Mark Lewis-Francis hanging on by a thread:
In the wake of the Christine Ohuruogu affair a lot of attention has been paid to the athletes who were cited by UK Athletics as having missed two drugs tests and thus face a suspension should they make it three. With missed drugs tests staying on record for five years there are a number of fairly high-profile track and field athletes who will have to be firmly on their toes over the next half-decade.
Chief amongst those is sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis who burst onto the scene just before the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. He made his presence felt in the ‘b’ race at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix with a time one tenth of a second behind that of the ‘a' race winner. He turned down the chance to go to Australia, instead winning the 100m gold at the world junior championships in Santiago, Cuba. A lot was expected of him, but at least individually he has not lived upto the potential he displayed at the start of the century.
The latest episode came because of two lazy lapses that have come to typify his career. Firstly he wasn’t home when the testers came calling between 7 and 8 in the morning. The second time he was upstairs as the folks with the glass jars and clipboards were outside ringing a broken doorbell. At least in future we know the testers may now try the knocker as well.
Lewis-Francis will be best remembered, so far, for holding off Maurice Greene on the final leg of a victorious 4x100m relay at the Athens Olympics, but that success just highlights his own inability to maintain any level of consistency. That year he failed to reach the 100m final and a year later at the Helsinki World Championships he was unable to hold the lead against France and slipped to bronze behind Trinidad and Tobago. He also experienced one of his most embarrassing moments in the lead up to the championships, when he was unable to fit into the kit he had been measured for in April come the championships in August.
Worse still was to come later in the year when he was stripped of his World Indoor Championship 60m silver medal after testing positive for cannabis, though escaped a ban after claiming he had inhaled it passively. With such a mark on his record, it is unlikely that UK Athletics will look at him so sympathetically should he miss a third test.
Should it happen it would be a massive shame as no one has come onto the scene with such expectations around him, though the clamour since for Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is on a similar level. On his day he is undoubtedly Britain’s best sprinter, though his ability to let his mind wander has let him down on too many occasions and his lack of focus to his career contrasts sharply to someone like Craig Pickering, the up and coming Scot. That said there have been times when he has shown some sense, such as his decision to leave his Birmingham home to move to London so that he could train with the respected sprint coach, Tony Lester.
When he burst onto the scene seven and a half years ago, the talk of him being the next Olympic champion was grossly exaggerated, not least because British sprinters have a tendency to mature later than their trans-Atlantic cousins. Linford Christie and Allan Wells, Britain’s last two Olympic 100m champions were both in their 30s and Darren Campbell was 27 when he won 200m silver in Sydney. It is certainly a crucial time for Lewis-Francis as it would be a total waste of talent if all he had to show at the end of his career were a few relay medals, even if one was the best going.
Third half becomes Serie A law:
It has hardly been a golden year for Italian football off the field, with the year book-ended by a policeman killed by fans in January and a fan killed by a policeman in November. However, this week the peninsula has been getting excited by a new ruling for Serie A and B that will come into effect when the leagues restart after their winter breaks.
Last week Inter defeated Fiorentina 2-0 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence to keep clear at the top of the table and stem la viola’s momentum that had pushed them into third place. With it being a cold, winter Sunday evening in the renaissance city, one would have expected the home side to depart to the dressing rooms as quickly as possible. Instead after an emotional match (it was Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli’s first match following the death of his wife to cancer) the whole team formed a guard of honour for the nerazzurri and applauded them off the field in a style that has long been one of the traditions of rugby union.
In the days that followed the papers were full of praise and talked of their hopes for the third half and a return of something approaching fair play in a league that is all too often dominated by furbu; the sly cunning that takes place in an attempt to win the match. There was talk that Fiorentina might be punished by the league, having been denied permission to go ahead with the initiative, only to do it regardless. Of course in the face of such overwhelming praise the Lega Calcio quickly passed the law that will introduce it to the top two leagues’ round of matches from 27th January onwards.
Two questions immediately rise out of such an initiative. Firstly, will it have the desired effect of calming both players and spectators? And secondly should the rest of the world adopt it in their leagues? The answers to which should be, let’s hope so and as soon as possible.
There is little doubt that the mood on the pitch helps shape the mood off it. Fans who are intent on causing trouble will only be more fired up by two teams that kick the life out of each other and then continue their disputes once the final whistle goes (Arsenal v Manchester United matches come readily to mind at this point). Letting go of things after the final whistle, especially in big matches, is something a lot of footballers are not very good at, but hopefully a guard of honour or tunnel of applause, or whatever you want to call it, should take enough of the sting out of emotions to keep the pizza slices on the plate, rather than flying through the air towards knights of the realm. In short the tunnel means players have to leave things on the pitch, rather than behave like the spoilt brats that they have become and anything that means that might happen should be welcomed with open arms.
You see the crucial difference between doing it after the match, as opposed to before it, as per the Champions and Premier Leagues, is that players are being civil to each other after 90 minutes or more of using all manners of schemes (some fair, some less so) to beat their opponent. The theory will be that if the players can show that they have left things on the pitch, then it should set an example to the fans off it. Sad as it seems fans tend to ape the behaviour of the idols and the hope has to be that if their idols behave like civilised, decent human beings and chat calmly and rationally to someone who minutes ago was shouldering them into the advertising hording, then so can the fans. Sure there will be a small minority who will be bent on trouble, but the more their behaviour becomes a contrast to the way the players behave, the quicker a level of civility will return to a sport spoiled by greed and excess.
Of course a lot of this is mere speculation, but at the very least Italy is giving it a go, rather than pooh-poohing it before trying it out, as though taking something good from another sport is a sign of weakness. As said the match between Inter and Fiorentina was far from typical, with Prandelli’s situation focusing minds on the bigger picture. The true test of its effectiveness will come at the end of a match when a contentious last-minute penalty changes the outcome of a top or bottom of the table clash. But if there is even the most remote chance that the likes of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson can look each other in the eye and shake hands, then there will be little doubt that a massive amount of progress has been made.
JI 10/12/07
lunedì 10 dicembre 2007
domenica 2 dicembre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 03/12/07
Baa-Baas still trying to find place the world:
The rugby union international calendar was brought to a close at the weekend with South Africa suffering their first loss as world champions with a 22-5 defeat to the Barbarians at Twickenham. It won’t be a defeat that unduly troubles the Springboks as they head back to sunnier climes. They can look back on a tremendous year both at international and provincial level and be glad to have bloodied some new faces in awful weather conditions in front of a 52,000 crowd at Twickenham. Having used the week in London as something of a jolly, with Christmas shopping high on the priorities, they will enjoy their well-earned time off to let the tag of world champions sink in.
It was the other team on the day that can look back with greater satisfaction, not just for the result, but the way in which they did it and the timing of it. Great credit must therefore go to the players, especially those from the southern hemisphere, who rose from their beach lounges to put the boots on one more time. No doubt the likes of New Zealand’s Joe Rokocoko, Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu and Australia’s Matt Giteau all felt they had unfinished business after their world cup quarterfinal exits. Credit too to the Welsh regional teams, the Cardiff Blues and Ospreys who allowed Tom Shanklin, Martyn Williams and Justin Marshall to play, despite having Anglo-Welsh commitments over the weekend. How much new Wales coach Warren Gatland must wish he could persuade Williams against international retirement following his man of the match performance in southwest London?
However, greatest praise must go to the Baa-Baas captain on the day, Mark Regan, who defied his club to lead the team out. His club, Bristol, had been one of the Premier Rugby teams to vote overwhelmingly against releasing their players for the fixture, but having been excused duty to stay fresh for next weekend’s European Cup match, Regan put a few west country noses out of joint when he headed down the M4. His rallying call to the Barbarians’ cause during the week was refreshing to hear in these times of rest periods and peak performance targets. Having been on the end of four defeats to South Africa this year, the England hooker will no doubt be feeling that there was an element of score settling with the result, even though he would surely swap it for a win the previous time he took them on.
Of course this match came at the end of a week in which the great and the good of world rugby; the unions, domestic leagues, competition committees and various others were hosted by the International Rugby Board in Woking to thrash out a coherent structure to the game. One team that failed to raise a mention was that of the Barbarians and the fear was that the Springboks would see them off before further calls to remove this anachronism from the modern game once and for all. They did get a mention in the English club v country talks in which the decision was made not to release premier league players for this fixture. Such treatment contrasts greatly to another team from the amateur era whose place in the grand scheme of things many were fearing when the sport turned professional, The British and Irish Lions.
When rugby union went open in 1995 many wondered where the Lions would fit in. Now though any call to abolish the four-year cycle of Lions’ tours would meet with fierce resistance, not only from the Home Unions Committee, but from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all four of whom benefit financially from the tours. They have been cherished and nurtured like the favourite child, despite there having been more losing than winning tours, whilst the Barbarians have taken on the Cinderella role. What then should become of the men in black and white hoops?
It was good to hear that in future there would be some system in which clubs would nominate a player for a match, something they are infinitely able to do in these days of mega squads. There should be one match in the autumn against one of the touring teams and two in the summer, using different stadiums around the UK. There has also been talk of using them as a development tool in the developing rugby nations. Imagine how much good a Barbarians tour would do to raise the profile of the sport in Georgia, Portugal or Romania, who struggle to secure test matches against the tier one nations, let alone at home. Already the Barbarians do a massive amount for charity and this would be a far more direct route to help out the less affluent rugby nations. It would also do young uncapped players the world of good touring to such places and learning from their more experienced colleagues, serve as a shop window for those without a club, as Ben Cohen did this weekend, and provide one last hurrah for those retiring from the sport, as Jason Robinson did at Twickenham.
Backing the Barbarians these days is not the done thing if a lot of rugby opinion is to be listened to. But something that has provided that many moments of glorious rugby down the years should not be so hastily thrown away. There have been highlights galore down the years. Don’t believe me? Go to Youtube and type in the word Barbarians. Top of these is of course Gareth Edwards’ try against New Zealand in 1973, but others matches that will live long in the memory include the 1994 match at Lansdowne Road and the 2000 match at Twickenham, both against the Springboks. Furthermore they are a far more preferable invitational side to watch than those in the shoddy ‘North v South’ and ‘Jonah v Johnno’ matches that have been foisted upon us in recent years.
This weekend provided a boon at just the right time for the Baa-Baas and it was a throwback to past years with the performances on and off the pitch. Regan led the way of course, but probably the greatest personification of the Barbarian way was by New Zealand flanker Jerry Collins who wore Barnstaple second XV socks. He played for the Devon side whilst catching up with some Kiwi friends after leaving France. Giteau’s early break out try set the tone and whilst the rain dampened the action as the match wore on, it was definitely a match that put a smile on the face. That said there will be need to be many more of these performances to put the Barbarians back to where they were in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. During the world cup in France my cousin wore a Baa-Baas jersey throughout his visit to Marseille for the quarterfinals and was shocked that very few of the visiting fans knew which jersey it was. The first step has been taken in putting the name and club back in people’s minds; they must now ensure that every future step they take is equally as significant to get back to where they once were.
Muralitharan makes it to record books:
It was a celebratory weekend for Sri Lanka bowler Muttiah Muralitharan this weekend, as he drew level with Australia’s Shane Warne in the all-time test wicket takers list. The spinner equalled Warne’s haul of 508 wickets in the first test with England and will no doubt pass him, if not in this match, then in the current test series.
However, I cannot help but feel that it is a hollow record and that despite being one of the nicest blokes on the cricket circuit he should not even be allowed to bowl. You see the very thing that makes him so formidable an opponent to face at the end of the crease, is the very thing that should mean that each and every one of his balls should be void.
I’m talking, of course, about his arm and the fact that he cannot fully extend it. Now I know that the International Cricket Council have bent over backwards to work out whether his bowling action is legal or not, but just look at it. The arm is not straight, so how can it be ruled legal? Sure I know he is not able to fully extend his arm, but so what? Just because he is able to bowl well, albeit in an illegal manner, should not have meant that he was given special dispensation, which he has. It is a shame there is no parallel in any other sport that comes to mind, because yes the record has fallen, but in these circumstances, where is the worth in it?
JI 03/12/07
The rugby union international calendar was brought to a close at the weekend with South Africa suffering their first loss as world champions with a 22-5 defeat to the Barbarians at Twickenham. It won’t be a defeat that unduly troubles the Springboks as they head back to sunnier climes. They can look back on a tremendous year both at international and provincial level and be glad to have bloodied some new faces in awful weather conditions in front of a 52,000 crowd at Twickenham. Having used the week in London as something of a jolly, with Christmas shopping high on the priorities, they will enjoy their well-earned time off to let the tag of world champions sink in.
It was the other team on the day that can look back with greater satisfaction, not just for the result, but the way in which they did it and the timing of it. Great credit must therefore go to the players, especially those from the southern hemisphere, who rose from their beach lounges to put the boots on one more time. No doubt the likes of New Zealand’s Joe Rokocoko, Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu and Australia’s Matt Giteau all felt they had unfinished business after their world cup quarterfinal exits. Credit too to the Welsh regional teams, the Cardiff Blues and Ospreys who allowed Tom Shanklin, Martyn Williams and Justin Marshall to play, despite having Anglo-Welsh commitments over the weekend. How much new Wales coach Warren Gatland must wish he could persuade Williams against international retirement following his man of the match performance in southwest London?
However, greatest praise must go to the Baa-Baas captain on the day, Mark Regan, who defied his club to lead the team out. His club, Bristol, had been one of the Premier Rugby teams to vote overwhelmingly against releasing their players for the fixture, but having been excused duty to stay fresh for next weekend’s European Cup match, Regan put a few west country noses out of joint when he headed down the M4. His rallying call to the Barbarians’ cause during the week was refreshing to hear in these times of rest periods and peak performance targets. Having been on the end of four defeats to South Africa this year, the England hooker will no doubt be feeling that there was an element of score settling with the result, even though he would surely swap it for a win the previous time he took them on.
Of course this match came at the end of a week in which the great and the good of world rugby; the unions, domestic leagues, competition committees and various others were hosted by the International Rugby Board in Woking to thrash out a coherent structure to the game. One team that failed to raise a mention was that of the Barbarians and the fear was that the Springboks would see them off before further calls to remove this anachronism from the modern game once and for all. They did get a mention in the English club v country talks in which the decision was made not to release premier league players for this fixture. Such treatment contrasts greatly to another team from the amateur era whose place in the grand scheme of things many were fearing when the sport turned professional, The British and Irish Lions.
When rugby union went open in 1995 many wondered where the Lions would fit in. Now though any call to abolish the four-year cycle of Lions’ tours would meet with fierce resistance, not only from the Home Unions Committee, but from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all four of whom benefit financially from the tours. They have been cherished and nurtured like the favourite child, despite there having been more losing than winning tours, whilst the Barbarians have taken on the Cinderella role. What then should become of the men in black and white hoops?
It was good to hear that in future there would be some system in which clubs would nominate a player for a match, something they are infinitely able to do in these days of mega squads. There should be one match in the autumn against one of the touring teams and two in the summer, using different stadiums around the UK. There has also been talk of using them as a development tool in the developing rugby nations. Imagine how much good a Barbarians tour would do to raise the profile of the sport in Georgia, Portugal or Romania, who struggle to secure test matches against the tier one nations, let alone at home. Already the Barbarians do a massive amount for charity and this would be a far more direct route to help out the less affluent rugby nations. It would also do young uncapped players the world of good touring to such places and learning from their more experienced colleagues, serve as a shop window for those without a club, as Ben Cohen did this weekend, and provide one last hurrah for those retiring from the sport, as Jason Robinson did at Twickenham.
Backing the Barbarians these days is not the done thing if a lot of rugby opinion is to be listened to. But something that has provided that many moments of glorious rugby down the years should not be so hastily thrown away. There have been highlights galore down the years. Don’t believe me? Go to Youtube and type in the word Barbarians. Top of these is of course Gareth Edwards’ try against New Zealand in 1973, but others matches that will live long in the memory include the 1994 match at Lansdowne Road and the 2000 match at Twickenham, both against the Springboks. Furthermore they are a far more preferable invitational side to watch than those in the shoddy ‘North v South’ and ‘Jonah v Johnno’ matches that have been foisted upon us in recent years.
This weekend provided a boon at just the right time for the Baa-Baas and it was a throwback to past years with the performances on and off the pitch. Regan led the way of course, but probably the greatest personification of the Barbarian way was by New Zealand flanker Jerry Collins who wore Barnstaple second XV socks. He played for the Devon side whilst catching up with some Kiwi friends after leaving France. Giteau’s early break out try set the tone and whilst the rain dampened the action as the match wore on, it was definitely a match that put a smile on the face. That said there will be need to be many more of these performances to put the Barbarians back to where they were in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. During the world cup in France my cousin wore a Baa-Baas jersey throughout his visit to Marseille for the quarterfinals and was shocked that very few of the visiting fans knew which jersey it was. The first step has been taken in putting the name and club back in people’s minds; they must now ensure that every future step they take is equally as significant to get back to where they once were.
Muralitharan makes it to record books:
It was a celebratory weekend for Sri Lanka bowler Muttiah Muralitharan this weekend, as he drew level with Australia’s Shane Warne in the all-time test wicket takers list. The spinner equalled Warne’s haul of 508 wickets in the first test with England and will no doubt pass him, if not in this match, then in the current test series.
However, I cannot help but feel that it is a hollow record and that despite being one of the nicest blokes on the cricket circuit he should not even be allowed to bowl. You see the very thing that makes him so formidable an opponent to face at the end of the crease, is the very thing that should mean that each and every one of his balls should be void.
I’m talking, of course, about his arm and the fact that he cannot fully extend it. Now I know that the International Cricket Council have bent over backwards to work out whether his bowling action is legal or not, but just look at it. The arm is not straight, so how can it be ruled legal? Sure I know he is not able to fully extend his arm, but so what? Just because he is able to bowl well, albeit in an illegal manner, should not have meant that he was given special dispensation, which he has. It is a shame there is no parallel in any other sport that comes to mind, because yes the record has fallen, but in these circumstances, where is the worth in it?
JI 03/12/07
domenica 25 novembre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 26/11/07
Reality finally dawns for dithering FA:
Standing in the rain, sheltering under his umbrella, watching his charges lose 3-2 to Croatia to missout on Euro 2008, England football coach Steve McLaren added another memorable picture of failed national team managers down the years. His will sit alongside Graham Taylor’s rant at the linesman during the 2-0 loss to The Netherlands in 1993, Kevin Keegan’s rain-soaked wave after the last match at the old Wembley Stadium and Sven Goran Eriksson’s pained expression and wringing hands as once again a quarterfinal proved one barrier to many.
McLaren’s was an appointment that was handled badly and got worse as the Euro 2008 qualification went on. FA chief executive Brian Barwick failed to convince when he claimed that McLaren had been the number one choice and McLaren failed to convince that he was an international coach throughout his 18-month tenure.
He can claim to have been unfortunate with injuries, with John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Michael Owen all missing from the decisive game, but you make your own luck and someone as fragile as Owen should never have been risked in the pointless friendly against Austria six days before the big one.
Along with his ill fortune he was anything but decisive. At the start of his reign he talked of round pegs for round holes, but promptly played Steven Gerrard on the right of midfield after leaving David Beckham out of his initial squads. His handling of Beckham went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Firstly he made an example of the former captain by leaving him out of squads, then recalled him for matches in summer 2007 when things went slightly awry. Then came the truly bizarre when he flew to Los Angeles, not to watch him play in a mediocre celebrity match, but to have a chat. Surely the FA’s budget will stretch to a few trans-Atlantic phone calls?
There were times when McLaren did make the right calls. The choice of Gareth Barry as a holding player was vindicated in the wins over Russia and Israel in October, as was the choice of Shaun Wright-Phillips in place of the injured Beckham. Sadly both put in woeful performances on Wednesday night and failed to make it past halftime. The choice of Scott Carson was also the correct one. Paul Robinson’s line of credit had come to an end long before his errors away to Russia and he should have made way long before.
One feature of the McLaren years will be the failure of the team when they lined-up in anything but the 4-4-2 formation. He was right to try the 3-5-2 system, but not for the first time away to Croatia, where they put in an abysmal showing to lose 2-0. The 4-5-1 on Wednesday was right in the circumstance, but as is so often the case, it was the execution that let it down, with the players reverting to their default tactics of lumping the ball forward to Peter Crouch, without offering any support. Quite how players, especially those who are paid weekly six-figure salaries, are unable to trap the ball, pass to a teammate and then find space is staggering. Blaming the pitch as some tried to do was laughable, as the Croatia players had no problem playing a fluid, passing game on the same patch of grass.
Hopefully the schmozzle that has been created will focus minds strongly on the sea change that needs to be made in English football. The FA are as culpable as McLaren in all this, from the rushed appointment (why they couldn’t wait till after the World Cup was never properly explained), to the four-year contract he was given, thus leaving them with £2.5million to shell out in recompense. England’s European neighbours must be shaking their heads in wonder at a federation that can haemorrhage money on four-year contracts for their managers, rather than wait and see if they make it through qualification, which should be the minimum achievement for England. Could you imagine Italy keeping Roberto Donandoni if they had missed out on Austria-Switzerland next summer, or France with Raymond Domenech or Germany and Jochim Louw? Quite staggering was McLaren’s statement that he was taking responsibility, but wouldn’t be resigning. So quite what responsibility he was taking remained unasked and at least Keegan had the nous and self-respect to realise that the game was up and jump before he was pushed.
Of course now the job for the FA is finding McLaren’s successor. At least there have been some optimistic noises coming out of Soho Square, with chief executive Brian Barwick being given sole charge for finding the next man, rather than being hamstrung by the ridiculously outdated FA committee of 12 wise men, as he was when appointing McLaren. Hopefully the FA will wait until Euro 2008 is over, or at least until the end of the European season. There should be no need to appoint immediately, with FA Director of Development Sir Trevor Brooking more than capable of steering the ship until next summer. After all it’s not like they will be playing any competitive matches until September when World Cup qualifying begins.
Despite evidence to contrary, there is still a lobby group for an Englishman to be appointed. The usual suspects of Sam Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, Alan Curbishley and Steve Coppell have announced that they do not want the job, when all they are doing with such public statements is trying to get their unheralded names in the mix. The only English coaches who should be a part of the process are Bobby Robson and Roy Hodgson, two men who have been successes overseas and have a far broader mind than the little Englanders who have helped over hype the Premier League and the English players therein.
Mention has been made of Alan Shearer being parachuted in, much as Marco van Basten and Jurgen Kinsmann have been with The Netherlands and Germany respectively. However, such an idea overlooks one glaring contrast. Van Basten and Kinsmann both won titles internationally (and no the 1997 Le Tournoi does not count) and in Europe. Both speak more than their mother tongue, a demonstration of the far broader mind that they have to football matters, than Shearer who was a thug as a player and continues to encourage such behaviour as a television pundit. Who can forget him encouraging Wayne Rooney to ‘stick one’ on Cristiano Ronaldo following the Portuguese’s supposed part in Rooney’s sending off at the last World Cup.
Another Englishman who has been mentioned in dispatches is Glenn Hoddle who led the team from 1996 to 1999 before he went a little too public with his thoughts on reincarnation. There is no doubt that England played some of the best football in recent years under Hoddle, he made them tactically flexible and he solved the issue of the lack of left-midfielders with a 3-5-2 formation. However, since his fall from grace he has hardly covered himself in glory during coaching spells with Wolves, Southampton and Tottenham and he seems a little too comfortable on the Sky TV couch to return to the inevitable personal attacks that would come his way with the England coaches job.
Thankfully sense has been seen and this time there is not the overwhelming tide against appointing another non-Englishman, as there was when Eriksson stepped aside. Jose Mourinho who would be a popular, if pragmatic choice, has said he isn’t interested, as has Aston Villa’s Ulsterman manager Martin O’Neill, who was Barwick’s favourite a year ago but was a little too forthright for the FA selection committee (something his ex-boss Brian Clough would no doubt be extremely proud of). An assortment of other names have been banded about, including Felipe Luiz Scolari, who was put off last time by the English media, Guus Hiddink, who is contracted to Russia till 2010 and Blackburn’s Welsh manager Mark Hughes.
At the moment the only ones free are Fabio Capello, Italy’s World Cup winning coach, Marcello Lippi and Klinsmann. Of the Italian pair Capello would be the preferable having studied English for the last three years, a language Lippi has little grasp of. Plus he demonstrated his ability to make tough decisions and put noses out of joint to achieve success when he led Real Madrid to the Spanish title in 2006-07. It may not have been pretty, but it was their first title for four years. How the under-performing likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand could do with such authoritative management, so as to keep their minds on the job.
Klinsmann would be an interesting choice, especially if he wanted to continue living in southern California, as he did with Germany. One suspects that the deal making would be too much for the FA and with his trusty side-kick, Louw, coaching Germany, the team that helped him take Germany to last year’s World Cup semifinals would not be in place.
It is with this lack of candidates that the time should be taken and an appointment made after the European Championships. Things will change, coaches will come and go and circumstances will alter. Who knows how much more Hiddink can take of Roman Abramovich’s meddling in the Russian team or if Frank Rijkaard may may think it’s time to move on should he lead Barcelona to a second Champions League title.
But whoever and whenever they appoint someone, the FA has far more important and far-reaching decisions to make. First of these should be the rapid completion of the neglected FA Centre of Excellence in Burton-on-Trent. Once that is up and running, alongside a coaching structure for 9 to 13 year-olds that concentrates on cherishing possession and the ability to think around problems, can England fans look ahead to the future with some sort of optimism. The centre should also work with our coaches and make so that in the future teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool don’t look overseas for the new man at the helm.
Trevor Brooking has being saying for years that if we didn’t get to grips with the coaching system in this country then the day would come when we would be grateful just to qualify for competitions. Well that day has arrived and it is time for the FA to act. It is not like other countries are standing still either. Australia, a country not unlike our own who traditionally favour the brawn over the brain, have recently published a report on technical development so that more Harry Kewells and fewer Kevin Muscats come through their system. The first thing is to get children playing smaller sided games, on smaller pitches, with smaller balls and smaller goals. They are, after all, smaller people so to asking them to play on full-size pitches must seem to them as though they are playing on a pitch the size of the Sahara dessert. Few players in less space means more touches of the ball and less inclination to belt the life out of the ball towards a goal that appears to be the other side of the country so distant it is.
Croatia’s players talked of the arrogance of the English after their win on Wednesday night and how it inspired them. Fifty-four years ago another East European team came to Wembley and shocked the perceived better English team. I’m talking, of course about Hungary, the Magnificent Magyars, who destroyed Billy Wright’s team 6-3 with passing and movement that the hosts had never previously seen. They then prevailed 7-1 in Budapest a month later to remove any lingering doubt over their superiority. An island race the English most definitely are, but there is now the alarming need to look beyond our borders to solve our problems. If we don’t swallow our pride and learn from other football cultures, then failure to make the major international tournaments will become too regular an occurrence.
JI 26/11/07
Standing in the rain, sheltering under his umbrella, watching his charges lose 3-2 to Croatia to missout on Euro 2008, England football coach Steve McLaren added another memorable picture of failed national team managers down the years. His will sit alongside Graham Taylor’s rant at the linesman during the 2-0 loss to The Netherlands in 1993, Kevin Keegan’s rain-soaked wave after the last match at the old Wembley Stadium and Sven Goran Eriksson’s pained expression and wringing hands as once again a quarterfinal proved one barrier to many.
McLaren’s was an appointment that was handled badly and got worse as the Euro 2008 qualification went on. FA chief executive Brian Barwick failed to convince when he claimed that McLaren had been the number one choice and McLaren failed to convince that he was an international coach throughout his 18-month tenure.
He can claim to have been unfortunate with injuries, with John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Michael Owen all missing from the decisive game, but you make your own luck and someone as fragile as Owen should never have been risked in the pointless friendly against Austria six days before the big one.
Along with his ill fortune he was anything but decisive. At the start of his reign he talked of round pegs for round holes, but promptly played Steven Gerrard on the right of midfield after leaving David Beckham out of his initial squads. His handling of Beckham went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Firstly he made an example of the former captain by leaving him out of squads, then recalled him for matches in summer 2007 when things went slightly awry. Then came the truly bizarre when he flew to Los Angeles, not to watch him play in a mediocre celebrity match, but to have a chat. Surely the FA’s budget will stretch to a few trans-Atlantic phone calls?
There were times when McLaren did make the right calls. The choice of Gareth Barry as a holding player was vindicated in the wins over Russia and Israel in October, as was the choice of Shaun Wright-Phillips in place of the injured Beckham. Sadly both put in woeful performances on Wednesday night and failed to make it past halftime. The choice of Scott Carson was also the correct one. Paul Robinson’s line of credit had come to an end long before his errors away to Russia and he should have made way long before.
One feature of the McLaren years will be the failure of the team when they lined-up in anything but the 4-4-2 formation. He was right to try the 3-5-2 system, but not for the first time away to Croatia, where they put in an abysmal showing to lose 2-0. The 4-5-1 on Wednesday was right in the circumstance, but as is so often the case, it was the execution that let it down, with the players reverting to their default tactics of lumping the ball forward to Peter Crouch, without offering any support. Quite how players, especially those who are paid weekly six-figure salaries, are unable to trap the ball, pass to a teammate and then find space is staggering. Blaming the pitch as some tried to do was laughable, as the Croatia players had no problem playing a fluid, passing game on the same patch of grass.
Hopefully the schmozzle that has been created will focus minds strongly on the sea change that needs to be made in English football. The FA are as culpable as McLaren in all this, from the rushed appointment (why they couldn’t wait till after the World Cup was never properly explained), to the four-year contract he was given, thus leaving them with £2.5million to shell out in recompense. England’s European neighbours must be shaking their heads in wonder at a federation that can haemorrhage money on four-year contracts for their managers, rather than wait and see if they make it through qualification, which should be the minimum achievement for England. Could you imagine Italy keeping Roberto Donandoni if they had missed out on Austria-Switzerland next summer, or France with Raymond Domenech or Germany and Jochim Louw? Quite staggering was McLaren’s statement that he was taking responsibility, but wouldn’t be resigning. So quite what responsibility he was taking remained unasked and at least Keegan had the nous and self-respect to realise that the game was up and jump before he was pushed.
Of course now the job for the FA is finding McLaren’s successor. At least there have been some optimistic noises coming out of Soho Square, with chief executive Brian Barwick being given sole charge for finding the next man, rather than being hamstrung by the ridiculously outdated FA committee of 12 wise men, as he was when appointing McLaren. Hopefully the FA will wait until Euro 2008 is over, or at least until the end of the European season. There should be no need to appoint immediately, with FA Director of Development Sir Trevor Brooking more than capable of steering the ship until next summer. After all it’s not like they will be playing any competitive matches until September when World Cup qualifying begins.
Despite evidence to contrary, there is still a lobby group for an Englishman to be appointed. The usual suspects of Sam Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, Alan Curbishley and Steve Coppell have announced that they do not want the job, when all they are doing with such public statements is trying to get their unheralded names in the mix. The only English coaches who should be a part of the process are Bobby Robson and Roy Hodgson, two men who have been successes overseas and have a far broader mind than the little Englanders who have helped over hype the Premier League and the English players therein.
Mention has been made of Alan Shearer being parachuted in, much as Marco van Basten and Jurgen Kinsmann have been with The Netherlands and Germany respectively. However, such an idea overlooks one glaring contrast. Van Basten and Kinsmann both won titles internationally (and no the 1997 Le Tournoi does not count) and in Europe. Both speak more than their mother tongue, a demonstration of the far broader mind that they have to football matters, than Shearer who was a thug as a player and continues to encourage such behaviour as a television pundit. Who can forget him encouraging Wayne Rooney to ‘stick one’ on Cristiano Ronaldo following the Portuguese’s supposed part in Rooney’s sending off at the last World Cup.
Another Englishman who has been mentioned in dispatches is Glenn Hoddle who led the team from 1996 to 1999 before he went a little too public with his thoughts on reincarnation. There is no doubt that England played some of the best football in recent years under Hoddle, he made them tactically flexible and he solved the issue of the lack of left-midfielders with a 3-5-2 formation. However, since his fall from grace he has hardly covered himself in glory during coaching spells with Wolves, Southampton and Tottenham and he seems a little too comfortable on the Sky TV couch to return to the inevitable personal attacks that would come his way with the England coaches job.
Thankfully sense has been seen and this time there is not the overwhelming tide against appointing another non-Englishman, as there was when Eriksson stepped aside. Jose Mourinho who would be a popular, if pragmatic choice, has said he isn’t interested, as has Aston Villa’s Ulsterman manager Martin O’Neill, who was Barwick’s favourite a year ago but was a little too forthright for the FA selection committee (something his ex-boss Brian Clough would no doubt be extremely proud of). An assortment of other names have been banded about, including Felipe Luiz Scolari, who was put off last time by the English media, Guus Hiddink, who is contracted to Russia till 2010 and Blackburn’s Welsh manager Mark Hughes.
At the moment the only ones free are Fabio Capello, Italy’s World Cup winning coach, Marcello Lippi and Klinsmann. Of the Italian pair Capello would be the preferable having studied English for the last three years, a language Lippi has little grasp of. Plus he demonstrated his ability to make tough decisions and put noses out of joint to achieve success when he led Real Madrid to the Spanish title in 2006-07. It may not have been pretty, but it was their first title for four years. How the under-performing likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand could do with such authoritative management, so as to keep their minds on the job.
Klinsmann would be an interesting choice, especially if he wanted to continue living in southern California, as he did with Germany. One suspects that the deal making would be too much for the FA and with his trusty side-kick, Louw, coaching Germany, the team that helped him take Germany to last year’s World Cup semifinals would not be in place.
It is with this lack of candidates that the time should be taken and an appointment made after the European Championships. Things will change, coaches will come and go and circumstances will alter. Who knows how much more Hiddink can take of Roman Abramovich’s meddling in the Russian team or if Frank Rijkaard may may think it’s time to move on should he lead Barcelona to a second Champions League title.
But whoever and whenever they appoint someone, the FA has far more important and far-reaching decisions to make. First of these should be the rapid completion of the neglected FA Centre of Excellence in Burton-on-Trent. Once that is up and running, alongside a coaching structure for 9 to 13 year-olds that concentrates on cherishing possession and the ability to think around problems, can England fans look ahead to the future with some sort of optimism. The centre should also work with our coaches and make so that in the future teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool don’t look overseas for the new man at the helm.
Trevor Brooking has being saying for years that if we didn’t get to grips with the coaching system in this country then the day would come when we would be grateful just to qualify for competitions. Well that day has arrived and it is time for the FA to act. It is not like other countries are standing still either. Australia, a country not unlike our own who traditionally favour the brawn over the brain, have recently published a report on technical development so that more Harry Kewells and fewer Kevin Muscats come through their system. The first thing is to get children playing smaller sided games, on smaller pitches, with smaller balls and smaller goals. They are, after all, smaller people so to asking them to play on full-size pitches must seem to them as though they are playing on a pitch the size of the Sahara dessert. Few players in less space means more touches of the ball and less inclination to belt the life out of the ball towards a goal that appears to be the other side of the country so distant it is.
Croatia’s players talked of the arrogance of the English after their win on Wednesday night and how it inspired them. Fifty-four years ago another East European team came to Wembley and shocked the perceived better English team. I’m talking, of course about Hungary, the Magnificent Magyars, who destroyed Billy Wright’s team 6-3 with passing and movement that the hosts had never previously seen. They then prevailed 7-1 in Budapest a month later to remove any lingering doubt over their superiority. An island race the English most definitely are, but there is now the alarming need to look beyond our borders to solve our problems. If we don’t swallow our pride and learn from other football cultures, then failure to make the major international tournaments will become too regular an occurrence.
JI 26/11/07
lunedì 19 novembre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 19/11/07
End of the odd couple:
With the end of the tennis season came a surprising split between British number one Andy Murray and his coach Brad Gilbert. Murray sighted the need to maintain his progress and now plans to have a larger entourage with different coaches for specific elements of his game.
The pair had been together for 16 months in which Murray made enormous progress. When they linked up in July 2006 the Scot was ranked 36. Now he sits 11th in the rankings after reaching a career high of eight in June 2007. The period together also included probably Murray’s best performance when he scared the life out of Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at this year’s Australian Open. He was also one victory shy of playing in the end of year Master’s Cup in Shanghai for the world’s top eight players.
When the deal was announced a lot of eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that Gilbert, who had previously worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, was receiving £750,000 a year for his efforts. They were raised higher when the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced that they were funding this salary, with the American expected to run camps in the UK and overseas to help raise the playing and coaching standards in Britain. That part will continue with Gilbert expected to help out Alex Bogdanovic who is ranked 116th in the world,
There is no doubt that Gilbert has had a significant effect on Murray’s game, as the results testify. Murray has improved his fitness and consistency, though it was unfortunate that he missed Wimbledon and US Open this year with a wrist injury, as they would have been barometers to how he had progressed in the latter part of the partnership.
However, the state of the relationship between the pair was shown to have deteriorated with Murray’s statement, when he thanked the LTA for providing him with Gilbert, but not direct thanks to the man himself; “I am very grateful for the help that the LTA have given me by providing Brad Gilbert as a coach,” he said.
How the relationship turned so bad isn’t obviously clear and the state of the relationship between Gilbert and Murray’s mother Judy, who also has a development role with the LTA, isn’t abundantly obvious. Some have also said that with too such intense personalities as Gilbert and Murray, that spending so much time together on the tour would inevitably lead to cracks.
What the split does show is that Murray is no sentimentalist. He ditched his original coach, Mark Petchey, when he made it to the top 50 and has now done the same with Gilbert now that a regular place in the top 10 is within reach. One suspects that the new arrangement won’t be too dissimilar to the one he had with Gilbert, after all the American would not have been able to advise on every element in Murray’s game and has one of the best contacts books in tennis.
Canadian Louis Cayer, who has already worked with Murray’s brother Jamie, is being tipped as Gilbert’s successor to head up the Scot’s new coaching team, but whoever it is needs to be a strong and direct with Murray as Gilbert was to keep the Murray progress curve upward. Sport’s history is littered with players who thought they knew what they needed better than anyone else and ended up never reaching the previous heights again. However, there are also plenty of examples of athletes who made such a brave choice and improved immeasurably. It has to be hoped that when history judges Murray he falls into the latter category, rather than be thought of as someone who too a snap decision for the sake of his eardrums and ego.
WADA changes the guard:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was firmly in the news this week with a change at the very top. President, Canadian Dick Pound, stood down after eight years in charge and was replaced by Australian John Fahey. It was not the smoothest of transitions after the initial favourite, Frenchman Jean-Francois Lamour pulled out in a fit of pique, having thought he would stand unopposed and 1976 French Olympic 110m hurdle champion Guy Drut was pushed forward as a late rival to Fahey, but there were too many skeletons in his cupboard.
Madrid was the setting for the handover of the presidency, the Spanish capital hosting the annual conference on doping in sport. Of greater significance were a number of proposed changes to doping violations, which were badly needed at the end of a year in which any number of sports have been tarnished by doping scandals of one type or another.
Chief amongst the changes was the decision to introduce four year bans for athletes who fail drugs tests in particular circumstances; if they were part of a wider doping scandal (such as the BALCO affair), for multiple usage, for having been convicted of having used drugs for longer their ineligibility period and for impeding anti-doping investigations.
Such changes will delight any number of federation, not least the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) who have been talking about introducing a four-year ban for first time offenders for a number of years now. The ban will focus the athlete’s minds. After all an Olympic champion can no longer fail a drugs test and then be back to try again at the next edition four years later.
However, there are still those who think that WADA could still be taking a more hands-on approach to drug testing. Victor Conte, who was at the heart of the BALCO scandal and seems to fancy a poacher turned game keeper role, said that whilst laboratory and drug testing polices may be laid down by WADA, all too often they are overlooked by non-compliant governing bodies, not least his own at the USA Olympic Committee.
It is hard to disagree with him, especially when seen in light of the Operacion Puerto scandal that erupted in May 2006 when Spanish police raided clinics in Madrid and Zaragoza and found bags of blood, blood transfusion equipment and anabolic steroids. However, whilst 34 athletes were named and shamed as drug cheats, the case was closed in March this year, claiming no offences were committed under Spanish law in regards to public health, a ruling the Spanish government is appealing.
Whilst Pound will not exactly be missed by any number of people and sports bodies, he has certainly focused a lot of minds since the body was set up 1999 with him as president. He appeared to be on a personal crusade against Marion Jones, someone who had never failed a drugs test, but he was proven correct when she admitted to doping for the best past of a decade. He has also brought governments into the anti-doping process, allowing them to round up coaches, suppliers and the athletes for criminal as well as sporting offences.
The effect of these changes was abundantly clear in the recent US-led ‘Operation Raw Deal’ that resulted in the seizure of 11.4 million steroid dosages, 124 arrests made and 56 labs closed across nine countries. What Fahey needs to do is build on these stings and if possible push for greater criminal punishments. 2007 demonstrated that the struggle against doping is never likely to finish, but that with closer co-operation between sporting bodies and governments the temptation to take or supply drugs is only great enough for either the most stubborn or most stupid. However, getting governments and individuals who feel they have much to gain through sporting success to comply, will be one obstacle that WADA will always face and how well Fahey does in this regard will certainly go a long way to defining his time as president.
JI 19/11/07
With the end of the tennis season came a surprising split between British number one Andy Murray and his coach Brad Gilbert. Murray sighted the need to maintain his progress and now plans to have a larger entourage with different coaches for specific elements of his game.
The pair had been together for 16 months in which Murray made enormous progress. When they linked up in July 2006 the Scot was ranked 36. Now he sits 11th in the rankings after reaching a career high of eight in June 2007. The period together also included probably Murray’s best performance when he scared the life out of Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at this year’s Australian Open. He was also one victory shy of playing in the end of year Master’s Cup in Shanghai for the world’s top eight players.
When the deal was announced a lot of eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that Gilbert, who had previously worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, was receiving £750,000 a year for his efforts. They were raised higher when the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced that they were funding this salary, with the American expected to run camps in the UK and overseas to help raise the playing and coaching standards in Britain. That part will continue with Gilbert expected to help out Alex Bogdanovic who is ranked 116th in the world,
There is no doubt that Gilbert has had a significant effect on Murray’s game, as the results testify. Murray has improved his fitness and consistency, though it was unfortunate that he missed Wimbledon and US Open this year with a wrist injury, as they would have been barometers to how he had progressed in the latter part of the partnership.
However, the state of the relationship between the pair was shown to have deteriorated with Murray’s statement, when he thanked the LTA for providing him with Gilbert, but not direct thanks to the man himself; “I am very grateful for the help that the LTA have given me by providing Brad Gilbert as a coach,” he said.
How the relationship turned so bad isn’t obviously clear and the state of the relationship between Gilbert and Murray’s mother Judy, who also has a development role with the LTA, isn’t abundantly obvious. Some have also said that with too such intense personalities as Gilbert and Murray, that spending so much time together on the tour would inevitably lead to cracks.
What the split does show is that Murray is no sentimentalist. He ditched his original coach, Mark Petchey, when he made it to the top 50 and has now done the same with Gilbert now that a regular place in the top 10 is within reach. One suspects that the new arrangement won’t be too dissimilar to the one he had with Gilbert, after all the American would not have been able to advise on every element in Murray’s game and has one of the best contacts books in tennis.
Canadian Louis Cayer, who has already worked with Murray’s brother Jamie, is being tipped as Gilbert’s successor to head up the Scot’s new coaching team, but whoever it is needs to be a strong and direct with Murray as Gilbert was to keep the Murray progress curve upward. Sport’s history is littered with players who thought they knew what they needed better than anyone else and ended up never reaching the previous heights again. However, there are also plenty of examples of athletes who made such a brave choice and improved immeasurably. It has to be hoped that when history judges Murray he falls into the latter category, rather than be thought of as someone who too a snap decision for the sake of his eardrums and ego.
WADA changes the guard:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was firmly in the news this week with a change at the very top. President, Canadian Dick Pound, stood down after eight years in charge and was replaced by Australian John Fahey. It was not the smoothest of transitions after the initial favourite, Frenchman Jean-Francois Lamour pulled out in a fit of pique, having thought he would stand unopposed and 1976 French Olympic 110m hurdle champion Guy Drut was pushed forward as a late rival to Fahey, but there were too many skeletons in his cupboard.
Madrid was the setting for the handover of the presidency, the Spanish capital hosting the annual conference on doping in sport. Of greater significance were a number of proposed changes to doping violations, which were badly needed at the end of a year in which any number of sports have been tarnished by doping scandals of one type or another.
Chief amongst the changes was the decision to introduce four year bans for athletes who fail drugs tests in particular circumstances; if they were part of a wider doping scandal (such as the BALCO affair), for multiple usage, for having been convicted of having used drugs for longer their ineligibility period and for impeding anti-doping investigations.
Such changes will delight any number of federation, not least the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) who have been talking about introducing a four-year ban for first time offenders for a number of years now. The ban will focus the athlete’s minds. After all an Olympic champion can no longer fail a drugs test and then be back to try again at the next edition four years later.
However, there are still those who think that WADA could still be taking a more hands-on approach to drug testing. Victor Conte, who was at the heart of the BALCO scandal and seems to fancy a poacher turned game keeper role, said that whilst laboratory and drug testing polices may be laid down by WADA, all too often they are overlooked by non-compliant governing bodies, not least his own at the USA Olympic Committee.
It is hard to disagree with him, especially when seen in light of the Operacion Puerto scandal that erupted in May 2006 when Spanish police raided clinics in Madrid and Zaragoza and found bags of blood, blood transfusion equipment and anabolic steroids. However, whilst 34 athletes were named and shamed as drug cheats, the case was closed in March this year, claiming no offences were committed under Spanish law in regards to public health, a ruling the Spanish government is appealing.
Whilst Pound will not exactly be missed by any number of people and sports bodies, he has certainly focused a lot of minds since the body was set up 1999 with him as president. He appeared to be on a personal crusade against Marion Jones, someone who had never failed a drugs test, but he was proven correct when she admitted to doping for the best past of a decade. He has also brought governments into the anti-doping process, allowing them to round up coaches, suppliers and the athletes for criminal as well as sporting offences.
The effect of these changes was abundantly clear in the recent US-led ‘Operation Raw Deal’ that resulted in the seizure of 11.4 million steroid dosages, 124 arrests made and 56 labs closed across nine countries. What Fahey needs to do is build on these stings and if possible push for greater criminal punishments. 2007 demonstrated that the struggle against doping is never likely to finish, but that with closer co-operation between sporting bodies and governments the temptation to take or supply drugs is only great enough for either the most stubborn or most stupid. However, getting governments and individuals who feel they have much to gain through sporting success to comply, will be one obstacle that WADA will always face and how well Fahey does in this regard will certainly go a long way to defining his time as president.
JI 19/11/07
domenica 11 novembre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 12/11/07
London 2012 taking shape:
The planning for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games stepped up a pace this week with the unveiling of the main stadium that will be at the very heart of the games come 2012. It is quite a low-key design, vastly different to the original one from the bid document. During the games it will have an 80,000-seat capacity, which will be reduced down to a 25,000 arena with a permanent running track around it.
It is exactly was promised in the bid document and leaves a legacy of the athletics facility that, along with the warm-up facilities next door, will be used by the wider community post-games. To that end though, it is a little strange that no design has been revealed for what the stadium will look like once the capacity been reduced.
A lower tier of 25,000 will be sunk into the ground to create a bowl-like effect, with 55,000 seats making the top tier, which will be removed once the Olympic and Paralympic Games are finished. The permanent roof will cover two-thirds of the spectators (this is a sports event being hosted in the UK, so let’s not get our hopes too high for two weeks of blinding sunshine) with the rest protected by a fabric curtain that will wrap around the stadium. Food and merchandising will be based in pods around the outside of the arena.
In pure aesthetic terms it is something of an anticlimax and nothing to compare to the last two stadiums in Athens and Sydney, respectively. If anything it is slightly similar to the Melbourne Cricket Ground when it was used for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. But in truth so long as it looks good on television, as most have done when lit up at night, and that access and entry to and from are relatively smooth, then they are the main considerations ticked off.
Of course what to do with your Olympic Stadium once its primary use is over is a situation that has blighted host cities for a number of years. Of the recent few only Sydney is put to any regular use, having hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup final and main matches, Australia internationals in rugby union and league, domestic rugby league and even the odd cricket and Australian Rules Football match. This was after it was reduced from 110,000 for the games to 80,000 with the removal of the running track and the stands brought closer to the field of play.
For the other cities it makes grim reading. Seoul’s is barely used, having been usurped for football internationals in 2002 by the World Cup Stadium on the other side of town. Espanyol, play their Liga matches at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, but barely sell except for the visits of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Atlanta Stadium was so important to the Atlanta Braves that the baseball diamond was already incorporated into the design, ready for it’s reconfiguration once the 1996 Games were out of the way. Then there was the Athens stadium which went through the hullabaloo of putting a roof on, which if it hadn’t would have looked like the grotty, 22 year-old concrete edifice that it was beneath and showed the world how few lessons had been learned when making a pig’s ear of hosting the Champion’s League final this year.
There should also still be question marks hanging over the Beijing Stadium. Whilst the birdcage design may look fetching and quite unique, what exactly China is going to do with it is anyone’s guess. Sure they will probably fill it when the China Games are happening, but the national football team are hardly a big draw and the domestic league is pitifully weak. Furthermore with questions still lingering about the air quality, there is little draw for any major athletic meetings to go there, leaving the odd money-spinning pre-season tour by a western European football team as one of the few possible things that may push a crowd to near capacity.
However, the good people at London 2012 shouldn’t be patting themselves on the back just yet. Sure they have a post-games idea, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be problems ahead. Along with the permanent running track London 2012 are looking for an anchor tenant, either a football or rugby club. Who this will be should be at the forefront of their thinking from now on.
The two major football clubs in the area, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur have both been ruled out as the capacity will be too small and neither wants a permanent running track. Leyton Orient feel the capacity is too big and are looking at plans to redevelop their Brisbane Road ground. After that there remain few obvious candidates. Rugby clubs, Wasps, Saracens, Harlequins (league and union) and London Irish all have set up base in other parts of the capital and are starting to reap the benefits. Maybe come 2012 Super League may be feeling confident enough to open a second London club the opposite side of town from Harlequins? Or maybe London 2012 has absolutely no idea who will take on the stadium and it is for precisely that reason that the post-games plans haven’t been released, as come the crunch, they may have to undergo a little more tinkering than those in the know are ready to let on about at this precise moment.
Goodbye to league's Lions:
There were bittersweet tears on Saturday night at Wigan’s JJB Stadium when they signed off till 2012 with a 28-22 win to seal a 3-0 series win over New Zealand. From now on the team will be divided into the four home unions, with the Lions only coming together for tours to Australia and New Zealand, the next scheduled for 2012.
The main drive behind the division to the four nations is the desire to expand the sport internationally, with the powers that be suddenly realising that any sport worth its salt has to have an international profile. It is something that is clearly not the case at the moment with Great Britain and New Zealand joined at the top table by Australia, with Papua New Guinea just below them and the likes of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Lebanon and France even further down.
With four teams coming out of the British Isles and an improving France, there is the hope that in a few years time there might be enough competition to start a five nations tournament. Of course what that needs if for the authorities in those countries to put in a massive amount of time and effort to make the game credible there. Wales has made some progress and there has often been talk of a Welsh franchise entering Super League, but Scotland and Ireland are some way off.
The biggest worry will be that England taking over from Great Britain will simply be a case of changing the name. There will be many Great Britain players who in the past would have opted to play for one of the Celtic countries through parentage, such as the Oldham-born Iestyn Harris, who will instead opt for England as it will give them a higher profile and provide more competitive matches.
Maybe the division into England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has come 12 years too late. Had it happened following the 1995 World Cup then the sport would be reaping the benefits today. At the time they would have been coming off a highly successful world cup for England and Wales who reached the final and semi-finals, whilst Ireland and Scotland both had strong showings. As things turned out it didn’t and Welsh players who had transferred from union, but were making their mark on league, such as Scott Gibbs, Allan Bentley, Scott Quinell and Dai Young, were tempted back to the newly professional union game with the knowledge that they would be able to play regularly for Wales.
It is a bold step by the Rugby Football League and one that needs to be backed up with development programmes and financial commitment to spreading the game into Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If it doesn’t, then all the League will have done is change the name of the team and undo all the hard work that has gone into growing the sport in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
JI 12/11/07
The planning for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games stepped up a pace this week with the unveiling of the main stadium that will be at the very heart of the games come 2012. It is quite a low-key design, vastly different to the original one from the bid document. During the games it will have an 80,000-seat capacity, which will be reduced down to a 25,000 arena with a permanent running track around it.
It is exactly was promised in the bid document and leaves a legacy of the athletics facility that, along with the warm-up facilities next door, will be used by the wider community post-games. To that end though, it is a little strange that no design has been revealed for what the stadium will look like once the capacity been reduced.
A lower tier of 25,000 will be sunk into the ground to create a bowl-like effect, with 55,000 seats making the top tier, which will be removed once the Olympic and Paralympic Games are finished. The permanent roof will cover two-thirds of the spectators (this is a sports event being hosted in the UK, so let’s not get our hopes too high for two weeks of blinding sunshine) with the rest protected by a fabric curtain that will wrap around the stadium. Food and merchandising will be based in pods around the outside of the arena.
In pure aesthetic terms it is something of an anticlimax and nothing to compare to the last two stadiums in Athens and Sydney, respectively. If anything it is slightly similar to the Melbourne Cricket Ground when it was used for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. But in truth so long as it looks good on television, as most have done when lit up at night, and that access and entry to and from are relatively smooth, then they are the main considerations ticked off.
Of course what to do with your Olympic Stadium once its primary use is over is a situation that has blighted host cities for a number of years. Of the recent few only Sydney is put to any regular use, having hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup final and main matches, Australia internationals in rugby union and league, domestic rugby league and even the odd cricket and Australian Rules Football match. This was after it was reduced from 110,000 for the games to 80,000 with the removal of the running track and the stands brought closer to the field of play.
For the other cities it makes grim reading. Seoul’s is barely used, having been usurped for football internationals in 2002 by the World Cup Stadium on the other side of town. Espanyol, play their Liga matches at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, but barely sell except for the visits of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Atlanta Stadium was so important to the Atlanta Braves that the baseball diamond was already incorporated into the design, ready for it’s reconfiguration once the 1996 Games were out of the way. Then there was the Athens stadium which went through the hullabaloo of putting a roof on, which if it hadn’t would have looked like the grotty, 22 year-old concrete edifice that it was beneath and showed the world how few lessons had been learned when making a pig’s ear of hosting the Champion’s League final this year.
There should also still be question marks hanging over the Beijing Stadium. Whilst the birdcage design may look fetching and quite unique, what exactly China is going to do with it is anyone’s guess. Sure they will probably fill it when the China Games are happening, but the national football team are hardly a big draw and the domestic league is pitifully weak. Furthermore with questions still lingering about the air quality, there is little draw for any major athletic meetings to go there, leaving the odd money-spinning pre-season tour by a western European football team as one of the few possible things that may push a crowd to near capacity.
However, the good people at London 2012 shouldn’t be patting themselves on the back just yet. Sure they have a post-games idea, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be problems ahead. Along with the permanent running track London 2012 are looking for an anchor tenant, either a football or rugby club. Who this will be should be at the forefront of their thinking from now on.
The two major football clubs in the area, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur have both been ruled out as the capacity will be too small and neither wants a permanent running track. Leyton Orient feel the capacity is too big and are looking at plans to redevelop their Brisbane Road ground. After that there remain few obvious candidates. Rugby clubs, Wasps, Saracens, Harlequins (league and union) and London Irish all have set up base in other parts of the capital and are starting to reap the benefits. Maybe come 2012 Super League may be feeling confident enough to open a second London club the opposite side of town from Harlequins? Or maybe London 2012 has absolutely no idea who will take on the stadium and it is for precisely that reason that the post-games plans haven’t been released, as come the crunch, they may have to undergo a little more tinkering than those in the know are ready to let on about at this precise moment.
Goodbye to league's Lions:
There were bittersweet tears on Saturday night at Wigan’s JJB Stadium when they signed off till 2012 with a 28-22 win to seal a 3-0 series win over New Zealand. From now on the team will be divided into the four home unions, with the Lions only coming together for tours to Australia and New Zealand, the next scheduled for 2012.
The main drive behind the division to the four nations is the desire to expand the sport internationally, with the powers that be suddenly realising that any sport worth its salt has to have an international profile. It is something that is clearly not the case at the moment with Great Britain and New Zealand joined at the top table by Australia, with Papua New Guinea just below them and the likes of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Lebanon and France even further down.
With four teams coming out of the British Isles and an improving France, there is the hope that in a few years time there might be enough competition to start a five nations tournament. Of course what that needs if for the authorities in those countries to put in a massive amount of time and effort to make the game credible there. Wales has made some progress and there has often been talk of a Welsh franchise entering Super League, but Scotland and Ireland are some way off.
The biggest worry will be that England taking over from Great Britain will simply be a case of changing the name. There will be many Great Britain players who in the past would have opted to play for one of the Celtic countries through parentage, such as the Oldham-born Iestyn Harris, who will instead opt for England as it will give them a higher profile and provide more competitive matches.
Maybe the division into England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has come 12 years too late. Had it happened following the 1995 World Cup then the sport would be reaping the benefits today. At the time they would have been coming off a highly successful world cup for England and Wales who reached the final and semi-finals, whilst Ireland and Scotland both had strong showings. As things turned out it didn’t and Welsh players who had transferred from union, but were making their mark on league, such as Scott Gibbs, Allan Bentley, Scott Quinell and Dai Young, were tempted back to the newly professional union game with the knowledge that they would be able to play regularly for Wales.
It is a bold step by the Rugby Football League and one that needs to be backed up with development programmes and financial commitment to spreading the game into Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If it doesn’t, then all the League will have done is change the name of the team and undo all the hard work that has gone into growing the sport in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
JI 12/11/07
domenica 4 novembre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 05/11/07
Brazil gets the nod:
It came as no surprise this week that Brazil was confirmed as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Under FIFA’s rotation system for hosting rights South America was the next destination after the African Confederation (CAF) in 2010. Since 2003 Brazil has been the only country to seriously talk of hosting the tournament, though Colombia gave it some thought a year ago, before being shot down by the South American Confederation (CONMEBOL) who lined up firmly behind Brazil. The last time they hosted the event was in 1950, when Uruguay beat them in the final.
Quite what the finals will be like is firmly open to conjecture, but that hasn’t stopped FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) from making guarantees and projecting the clichéd view of Brazilian football. There was talk of the football that Brazil have played (though hopefully the weren’t thinking of the 2006 World Cup at the time), the footballers they’ve produced, all set to a backdrop of beach football on Copacabana.
There is no doubt that Brazil has traditionally produced the most easy on the eye football, as exemplified by their 1970 world cup winning team. The quality of players is undoubted. In 2006 the CBF claims 851 players were exported, with 36 playing in Italy and 35 in Spain and AC Milan and Brazil midfielder, Kaka, is favourite to win the World and European player of the year awards. As for beach football, Rio is currently hosting the FIFA World Beach Soccer Championship even though much of it is played in the shade produced by the skyscrapers that line the shore.
However, major tournament hosting rights should not be allotted based on whatever a country has done for the legacy of a particular sport. There is still a lot of muddled thinking around Brazil 2014 notably around the stadia and the infrastructure in the various cities. That the government has promised $550 million has not done much to allay fears, as it will take more than just throwing money at a project to make it succeed.
When Brazil put forward its bid in 2003 they had a short-list of 18 stadia that they would use, to be whittled down to around 10 for the finals. However, rather than use the intervening four years to finalise the list or start work on any of them (work that was necessary whether they won the bid or not) nothing has been done, not even to the Morumbi in Sao Paolo or the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the opening match and the final. On top of which security around the stadia could be a massive problem, as many of them are located in notorious no-go areas, from where a quick exit is far from easy. When a definite decision on which stadia will be used or when work on them will begin is still something that has yet to be announced.
The other major problem for the organising committee is that of transport. The accident at Sao Paolo’s Congonhas airport earlier this year, in which nearly 200.died has focused minds on the inter-city air travel which will be the primary form of moving between the various cities. However, there are still problems with the provincial city airports, which aren’t even on the radar of those who need to fix them. Then there is the problem of getting around the cities themselves. When Rio won the 2007 Pan-American Games hosting rights they promised a massive upgrade to both the metro and bus systems, but both got swept under the carpet quickly when time and money became tight. No one was expecting a mass transit system as quick and efficient as those in Germany 2006, but a definite improvement is needed come 2014.
Ultimately any problems that arise before and during 2014 will be completely of Blatter’s own making. He brought in the rotation system so that South Africa was guaranteed the 2010 edition and thus forced FIFA’s hand to award 2014 to CONMEBOL. But every sport event has problems and question marks against it (just ask the good folks at London 2012) and it would be grossly unfair to presume that Brazil 2014 will be a disaster just because it is in the developing world. That the potential problems have been identified at this stage is no bad thing and it goes without saying that they have to be rectified by the start in seven years time. It is true that Brazil has done a phenomenal amount to promote football around the world and developed some outstanding players. All too often though, such success is seen as an accident rather than part of a meticulously planned youth development system. It has to be hoped then that such rigorous planning is given to the 2014 world cup, as it is to producing the next Ronaldinho, Kaka or Robinho.
Flintoff and the bottle:
In a week of autobiographical revelations probably the most interesting ones were those of ex-England cricket coach, Duncan Fletcher, who accused the then captain Andre Flintoff of being so drunk, that a fielding practice during the 2006/07 Ashes had to be abandoned and said he felt let down by Flintoff’s drunken escapades on a pedalo during the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in St Lucia.
It didn’t take long for Fletcher’s thoughts to be shot down. Former England cricketers Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott both argued that such bean spilling goes against the code of the dressing room and the ‘what happens on tour’ etc etc rule. Fletcher himself said that it was Flintoff who was letting the team down by behaving the way he did.
Of course there is plenty of evidence out there that Flintoff likes a drink, pedalo-gate being number one. Then there were the post-Ashes celebrations where he stumbled out of Mansion House and almost into a waiting cameraman, not forgetting his slurred cameo on the BBC at half-time during England’s match against Paraguay at the 2006 World Cup, whilst during his early years with Lancashire anyone who were feeling the effects of a night out with Flintoff were said to a have been ‘Freddied’.
The crux of the matter here though is that the incident in Australia occurred when Flintoff was captain and in this regard Fletcher is right to be critical and feel betrayed that his silence on the matter was thanked by him getting drunk in such a public manner not long afterwards. However, it raises questions over Fletcher’s decision to make Flintoff captain for the Ashes series last year.
Andrew Strauss was the other option at the time; with long time skipper Michael Vaughan absent through injury. Flintoff was the man chosen though, with his presence, size and fear he put into the Australia team the main arguments. Of course it had the opposite effect with a barely-fit Flintoff unable to rally the troops or play as he had, unburdened by captaincy, in 2005. It seems that with his form gone, injuries rearing their head again and the team losing, that the bottle was his refuge.
What should be of more concern to English cricket isn’t what an ex-coach has written in his autobiography, as is his prerogative, but whether Flintoff will react to bad performances and news in a similar fashion. At the moment he is in the USA battling to overcome the recurring problem of his ankle injury and apparently he hasn’t had a drink for three months. Nobody is expecting Flintoff to abstain completely, but at least reign it in a bit. It also should be remembered that he is now in his 30’s and as such won’t be able to recover from nights on the ale as quickly as he once did.
Flintoff has to make a choice, something that Paul Gascoigne didn’t. Whilst Gazza’s stories may rouse a smile and a chuckle, they also inspire regret at the way in which he wasted his talents. Whilst there is no indication that Flintoff is an alcoholic, he still enjoys the nights on the sauce and the last thing English cricket should want for him, is to leave memories of a drunk staggering onto a bus, or splashing around trying to stay afloat off a Caribbean island, rather than a world class player making the very most of his abilities.
JI 05/11/07
It came as no surprise this week that Brazil was confirmed as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Under FIFA’s rotation system for hosting rights South America was the next destination after the African Confederation (CAF) in 2010. Since 2003 Brazil has been the only country to seriously talk of hosting the tournament, though Colombia gave it some thought a year ago, before being shot down by the South American Confederation (CONMEBOL) who lined up firmly behind Brazil. The last time they hosted the event was in 1950, when Uruguay beat them in the final.
Quite what the finals will be like is firmly open to conjecture, but that hasn’t stopped FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) from making guarantees and projecting the clichéd view of Brazilian football. There was talk of the football that Brazil have played (though hopefully the weren’t thinking of the 2006 World Cup at the time), the footballers they’ve produced, all set to a backdrop of beach football on Copacabana.
There is no doubt that Brazil has traditionally produced the most easy on the eye football, as exemplified by their 1970 world cup winning team. The quality of players is undoubted. In 2006 the CBF claims 851 players were exported, with 36 playing in Italy and 35 in Spain and AC Milan and Brazil midfielder, Kaka, is favourite to win the World and European player of the year awards. As for beach football, Rio is currently hosting the FIFA World Beach Soccer Championship even though much of it is played in the shade produced by the skyscrapers that line the shore.
However, major tournament hosting rights should not be allotted based on whatever a country has done for the legacy of a particular sport. There is still a lot of muddled thinking around Brazil 2014 notably around the stadia and the infrastructure in the various cities. That the government has promised $550 million has not done much to allay fears, as it will take more than just throwing money at a project to make it succeed.
When Brazil put forward its bid in 2003 they had a short-list of 18 stadia that they would use, to be whittled down to around 10 for the finals. However, rather than use the intervening four years to finalise the list or start work on any of them (work that was necessary whether they won the bid or not) nothing has been done, not even to the Morumbi in Sao Paolo or the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the opening match and the final. On top of which security around the stadia could be a massive problem, as many of them are located in notorious no-go areas, from where a quick exit is far from easy. When a definite decision on which stadia will be used or when work on them will begin is still something that has yet to be announced.
The other major problem for the organising committee is that of transport. The accident at Sao Paolo’s Congonhas airport earlier this year, in which nearly 200.died has focused minds on the inter-city air travel which will be the primary form of moving between the various cities. However, there are still problems with the provincial city airports, which aren’t even on the radar of those who need to fix them. Then there is the problem of getting around the cities themselves. When Rio won the 2007 Pan-American Games hosting rights they promised a massive upgrade to both the metro and bus systems, but both got swept under the carpet quickly when time and money became tight. No one was expecting a mass transit system as quick and efficient as those in Germany 2006, but a definite improvement is needed come 2014.
Ultimately any problems that arise before and during 2014 will be completely of Blatter’s own making. He brought in the rotation system so that South Africa was guaranteed the 2010 edition and thus forced FIFA’s hand to award 2014 to CONMEBOL. But every sport event has problems and question marks against it (just ask the good folks at London 2012) and it would be grossly unfair to presume that Brazil 2014 will be a disaster just because it is in the developing world. That the potential problems have been identified at this stage is no bad thing and it goes without saying that they have to be rectified by the start in seven years time. It is true that Brazil has done a phenomenal amount to promote football around the world and developed some outstanding players. All too often though, such success is seen as an accident rather than part of a meticulously planned youth development system. It has to be hoped then that such rigorous planning is given to the 2014 world cup, as it is to producing the next Ronaldinho, Kaka or Robinho.
Flintoff and the bottle:
In a week of autobiographical revelations probably the most interesting ones were those of ex-England cricket coach, Duncan Fletcher, who accused the then captain Andre Flintoff of being so drunk, that a fielding practice during the 2006/07 Ashes had to be abandoned and said he felt let down by Flintoff’s drunken escapades on a pedalo during the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in St Lucia.
It didn’t take long for Fletcher’s thoughts to be shot down. Former England cricketers Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott both argued that such bean spilling goes against the code of the dressing room and the ‘what happens on tour’ etc etc rule. Fletcher himself said that it was Flintoff who was letting the team down by behaving the way he did.
Of course there is plenty of evidence out there that Flintoff likes a drink, pedalo-gate being number one. Then there were the post-Ashes celebrations where he stumbled out of Mansion House and almost into a waiting cameraman, not forgetting his slurred cameo on the BBC at half-time during England’s match against Paraguay at the 2006 World Cup, whilst during his early years with Lancashire anyone who were feeling the effects of a night out with Flintoff were said to a have been ‘Freddied’.
The crux of the matter here though is that the incident in Australia occurred when Flintoff was captain and in this regard Fletcher is right to be critical and feel betrayed that his silence on the matter was thanked by him getting drunk in such a public manner not long afterwards. However, it raises questions over Fletcher’s decision to make Flintoff captain for the Ashes series last year.
Andrew Strauss was the other option at the time; with long time skipper Michael Vaughan absent through injury. Flintoff was the man chosen though, with his presence, size and fear he put into the Australia team the main arguments. Of course it had the opposite effect with a barely-fit Flintoff unable to rally the troops or play as he had, unburdened by captaincy, in 2005. It seems that with his form gone, injuries rearing their head again and the team losing, that the bottle was his refuge.
What should be of more concern to English cricket isn’t what an ex-coach has written in his autobiography, as is his prerogative, but whether Flintoff will react to bad performances and news in a similar fashion. At the moment he is in the USA battling to overcome the recurring problem of his ankle injury and apparently he hasn’t had a drink for three months. Nobody is expecting Flintoff to abstain completely, but at least reign it in a bit. It also should be remembered that he is now in his 30’s and as such won’t be able to recover from nights on the ale as quickly as he once did.
Flintoff has to make a choice, something that Paul Gascoigne didn’t. Whilst Gazza’s stories may rouse a smile and a chuckle, they also inspire regret at the way in which he wasted his talents. Whilst there is no indication that Flintoff is an alcoholic, he still enjoys the nights on the sauce and the last thing English cricket should want for him, is to leave memories of a drunk staggering onto a bus, or splashing around trying to stay afloat off a Caribbean island, rather than a world class player making the very most of his abilities.
JI 05/11/07
lunedì 29 ottobre 2007
Notes from a sporting week – 29/10/07
Hard lessons need to be learned from France:
So, we are being told, that was the best IRB Rugby World Cup ever. And to be honest there is a lot of evidence for the prosecution. There were mostly full stadia, a great atmosphere on the streets of the various cities, welcoming hosts and memorable matches. However, there are one or two caveats that future organising committees and the International Rugby Board and their new chairman, Bernard Lapasset, must take account of.
That there were some great matches is unquestionable. From the shock of the opening match and Argentina’s 17-12 win over France to their 34-10 win in the bronze medal match, there was plenty of excitement on the pitch. A shame then that the final was unable to extend the thrills, instead of serving up a stodge pudding with both teams waiting for the other to make a mistake. That it was the two youngest players on either team, South Africa’s Francois Steyn and England’s Mathew Tait, who were the only two that looked likely to make any impression with the ball in hand, says all it needs to. But that seems to be the way with world cups, of any variety, these days, with the desire not to lose overriding the need to go and win it. In terms of the final and the overall competition, the right team won, but it would have been good for the sake of the match if Mark Cueto’s try had counted, at least to breath some life into the proceedings.
Sadly the general style of play demonstrated is not one that will last long in the memory. There were moments of inspiration, but unfortunately they were few and far between and all too often teams had kicking as their first and only option. Argentina showed in the bronze medal match that they could put some width on the ball, but until then the up and under by Juan Martin Hernandez appeared to be their primary way of getting past defences. France provided the odd blast from the past, most notably against New Zealand, but on the big occasions froze badly. In the semi-final against England they stuck rigidly to their game plan or kick, kick and if that fails, kick again. Even the mercurial Fredrik Michalak failed to open his eyes to the possibilities out wide and stuck to putting his foot to the ball.
Thank god then for the smaller nations stirring things up. Argentina’s win over France was what the tournament needed as it’s start and Fiji were magnificent in their run to the quarterfinals. Mosese Rauluni was an excellent captain and at 20-20 they had South Africa on the ropes and sweating more than ordinary on a warm Marseille afternoon. This shouldn’t have surprised the Springboks following their narrow escape in the pool stages against Tonga, when one bounce of the ball could have swung the result the other way.
South Africa were worthy champions, though their style was functional rather than flash. In Fourie du Preez and wings Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen they have three wonderfully creative players. Unfortunately Butch James was in the traditional Springbok mould of uninspiring fly halves and it was up to Steyn to provide much of the spark in the backline. But with a pack of strong as the one they have and a kicker as accurate as Percy Montgomery, it would have been negligent to not use these strengths to the maximum.
There has been a lot of talk about the Stellenbosch Laws, which are being trialled in the Australian Rugby Championship, to encourage teams to keep the ball in hand, and there are some worthy ideas there. One idea I would consider is that if a missed drop kick goes dead, rather than being rewarded with a 22 dropout, a scrum is awarded from where the kick took place. Too often the drop kick was used for territory or to run down the clock, with any points accrued a bonus, notably in England’s win over Australia. With a 22 dropout the reward, the attacking team knows that it will receive the ball back in the opposition half and that the match is a minute or two nearer the end. Either way there is a definite need to bring the try back into vogue.
The rise of the smaller nations was one of the major stories to come from the world cup. The IRB-paid four-month preparation, which a number of the lower-tiered nations had, meant that the anticipated bloodbaths did not materialise and even though Portugal conceded over 100 points to New Zealand, they at least got on the scoreboard, something tier one Scotland failed to do. The world saw what Fiji could do with four months preparation; imagine what they could have done with four years worth?
These improvements need to be built upon, not ignored for another four years. It also needs the IRB to make a commitment to a 20-team tournament and dispel the rumoured reduction to 16. The colour and standards the likes of Portugal, Georgia, Tonga and USA brought to the world cup should be built upon and nurtured, through competition and player development and regular tests against the tier one nations. Furthermore any international federation worth it’s salt should only be thinking of expansion of it’s flagship tournament, with any reduction a complete contradiction of it’s claims that the rugby world cup is the third biggest sports event after the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup.
The stadia were almost full and that alone gives New Zealand 2011 and all other hosts thereafter something to strive for. Whether the failure to reach 100 per cent in ticket sales is down to pricing, match scheduling, antipathy on the part of fans or anything else is unclear, but that is something that future organising committees should be aiming for. If it means a sliding scale of prices depending on the match and when and where it is taking place then so be it. After all it doesn’t take a clairvoyant to tell you that France v Ireland in Paris on a Friday night was going to be a sell-out, whilst Georgia v Namibia on a Wednesday afternoon in Lens was not. Therefore a little more leeway in ticket pricing and perhaps more geeing up of the locals is needed. It was something that worked a treat in RWC 2003, for the Namibia v Romania match in Launceston, when odd day birthdays supported one team and even day birthdays the other. It got the response it merited with a full and vocal crowd.
The selling-off of matches to neighbouring unions is something that should be left in the waste bin. Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium will always be a part of RWC 2007 folk-lore following France’s quarter-final victory over New Zealand there. However, it overlooks two atrociously –attended matches between Canada and Fiji and Wales and Japan that could and should have gone to venues in France. As for the decision to use Murrayfield, the lasting memory of that is of a poor Scotland second-string team (whose captain, Jason White, had publicly announced that they could beat New Zealand) putting on a training match for New Zealand in which it was hard to pick out which team was which, such was the design of their playing jerseys.
Hopefully though the biggest legacy of RWC 2007 will be the ending to mind numbing, four-year shadow boxing that now takes place between tournaments. England’s unexpected run to the final shows what can be done with a committed bunch of quality players, who all buy into the game plan and adapt it accordingly on the pitch. It also helps that New Zealand blew up so spectacularly against France, after pretty much four years of having their own-way.
If this means that summer and autumn tests regain their lustre, rather than serve to try out yet another combination or two then so much the better. Likewise, the 6 and Tri-Nations should be viewed as a competition in their own right, to be won as best as possible, rather than a chance to blood a few new faces in the last 20 minutes. International rugby, infact any rugby, should be about the here and now and not some pot of gold four years hence. It has taken some high profile bloodied noses and frighteningly determined Argentina and England sides to show this and frankly hasn’t come a moment too soon. JI 29/10/07
So, we are being told, that was the best IRB Rugby World Cup ever. And to be honest there is a lot of evidence for the prosecution. There were mostly full stadia, a great atmosphere on the streets of the various cities, welcoming hosts and memorable matches. However, there are one or two caveats that future organising committees and the International Rugby Board and their new chairman, Bernard Lapasset, must take account of.
That there were some great matches is unquestionable. From the shock of the opening match and Argentina’s 17-12 win over France to their 34-10 win in the bronze medal match, there was plenty of excitement on the pitch. A shame then that the final was unable to extend the thrills, instead of serving up a stodge pudding with both teams waiting for the other to make a mistake. That it was the two youngest players on either team, South Africa’s Francois Steyn and England’s Mathew Tait, who were the only two that looked likely to make any impression with the ball in hand, says all it needs to. But that seems to be the way with world cups, of any variety, these days, with the desire not to lose overriding the need to go and win it. In terms of the final and the overall competition, the right team won, but it would have been good for the sake of the match if Mark Cueto’s try had counted, at least to breath some life into the proceedings.
Sadly the general style of play demonstrated is not one that will last long in the memory. There were moments of inspiration, but unfortunately they were few and far between and all too often teams had kicking as their first and only option. Argentina showed in the bronze medal match that they could put some width on the ball, but until then the up and under by Juan Martin Hernandez appeared to be their primary way of getting past defences. France provided the odd blast from the past, most notably against New Zealand, but on the big occasions froze badly. In the semi-final against England they stuck rigidly to their game plan or kick, kick and if that fails, kick again. Even the mercurial Fredrik Michalak failed to open his eyes to the possibilities out wide and stuck to putting his foot to the ball.
Thank god then for the smaller nations stirring things up. Argentina’s win over France was what the tournament needed as it’s start and Fiji were magnificent in their run to the quarterfinals. Mosese Rauluni was an excellent captain and at 20-20 they had South Africa on the ropes and sweating more than ordinary on a warm Marseille afternoon. This shouldn’t have surprised the Springboks following their narrow escape in the pool stages against Tonga, when one bounce of the ball could have swung the result the other way.
South Africa were worthy champions, though their style was functional rather than flash. In Fourie du Preez and wings Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen they have three wonderfully creative players. Unfortunately Butch James was in the traditional Springbok mould of uninspiring fly halves and it was up to Steyn to provide much of the spark in the backline. But with a pack of strong as the one they have and a kicker as accurate as Percy Montgomery, it would have been negligent to not use these strengths to the maximum.
There has been a lot of talk about the Stellenbosch Laws, which are being trialled in the Australian Rugby Championship, to encourage teams to keep the ball in hand, and there are some worthy ideas there. One idea I would consider is that if a missed drop kick goes dead, rather than being rewarded with a 22 dropout, a scrum is awarded from where the kick took place. Too often the drop kick was used for territory or to run down the clock, with any points accrued a bonus, notably in England’s win over Australia. With a 22 dropout the reward, the attacking team knows that it will receive the ball back in the opposition half and that the match is a minute or two nearer the end. Either way there is a definite need to bring the try back into vogue.
The rise of the smaller nations was one of the major stories to come from the world cup. The IRB-paid four-month preparation, which a number of the lower-tiered nations had, meant that the anticipated bloodbaths did not materialise and even though Portugal conceded over 100 points to New Zealand, they at least got on the scoreboard, something tier one Scotland failed to do. The world saw what Fiji could do with four months preparation; imagine what they could have done with four years worth?
These improvements need to be built upon, not ignored for another four years. It also needs the IRB to make a commitment to a 20-team tournament and dispel the rumoured reduction to 16. The colour and standards the likes of Portugal, Georgia, Tonga and USA brought to the world cup should be built upon and nurtured, through competition and player development and regular tests against the tier one nations. Furthermore any international federation worth it’s salt should only be thinking of expansion of it’s flagship tournament, with any reduction a complete contradiction of it’s claims that the rugby world cup is the third biggest sports event after the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup.
The stadia were almost full and that alone gives New Zealand 2011 and all other hosts thereafter something to strive for. Whether the failure to reach 100 per cent in ticket sales is down to pricing, match scheduling, antipathy on the part of fans or anything else is unclear, but that is something that future organising committees should be aiming for. If it means a sliding scale of prices depending on the match and when and where it is taking place then so be it. After all it doesn’t take a clairvoyant to tell you that France v Ireland in Paris on a Friday night was going to be a sell-out, whilst Georgia v Namibia on a Wednesday afternoon in Lens was not. Therefore a little more leeway in ticket pricing and perhaps more geeing up of the locals is needed. It was something that worked a treat in RWC 2003, for the Namibia v Romania match in Launceston, when odd day birthdays supported one team and even day birthdays the other. It got the response it merited with a full and vocal crowd.
The selling-off of matches to neighbouring unions is something that should be left in the waste bin. Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium will always be a part of RWC 2007 folk-lore following France’s quarter-final victory over New Zealand there. However, it overlooks two atrociously –attended matches between Canada and Fiji and Wales and Japan that could and should have gone to venues in France. As for the decision to use Murrayfield, the lasting memory of that is of a poor Scotland second-string team (whose captain, Jason White, had publicly announced that they could beat New Zealand) putting on a training match for New Zealand in which it was hard to pick out which team was which, such was the design of their playing jerseys.
Hopefully though the biggest legacy of RWC 2007 will be the ending to mind numbing, four-year shadow boxing that now takes place between tournaments. England’s unexpected run to the final shows what can be done with a committed bunch of quality players, who all buy into the game plan and adapt it accordingly on the pitch. It also helps that New Zealand blew up so spectacularly against France, after pretty much four years of having their own-way.
If this means that summer and autumn tests regain their lustre, rather than serve to try out yet another combination or two then so much the better. Likewise, the 6 and Tri-Nations should be viewed as a competition in their own right, to be won as best as possible, rather than a chance to blood a few new faces in the last 20 minutes. International rugby, infact any rugby, should be about the here and now and not some pot of gold four years hence. It has taken some high profile bloodied noses and frighteningly determined Argentina and England sides to show this and frankly hasn’t come a moment too soon. JI 29/10/07
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