In August last year, David began a four-year degree at Massachusetts-based Harvard University. <\/p>\n
At Harvard, David Grey plays for the Harvard Men\u2019s Soccer Club. Photo \/ Jacob Rus<\/p>\n
\u201cI intend to major in physics at Harvard,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy dream is to play a role in harnessing hydrogen fusion for renewable energy, and I keenly follow the fusion development at deep-tech start-up OpenStar in Wellington. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then again, physicists are also in high demand by football clubs. Liverpool are hiring physicists for their data analysis. I\u2019d love to be the next William Spearman… Harvard physicist-turned Liverpool head of data science.\u201d <\/p>\n
As well as sciences and mathematics, Grey\u2019s studies at school included English and Spanish \u2013 subjects that have ready application in the football world, for writers and active participants in the European or South American game. <\/p>\n
Grey had studied the rigorous Cambridge International curriculum at ACG Strathallan College in Karaka, and set his sights on further study at an American university. In addition to Harvard, he was offered places at 10 prestigious US universities. <\/p>\n
He wove his interest in physics into a 2023 study of 1000 goals in an English Premier League season to analyse the art of the curl shot. Before this study, who in football knew about the Magnus effect? (It\u2019s the phenomenon behind a ball\u2019s curling path through the air.) <\/p>\n
Grey published his findings in a two-part research paper that appeared on the Friends of Football website. <\/p>\n
Veteran football reporter Josh Easby edits the website and corrals an impressive stable of young sports writers. Among them is Joan Grey, David\u2019s 12-months-younger sister, who has written for the website for years, specialising in women\u2019s football. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe started playing football when I did,\u201d Grey said. \u201cShe was my obliging target in the goal in the paddock. It\u2019s through Joan that I got the idea of writing articles.\u201d <\/p>\n
Last month, while at home in Pukekohe for the US summer break, he decided to do something with all the football knowledge he\u2019d picked up since he fell in love with the game as a kid. <\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to give Substack a go,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it could be a perfect hobby: an outlet for all my ideas and opinions on football.\u201d <\/p>\n
Substack is an American online platform where writers and other creators can publish newsletters, podcasts and videos either free of charge or through paid subscriptions. <\/p>\n
Born in Auckland in 2006 and raised on a farm in Pukekohe, Grey was an avid footballer from the age of 5. He progressed through the grades and played at Northern League under-23 level for Hamilton Wanderers and Manurewa as a midfielder or striker. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond that, I\u2019ve always found the wider ecosystem of professional football particularly fascinating: the tactics, the culture and the politics of it all,\u201d Grey said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad always told me about the glory days of Gisborne City when he was young and used to go to games. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, I loved learning about different teams, leagues and players in the FIFA video game. Nowadays, I listen to a couple of hours of football podcasts each day and watch my favourite teams as much as possible. <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up a Liverpool supporter \u2013 through my dad \u2013 and I support Brighton myself. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also never miss an Auckland FC or All Whites match, even though kick-off times are not kind to those in US time zones.\u201d <\/p>\n
Grey has taken his love of football to the next level. He can play. <\/p>\n
He was named the Strathallan College MVP (most valuable player) for the 2023 New Zealand Secondary Schools Trident Football Tournament \u2013 the same competition that Gisborne Boys\u2019 High School and Campion College contested last month \u2013 and helped his team to overall victory at the tournament. <\/p>\n
He was a coach for former All White player and coach Ricki Herbert\u2019s RH3 Football Academy, and helped run the 18 Yard Club, a non-profit business that taught football scoring skills to young players in South Auckland. <\/p>\n
At Harvard, Grey plays for the Harvard Men\u2019s Soccer Club. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a competitive university league but not to be confused with NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] Division 1,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI work at the Division 1 games through my job as matchday staff for the Harvard Athletics department.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the chain barriers to the playing field are red and white… David Grey gets close to hallowed ground in the cavernous stadium of Athletic Club Bilbao in the Basque region of Spain.<\/p>\n
Grey is based near Boston, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When he visits a city on his travels, he makes it his \u201cpersonal mission\u201d to see any football stadium there and take a selfie outside the gate. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also collect football jerseys and try to match my top to the games being played that day. It makes for a bright wardrobe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Grey started writing his football columns \u201cjust for the personal thrill of it\u201d and without any particular audience in mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed the writing, and I\u2019ve been encouraged by the positive response to the pieces,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI plan to keep my writing habit going for as long as I can, although that might be a little harder when the Harvard workload really kicks in this semester. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to keep writing with my own unique voice and through a New Zealand lens where I can.\u201d <\/p>\n
So far, Grey\u2019s football articles have covered subjects as diverse as \u201cThe long sleeve jersey: My favourite football aesthetic\u201d, \u201cThe VC club: Is Chelsea\u2019s \u2018portfolio\u2019 a sign of things to come for football?\u201d, \u201cThe fast-bowling Sean Longstaff and other closet cricketers\u201d, \u201cTo arrive overpriced or to arrive underrated?\u201d, \u201cAn ode to the short-sleeve + gloves combo\u201d, \u201cWhy keeping Hiroki Sakai betters any AFC winter transfer\u201d and plenty more where they came from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In August last year, David began a four-year degree at Massachusetts-based Harvard University. At Harvard, David Grey plays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[95,5162,16834,5213,12506,17624,111,139,69,393,34687,213,9631,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-37743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-chasing","10":"tag-dreams","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-gisborne","13":"tag-harvard","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-physics","18":"tag-roots","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-student","21":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}