuarly Martini's and Bombay Rock. This was their big commercial moment, and for a group that was playing catch up with the greats from Great Britain, they still manage to sound a tad Melbournish. Hard to say what that is.. The slightly uptight and late at night paranoia can be heard in this song and it can be heard in Men At Work's ''Who Can It Be Now''.

Very cool! Love seeing this. Good song for a miserable Friday night (or any dark miserable night during the week, I guess). Other Sports singles are worth checking out on. I suggest a double-shot of Sports next time. Short song ''Boys (What Did The Detective Say)'' and a revist of ''Strangers On A Train'' (video with James Freud's wife Sally - looking quite nice). *The Sports - Boys / Strangers On A Train (Audio + Video Merge 2023)* No rush.. Sports can be retired for a while. Thanks for using the cool Arista records advert at the end too!

The Sports and Wings were two of my favourite bands in 1979. I had the ''Don't Throw Stones'' poster (the Australian album cover) on my wall right beside a poster of ''Back To The Egg''. I liked The Sports so much that I not only had a 7'' vinyl of the ''Don't Throw Stones'' single, but I also had the whole album. I loved screaming at them when they performed on Countdown, and though I only remember it slightly, I did enjoy being on the set and in the video ''Who Listens To The Radio'' (version 2) with all my Countdown friends. Then on one fine day in 1980, The Sports were assigned to play at my school; and who should I see exchanging a few F-bombs, but Stephen Cummings and Andrew Pendlebury. Now, the swearing might have been trivial in an adult world, but for an 11 year old girl it was frightening and shocking! Nice memories! Perhaps do ''Suspicious Minds'' (an original by The Sports, not an Elvis cover) sometime. 🐕

Well, I've been listening to this song for 45 years, and listening to it again today, I was thinking with the great bass line, and the rhythm and story line, it could be Joe Jackson. It's the first time I've ever considered this, and then, 45 seconds later, Chris said that on his first listen. Well done! The Sports had another big hit called Strangers On A Train, and a cover of The Easybeats' song, Wedding Ring. And Singer Stephen Cummings had a fantastic (even if it's a slower song) duet with the incredible Toni Child's called I Fell From A Great Height. He did a solo version too, but the duet is better (in my humble opinion).

lol, my girlfriend at the time loved this song.

Great tune. Thanks.

That pumping Precision Bass is one of the winning parts of the song, plus Stephen’s delivery and lyrics. They were such a tight band, a great pub rock outfit as so many of their contemporaries were back in those days. Stephen reminds me a bit of Bryan Ferry. I think you’ve already done the others that I’d suggest. Who Listens To The Radio was one of their biggest hits (there were two arrangements released - one was a little more guitar heavy, the other featured keyboards a bit more), Boys (What Did The Detective Say?) was another, which references Russell Street (the main Police Headquarters in Melbourne at the time) Listening to this made me think of a few other Aussie bands that you might want to hear. Dragon was one, with early hits like Get That Jive, This Time, Still In Love With You, peak hits like Rain, Body And The Beat, Wilder World, and later with Speak No Evil, Dreams Of Ordinary Men, and Young Years. The Badloves are another fantastic live act, with songs like Slave, Green Limousine, Lost, I Remember, Caroline, and Yesterday’s Gone. The Whitlams are another, with superb musicianship, great (but often odd yet hilarious lyrics), with songs like No Aphrodisiac, You Sound Like Louis Burnett, I Make Hamburgers, and Buy Now Pay Later.

These guys were on the cusp of making it big in the States. I remember the ''Don't Throw Stones'' and the revamped ''Who Listens To The Radio'' video on Showtime's Video Concert Hall in 1979. Who'd think the kids in the ''Who Listens To The Radio'' video would be commenting on this channel in 2024? Dang, time's a crazy thing!

I used to see them play around the traps in Melbourne in the late 70's. Excellent live band! Stephen Cummings would go out on his own and sound more like himself with his solo output. ''Speak With Frankness'' is an amusing observation of Frank Sinatra's Australian visits with clever references to his songs. My favourite solo by Stephen Cummings.

This was an easy video to make because it took place on a soundstage with very little interference. It was the second video directed by Ron Brown. There isn't much to report about the making of this video. The only time a video was challenging was when we made the second video for the re-recorded version of ''Who Listens To The Radio'', which involved the Countdown kids as extras - big mistake. A couple of years later, a video for the band's final single titled ''How Come'' also involved children. However, we were to make sure that under no circumstances will we to have Countdown kids as junior extras. The Sports and their manager were adamant about this.

A really good song for a Friday night would be ''Girls On The Avenue'' by Richard Clapton. This song isn't too typical of The Sports, but it's typical of the new music of this era. Muted guitar strumming, high pitched vocal harmonies, a slight disco -funky bass feel, singing sounding a bit like Joe Jackson.. Rolling Stones ''Some Girls'' album and that first Cars album were doing the rounds and The Sports figured a way to factor their own approach to the trend. Their early records had a lot of twang and plucking much like their bro's Jo Jo Zep/Falcons. From what I remember the influence of Chic would seep in the following year and the music, though not terrible, was starting to sound like this new wave-disco hybrid... I loved The Sports when they were playing pubs and smaller venues, but the ''Countdown'' Sports was of an odd one.

I had to put my thinking cap on for this one. It's been so long since I even listened to it. This came out in the year when pub rock groups were being upgraded for the promising New Wave trend. Elvis Costello took three steps with each album, from _My Aim Is True_ being his raw debut, to _This Year's Model_ being his stripped back second, to _Armed Forces_ being his more slick and commercial effort. Graham Parker And The Rumour's _Squeezing Out Sparks_ was also polished next to their previous records. Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons and The Sports, both having big US deals, also upgraded their sound. The _Don't Throw Stones_ album still offers a lot of the older Sports sound, as I'm sure nobody in the band would have been comfortable with cruising down The Cars' super highway. But make no mistake. They didn't shy away from the odd synthesizer, and nod to New Zealand's latest export, Mi-Sex (a slick and commercial rock band that were slightly influenced by Ultravox). Martin Armiger might have been Ed Bates' cool replacement with his blonde hair and thin build, but he too was a music nerd that laughed off the idea of chasing hits and being more focused on 'esoteric ideas. Madness loved these guys and made it clear that Australia was taking them for granted.

I had very little knowledge of The Sports when I first saw them perform this song on Countdown. The '"Who Listens To The Radio'' song might as well have been a Status Quo song for all I cared because I only started to be curious about music at the age of nine (1979). I thought The Sports were very funny and jovial, and that they had a cute singer. That's just how I saw them as a child. As I got older, I began noticing some darkness in their lyrics and worried about singer, Stephen Cummings, and his mental state. The pain was more obvious in their songs then they were in Mental As Anything songs. I do wonder how much of an influence The Sports had on the Mentals and Men At Work, because they never came across like things were A-OK, and Men At Work also addressed similar themes in their songs. Both Melbourne bands, so it's very possible... Great song!

What I liked about these guys is that they were like so many people I got to be friends with during my first two years in Melbourne. They all lived in small flats and some were even starting families. Like The Sports, they were also intellectual, longhaired types that had either completing or had just completed their university courses. The Sports lyrics often describe life in urbanised Melbourne, which means you have to live around here to completely understand them. I came to Australia from California on a surfing pilgrimage in 1977, but instead of falling for a tanned blonde surfer girl from some surfing community in Byron Bay or Burleigh Heads, I fell for a little Melburnian brunette that was studying art. The Sports, Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons and a newish cat in town called Mark Gillepsie were the usual acts my wife dragged out to see. If I have a request for a song, it would have to be Mark Gillespie's ''Only Human''. The whole album is a lost classic imo.

One my all time favourites

But Stephen Cummings sounded like this as early as 1976. I heard him sounding like that before Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson were releasing records. I agree that they appropriated their sound to suit that ''new wave'' market by this period.

They definitely toured with Elvis Costello. Stephen Cummings supported Costello too about 15(?) years ago at the State Theatre when EC was doing his wheel of fortune thing. Cummings’ memoir “Will it be funny tomorrow, Billy” is a great read. The anecdote that gave the book its title is hysterical and also very unfortunate.

The Sports were a good local band to see, and often they would open for bigger acts like Thin Lizzy and even Madness. Always the bridesmaids but never the bride, so to speak. In response to comments said by Chris, Elvis Costello was reaching out to Nashville as early as 1978 with songs like ''Stranger In The House'', and Joe Jackson seemed to lean on the mid-Atlantic accent when singing. His move to America would also cause him to make American references in his songs. I believe The Sports were doing much the same thing in Melbourne, and because this approach was the trend in the pub rock scene of both Britain and Australia (probably more Melbourne), it was inevitable that some acts would be signed at around the same time and begin releasing records. The Sports were quite clever musically and lyrically, and weren't the sort of guys that cared to understand the pop market. Melbourne is Victorian in style and like England, has a little more grey in the sky. That might explain the slight ''English'' characteristics that you're picking up on in this group.

The lead sounds like Elvis Costello & harmonies & guitar are copped from The Cars. Good catch by Chris on Elvis / Joe Jackson vocal characteristics. Good song though 👌

All us old Melbourne rock heads sensed a change in The Sports when they released this. The Cars, EC and Attractions, you name them, were getting into their system. But I can hear a lot of Carlton rock of Skyhooks, Jo Jo Zep, going on...

I don't know what The Sports' European activity involvd, but I don't recall The Sports opening for Elvis Costello in Australia. Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons were the supporting Elvis Costello at Sydney's Regent Theatre, and they were great. EC pissed us off by cutting his set short too short (for what we're used to), and we began rioting. There were a lot of bands to see in Sydney that would give their all and for very little money. We just weren't used to somebody walking off stage after 50 minutes without an encore and an excuse that the audience was too mechanical. Sorry, but Stephen Cummings of The Sports was a crippling shy man with an extremely fragile ego, but he made sure a mechanical audience was grooving in no time. As Dogs In Space has pointed out, ''Don't Throw Stones'' was a logical follow up to ''Who Listens To The Radio''.

If you want to hear a real heavy Cars 🚗 influenced track check out Take Me To Your Leader by The Sinceros.

Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons' brother band

Andrew Pendlebury and Stephen Cummings - She Set Fire To The House nzoz1987 (Guitarist & lead singer ex-sports)

I always thought that James Reyne from Australian Crawl copied Stephen Cummings vocal sound and antics.

intelligent band with quirky word play and songs about being a working class person from Melbourne in the 70's. James Reyne of Australian Crawl is similiar, whether he like to admit it or not.

Ok! Now try "Too Bad" by Doug and the Slugs!

Best results for songs requested so far: *Eurogliders - Heaven (Must Be There) ClassicVideos80s* (requested by Boston And Proud, highly recommended by me) The Sports - Suspicious Minds nzoz1979 (requested by Live It Up) Mark Gillespie - Only Human Antipodes (requested by RedRedGuitars, highly recommended by me) Stephen Cummings - Speak With Frankness nzoz1986 (requested by NicoleBouris)

Have you reacted to 'Wedding Ring' by the Sports? Its a a great up beat tune -to get your feet tapping. Do yourself a favour as they say....

They did a few reunion gigs about 10 years ago. Some things are best left in the past. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kKuhfNmEvZ3cZX0.html

Boo! Sellout! Kidding. This was their commercial hit, but there's a lot of familiar sounds in this song from what The Sports had sounded like with Ed Bates and the sounds of the Carlton Rock scene (I'm sure you two are sick of reading '"Carlton'', but it's relevant). Not too much is compromised. The Sports were clever with word play, metaphors and references. Don't know what the cat's all about, but the laundromat being up for sale could indicate that somebody's dirty laundry is out for the public to access or read about. Like ''Hit & Run'' by Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons, this just takes me back to my small world in Melbourne where I saw bands on the weekend, followed my favourite footy team (Saints), hang out with mates, attended art school, lived worked and played, starved myself during the week, pig out at Pancake Parlour, took drugs, saw bands.. I would love to see you guys check out ''Boy (What Did The Detective Say)''.

I didn't like this one when I first heard it because it reminded me of The Cars, but there was enough of the Carlton rock sound to keep me interested. It was a good and logical follow up to the great ''Who Listens To The Radio''.

Should have been huge. Now had they been American .......

I always thought this was good, but not the most accurate representation of The Sports. As a live band, they were on fire. This demonstrates their musicianship and gives a lot of flattery to the rhythm section of Robert Glover and Paul Hitchins. Martin Armiger and Andy Pendlebury are barely doing anything remarkable on their guitars here.