The Sports
The Sports took to pop music with a vengeance. Intelligent and
original, the Australian band were Melbourne's reigning pub
champions in the late 70s. Singer Stephen Cummings was an
enigmatic front man, and his songs had a perceptive pop feel and a
novel quality.
Formed from The Pelaco Brothers, The Sports released an
independent EP and in 1978 signed to Mushroom Records. Their first
single for Mushroom, Boys (What Did The Detective Say?) went
Top 40 in Australia, and their debut album Reckless,
helped them win the title of Best New Group at the TV Week
King of Pop Awards.
The band scored another hit with their version of the Jackie
DeShannon song Walk In The Room. Martin Armiger replaced
guitarist Ed Bates in August 1978 and his song Who Listens To
The Radio? became an anthem for the bands large live
following, reaching number 25 on the national chart. It was to
eventually climb the American charts the following year.
The Sports second album, Don't Throw Stones, was
produced by English producer Pete Solley and the band toured
Australia with Graham Parker & The Rumour to promote the
album. So impressed were Parker and his manager that on their
return to London they urged their label, Stiff, to sign them. As
the first Australian act to be signed to the ultra-hip label (home
to Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe) The Sports had achieved immediate
international recognition.
In 1979 they toured with Graham Parker and promoted their first
release on Stiff, a compilation of their first two albums. The
album, titled Don't Throw Stones, went Top 10 in
Australia and the band embarked on an extensive Australian tour on
their return. Arista records released Who Listens To The
radio? in the USA and the band played to a celebrity crowd in
New York to promote it.
In 1980, the single Strangers On A Train charted,
followed by the album Suddenly. The line-up by now had
changed, with keyboard player Jim Niven and drummer Paul Hitchens
leaving. Only Hitchens was replaced and the band toured
constantly, enlisting former Skyhooks guitarist Red Symons to play
keyboards on one tour.
Another tour saw them unite with Split Enz to perform a series
of concerts called Sporting True Colours. The Sports last
album, Sondra, was released in 1981 and was followed by a
mini album called The Sports Play Dylan (and Donovan)
which was exactly what it said on the tin. But the band had tired
of touring and soon dissolved.
Stephen Cummings enjoyed a modicum of success with a subsequent
solo career while Martin Armiger forged quite a path in the fields
of composing and production.
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