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
domenica 25 novembre 2007
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
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