Amauri words a sign of things to come:
On Wednesday morning in the Italian press hidden amongst the recriminations from Italy’s 3-0 European Championship opening loss to The Netherlands, was a short piece about Juventus’ new signing Amauri. In it the Brazilian-born attacker, who has recently left Palermo for Turin, stated his desire to play for Italy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Now Amauri wouldn’t be the first South American-born player to turn out for the Azzurri, after all currently starring for Italy in Austria and Switzerland is Mauro Camoranesi, who was born and raised in Argentina but, like so many of his compatriots qualified for an Italian passport and having performed for Verona and Juventus was capped by then coach Giovanni Trappatoni.
What should be of more concern to FIFA is what it will do to player development in the wealthier nations.
Italy is a something of an exception when it comes to qualifying for a passport. You need to be resident for 10 years and whilst his wife holds a passport it makes no difference for Amauri. Currently he is at the eight-year mark and has admitted that if he could, he would have accepted a call from Italy coach Roberto Donadoni to play in Austria and Switzerland.
Of course in two years time he will be a fully paid-up member of the Italian passport holders club and if he continues his form for Juventus chances are he will be part of the Italy squad (qualification depending) who defend their trophy in South Africa. Had he made it to the Alpine countries this year he wouldn’t have been alone as a Brazilian naturalised and playing for another country.
Portugal’s Deco has long been a star for FC Porto and Barcelona and fellow Brazil-born player Pepe, who gained his passport in August 2007 and went straight into the team, now joins him in the Portugal line-up. Marco Senna has made his name for Villarreal and once he became a citizen was brought in to solidify a Spain midfield featuring Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. Roger Guerreiro scored Poland’s goal against Austria on Thursday night and Marco Aurelio became Mehmet Aurelio when he joined Turkey’s Fenerbache and whilst he too anchors the midfield his inclusion isn’t 100% popular.
Most European countries only require someone to be resident within their borders for five years to qualify for a passport. Now in most cases, such as Roberto Carlos when he was at Real Madrid, it is so that they no longer qualify as a non-EU player and thus are outside any quotas. However it is easy to see how it can be more cynically exploited thanks to the FIFA’s rules that insist that anyone playing for a national team must have be a passport holder from that country.
Argentina is one such country that is aware of the threat from the rich European clubs. Realising that there is little that can be done to stop their players running to Europe the first time an agent waves a fist full of Euros or Pounds in their faces, they tie them up in national training schemes, imbuing them with a sense of patriotism when they go overseas. It is one reason why Leonardo Messi will never turn his back on Argentina, despite his formative years in Spain and his Spanish passport.
But of course not every South American family is as blessed with such talent as Senor Messi's and therefore what is to stop, for instant, English clubs heading over to South America picking up a load of talented Brazilian lads and parking them in England until they qualify for UK passports and therefore the national teams. Sure there are FIFA rules against player movements before a certain age, but these can be circumnavigated if the whole family is moved, as happened to the 13 year-old Messi.
I realise it is a bit of an extreme scenario, but such is the English clubs’ apathy to player development, that it wouldn’t be too much of a shock. There has already been talk of Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper playing for England when he qualifies for a passport next season and it wouldn’t be the first time that such a policy has existed. New Zealand with their three year requirement for citizenship have been parking talented Pacific Island rugby players at schools and then putting into provincial and national teams as they did with wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.
We already have the situation whereby there is little compunction about a national team having a foreign coach and I realise that there can be little criticism of the players who are only taking advantage of passport laws for the betterment of their career. However, FIFA and the national associations need to get their heads round this issue if there is to any sense of national identity in international football in years to come.
Collingwood sounds note of caution:
Whilst the whole cricketing world seems to have gone bananas with the Twenty20 format, it took England one-day captain Paul Collingwood to remind everyone that there is more to the sport than a frantic two-hour (at most) session of bat thrashing and ball smashing and that test matches should not be forgotten as the highest form of the game.
The rise and rise of the short format of the sport continued this week when England announced they will play five Twenty 20 matches in the Caribbean this autumn, for a minor fee of £10million that will be shared between the winning players and staff.
Since Texas-born, Antigua-based multi-millionaire Sir Allen Stamford started bankrolling the modestly titled ‘Allen Stamford Series’ in the Caribbean, Twenty 20 cricket has snowballed.
We now have a credible tournament putting life back into cricket in the West Indies, something the International Cricket Council and the local organising committee failed to do with the 2007 Cricket World Cup and boy does it need it.
In recent years West Indian cricket has been hijacked by football, basketball and athletics, where once it was cricket that defined the region. Name a famous Jamaican sportsman and I would guarantee the first name that pops into your head is sprinter Asafa Powell rather than cricketer Chris Gayle. Likewise where are the heirs to Gary Sobers in Barbados or Brian Lara in Trinidad and Tobago?
It may only be a couple of years old, but Stamford recognised something when he created his series. That the islands are today truly independent nations and where they were once showcased to the world by their unified efforts as a cricket team, now they have their own individuals competing for an individual nation. Powell and new 100m world record holder Usain Bolt from Jamaica, fellow sprinters Obadele Thompson from Barbados and Ato Boldon from T and T, not to mention Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago making it to the World Cup finals in recent years.
India have now followed suit and their first year has been a resounding success of exciting action, full crowds and money through the tills. Watching this from afar has been the English and Welsh Cricket Board (ECB) whose original Twenty 20 concept now looks quaint by comparison.
Of course it is interesting that it is Collingwood who is trying to cool the frenzy. For years this was a player who was outstanding at one-day level, but who struggled to find a place in the test team. He could easily have sat back and enjoyed being a 50 over star and not fret too much about establishing himself in the longer form of the sport. But he wanted the credibility that comes from being a test cricketer and is now a key fixture of Michael Vaughan’s test side and what he says is true.
Twenty 20 is a valid form of the game and in terms of spreading the popularity of cricket is important (hell it is even shown on Italian TV), but it should be the first step in educating people about the sport as a whole, including the five-day format. After all the beauty of test cricket is that it lasts so long, but by being like that it gives the sport depth and substance. It is not something that can just be consigned to the bin on the whim of the man with the biggest cheque- book.
JI 16/06/08
domenica 15 giugno 2008
domenica 8 giugno 2008
Notes from a sporting week 09/06/08
Nadal confirms status as king of clay:
Watching the French Open’s men’s final on Eurosport wasn’t the easiest of viewing, mainly due to the ridiculously over the top artistic vision mixing of the channel’s directors. However, on the review programme that followed there were some interesting comments made by ex-world number one Mats Wilander.
The Swede said he cannot wait until next year’s French Open, as like most people who troop to Roland Garros, he will be desperate to see Roger Federer break his duck in Paris and win the one slam to elude him.
It is hard to disagree with Wilander; such is the way in which Federer has charmed the world with his magnanimity and multi-lingual charm. He is alone as an undisputed number one in that unlike the likes of Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods, you feel little shame cheering him on.
That said, it is no bad thing that Nadal continues to be his nemesis on clay, this time demolishing him 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to keep some kind of check and balance in men’s tennis. Furthermore with Novak Djokavic come up fast there is now a real threat to the Swiss in the other three slams. Imagine how truly dull men’s tennis would be if Federer cleared up every time?
Of course Federer will take no compensation from the fact that he lost to someone who has won the last four French Open titles and who has yet to lose at Roland Garros. That he lost in such an appallingly bad manner will probably haunt him until the start of the 2009 tournament. Sure he’s had health problems this year, but the way he mistimed shots, misjudged angles and length and gave away silly point after silly point mean that he has a lot of work to do between now and Wimbledon, be it physical or mental.
There have been many reports since the turn of the year questioning whether we will ever see the best of Federer again and we should have a clearer picture of his future once Wimbledon has finished. Of equal importance will be seeing how well Nadal does there and whether he can demonstrate that he is more than just a one-surface player. Wilander may be excited by what will happen down the Bois de Boulogne next year, but there are a lot of staging posts along the way that will be as equally significant for what shape men’s tennis will be in 12 months time.
New model Spurs taking shape:
It wasn’t a bad weekend to be a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. Firstly their team pulled off a major coup by taking Giovanni Dos Santos off Barcelona’s hands for an initial £4.7 million and then watched as their new signing Luca Modric opened the scoring in Croatia’s win over Austria at the European Championships.
In past summers, for supporters of other clubs, it has become a part of the summer to watch with amusement as Tottenham fans work themselves into a frenzy at news of their impending signing of one big name or another before those hopes are quickly dashed. Certainly the biggest name to have been linked with Spurs in recent summers was Rivaldo, before somewhat inevitably he turned them down in favour of AC Milan, a team who was playing in the Champions League.
There was a chance of a similar situation occurring this summer, with all the talk surrounding Samuel Eto’o joining the White Hart Lane outfit from Barcelona. With respect the lilywhites, such a move is highly unlikely given that the team will only be playing UEFA Cup football next season and has yet to feature in Europe’s premier club competition. However, the signings of Dos Santos and Modric should quieten such noises, yet give fans some hope that they can move forward in 2008-09.
Both signings should fit into the traditional Spurs tradition of good, intelligent footballers and whilst they aren’t household names now the powers that be are clearly optimistic that they can develop as players in north London and turn Tottenham into regular Champions League participants. Whilst Spurs fans wouldn’t appreciate anyone mentioning it, it is a policy that worked wonders for their bitter rivals down the road at Arsenal.
Dos Santos, whose transfer fee could rise to £8.6 million, will provide an attacking threat from the left, whilst hopes will be on Modric that he can pull the strings in midfield in the way that Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardilles once did. Great praise has to go to Tottenham manager Juande Ramos for pulling off the signings as there is little doubt that both will have received a number of significant offers, such is the level of their reputations. It also speaks volumes for the respect in which Ramos is held that he could persuade them to join him at White Hart Lane.
Having led Sevilla to two successive UEFA Cups, one of the reasons Tottenham were so keen to get him on board was because of the clout he would bring to the transfer market and transfer dealings. Whilst Martin Jol did extremely well to get Spurs into fifth place two years in a row and was highly popular, the decision to sack him, whilst hardly painting Spurs’ management in a good light, shows that they were willing to make tough, unpopular decisions for the sake of the club.
The signings may not be the most earth-shattering purchases in Tottenham’s history, but they do show the direction the club should be going in. Along with defenders Jonathon Woodgate and Alan Hutton they demonstrate that Ramos has a strategy when buying players. Good at their job and old enough to be of benefit to the club either on the field or in the transfer market they show that the club thinks that they won’t break into the top four by a sudden splurge of cash on one or two big names, but through a well though out policy towards players who will fit into the model and grow together.
Of course there remains a chronic need for the club to keep hold of striker Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian has been at the heart of everything the team has down well over the last few years, but is famously temperamental and has an agent who has no compunction over making eyes to the Champions Leagues clubs elsewhere in the country. Holding onto to him will be the next big job for Ramos and whether he does or not is likely to define whether Spurs make the step up to the next level or keep living their deluded dreams for the foreseeable future.
JI 09/06/08
Watching the French Open’s men’s final on Eurosport wasn’t the easiest of viewing, mainly due to the ridiculously over the top artistic vision mixing of the channel’s directors. However, on the review programme that followed there were some interesting comments made by ex-world number one Mats Wilander.
The Swede said he cannot wait until next year’s French Open, as like most people who troop to Roland Garros, he will be desperate to see Roger Federer break his duck in Paris and win the one slam to elude him.
It is hard to disagree with Wilander; such is the way in which Federer has charmed the world with his magnanimity and multi-lingual charm. He is alone as an undisputed number one in that unlike the likes of Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods, you feel little shame cheering him on.
That said, it is no bad thing that Nadal continues to be his nemesis on clay, this time demolishing him 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to keep some kind of check and balance in men’s tennis. Furthermore with Novak Djokavic come up fast there is now a real threat to the Swiss in the other three slams. Imagine how truly dull men’s tennis would be if Federer cleared up every time?
Of course Federer will take no compensation from the fact that he lost to someone who has won the last four French Open titles and who has yet to lose at Roland Garros. That he lost in such an appallingly bad manner will probably haunt him until the start of the 2009 tournament. Sure he’s had health problems this year, but the way he mistimed shots, misjudged angles and length and gave away silly point after silly point mean that he has a lot of work to do between now and Wimbledon, be it physical or mental.
There have been many reports since the turn of the year questioning whether we will ever see the best of Federer again and we should have a clearer picture of his future once Wimbledon has finished. Of equal importance will be seeing how well Nadal does there and whether he can demonstrate that he is more than just a one-surface player. Wilander may be excited by what will happen down the Bois de Boulogne next year, but there are a lot of staging posts along the way that will be as equally significant for what shape men’s tennis will be in 12 months time.
New model Spurs taking shape:
It wasn’t a bad weekend to be a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. Firstly their team pulled off a major coup by taking Giovanni Dos Santos off Barcelona’s hands for an initial £4.7 million and then watched as their new signing Luca Modric opened the scoring in Croatia’s win over Austria at the European Championships.
In past summers, for supporters of other clubs, it has become a part of the summer to watch with amusement as Tottenham fans work themselves into a frenzy at news of their impending signing of one big name or another before those hopes are quickly dashed. Certainly the biggest name to have been linked with Spurs in recent summers was Rivaldo, before somewhat inevitably he turned them down in favour of AC Milan, a team who was playing in the Champions League.
There was a chance of a similar situation occurring this summer, with all the talk surrounding Samuel Eto’o joining the White Hart Lane outfit from Barcelona. With respect the lilywhites, such a move is highly unlikely given that the team will only be playing UEFA Cup football next season and has yet to feature in Europe’s premier club competition. However, the signings of Dos Santos and Modric should quieten such noises, yet give fans some hope that they can move forward in 2008-09.
Both signings should fit into the traditional Spurs tradition of good, intelligent footballers and whilst they aren’t household names now the powers that be are clearly optimistic that they can develop as players in north London and turn Tottenham into regular Champions League participants. Whilst Spurs fans wouldn’t appreciate anyone mentioning it, it is a policy that worked wonders for their bitter rivals down the road at Arsenal.
Dos Santos, whose transfer fee could rise to £8.6 million, will provide an attacking threat from the left, whilst hopes will be on Modric that he can pull the strings in midfield in the way that Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardilles once did. Great praise has to go to Tottenham manager Juande Ramos for pulling off the signings as there is little doubt that both will have received a number of significant offers, such is the level of their reputations. It also speaks volumes for the respect in which Ramos is held that he could persuade them to join him at White Hart Lane.
Having led Sevilla to two successive UEFA Cups, one of the reasons Tottenham were so keen to get him on board was because of the clout he would bring to the transfer market and transfer dealings. Whilst Martin Jol did extremely well to get Spurs into fifth place two years in a row and was highly popular, the decision to sack him, whilst hardly painting Spurs’ management in a good light, shows that they were willing to make tough, unpopular decisions for the sake of the club.
The signings may not be the most earth-shattering purchases in Tottenham’s history, but they do show the direction the club should be going in. Along with defenders Jonathon Woodgate and Alan Hutton they demonstrate that Ramos has a strategy when buying players. Good at their job and old enough to be of benefit to the club either on the field or in the transfer market they show that the club thinks that they won’t break into the top four by a sudden splurge of cash on one or two big names, but through a well though out policy towards players who will fit into the model and grow together.
Of course there remains a chronic need for the club to keep hold of striker Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian has been at the heart of everything the team has down well over the last few years, but is famously temperamental and has an agent who has no compunction over making eyes to the Champions Leagues clubs elsewhere in the country. Holding onto to him will be the next big job for Ramos and whether he does or not is likely to define whether Spurs make the step up to the next level or keep living their deluded dreams for the foreseeable future.
JI 09/06/08
lunedì 19 maggio 2008
Notes from a sporting week – 19/05/08
Sad goodbye for Henin:
There were few out there who could say that they were not surprised by Justine Henin’s decision to retire from professional tennis at the ripe old age of 25 whilst atop the women’s world rankings, but happen it has and one can only applaud her for making a massive decision when she was at the peak of her powers.
Having played tennis since the age of five and having turned professional aged 16 in 1999 her reasons for retiring are not to dissimilar to those expressed by her compatriot Kim Clijsters when she retired last year; wanting to get away from the daily grind of training and travelling to tournaments in various parts of the world and having more of a normal life.
What comes as more of a shock is her timing. Having won the last three French Open titles one could have imagined that she would have been champing at the bit to make it four in a row. She also had an Olympic gold medal to defend in Beijing later in the year, but even sticking it out for a few more months is not something she could stomach after a 2008 in which she has won two titles but suffered some bad reverses along the way, not least to Dinara Safina in the third round of the German Open recently.
Over the last five years Henin has been the dominant figure on the women’s tour, wining seven grand slam titles and 47 tournaments in all. She has been top of the women’s rankings 117 times and in 2007 became the first female tennis player to earn more than US$5 million. The French Open was her favourite tournament and having won it in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 she was expected to add a fifth this year. She was also champion at the US Open in 2003 and 2007 and the Australian in 2004. The only slam to escape her was Wimbledon, where she finished runner up in 2001 and 2006.
2007 was undoubtedly the best year that she has enjoyed. As well as the French and US Opens and the $5 million, she added another eight titles to become the first women in 10 years to win 10 titles in a season, including the end of season championship. There was also the reconciliation with her father and brother from whom she had become estranged following the death of her mother when she was aged 12. Also in 2007 she announced that she was splitting from her husband and ex-coach Pierre-Yves Hardenne, though in both cases kept the reasons for them to herself.
Indeed there has been many this week speculating that with those chapters of her life closed she lacked the drive and desire to prove herself that had driven her to the heights she reached. The immediate and sudden announcement gives credence to this theory and the statement on her personal website talks of her having a bitter taste in her mouth were she to carry on until the season’s end.
Whatever the reasons the truth is that women’s tennis has lost one of its undoubted superstars, its best player in fact. Sure they still have the showbiz potential of Maria Sharapova or the Williams sisters, but she was a breath of fresh in the sport. Henin was not afraid to speak her mind and like Martina Hingis before her wasn’t worried about ruffling a few feathers with her comments in contrast to the usual self-centred banalities that most players come out with.
There has been the obvious talk of burnout and a comparison can be made to Hingis’ retirement after she was unable to compete with the power game of Sharapova, the Williams and Aurelie Mauresmo. The difference with Henin is that she could handle the power game and often overcame if. That she could is nothing short of miraculous considering her slight 5 feet 5 inch frame, especially in comparison to the aforementioned 6 feet tall Amazonian quartet. As well as having a deadly accurate forehand and backhand, she worked phenomenally hard on her serve and the fact that she reached two Wimbledon finals shows just how well she could negate the powerful serve and volley game.
There could be the worry that we may not see her like again, that we are far more likely to see more of the power hitters athletes who can adapt their game from the hard courts that dominate the season to the few weeks in which they have to venture onto clay or grass. Thankfully this week at the Rome Masters French women Alize Cornet reached the final where she lost in straight sets to defending champion Jelena Jankovic. Like Henin the Nice native is diminutive in stature, but has a delicate touch and good movement around the court. At 17 years of age she provides the hope that women’s tennis may have some variety in years to come. Should she reach the heights that Henin has reached though, it should be hoped that she doesn’t feel the need to turn her back on the sport when at the peak of her powers.
CAS makes common sense decision:
It has been a long road for Oscar Pistorius, the ‘blade runner’, but finally the South African Paralympic runner has got his wish of competing in able-bodied competitions, including of course this summers Olympic Games in Beijing.
Having been turned down by the International Association of Athletics Federations, Pistorius, the 2004 Paralympic gold medallist took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland and this Friday they confirmed that he can run alongside able-bodied runners, so long as it is on the prosthetic limbs, or cheetah blades as they are known, that he has been using thus far.
Originally the IAAF refused Pistorius his request, believing that the blades gave him an unfair advantage. What advantage existed was not obvious when he ran in a number of meetings in 2007 and finished well outside the top three. However, the man himself always argued that there was no advantage and he was able to prove it to the CAS.
Of course if technological developments mean that he starts using a new pair then they too will have to undergo a rigorous testing procedure before he can use them in non-paralympic competition and CAS was at pains to make clear that the ruling applied only to Pistorius and his cheetah blades. For now though all parties are happy, with IAAF President Lamine Diack welcoming him with open arms and wishing him well.
However, it is still highly unlikely that Pistorius will make it to Beijing for the Olympics. The ‘A’ qualifying time is 45.55 seconds, with a ‘B’ qualifying time of 45.95, which allows a country to enter one athlete if none has finished in the ‘A’ time. Currently his personal best for the 400m is 46.46, with a 2007 best of 46.56, though he did finish second in last year’s able-bodied 400m at the South African championships.
For now though that doesn’t matter, though the man himself believes that the ruling will spur him onto to better times. What is important is that he has been given the chance, whilst the IAAF can be satisfied with their stance because any rush to allow him would have opened a can of worms and left them open to accusations of tokenism. Moreover at a time when athletics is being kicked from pillar to post with stories of drug taking, Pistorius’ good news story provides a refreshing change.
JI 19/05/08
There were few out there who could say that they were not surprised by Justine Henin’s decision to retire from professional tennis at the ripe old age of 25 whilst atop the women’s world rankings, but happen it has and one can only applaud her for making a massive decision when she was at the peak of her powers.
Having played tennis since the age of five and having turned professional aged 16 in 1999 her reasons for retiring are not to dissimilar to those expressed by her compatriot Kim Clijsters when she retired last year; wanting to get away from the daily grind of training and travelling to tournaments in various parts of the world and having more of a normal life.
What comes as more of a shock is her timing. Having won the last three French Open titles one could have imagined that she would have been champing at the bit to make it four in a row. She also had an Olympic gold medal to defend in Beijing later in the year, but even sticking it out for a few more months is not something she could stomach after a 2008 in which she has won two titles but suffered some bad reverses along the way, not least to Dinara Safina in the third round of the German Open recently.
Over the last five years Henin has been the dominant figure on the women’s tour, wining seven grand slam titles and 47 tournaments in all. She has been top of the women’s rankings 117 times and in 2007 became the first female tennis player to earn more than US$5 million. The French Open was her favourite tournament and having won it in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 she was expected to add a fifth this year. She was also champion at the US Open in 2003 and 2007 and the Australian in 2004. The only slam to escape her was Wimbledon, where she finished runner up in 2001 and 2006.
2007 was undoubtedly the best year that she has enjoyed. As well as the French and US Opens and the $5 million, she added another eight titles to become the first women in 10 years to win 10 titles in a season, including the end of season championship. There was also the reconciliation with her father and brother from whom she had become estranged following the death of her mother when she was aged 12. Also in 2007 she announced that she was splitting from her husband and ex-coach Pierre-Yves Hardenne, though in both cases kept the reasons for them to herself.
Indeed there has been many this week speculating that with those chapters of her life closed she lacked the drive and desire to prove herself that had driven her to the heights she reached. The immediate and sudden announcement gives credence to this theory and the statement on her personal website talks of her having a bitter taste in her mouth were she to carry on until the season’s end.
Whatever the reasons the truth is that women’s tennis has lost one of its undoubted superstars, its best player in fact. Sure they still have the showbiz potential of Maria Sharapova or the Williams sisters, but she was a breath of fresh in the sport. Henin was not afraid to speak her mind and like Martina Hingis before her wasn’t worried about ruffling a few feathers with her comments in contrast to the usual self-centred banalities that most players come out with.
There has been the obvious talk of burnout and a comparison can be made to Hingis’ retirement after she was unable to compete with the power game of Sharapova, the Williams and Aurelie Mauresmo. The difference with Henin is that she could handle the power game and often overcame if. That she could is nothing short of miraculous considering her slight 5 feet 5 inch frame, especially in comparison to the aforementioned 6 feet tall Amazonian quartet. As well as having a deadly accurate forehand and backhand, she worked phenomenally hard on her serve and the fact that she reached two Wimbledon finals shows just how well she could negate the powerful serve and volley game.
There could be the worry that we may not see her like again, that we are far more likely to see more of the power hitters athletes who can adapt their game from the hard courts that dominate the season to the few weeks in which they have to venture onto clay or grass. Thankfully this week at the Rome Masters French women Alize Cornet reached the final where she lost in straight sets to defending champion Jelena Jankovic. Like Henin the Nice native is diminutive in stature, but has a delicate touch and good movement around the court. At 17 years of age she provides the hope that women’s tennis may have some variety in years to come. Should she reach the heights that Henin has reached though, it should be hoped that she doesn’t feel the need to turn her back on the sport when at the peak of her powers.
CAS makes common sense decision:
It has been a long road for Oscar Pistorius, the ‘blade runner’, but finally the South African Paralympic runner has got his wish of competing in able-bodied competitions, including of course this summers Olympic Games in Beijing.
Having been turned down by the International Association of Athletics Federations, Pistorius, the 2004 Paralympic gold medallist took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland and this Friday they confirmed that he can run alongside able-bodied runners, so long as it is on the prosthetic limbs, or cheetah blades as they are known, that he has been using thus far.
Originally the IAAF refused Pistorius his request, believing that the blades gave him an unfair advantage. What advantage existed was not obvious when he ran in a number of meetings in 2007 and finished well outside the top three. However, the man himself always argued that there was no advantage and he was able to prove it to the CAS.
Of course if technological developments mean that he starts using a new pair then they too will have to undergo a rigorous testing procedure before he can use them in non-paralympic competition and CAS was at pains to make clear that the ruling applied only to Pistorius and his cheetah blades. For now though all parties are happy, with IAAF President Lamine Diack welcoming him with open arms and wishing him well.
However, it is still highly unlikely that Pistorius will make it to Beijing for the Olympics. The ‘A’ qualifying time is 45.55 seconds, with a ‘B’ qualifying time of 45.95, which allows a country to enter one athlete if none has finished in the ‘A’ time. Currently his personal best for the 400m is 46.46, with a 2007 best of 46.56, though he did finish second in last year’s able-bodied 400m at the South African championships.
For now though that doesn’t matter, though the man himself believes that the ruling will spur him onto to better times. What is important is that he has been given the chance, whilst the IAAF can be satisfied with their stance because any rush to allow him would have opened a can of worms and left them open to accusations of tokenism. Moreover at a time when athletics is being kicked from pillar to post with stories of drug taking, Pistorius’ good news story provides a refreshing change.
JI 19/05/08
domenica 11 maggio 2008
Notes from a sporting week – 12/05/08
Manninger the unlikely hero:
It is not just the English Premier League that has come down to the final weekend to decide who will win the title. A week ago Italy’s Serie A should have been done and dusted. Season-long leaders Inter were ‘away’ to city rivals Milan at San Siro and a win would have sewn up the championship with two weeks to go. Despite Inter’s protestations before the match that they were the underdogs it was still some surprise that a Milan team that has long been off colour ran out 2-1 winners. It thus left Roma, who beat Sampdoria, three points behind, when it appeared they had thrown away their chance of overhauling Inter a couple of weeks ago with a 1-0 defeat away to Livorno.
So to this weekend when Inter were at home to Siena, whilst Roma hosted Atlanta at Stadio Olimpico knowing that all Inter had to do (again) was take maximum points to leave whatever Roma did as irrelevant. That said Siena have taken great delight in being a thorn in the bigger team’s ambitions, having defeated Roma and Juventus in previous weeks.
Things began as planned when Patrick Viera opened the scoring for Inter early on. Ten minutes later in the capital Christian Pannucci was popping up with yet another important goal for the giallorossi to keep up their part of the bargain. At the half hour mark things took a twist when one-time Middlesbrough striker Massimo Macaroni drew Siena level. It wasn’t to last till half time though, when Inter’s 17 year-old sensation Mario Balotelli put Inter back in the lead. With the goal coming just before half time and despite Danielle de Rossi putting Roma 2-0 ahead, few would have argued with that being that.
The Tuscans are made of sterner stuff though and two minutes after de Rossi’s freekick found the net, Houssine Kharja brought Siena back on level terms with a low shot past Inter keeper Julio Cesar. Having done well to draw level once, fantastically to do it twice most Roma fans would have been preying to their gods that they wouldn’t let it slip again.
For a while though it appeared that they would. As ever with most controversial incidents in Italian football it involved Marco Materazzi, Zinedine Zidane’s bete noire from the 2006 World Cup final. This time he was involved with a game of pushy-shovey with Christian Rigano in the Siena penalty area in the build up to a corner that resulted in both men falling to the ground and the referee inexplicably pointing to the penalty spot.
Having dusted himself down Materazzi could only watch in horror as poetic justice came round quicker than expected when Alex Manninger got down low to block the shot and then got to his feet in enough time to catch the resulting cross. The ex-Arsenal keeper has been off Anglo-Saxon radars for a number of years having left Highbury to join Fiorentina in 2001 and was an unlikely protagonist in shaping the title’s destiny. He will head home to Austria once the season ends for the European Championships and will be hoping to help his country end fears that they could be the worst tournament hosts ever.
And there it remained till fulltime, despite a late Atalanta goal giving Roma a few nervous moments before the final whistle and meant that one point is all that separates the two teams going into the final whistle.
At San Siro the TV cameras kept zooming onto Inter owner Massimo Moratti and with good reason. The Pirelli tyre tycoon has pumped millions upon millions of Euro into the nerazzurri and has precious few trophies to show for it. They may have won the last two scudetti, but the first was only after Juventus had it stripped from them following the calciopoli match-fixing scandal, then 2007 was tainted by Juve not being present in Serie A, whilst likely challengers Milan, had points docked from the start of the season after their involvement in calciopoli.
This year was the season in which Inter were to show the world that they hadn’t won the last two titles by default. At one point they led the table by 11 points, but Roma have stuck to their task doggedly. Even when they lost their talisman and captain, Francesco Totti through injury they have held on. Now though it is Inter that will be worried over one of their key players after Esteban Cambiasso, the tigerish Argentinian midfielder who has been talked of as a future captain was helped from the field at the final whistle. Nerves are taking hold in the Inter camp, but they know all they have to do is win their next match, away to Parma, to be crowned champions. If only it was a simple as that.
Sinbad leaving selectors few excuses:
There was one name that stood out during the Gloucester versus Bath match that decided who finished top of rugby union’s Premiership before the playoffs begin next weekend. That James Simpson-Daniel who finished as man of the match, scored the only try and made a number of important tackles.
With the summer tour to New Zealand approaching new England coach Martin Johnston will have to find a pretty good reason why Simpson-Daniel won’t be on the plane to Auckland such is the Gloucester man’s form not only this season, but over a number of years.
Having impressed in his international debut in 2002 he was injured and missed the 2003 World Cup. There has been a sprinkling of appearances in a white shirt since then, but further injury and selection policies have meant he has missed out more often than not.
Now though he is yet again showing what he is able to do and with the ability to impress on the wing and in the centres and bring speed and creativity to a side he should have earned more than just the 10 caps to his name.
By the time of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand he will be 29 and around his peak. There is a lot of talk at the moment about England’s young starts: Toby Flood, Matthew Tait, Danny Cipriani and the like have been earning rave reviews week in week out. However, whilst they may keep learning and developing these next few years, most teams need a core of players around the 30 year-old mark to add the steadying hand to youthful exuberance.
Johnston should get him in his team now and allow him time to bed in because a player like him should not be allowed to miss out an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to the world, yet alone miss out on a World Cup for a third time.
JI 12/05/08
It is not just the English Premier League that has come down to the final weekend to decide who will win the title. A week ago Italy’s Serie A should have been done and dusted. Season-long leaders Inter were ‘away’ to city rivals Milan at San Siro and a win would have sewn up the championship with two weeks to go. Despite Inter’s protestations before the match that they were the underdogs it was still some surprise that a Milan team that has long been off colour ran out 2-1 winners. It thus left Roma, who beat Sampdoria, three points behind, when it appeared they had thrown away their chance of overhauling Inter a couple of weeks ago with a 1-0 defeat away to Livorno.
So to this weekend when Inter were at home to Siena, whilst Roma hosted Atlanta at Stadio Olimpico knowing that all Inter had to do (again) was take maximum points to leave whatever Roma did as irrelevant. That said Siena have taken great delight in being a thorn in the bigger team’s ambitions, having defeated Roma and Juventus in previous weeks.
Things began as planned when Patrick Viera opened the scoring for Inter early on. Ten minutes later in the capital Christian Pannucci was popping up with yet another important goal for the giallorossi to keep up their part of the bargain. At the half hour mark things took a twist when one-time Middlesbrough striker Massimo Macaroni drew Siena level. It wasn’t to last till half time though, when Inter’s 17 year-old sensation Mario Balotelli put Inter back in the lead. With the goal coming just before half time and despite Danielle de Rossi putting Roma 2-0 ahead, few would have argued with that being that.
The Tuscans are made of sterner stuff though and two minutes after de Rossi’s freekick found the net, Houssine Kharja brought Siena back on level terms with a low shot past Inter keeper Julio Cesar. Having done well to draw level once, fantastically to do it twice most Roma fans would have been preying to their gods that they wouldn’t let it slip again.
For a while though it appeared that they would. As ever with most controversial incidents in Italian football it involved Marco Materazzi, Zinedine Zidane’s bete noire from the 2006 World Cup final. This time he was involved with a game of pushy-shovey with Christian Rigano in the Siena penalty area in the build up to a corner that resulted in both men falling to the ground and the referee inexplicably pointing to the penalty spot.
Having dusted himself down Materazzi could only watch in horror as poetic justice came round quicker than expected when Alex Manninger got down low to block the shot and then got to his feet in enough time to catch the resulting cross. The ex-Arsenal keeper has been off Anglo-Saxon radars for a number of years having left Highbury to join Fiorentina in 2001 and was an unlikely protagonist in shaping the title’s destiny. He will head home to Austria once the season ends for the European Championships and will be hoping to help his country end fears that they could be the worst tournament hosts ever.
And there it remained till fulltime, despite a late Atalanta goal giving Roma a few nervous moments before the final whistle and meant that one point is all that separates the two teams going into the final whistle.
At San Siro the TV cameras kept zooming onto Inter owner Massimo Moratti and with good reason. The Pirelli tyre tycoon has pumped millions upon millions of Euro into the nerazzurri and has precious few trophies to show for it. They may have won the last two scudetti, but the first was only after Juventus had it stripped from them following the calciopoli match-fixing scandal, then 2007 was tainted by Juve not being present in Serie A, whilst likely challengers Milan, had points docked from the start of the season after their involvement in calciopoli.
This year was the season in which Inter were to show the world that they hadn’t won the last two titles by default. At one point they led the table by 11 points, but Roma have stuck to their task doggedly. Even when they lost their talisman and captain, Francesco Totti through injury they have held on. Now though it is Inter that will be worried over one of their key players after Esteban Cambiasso, the tigerish Argentinian midfielder who has been talked of as a future captain was helped from the field at the final whistle. Nerves are taking hold in the Inter camp, but they know all they have to do is win their next match, away to Parma, to be crowned champions. If only it was a simple as that.
Sinbad leaving selectors few excuses:
There was one name that stood out during the Gloucester versus Bath match that decided who finished top of rugby union’s Premiership before the playoffs begin next weekend. That James Simpson-Daniel who finished as man of the match, scored the only try and made a number of important tackles.
With the summer tour to New Zealand approaching new England coach Martin Johnston will have to find a pretty good reason why Simpson-Daniel won’t be on the plane to Auckland such is the Gloucester man’s form not only this season, but over a number of years.
Having impressed in his international debut in 2002 he was injured and missed the 2003 World Cup. There has been a sprinkling of appearances in a white shirt since then, but further injury and selection policies have meant he has missed out more often than not.
Now though he is yet again showing what he is able to do and with the ability to impress on the wing and in the centres and bring speed and creativity to a side he should have earned more than just the 10 caps to his name.
By the time of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand he will be 29 and around his peak. There is a lot of talk at the moment about England’s young starts: Toby Flood, Matthew Tait, Danny Cipriani and the like have been earning rave reviews week in week out. However, whilst they may keep learning and developing these next few years, most teams need a core of players around the 30 year-old mark to add the steadying hand to youthful exuberance.
Johnston should get him in his team now and allow him time to bed in because a player like him should not be allowed to miss out an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to the world, yet alone miss out on a World Cup for a third time.
JI 12/05/08
lunedì 5 maggio 2008
Notes from a sporting week 05/05/08
Oars in for Beijing:
Rowing has been one of Britain’s best sources of medals at the Olympics Games and this week the team’s preparations were finalised and the various teams named for the World Cup that begins in Munich this week and who, barring a disaster, are expected to stay together all the way through to Beijing in August.
That expectations are high around rowing is largely thanks to the efforts of firstly Sir Steve Redgrave and then Sir Mathew Pinsent, who won five and four consecutive medals respectively. However, since their retirements there is now a realisation that the there is more to rowing than just those two.
At Sydney 2000 the team won three medals, including gold for Redgrave and Pinsent in the coxless fours and gold for the eights, as well as silver for the women’s quad sculls. Four years on in Athens the number of medals increased to four, with the men’s four retaining their gold medal. There are hopes that the number will increase in Beijing, having taken seven medals in Olympic class events at last years World Championships in Munich.
Once more the men’s fours has taken the majority of the attention, with a last minute change to the line-up. Just before Athens Alex Partridge was forced to withdraw from the four with a collapsed lung. This year he has been moved to the eight with the four made up of Steve Williams, who survives from 2004, Peter Reed, Andy Hodge and Tom James. Having won the 2005 and 2006 World Championships as part of 27 consecutive wins, there was a feeling that the team had gone stale, having finished seventh in Munich.
Of course such changes are nothing new. Between Sydney and Athens there was the expectation that Pinsent would go for his fourth consecutive gold alongside James Cracknell in the coxless pairs. Initially things went well for the duo and there was the famous day at the 2001 World Championships where 20 minutes after winning the coxless pair gold, they added the coxed pair gold. However, things went wrong in 2003 when they finished outside the medals, forcing coach Jurgen Grobler to act and put them into the coxless fours.
The change comes once again from the German and should silence any doubters. The East German has been winning rowing medals at Olympic Games since 1972 and was the inspiration behind three of Redgrave’s five Olympics golds.
This time there are high hopes for the eight, who along with Partridge have been joined by Colin Smith and Matt Langridge from the coxless pairs and in 2007 won a surprise bronze at the World Championships. The exact line-up has yet to be revealed, with 10 names selected for the Munich event being whittled down as Beijing draws nearer.
One thing that has stood out recently for the British squad is the success of the women’s team, with three of the four medals in Athens coming from the females. In Munich’s World Championships they won two gold medals, two bronze medals and will expect more of the same in Athens.
David Turner, the GB Rowing Performance Director has said that the squad would be pleased with four medals, though he is surely being mischievous with such sentiments. Having topped the table at the 2007 World Championships with eight medals the team will secretly be aiming much higher.
In 1996 it was Redgrave and Pinsent that saved the British Olympic team from utter obscurity by winning Britain’s only gold medal in Atlanta. That in 2008 there are no major names taking to the water shows what an excellent job GB Rowing has done in increasing the talent pool and that despite their attempts to keep a lid on expectations few people will be fooled by Tanners words.
Mixed start for Jamaica:
Another team hopeful of doing well in Beijing is the Jamaica sprint team and to that end they got off to a strong start to the season when Usain Bolt ran 9.76 seconds in Jamaica over the weekend. It gives the team a little fillip after the news that their big hope for 100m gold, Asafa Powell, will miss the meetings in Doha, Oslo and Eugene with a chest injury.
Bolt, the 2007 World 200m silver medallist, finished in a time two hundred’s of a second slower than Powell’s world record of 9.74 and lays down a marker to big rival and 100m world champion Tyson Gay, who ran 20.00 in his first 200m of the season.
There were high hopes for Powell and the Jamaica team going into the Athens Olympics, but they turned out to be one of the anticlimaxes of the Games. Powell disappointed in the 100m final, then failed to show up for the 200m final meaning the team were disqualified from the 4x100m relay. In the end it was the women that saved the day, with Veronica Crawford winning 200m gold, 100m silver and then anchoring the 4x100m team to victory.
Since then there have been strong showings from the Jamaicans in both the 2005 and 2007 World Championships. In Helsinki in 2005 Michael Frater took silver in the 100m, whilst Campbell took the 100m silver and helped the 4x100m team to second. Things improved in Osaka when Powell won the 100m bronze, with Bolt finishing third in the 200m and then they teamed up to win second in the 4x100m relay. Campbell also improved her standing with 100m gold, 200m silver and another 4x100m relay silver.
Of course at the same time the USA flexed its muscles and showed that it can still churn out champion runners. Whilst Justin Gatlin fell off his perch and was exposed as a drug cheat Tyson Gay went on and won double sprint gold in Osaka. There are also the likes of Wallace Spearman and Leroy Dixon who have proved themselves over the last Olympiad.
There should be little doubt that Jamaica is the USA’s main rivals in the sprints and there are few reasons why not. However, the same was true before Athens, but in the end they were unable to handle the pressure of the day and the less heralded ladies team showed them what was possible with a bit of belief. Bolt’s victory this weekend should give the team the belief that they need, they just need to build on it and keep it till Beijing if Powell and co are to truly fulfil their undoubted potential.
JI 05/05/08
Rowing has been one of Britain’s best sources of medals at the Olympics Games and this week the team’s preparations were finalised and the various teams named for the World Cup that begins in Munich this week and who, barring a disaster, are expected to stay together all the way through to Beijing in August.
That expectations are high around rowing is largely thanks to the efforts of firstly Sir Steve Redgrave and then Sir Mathew Pinsent, who won five and four consecutive medals respectively. However, since their retirements there is now a realisation that the there is more to rowing than just those two.
At Sydney 2000 the team won three medals, including gold for Redgrave and Pinsent in the coxless fours and gold for the eights, as well as silver for the women’s quad sculls. Four years on in Athens the number of medals increased to four, with the men’s four retaining their gold medal. There are hopes that the number will increase in Beijing, having taken seven medals in Olympic class events at last years World Championships in Munich.
Once more the men’s fours has taken the majority of the attention, with a last minute change to the line-up. Just before Athens Alex Partridge was forced to withdraw from the four with a collapsed lung. This year he has been moved to the eight with the four made up of Steve Williams, who survives from 2004, Peter Reed, Andy Hodge and Tom James. Having won the 2005 and 2006 World Championships as part of 27 consecutive wins, there was a feeling that the team had gone stale, having finished seventh in Munich.
Of course such changes are nothing new. Between Sydney and Athens there was the expectation that Pinsent would go for his fourth consecutive gold alongside James Cracknell in the coxless pairs. Initially things went well for the duo and there was the famous day at the 2001 World Championships where 20 minutes after winning the coxless pair gold, they added the coxed pair gold. However, things went wrong in 2003 when they finished outside the medals, forcing coach Jurgen Grobler to act and put them into the coxless fours.
The change comes once again from the German and should silence any doubters. The East German has been winning rowing medals at Olympic Games since 1972 and was the inspiration behind three of Redgrave’s five Olympics golds.
This time there are high hopes for the eight, who along with Partridge have been joined by Colin Smith and Matt Langridge from the coxless pairs and in 2007 won a surprise bronze at the World Championships. The exact line-up has yet to be revealed, with 10 names selected for the Munich event being whittled down as Beijing draws nearer.
One thing that has stood out recently for the British squad is the success of the women’s team, with three of the four medals in Athens coming from the females. In Munich’s World Championships they won two gold medals, two bronze medals and will expect more of the same in Athens.
David Turner, the GB Rowing Performance Director has said that the squad would be pleased with four medals, though he is surely being mischievous with such sentiments. Having topped the table at the 2007 World Championships with eight medals the team will secretly be aiming much higher.
In 1996 it was Redgrave and Pinsent that saved the British Olympic team from utter obscurity by winning Britain’s only gold medal in Atlanta. That in 2008 there are no major names taking to the water shows what an excellent job GB Rowing has done in increasing the talent pool and that despite their attempts to keep a lid on expectations few people will be fooled by Tanners words.
Mixed start for Jamaica:
Another team hopeful of doing well in Beijing is the Jamaica sprint team and to that end they got off to a strong start to the season when Usain Bolt ran 9.76 seconds in Jamaica over the weekend. It gives the team a little fillip after the news that their big hope for 100m gold, Asafa Powell, will miss the meetings in Doha, Oslo and Eugene with a chest injury.
Bolt, the 2007 World 200m silver medallist, finished in a time two hundred’s of a second slower than Powell’s world record of 9.74 and lays down a marker to big rival and 100m world champion Tyson Gay, who ran 20.00 in his first 200m of the season.
There were high hopes for Powell and the Jamaica team going into the Athens Olympics, but they turned out to be one of the anticlimaxes of the Games. Powell disappointed in the 100m final, then failed to show up for the 200m final meaning the team were disqualified from the 4x100m relay. In the end it was the women that saved the day, with Veronica Crawford winning 200m gold, 100m silver and then anchoring the 4x100m team to victory.
Since then there have been strong showings from the Jamaicans in both the 2005 and 2007 World Championships. In Helsinki in 2005 Michael Frater took silver in the 100m, whilst Campbell took the 100m silver and helped the 4x100m team to second. Things improved in Osaka when Powell won the 100m bronze, with Bolt finishing third in the 200m and then they teamed up to win second in the 4x100m relay. Campbell also improved her standing with 100m gold, 200m silver and another 4x100m relay silver.
Of course at the same time the USA flexed its muscles and showed that it can still churn out champion runners. Whilst Justin Gatlin fell off his perch and was exposed as a drug cheat Tyson Gay went on and won double sprint gold in Osaka. There are also the likes of Wallace Spearman and Leroy Dixon who have proved themselves over the last Olympiad.
There should be little doubt that Jamaica is the USA’s main rivals in the sprints and there are few reasons why not. However, the same was true before Athens, but in the end they were unable to handle the pressure of the day and the less heralded ladies team showed them what was possible with a bit of belief. Bolt’s victory this weekend should give the team the belief that they need, they just need to build on it and keep it till Beijing if Powell and co are to truly fulfil their undoubted potential.
JI 05/05/08
domenica 27 aprile 2008
Notes from a sporting week 28/04/08
Ballack demonstrates his class at the crucial moment:
Manchester United fans won’t appreciate it, but for the neutral football fan Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, which draws them level at the top of the Premiership with United, is exactly what was wanted with two games to go. Had the northerners won it would have been all over bar the shouting as the six point lead plus better goal difference (+18 at the start of the day) would have made any west London comeback needing to be touched by God if they were to lift the trophy at the season’s end.
The architect of the win was German captain Michael Ballack, who scored the two goals and generally controlled the play from midfield in the absence of Frank Lampard. That he was demonstrates the progress made in his almost two seasons at Stamford Bridge since his transfer there in 2006.
Ballack arrived at the Bridge alongside Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko follwing the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Both had enjoyed successful tournaments, Ballack leading the host nation to a surprise third place, whilst Shevchenko had helped take Ukraine to the quarterfinals in their first ever World Cup. As such though both arrived on King’s Road desperately short of a proper pre-season and still suffering the aches and pains from their exertions in national team colours.
Worse than that though was that both were portrayed as Roman Abramovich signings, who were forced on then-manager Jose Mourinho against his will. The Portuguese made no secret of the fact that he wanted neither of them in his squad, with Ballack excluded from his 25 players for the 2006-07 Champions League.
Mourinho’s stance was given fuel because both had East European backgrounds. Ballack was born in Gorlitz in the old East Germany and admitted that one of the reason’s why he was moving to England was to improve his English, because having lived his early life behind the iron curtain Russian was his second language of choice. Thus when mischievous rumours went round that there was an Abramovich spy in the dressing room, Ballack and Shevchenko were quickly portrayed as the club owner’s pets.
Of course matters weren’t helped that neither made an explosive start to life in England thanks in no small part to their post-World Cup fatigue. By the end of the first season Ballack had all but been forgotten about, whilst the Shevchenko row appeared to feature a quick return to Milan for the Ukrainian, but he was still at the club when the team reported for pre-season training.
The turning point for Ballack came in September 2007 when the Abramovich-Mourinho spat reached its zenith and led to the ‘special one’ being shown the door in favour of Avram Grant. As well as being far closer to the owner, Grant also lacked the ties that Mourinho had enjoyed with certain players, most notably Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba and as such was less likely to look upon them with rose-tinted glasses, as the Portuguese did.
Little by little Ballack has worked his way back into the side and demonstrated to the British public, what should have been recognised when he first joined; that he is a fantastic player. Along with Shevchenko, Ballack suffered from the ‘Owen Hargreaves syndrome’ that is if you haven’t done it in England, then the local media don’t want to know. But having helped Germany to an unexpected second place at the 2002 World Cup and then their third place at home, not to mention being the heartbeat of the Bayer Leverkeusen team that reached the 2002 European Cup final, his quality should not have been in doubt and he would well be within his rights to feel aggrieved by the unfair press he received.
Since the turn of the year he has been in tremendous form for the Pensioners and appears to be back in health and displaying a far more relaxed demeanour. Moreover his East European background that once brought him suspicion is now bringing chants in his honour. As an ossi he was schooled in the days of the sports academy that drilled the youngsters in the need for technique and poise. As such the contrast to Lampard is there for all to see. He is happy to use his weaker left foot, is good in the air (as he showed for his first goal) and has a better level of movement across the midfield.
It has taken time, but finally Ballack’s worth is being felt in west London. Sadly it says a lot about the closed mind of most English football fans that he has had to work so hard to prove to them his undoubted ability. With two weeks to go and a Champions League semifinal second leg on Wednesday, there is now the very real possibility that Ballack will play a major role in whether those Chelsea fans will be celebrating some more come the season’s end.
Chambers presence takes undue prominence:
On a weekend of such importance for both codes of rugby in the UK, it was a pity that it was a reserve team rugby league match between Castleford Tigers and York City Knights that grabbed the headlines, when ordinarily the Super League fixture list and European Cup semifinals would be in the spotlight.
Of course the reason why most of the UK rugby league hacks and 3000 fans rolled up to north Yorkshire was the presence of one Dwain Chambers. Since announcing his decision to yet again defect from athletics, having tried his hand at American Football, there has been an air of anticipation about his taking to the field and finally this Sunday he took his first tentative steps in the 13-man code when he was brought on after 10 minutes.
Sadly there still remains an air of pantomime about the whole thing. When he was unveiled as a Castleford player the press conference was dominated by questions of how his legal bid to overturn the British Olympic Association’s lifetime ban would affect his playing future with Tigers and there still remains a big question about how seriously both parties are taking the whole thing and in this respect Chambers does himself no favours whenever he opens his mouth.
“It’s been a long time coming,” was one of his pre-match statements, though one can only wonder how ‘long time’ his desire to carry on will be if he does overturn the ban, which both he and the club announced they were confident of being successful.
The main aspect that has stuck in the craw since he returned to athletics is his amazing lack of humility. Had he taken his punishment and then got on with his job, few people would have had any complaints. Instead he has behaved like a spoiled brat and acted like athletics, a sport that he has sullied, owes him a living and his antics recently have done little to change that perception.
His career in rugby league has started well, having made one try-saving tackle, but now it might be time for him to find one sport and then stick to it and more importantly keep quiet about what he is doing, until he has something worth shouting about.
JI 28/04/08
Manchester United fans won’t appreciate it, but for the neutral football fan Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, which draws them level at the top of the Premiership with United, is exactly what was wanted with two games to go. Had the northerners won it would have been all over bar the shouting as the six point lead plus better goal difference (+18 at the start of the day) would have made any west London comeback needing to be touched by God if they were to lift the trophy at the season’s end.
The architect of the win was German captain Michael Ballack, who scored the two goals and generally controlled the play from midfield in the absence of Frank Lampard. That he was demonstrates the progress made in his almost two seasons at Stamford Bridge since his transfer there in 2006.
Ballack arrived at the Bridge alongside Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko follwing the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Both had enjoyed successful tournaments, Ballack leading the host nation to a surprise third place, whilst Shevchenko had helped take Ukraine to the quarterfinals in their first ever World Cup. As such though both arrived on King’s Road desperately short of a proper pre-season and still suffering the aches and pains from their exertions in national team colours.
Worse than that though was that both were portrayed as Roman Abramovich signings, who were forced on then-manager Jose Mourinho against his will. The Portuguese made no secret of the fact that he wanted neither of them in his squad, with Ballack excluded from his 25 players for the 2006-07 Champions League.
Mourinho’s stance was given fuel because both had East European backgrounds. Ballack was born in Gorlitz in the old East Germany and admitted that one of the reason’s why he was moving to England was to improve his English, because having lived his early life behind the iron curtain Russian was his second language of choice. Thus when mischievous rumours went round that there was an Abramovich spy in the dressing room, Ballack and Shevchenko were quickly portrayed as the club owner’s pets.
Of course matters weren’t helped that neither made an explosive start to life in England thanks in no small part to their post-World Cup fatigue. By the end of the first season Ballack had all but been forgotten about, whilst the Shevchenko row appeared to feature a quick return to Milan for the Ukrainian, but he was still at the club when the team reported for pre-season training.
The turning point for Ballack came in September 2007 when the Abramovich-Mourinho spat reached its zenith and led to the ‘special one’ being shown the door in favour of Avram Grant. As well as being far closer to the owner, Grant also lacked the ties that Mourinho had enjoyed with certain players, most notably Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba and as such was less likely to look upon them with rose-tinted glasses, as the Portuguese did.
Little by little Ballack has worked his way back into the side and demonstrated to the British public, what should have been recognised when he first joined; that he is a fantastic player. Along with Shevchenko, Ballack suffered from the ‘Owen Hargreaves syndrome’ that is if you haven’t done it in England, then the local media don’t want to know. But having helped Germany to an unexpected second place at the 2002 World Cup and then their third place at home, not to mention being the heartbeat of the Bayer Leverkeusen team that reached the 2002 European Cup final, his quality should not have been in doubt and he would well be within his rights to feel aggrieved by the unfair press he received.
Since the turn of the year he has been in tremendous form for the Pensioners and appears to be back in health and displaying a far more relaxed demeanour. Moreover his East European background that once brought him suspicion is now bringing chants in his honour. As an ossi he was schooled in the days of the sports academy that drilled the youngsters in the need for technique and poise. As such the contrast to Lampard is there for all to see. He is happy to use his weaker left foot, is good in the air (as he showed for his first goal) and has a better level of movement across the midfield.
It has taken time, but finally Ballack’s worth is being felt in west London. Sadly it says a lot about the closed mind of most English football fans that he has had to work so hard to prove to them his undoubted ability. With two weeks to go and a Champions League semifinal second leg on Wednesday, there is now the very real possibility that Ballack will play a major role in whether those Chelsea fans will be celebrating some more come the season’s end.
Chambers presence takes undue prominence:
On a weekend of such importance for both codes of rugby in the UK, it was a pity that it was a reserve team rugby league match between Castleford Tigers and York City Knights that grabbed the headlines, when ordinarily the Super League fixture list and European Cup semifinals would be in the spotlight.
Of course the reason why most of the UK rugby league hacks and 3000 fans rolled up to north Yorkshire was the presence of one Dwain Chambers. Since announcing his decision to yet again defect from athletics, having tried his hand at American Football, there has been an air of anticipation about his taking to the field and finally this Sunday he took his first tentative steps in the 13-man code when he was brought on after 10 minutes.
Sadly there still remains an air of pantomime about the whole thing. When he was unveiled as a Castleford player the press conference was dominated by questions of how his legal bid to overturn the British Olympic Association’s lifetime ban would affect his playing future with Tigers and there still remains a big question about how seriously both parties are taking the whole thing and in this respect Chambers does himself no favours whenever he opens his mouth.
“It’s been a long time coming,” was one of his pre-match statements, though one can only wonder how ‘long time’ his desire to carry on will be if he does overturn the ban, which both he and the club announced they were confident of being successful.
The main aspect that has stuck in the craw since he returned to athletics is his amazing lack of humility. Had he taken his punishment and then got on with his job, few people would have had any complaints. Instead he has behaved like a spoiled brat and acted like athletics, a sport that he has sullied, owes him a living and his antics recently have done little to change that perception.
His career in rugby league has started well, having made one try-saving tackle, but now it might be time for him to find one sport and then stick to it and more importantly keep quiet about what he is doing, until he has something worth shouting about.
JI 28/04/08
domenica 13 aprile 2008
Notes from a sporting week 14/04/08
Arsenal tears becoming more and more hollow:
It was sad, yet not surprising that it needed Gael Clichy, one of the younger members of the Arsenal team, to look inward and take some responsibility for Arsenal’s inability to overcome Liverpool in the European Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Manager Arsene Wenger, who is fast becoming more and more like a four year old anytime the Gunners lose, and joint captain Kolo Toure blamed the referee for giving Liverpool a penalty when they had just made the score 2-2 and thus enough to reach the last four, despite it being a thoroughly clear cut foul by Toure on Ryan Babel.
Thus it was enormously refreshing to hear Clichy tell the Evening Standard; "We did well to score the first goal and to come back and get the game to 2-2. And at that point we were through. But what happened after that was really disappointing.
“To concede a goal like this, whether it is a penalty or not a penalty, may be disappointing but it is not unlucky. It is unreal to have had a chance like this, to score the equaliser and get to 2-2 and then to concede a goal only a few seconds after kick off. I can't find the words for it. It is just ridiculous."
In fact if anyone should be taking responsibility for Arsenal’s demise it is Wenger himself and some of his bizarre selections. Now I have said for a while that English football cannot complain about their young players are not given a chance in favour of foreign players, until they have a similar technical ability.
At Anfield there were glaring examples of Wenger’s bias against English players. For 70 minutes we had to watch as Ivory Coast’s Emmanuel Eboue thrashed around on the right of midfield, demonstrating to all watching that he was nothing more than a converted fullback.
Then with 20 minutes to go Wenger brought on Theo Walcott, an attacker who has played mush of his football on the wing and he showed that he has more than enough technical ability allied with pace, when he raced the length of the field and beat five players to set up Emmanuel Adebayor for the goal that looked like it would be taking Arsenal to the last four.
Quite why Wenger had preferred the round peg of fullback Eboue in the square hole of right wing is something of a mystery, especially when central defender Toure was playing fullback and the lumbering centre-half Philip Senderos was responsible for two of Liverpool’s goals.
His treatment of Walcott has been even more baffling. Having shelled out £12 million pounds for the then 16 year-old and not having played him in any senior matches, he recommends his for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and then a year or two on complains that he hasn’t been able to develop as he hoped. For someone so young to have all manner of messages from his manager and yet still come through relatively undamaged does Walcott massive credit.
There is little doubt that Wenger has done a tremendous job of developing young talent throughout his career, at Monaco, in Japan and now at Arsenal. He has also consistently sent out teams who are technically excellent and who produce wonderful football. Sadly he fails to see when his teams let themselves down and all too often blames the referee, as well as displaying phenomenal double standards when it comes to his players’ ill discipline or foul play.
With Walcott and the latest batch of young players to come through Arsenals academy (of which we are promised a bumper crop of domestic talent) it has to be hoped that as well as absorbing the lessons on the pitch, they don’t follow Wenger’s example off it too much.
Brown sending mixed messages:
So Prime Minister Gordon Brown won’t be at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Was this a decision he took himself, or did he follow the lead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in their recent Anglo-French love-in? Of course Brown will be at the closing ceremony, as should be expected from the head of state of the next host city.
It is hard to see what the fuss is all about as frankly the fewer politicians at any sports event the better. Who can forget the monstrosity of an outfit sported by Cherie Blair at the opening of the Athens Olympics or Australian PM’s sour-faced distribution of medals at the end of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
With the current political climate being anti-Chinese, some have taken Brown’s stance as being a political one. If that was the case, then he should have the decency to say so and stay away from the closing ceremony as well, leaving political duties to London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
In truth though I would imagine that Brown’s decision not to attend the opening ceremony is far more straightforward. Athens is a four hour flight from London and in theory can be travelled to and from in a day. With Beijing an 11-hour flight and one that would induce jetlag, there isn’t the same possibility of travelling there and back twice in a two-week period.
It is also important to remember that four years ago there was an Olympic bid at stake. Tony Blair was the only head of state of any of the five bidding cities at the time and spent much of the opening weekend lobbying delegates alongside Lord Sebastian Coe and Princess Anne. Who is to say that that his presence in Athens wasn’t an important factor in London winning the 2012 Games, as it surely was in Singapore in the last few days before London were awarded the hosting rights.
Will we really miss Brown when the flame gets lit this August? Well of course we won’t. All the attention will be on the athletes, as it should be. Hats off to Sarkozy by standing by his convictions, but should sport really be the one to suffer? After all sporting boycotts have hardly had a massive impact down the years. Did the USA’s boycott of the Moscow 1980 Olympics force the Soviet Union to pull out of Afghanistan? Did the Balkan conflict come to an end when Yugoslavia were slung out of Euro 92, or did Robert Mugabe’s regime fall when cricket teams ran for cover rather than tour Zimbabwe?
We all know the answer to these questions is firmly in the negative, but still politicians go on taking the easier option of sporting boycott, which affects no one but hardworking and under appreciated athletes who will be forced to miss what could be their life’s definition.
JI 14/04/08
It was sad, yet not surprising that it needed Gael Clichy, one of the younger members of the Arsenal team, to look inward and take some responsibility for Arsenal’s inability to overcome Liverpool in the European Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Manager Arsene Wenger, who is fast becoming more and more like a four year old anytime the Gunners lose, and joint captain Kolo Toure blamed the referee for giving Liverpool a penalty when they had just made the score 2-2 and thus enough to reach the last four, despite it being a thoroughly clear cut foul by Toure on Ryan Babel.
Thus it was enormously refreshing to hear Clichy tell the Evening Standard; "We did well to score the first goal and to come back and get the game to 2-2. And at that point we were through. But what happened after that was really disappointing.
“To concede a goal like this, whether it is a penalty or not a penalty, may be disappointing but it is not unlucky. It is unreal to have had a chance like this, to score the equaliser and get to 2-2 and then to concede a goal only a few seconds after kick off. I can't find the words for it. It is just ridiculous."
In fact if anyone should be taking responsibility for Arsenal’s demise it is Wenger himself and some of his bizarre selections. Now I have said for a while that English football cannot complain about their young players are not given a chance in favour of foreign players, until they have a similar technical ability.
At Anfield there were glaring examples of Wenger’s bias against English players. For 70 minutes we had to watch as Ivory Coast’s Emmanuel Eboue thrashed around on the right of midfield, demonstrating to all watching that he was nothing more than a converted fullback.
Then with 20 minutes to go Wenger brought on Theo Walcott, an attacker who has played mush of his football on the wing and he showed that he has more than enough technical ability allied with pace, when he raced the length of the field and beat five players to set up Emmanuel Adebayor for the goal that looked like it would be taking Arsenal to the last four.
Quite why Wenger had preferred the round peg of fullback Eboue in the square hole of right wing is something of a mystery, especially when central defender Toure was playing fullback and the lumbering centre-half Philip Senderos was responsible for two of Liverpool’s goals.
His treatment of Walcott has been even more baffling. Having shelled out £12 million pounds for the then 16 year-old and not having played him in any senior matches, he recommends his for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and then a year or two on complains that he hasn’t been able to develop as he hoped. For someone so young to have all manner of messages from his manager and yet still come through relatively undamaged does Walcott massive credit.
There is little doubt that Wenger has done a tremendous job of developing young talent throughout his career, at Monaco, in Japan and now at Arsenal. He has also consistently sent out teams who are technically excellent and who produce wonderful football. Sadly he fails to see when his teams let themselves down and all too often blames the referee, as well as displaying phenomenal double standards when it comes to his players’ ill discipline or foul play.
With Walcott and the latest batch of young players to come through Arsenals academy (of which we are promised a bumper crop of domestic talent) it has to be hoped that as well as absorbing the lessons on the pitch, they don’t follow Wenger’s example off it too much.
Brown sending mixed messages:
So Prime Minister Gordon Brown won’t be at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Was this a decision he took himself, or did he follow the lead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in their recent Anglo-French love-in? Of course Brown will be at the closing ceremony, as should be expected from the head of state of the next host city.
It is hard to see what the fuss is all about as frankly the fewer politicians at any sports event the better. Who can forget the monstrosity of an outfit sported by Cherie Blair at the opening of the Athens Olympics or Australian PM’s sour-faced distribution of medals at the end of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
With the current political climate being anti-Chinese, some have taken Brown’s stance as being a political one. If that was the case, then he should have the decency to say so and stay away from the closing ceremony as well, leaving political duties to London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
In truth though I would imagine that Brown’s decision not to attend the opening ceremony is far more straightforward. Athens is a four hour flight from London and in theory can be travelled to and from in a day. With Beijing an 11-hour flight and one that would induce jetlag, there isn’t the same possibility of travelling there and back twice in a two-week period.
It is also important to remember that four years ago there was an Olympic bid at stake. Tony Blair was the only head of state of any of the five bidding cities at the time and spent much of the opening weekend lobbying delegates alongside Lord Sebastian Coe and Princess Anne. Who is to say that that his presence in Athens wasn’t an important factor in London winning the 2012 Games, as it surely was in Singapore in the last few days before London were awarded the hosting rights.
Will we really miss Brown when the flame gets lit this August? Well of course we won’t. All the attention will be on the athletes, as it should be. Hats off to Sarkozy by standing by his convictions, but should sport really be the one to suffer? After all sporting boycotts have hardly had a massive impact down the years. Did the USA’s boycott of the Moscow 1980 Olympics force the Soviet Union to pull out of Afghanistan? Did the Balkan conflict come to an end when Yugoslavia were slung out of Euro 92, or did Robert Mugabe’s regime fall when cricket teams ran for cover rather than tour Zimbabwe?
We all know the answer to these questions is firmly in the negative, but still politicians go on taking the easier option of sporting boycott, which affects no one but hardworking and under appreciated athletes who will be forced to miss what could be their life’s definition.
JI 14/04/08
lunedì 7 aprile 2008
Notes from a sporting week – 07/04/08
All over for Shoaib?
He was always one of the most charismatic, showbiz players, so it should come as little surprise that Shoaib Akhtar’s career has finished in such a Shakespearean tragedy with a five-year ban for publicly criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board and thus effectively ending the 32 year olds test career.
That he has whinged and blamed others should also come as no shock, with his decision to sue the PCB the last desperate throw of the dice for the Rawalpindi Express, after he claimed he was being made a scapegoat for their series loss to India.
However, that would have meant keeping his ego in check, clearly something he failed to grasp when debating the pros and cons of the gentlemen of the PCB, considering he was sitting on a two-year probation for attacking Mohammad Asif.
Shoaib has been on a slippery slope since the turn of the year having failed to receive a central contract and instead was angered by the offer of a special retainer contract. The Board appear happy to wash their hands of their highest profile player, yet one who caused his fair share of headaches and whom they felt his worth no longer outweighed the disruption to the team.
Twice in his career he has been dropped after allegations of throwing and was once banned for a breach of code on tour and ball tampering. He received a two-year ban after failing a test for nandrolone, but then won the appeal.
His attack on Asif came in the build up to last year’s ICC World Twenty 20 in South Africa and left him facing a ban of 13 international matches, a $52,000 fine and a two-year probation after it took his disciplinary breaches to a grand total of five.
There has been no doubt that Shoaib has been one of the recent stars of world cricket. He was certainly in the category of bowler who emptied the bars (when playing overseas) and bringing a sense of excitement to supporters. He took 178 wickets in 46 tests and 219 in 138 one-day internationals.
Nonetheless his career has gone hand in hand with his ego. He happily took on the mantle of team playboy following the retirement of Imran Khan and he was often seen leaving nightclubs at various times of the night, something that was bound to cause consternation in a team such as Pakistan, which has grown more austere in its devotion to Islam in recent years.
Then there were the stories of his sorties into county cricket, where by the time he returned to Pakistan at the end of the summer the club would be left with a mountain of unpaid parking tickets and a long list of angry locals who had been cut up by the 4x4 he had been provided by the club.
Certainly there is something quite poetic about this ending to his career and one, in theory, that you could imagine Shoaib enjoying. After all he was hardly the kind to retire to tea with the various committeemen. What it does do though is leave the crowd baying for more, and for someone like Shoaib, that will mean that the people will forever be in his camp, therefore extending his legend for years to come.
Deng golden off the court as well as on:
He’s been at a while now, but finally Luol Deng’s persistence has appeared to have paid off. The new star of British basketball has done a number on his Chicago Bulls teammate Ben Gordon and persuaded him to give up on the USA call up and indicate he is ready to throw his lot in with the British cause as they build to a competitive level for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
It is no done deal, but it appears that there is light at the end of the tunnel after Gordon agreed to meet with British basketball officials in the windy city within the next fortnight. Previously he has held onto the dream of representing the USA, which he did in 2003, but as he was born in the UK he remains eligible for GB.
The London-born guard, who was third pick in the 2004 draft, was named in coach Chris Finch’s training squad in August ahead of the teams attempt to make it through to the 2009 European Championships in Poland. Gordon, alongside Deng, is the highest profile player in the 33-man squad that includes a number of players from European clubs and US universities.
To show exactly what it is that GB stand to gain Gordon scored 24 points, including five free throws against last year’s NBA runner-up Cleveland Cavaliers and their superstar LeBron James, three days after his inclusion in the British squad was made public.
Should Gordon take Finch up on his offer, it may not guarantee GB any success in 2012, they’d be doing well to qualify for the Europeans next year let alone win an Olympic medal in London, but hopefully it will be a spring board for a better showing in future tournaments, which with all the hype around 2012 we’d do well to remember will take place once the Olympics leave London.
JI 07/04/08
He was always one of the most charismatic, showbiz players, so it should come as little surprise that Shoaib Akhtar’s career has finished in such a Shakespearean tragedy with a five-year ban for publicly criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board and thus effectively ending the 32 year olds test career.
That he has whinged and blamed others should also come as no shock, with his decision to sue the PCB the last desperate throw of the dice for the Rawalpindi Express, after he claimed he was being made a scapegoat for their series loss to India.
However, that would have meant keeping his ego in check, clearly something he failed to grasp when debating the pros and cons of the gentlemen of the PCB, considering he was sitting on a two-year probation for attacking Mohammad Asif.
Shoaib has been on a slippery slope since the turn of the year having failed to receive a central contract and instead was angered by the offer of a special retainer contract. The Board appear happy to wash their hands of their highest profile player, yet one who caused his fair share of headaches and whom they felt his worth no longer outweighed the disruption to the team.
Twice in his career he has been dropped after allegations of throwing and was once banned for a breach of code on tour and ball tampering. He received a two-year ban after failing a test for nandrolone, but then won the appeal.
His attack on Asif came in the build up to last year’s ICC World Twenty 20 in South Africa and left him facing a ban of 13 international matches, a $52,000 fine and a two-year probation after it took his disciplinary breaches to a grand total of five.
There has been no doubt that Shoaib has been one of the recent stars of world cricket. He was certainly in the category of bowler who emptied the bars (when playing overseas) and bringing a sense of excitement to supporters. He took 178 wickets in 46 tests and 219 in 138 one-day internationals.
Nonetheless his career has gone hand in hand with his ego. He happily took on the mantle of team playboy following the retirement of Imran Khan and he was often seen leaving nightclubs at various times of the night, something that was bound to cause consternation in a team such as Pakistan, which has grown more austere in its devotion to Islam in recent years.
Then there were the stories of his sorties into county cricket, where by the time he returned to Pakistan at the end of the summer the club would be left with a mountain of unpaid parking tickets and a long list of angry locals who had been cut up by the 4x4 he had been provided by the club.
Certainly there is something quite poetic about this ending to his career and one, in theory, that you could imagine Shoaib enjoying. After all he was hardly the kind to retire to tea with the various committeemen. What it does do though is leave the crowd baying for more, and for someone like Shoaib, that will mean that the people will forever be in his camp, therefore extending his legend for years to come.
Deng golden off the court as well as on:
He’s been at a while now, but finally Luol Deng’s persistence has appeared to have paid off. The new star of British basketball has done a number on his Chicago Bulls teammate Ben Gordon and persuaded him to give up on the USA call up and indicate he is ready to throw his lot in with the British cause as they build to a competitive level for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
It is no done deal, but it appears that there is light at the end of the tunnel after Gordon agreed to meet with British basketball officials in the windy city within the next fortnight. Previously he has held onto the dream of representing the USA, which he did in 2003, but as he was born in the UK he remains eligible for GB.
The London-born guard, who was third pick in the 2004 draft, was named in coach Chris Finch’s training squad in August ahead of the teams attempt to make it through to the 2009 European Championships in Poland. Gordon, alongside Deng, is the highest profile player in the 33-man squad that includes a number of players from European clubs and US universities.
To show exactly what it is that GB stand to gain Gordon scored 24 points, including five free throws against last year’s NBA runner-up Cleveland Cavaliers and their superstar LeBron James, three days after his inclusion in the British squad was made public.
Should Gordon take Finch up on his offer, it may not guarantee GB any success in 2012, they’d be doing well to qualify for the Europeans next year let alone win an Olympic medal in London, but hopefully it will be a spring board for a better showing in future tournaments, which with all the hype around 2012 we’d do well to remember will take place once the Olympics leave London.
JI 07/04/08
domenica 30 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 31/03/08
Burnham off the mark with remarks:
In a week in which the Football Association’s ‘Respect’ campaign to treat referees in a better manner was brought into focus, it was disappointing to read the remarks of Andy Burnham, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport in response to those made by Great Britain rugby league international Adrian Morley, in one of the Sunday broadsheets.
"Far too many footballers have been allowed to get away with this kind of petulance and ignorance for far too long. The referee's decision is final and the referee is always referred to as 'Sir', even now in Super League. Footballers should learn from us,” said the Warrington forward.
The minister’s response was sadly typical of the apologetic nature that ex-players, pundits and commentators take when discussing footballers’ conduct towards referees.
He said; “I would be the first to point out that football culture is different from rugby. No one expects footballers to be angels.”
Well no, but they do expect them to have some sense of manners and where and when they can cross the line. Furthermore to refer to someone like Morley as an angel is laughable. This is the man who holds the record for the quickest sending-off in international rugby league, 12 seconds against Australia in 2003.
Yet again someone in football tries to make the difference that football and rugby are different, one is for the working class lad, who has been brought up effing and blinding, whilst the second is for chaps who have a silver spoon firmly wedged in their gob and would be thwacked by their public school housemaster if such profanities were to pass their lips.
Sadly what Burnham fails to realise is that Morley plays rugby league, possibly the most blue collar sport in the world, and that despite players coming from some pretty ghastly areas of certain cities (ask the Leeds-born Jason Robinson) the players can still show the appropriate manners to officials.
In the same paper earlier in the week Sue Mott made the point that football’s continual inferiority complex to rugby union is a red herring, too easily dismissed as irrelevant because the players come from different ends of the social-economic spectrum, as if that should make any difference, manners, after all, are manners.
She pointed to boxing, hardly a upper-class pursuit to challenge polo, and the fact that its participants are from equally humble backgrounds, yet still manage to conduct themselves in a manner that is a credit to them, their coaches and above all their sport.
So what if other sports have got it right, it does football no credit to run scared of following their examples. Yet sadly Burnham has added himself to the list of people who complain about a problem, yet fail to take the necessary steps to remedy them. With all and sundry stepping up to take pot shots at the easily-attacked officials, no wonder there are fewer and fewer men and women wanting to take up the whistle.
In the end the sports and their cultures might be different, but appropriate treatment of people in the workplace isn’t. The new campaign desperately needs to work, if not football will well and truly have gone to the dogs. It will be bad at the top level, but even worse at the youth end. Who will want to referee a load of screaming brats on a Sunday morning in the rain, especially as they receive nothing but abuse for sacrificing their time? It will take a concerted effort by all involved and will need the FA and referees to have power of their convictions, hopefully then the players will realise what is right and wrong, despite the witterings of apologists such as Burnham.
Pelligrini lays down marker for Beijing:
Swimming has been in the headlines a lot these last seven days with the controversy over the new Speedo outfit many of the world’s best are wearing and how much is has helped the numerous world records that have fallen. There have been 18 since the turn of the year and four in the men’s 50m freestyle; three for Australian Eamon Sullivan (including the current 21:41 seconds) and one for Frenchman Alain Bernard, quite something when you consider that until Sullivan’s first breaking, the record had stood since 2000.
However, the one record that stood out was that set by Italian Federica Pelligrini in the women’s 400m freestyle on the final day of competition at the European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven on Monday.
Interestingly she is the only record breaker this year not to wear the Speedo outfit, yet finished in a time of 4:01:53 to beat the time held by French swimming star Laura Manaudou, take her European title and in doing so laid down the gauntlet for when the trans-Alpine rivals go head to head in swimming’s blue-riband event in Beijing.
Since winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics Manaudou has been the undoubted superstar of women’s swimming. It was the first time a French women had ever won an Olympic swimming gold and she also left Greece with a silver and bronze.
Her success was followed up at the 2005 and 2007 Swimming World Championships when she twice won the 400m freestyle gold and she held the 400m record with 4:02:13 until Pelligrini broke it. In Eindhoven she won the 200m backstroke and 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the 100m backstroke.
All this would seem like any other rivalry that will provide a sub-text to events in China this August, but then you need to factor in Luca Marin. Italian Marin, who won a bronze in the 400m individual medley, is Manaudou’s ex-squeeze and in May last year persuaded her to train with him Turin. She didn’t last long in Italy and returned to France under a cloud in August.
Then later in the year at the European Championships in Budapest Manaudou and Marin went their separate ways and within days nude pictures of Manaudou made their way onto the internet, with Marin denying responsibility. Then Marin starting stepping out with Pelligrini, meaning that the spice factor in Beijing will have been ratcheted up even more after events in The Netherlands.
No doubt Manaudou will have had her pride pricked by Pelligrini and Marin and will be out to even the score in Beijing. It could lead to a monster of a clash between the pair, much in the way Ian Thorpe’s battle with Michael Phelps was eagerly awaited long before events began in Athens.
With world records looking more than likely to be tumbling in the pool, it will undoubtedly be the venue that holds our attention more than any other in the opening week of the Olympics.
JI 31/03/08
In a week in which the Football Association’s ‘Respect’ campaign to treat referees in a better manner was brought into focus, it was disappointing to read the remarks of Andy Burnham, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport in response to those made by Great Britain rugby league international Adrian Morley, in one of the Sunday broadsheets.
"Far too many footballers have been allowed to get away with this kind of petulance and ignorance for far too long. The referee's decision is final and the referee is always referred to as 'Sir', even now in Super League. Footballers should learn from us,” said the Warrington forward.
The minister’s response was sadly typical of the apologetic nature that ex-players, pundits and commentators take when discussing footballers’ conduct towards referees.
He said; “I would be the first to point out that football culture is different from rugby. No one expects footballers to be angels.”
Well no, but they do expect them to have some sense of manners and where and when they can cross the line. Furthermore to refer to someone like Morley as an angel is laughable. This is the man who holds the record for the quickest sending-off in international rugby league, 12 seconds against Australia in 2003.
Yet again someone in football tries to make the difference that football and rugby are different, one is for the working class lad, who has been brought up effing and blinding, whilst the second is for chaps who have a silver spoon firmly wedged in their gob and would be thwacked by their public school housemaster if such profanities were to pass their lips.
Sadly what Burnham fails to realise is that Morley plays rugby league, possibly the most blue collar sport in the world, and that despite players coming from some pretty ghastly areas of certain cities (ask the Leeds-born Jason Robinson) the players can still show the appropriate manners to officials.
In the same paper earlier in the week Sue Mott made the point that football’s continual inferiority complex to rugby union is a red herring, too easily dismissed as irrelevant because the players come from different ends of the social-economic spectrum, as if that should make any difference, manners, after all, are manners.
She pointed to boxing, hardly a upper-class pursuit to challenge polo, and the fact that its participants are from equally humble backgrounds, yet still manage to conduct themselves in a manner that is a credit to them, their coaches and above all their sport.
So what if other sports have got it right, it does football no credit to run scared of following their examples. Yet sadly Burnham has added himself to the list of people who complain about a problem, yet fail to take the necessary steps to remedy them. With all and sundry stepping up to take pot shots at the easily-attacked officials, no wonder there are fewer and fewer men and women wanting to take up the whistle.
In the end the sports and their cultures might be different, but appropriate treatment of people in the workplace isn’t. The new campaign desperately needs to work, if not football will well and truly have gone to the dogs. It will be bad at the top level, but even worse at the youth end. Who will want to referee a load of screaming brats on a Sunday morning in the rain, especially as they receive nothing but abuse for sacrificing their time? It will take a concerted effort by all involved and will need the FA and referees to have power of their convictions, hopefully then the players will realise what is right and wrong, despite the witterings of apologists such as Burnham.
Pelligrini lays down marker for Beijing:
Swimming has been in the headlines a lot these last seven days with the controversy over the new Speedo outfit many of the world’s best are wearing and how much is has helped the numerous world records that have fallen. There have been 18 since the turn of the year and four in the men’s 50m freestyle; three for Australian Eamon Sullivan (including the current 21:41 seconds) and one for Frenchman Alain Bernard, quite something when you consider that until Sullivan’s first breaking, the record had stood since 2000.
However, the one record that stood out was that set by Italian Federica Pelligrini in the women’s 400m freestyle on the final day of competition at the European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven on Monday.
Interestingly she is the only record breaker this year not to wear the Speedo outfit, yet finished in a time of 4:01:53 to beat the time held by French swimming star Laura Manaudou, take her European title and in doing so laid down the gauntlet for when the trans-Alpine rivals go head to head in swimming’s blue-riband event in Beijing.
Since winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics Manaudou has been the undoubted superstar of women’s swimming. It was the first time a French women had ever won an Olympic swimming gold and she also left Greece with a silver and bronze.
Her success was followed up at the 2005 and 2007 Swimming World Championships when she twice won the 400m freestyle gold and she held the 400m record with 4:02:13 until Pelligrini broke it. In Eindhoven she won the 200m backstroke and 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the 100m backstroke.
All this would seem like any other rivalry that will provide a sub-text to events in China this August, but then you need to factor in Luca Marin. Italian Marin, who won a bronze in the 400m individual medley, is Manaudou’s ex-squeeze and in May last year persuaded her to train with him Turin. She didn’t last long in Italy and returned to France under a cloud in August.
Then later in the year at the European Championships in Budapest Manaudou and Marin went their separate ways and within days nude pictures of Manaudou made their way onto the internet, with Marin denying responsibility. Then Marin starting stepping out with Pelligrini, meaning that the spice factor in Beijing will have been ratcheted up even more after events in The Netherlands.
No doubt Manaudou will have had her pride pricked by Pelligrini and Marin and will be out to even the score in Beijing. It could lead to a monster of a clash between the pair, much in the way Ian Thorpe’s battle with Michael Phelps was eagerly awaited long before events began in Athens.
With world records looking more than likely to be tumbling in the pool, it will undoubtedly be the venue that holds our attention more than any other in the opening week of the Olympics.
JI 31/03/08
lunedì 24 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 24/03/08
Reds doing a bad impression of Lancashire cousins:
There is obviously a slow wind blowing down the East Lancs roads from Manchester to Liverpool as it seem that whatever Manchester United do, Liverpool will do a few years later.
In 1999 United won the Champions League in dramatic circumstances, Liverpool did so in 2005. The Red Devils get taken over by American owners, a year or two later so do the Reds. Manchester United fans get the hump with the new owners and form their own team and now Liverpool fans are doing the same since the initial excitement of George Gillett and Tom Hicks’s ownership has worn off.
Like their counterparts in Manchester did the minute the Glaziers took control at Old Trafford, Liverpool fans have now decided to form their own non-league team in response to their dissatisfaction with their North American owners (Gillett is Canadian). FC United of Manchester meet AFC Liverpool.
The first response to the foundation of both teams should be, ‘aren’t there enough struggling non-league and lower league clubs out there who would appreciate your support and cash, without this new mob hovering up support, publicity and income?’ and the second ‘exactly what are you in such a state about?’
The contrasts between the two situations are highly marked: Whereas Manchester United fans didn’t want the Glaziers and made it known from the start, Liverpool and their supporters actively courted new owners and made Hicks and Gillett more than welcome. There was no hiding out in Florida for that pair.
The Reds needed new funds to move ahead with mothballed plans for their new stadium in Stanley Park. Liverpool had talks with Jersey-based businessman and lifelong fan Steve Morgan then Dubai International Capital came into the picture, before the controlling Moores family plumped for Hicks and Gillett, who promptly saddled the club with £400 million of debt to finance the new stadium and the squad, as the £20 million spent on Fernando Torres showed.
In the short space of time since the takeover in early 2007, Liverpool fans have realised exactly what it is that they wished for, as the pair have struggled to refinance the debt and plans for the stadium have been redrawn. Add in the pr gaff when Hicks announced that they had spoken to Jurgen Klinsmann behind manager Rafael Benitez’s back and the locals started getting restless.
We’ve had the protest marches in support of Benitez and there are more and more banners against the pair at Anfield, whilst at the same time the fans are calling for DIC to come galloping back to the rescue on their Maktoum stable horses. In short it is all becoming rather boring and sanctimonious from the Liverpool supporters, after all they made their bed and are now moaning about having to lie in it, with AFC Liverpool the latest hollow attempt to show their disgust at Hicks and Gillett.
For an example of non-league teams being set up by dissatisfied supporters, one should look at AFC Wimbledon. They were founded in response to Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes to become MK Dons in 2002 in a blaze of publicity. They quickly moved up through the lower non-league ranks and now sit second in the Ryman League, which is one league below the National Conference (England’s fifth tier).
However, the fact is that they are now old news. They had some currency when the world and his wife were up in arms over the franchising of a football team, but now a few years on few outside the hardcore support take any notice. MK Dons, the team they ‘replaced’, have ridden out the initial storm of boycotted friendlies and supporter protests to prosper, reaching their first Wembley final this season and sit atop League Two (fourth tier), whilst manager Paul Ince gains rave reviews.
There are plenty of clubs out there in the lower leagues that are struggling for survival and would appreciate the support of fans dissatisfied with their big club. The last thing that is needed is yet another club left to rot by supporters whose initial fury has dissipated, especially when their anger is pathetically self-absorbed, as it is with Liverpool fans in this instance.
Trescothick calls inevitable end to test career:
England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick confirmed that he was retiring from test cricket this week, something that had been accepted by most of the England team since his premature departure from the 2006-07 Ashes tour.
His return to the UK before any of the tests was the first hint of the stress related illness that has troubled him these past couple of years. It raised its head again this week when he pulled out of a tour to Dubai with his county Somerset, upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
It is a great pity as not only did he play a key part in England’s revival in the mid-00s, but also that stress is something that receives little sympathy in sporting circles and it should be hoped that he finds away to deal with it.
Trescothick made a solid start to his test career, hitting 66 against The West Indies in 2000 and between then and his final test against Pakistan in 2006 he averaged 43.79 in 76 tests. He also played in 123 one-day matches, one of his finest the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2004 when he hit a century and gave England a chance of winning their first ever one-day tournament.
As an opening batsman he was never the most spectacular, but if he got behind a shot there was a good chance of it finding the boundary. He also provided the solid base to an innings that, alongside Michael Vaughan and latterly Andrew Strauss, helped establish England in second place in the test rankings in 2004 and 2005.
What often let him down though was his almost non-existent footwork that gave bowlers an obvious way of targeting him. In this regard he was not helped by Somerset’s pitch in Taunton that was the flat track, so beloved by powerful batsmen.
Nonetheless, there is little doubt that he would have been a useful member of the England team on their current tour of New Zealand. Having captained the test and one-day teams on occasions, he would have taken some of the strain off Vaughan and probably pushed the captain down the order to face the first ball opposite Alistair Cook. He might also have had a word for the mis-firing Strauss as he struggles to find some semblance of form.
In the end though he has been laid low by an illness that only those who have suffered from it understand. Like Denis Bergkamp’s aversion to flying he has received little sympathy or understanding by parts of the public. Hopefully he can enjoy the final few years of his career with Somerset and be looked back upon as someone who made the most of their talent and in doing so helped give his country its most successful period in recent times.
JI 24/03/08
There is obviously a slow wind blowing down the East Lancs roads from Manchester to Liverpool as it seem that whatever Manchester United do, Liverpool will do a few years later.
In 1999 United won the Champions League in dramatic circumstances, Liverpool did so in 2005. The Red Devils get taken over by American owners, a year or two later so do the Reds. Manchester United fans get the hump with the new owners and form their own team and now Liverpool fans are doing the same since the initial excitement of George Gillett and Tom Hicks’s ownership has worn off.
Like their counterparts in Manchester did the minute the Glaziers took control at Old Trafford, Liverpool fans have now decided to form their own non-league team in response to their dissatisfaction with their North American owners (Gillett is Canadian). FC United of Manchester meet AFC Liverpool.
The first response to the foundation of both teams should be, ‘aren’t there enough struggling non-league and lower league clubs out there who would appreciate your support and cash, without this new mob hovering up support, publicity and income?’ and the second ‘exactly what are you in such a state about?’
The contrasts between the two situations are highly marked: Whereas Manchester United fans didn’t want the Glaziers and made it known from the start, Liverpool and their supporters actively courted new owners and made Hicks and Gillett more than welcome. There was no hiding out in Florida for that pair.
The Reds needed new funds to move ahead with mothballed plans for their new stadium in Stanley Park. Liverpool had talks with Jersey-based businessman and lifelong fan Steve Morgan then Dubai International Capital came into the picture, before the controlling Moores family plumped for Hicks and Gillett, who promptly saddled the club with £400 million of debt to finance the new stadium and the squad, as the £20 million spent on Fernando Torres showed.
In the short space of time since the takeover in early 2007, Liverpool fans have realised exactly what it is that they wished for, as the pair have struggled to refinance the debt and plans for the stadium have been redrawn. Add in the pr gaff when Hicks announced that they had spoken to Jurgen Klinsmann behind manager Rafael Benitez’s back and the locals started getting restless.
We’ve had the protest marches in support of Benitez and there are more and more banners against the pair at Anfield, whilst at the same time the fans are calling for DIC to come galloping back to the rescue on their Maktoum stable horses. In short it is all becoming rather boring and sanctimonious from the Liverpool supporters, after all they made their bed and are now moaning about having to lie in it, with AFC Liverpool the latest hollow attempt to show their disgust at Hicks and Gillett.
For an example of non-league teams being set up by dissatisfied supporters, one should look at AFC Wimbledon. They were founded in response to Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes to become MK Dons in 2002 in a blaze of publicity. They quickly moved up through the lower non-league ranks and now sit second in the Ryman League, which is one league below the National Conference (England’s fifth tier).
However, the fact is that they are now old news. They had some currency when the world and his wife were up in arms over the franchising of a football team, but now a few years on few outside the hardcore support take any notice. MK Dons, the team they ‘replaced’, have ridden out the initial storm of boycotted friendlies and supporter protests to prosper, reaching their first Wembley final this season and sit atop League Two (fourth tier), whilst manager Paul Ince gains rave reviews.
There are plenty of clubs out there in the lower leagues that are struggling for survival and would appreciate the support of fans dissatisfied with their big club. The last thing that is needed is yet another club left to rot by supporters whose initial fury has dissipated, especially when their anger is pathetically self-absorbed, as it is with Liverpool fans in this instance.
Trescothick calls inevitable end to test career:
England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick confirmed that he was retiring from test cricket this week, something that had been accepted by most of the England team since his premature departure from the 2006-07 Ashes tour.
His return to the UK before any of the tests was the first hint of the stress related illness that has troubled him these past couple of years. It raised its head again this week when he pulled out of a tour to Dubai with his county Somerset, upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
It is a great pity as not only did he play a key part in England’s revival in the mid-00s, but also that stress is something that receives little sympathy in sporting circles and it should be hoped that he finds away to deal with it.
Trescothick made a solid start to his test career, hitting 66 against The West Indies in 2000 and between then and his final test against Pakistan in 2006 he averaged 43.79 in 76 tests. He also played in 123 one-day matches, one of his finest the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2004 when he hit a century and gave England a chance of winning their first ever one-day tournament.
As an opening batsman he was never the most spectacular, but if he got behind a shot there was a good chance of it finding the boundary. He also provided the solid base to an innings that, alongside Michael Vaughan and latterly Andrew Strauss, helped establish England in second place in the test rankings in 2004 and 2005.
What often let him down though was his almost non-existent footwork that gave bowlers an obvious way of targeting him. In this regard he was not helped by Somerset’s pitch in Taunton that was the flat track, so beloved by powerful batsmen.
Nonetheless, there is little doubt that he would have been a useful member of the England team on their current tour of New Zealand. Having captained the test and one-day teams on occasions, he would have taken some of the strain off Vaughan and probably pushed the captain down the order to face the first ball opposite Alistair Cook. He might also have had a word for the mis-firing Strauss as he struggles to find some semblance of form.
In the end though he has been laid low by an illness that only those who have suffered from it understand. Like Denis Bergkamp’s aversion to flying he has received little sympathy or understanding by parts of the public. Hopefully he can enjoy the final few years of his career with Somerset and be looked back upon as someone who made the most of their talent and in doing so helped give his country its most successful period in recent times.
JI 24/03/08
domenica 16 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 17/03/08
Magical Wales earn just reward:
For once television got it right. The 6 Nations scheduling has come in for some abuse in recent years, not least allowing France to kick off their matches at 9pm local time in preparation for the World Cup.
However, on this final weekend of the championships it all worked out to perfection; Italy v Scotland for 5th and 6th place, England v Ireland for 3rd and 4th and Wales and France for the championship, Grand Slam and all done and dusted by 7pm local time. Why wasn’t it like this every week of the tournament?
As ever with important games in the principality the emotion factor was ratcheted up to factor 40; the players and staff wore memorial t-shirts to the former Wales centre Ray Gravell who died recently, whilst his daughters led the team out. Up in the stands Charlotte Church and the other valley WAGS were constantly on the big screen and with the roof closed (why France agreed to that I can’t work out) the emotional outpourings were not lost to the heavens.
Wales had an air about them from the moment the whistle went to signal their first win at Twickenham in 20 years, on the first weekend of the tournament. The new coaching team of Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley needed a quick boost of credibility and that win provided it (and confidence) in spades.
Edwards, over whom the RFU should be kicking themselves for offering such a shabby offer, revolutionised their defence and was it there for all to see as France failed again and again to pick a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. But, as Edwards promised they would do, they allied that to the Welsh desire to keep the ball in hand and spread the play wide.
Shane Williams showed again and again that there is always room for the little ‘un, whilst his namesake Martyn will be doing cartwheels that he returned from post-World Cup retirement. The pack was solid in all areas and provided a strong base for everything that followed, with captain Ryan Jones a revelation in the role. Meanwhile Mike Phillips appears to have secured the number 9 jersey from Dwayne Peel and James Hook will probably be first choice at flyhalf, but don’t expect Stephen Jones to be ushered out of the way just yet. In the centres Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin were back to their 2005 Grand Slam best, whilst at fullback Lee Byrne showed aptitude and appetite in all facets of play, as well as scoring a number of crucial tries.
It is easy to say with hindsight, but this team has the air of solidity that the 2005 lacked. A year after their triumph the side had been torn apart, with coach Mike Ruddock handed his P45 which left aftershocks that reached all the way to the World Cup. This year though, there is a lack of overbearing players from the Welsh dressing room, ones who had a disproportionate amount of power and influence, such as Gareth Thomas and Colin Charvis. Likewise, one cannot imagine Edwards or Howley turning on their coach, as Ruddock’s assistant Scott Johnston did in 2006. This time the collective is stronger than the individuals.
On Saturday, France would have been confident of winning (and with the required 19 points), after all who likes pooping a party more than them. They hadn’t lost in Cardiff since 1986 and their most recent memories of the stadium was their World Cup win over New Zealand. It was a shame then that Marc Lievremont’s rotation policy came back to haunt him.
Whilst Lievremont might have cut a dash in his roll neck jumper and satin jacket, he will probably reflect on the lack of continuity that his rotation policy gave his team at the crucial moment. Sure it will benefit his squad to have blooded so many youngsters, but his decision to turn back to experienced heads cost him dear. 21- year old Francois Trinh Duc did enough to keep his place and should have been brought on at halftime; such was the paucity of David Skrela’s play. Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion failed to gel in the centres, while the pack was still recovering from their mauling by England in week three.
Nonetheless, the fruit of his policy should be seen in a few years when the likes of Trinh Dub, Morgan Parra, François Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedroago move on to the larger clubs, experience European competition and bring those experiences to bear for the national team. But French rugby needs to look at what is happening to their traditional school of srummagging. During the World Cup there were worried remarks that the Top 14 is now too full of Argentines, Georgians and other assorted imports. Until the ferociousness returns, then les bleus are lacking one of their traditional strengths.
Second place will have come as something of a shock for England, but should not hide that they still lost two out of five matches. Worrying still was against Italy and Ireland the team went walk about for a while, whilst beating France was built on brute force and nothing else. The last 20 minutes against Wales and the whole match in Edinburgh should be what occupies the RFU members’ minds, but so should coach Brian Ashton’s conservative selection policy. Ian Balshaw was a liability at best, Lesley Vainikolo should be allowed time to develop in the English Premiership and whilst he was man of the match against Ireland, Jamie Noon should not be keeping Matthew Tait out of the side. So how all three played the majority of the matches should be taxing a few minds tomorrow. But by far and away the best thing the RFU can do now is get on the phone to Shaun Edwards, whose contract with Wales is up, and beg, plead, negotiate, promise, anything in fact, to get him on board.
Whilst Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan will be sleeping a little uneasily after his team’s showing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst prior to the World Cup he was recognised for sticking to the tried and tested, with scrumhalf Eoin Reddan the only played to upset the old order, this 6 Nations may have opened his mind a little. Sure the likes of Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and James Heaslip only made the team because of injuries, they show that there are a number of players who can perform if Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan aren’t performing.
O’Sullivan might also like to leave the captain’s armband with Ronan O’Gara. Brian O’Driscoll isn’t so much as struggling for form, as much as over-trying when things aren’t going well. There were signs of the old magic here and there and it might do him the world of good to focus on his own game for once. Ireland and the paying spectator would be the obvious beneficiaries. For now O’Sullivan should be safe, thanks to the four-year contract he signed pre-World Cup, but a new direction, with new personnel would surely serve him well.
There have been calls galore for Scotland coach to be given his marching orders. After all any man so blindly loyal to Dan Parks, should not be an international coach goes the line. But frankly Parks is the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has probably fewer world-class players than any other team in the tournament (and I include Italy in that) with only captain Mike Blair and the redoubtable Chris Paterson of any decent standing.
The team reeks of mediocrity; Simon Webster, Andrew Henderson and Nicky Walker in the backs and Hadden’s tactics have done nothing to change that perception. When he looked at the backline and saw dross he decided to beef up the pack and try to out-muscle teams. So out went an out and out openside and in came converted number 8 Ally Hogg. Out went the traditional quick rucking game that has allowed them to punch above their weight for so many years and in came one long arm wrestle of a game plan. Their one win of the tournament, against England, came when the opposition were worse than them and the decision to focus the professional game away from the borders heartland, appears to be having the inevitable effect. The game has been a mess for many years and it would be a massive pity if they were to drift further and further out of the reckoning.
One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Italy’s Nick Mallett. It was refreshing to hear him during the build up to their final match against Scotland saying that he would rather take an improved showing with the ball in hand, than a win secured by 10-man rugby. He has done well to build on John Kirwan and Pierre Berbizier’s work and was true to his word of developing their play. The fact that outside centre Gonzalo Canale will look back on two spilled passes with the try-line at his mercy is testament to that. In the past the ball wouldn’t have made it that far down the line.
The flyhalf role is still a problem, though converted-three quarter Andrea Masi did show some improvement as the tournament went on. Andrea Marcato, their drop goal hero against Scotland, has been their find of the season and looked comfortable in the unforgiving arenas of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and Stade de France. He is still young and will probably fill the number 10 shirt in years to come, as he did on occasions this tournament. Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are solid scrum halves, though need to start making breaks of their own, rather than just being a conduit between backs and forwards. Then there is their pack that is as solid as ever and captain Sergio Parisse, who was phenomenal against Scotland, throughout the tournament and is probably the best number 8 in the world right now.
What Italy needs now is for their domestic structure to be sorted out, with the need to turn rumours of two teams entering the Celtic League into solid negotiations. With Mallett on board to drive the bargaining, the FIR should start pushing hard now.
Overall it was an enjoyable tournament, but questions of style still remain and the way some of the teams lined up makes you wonder if they even have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of alignment and quick passing. There is still an emphasis on defence though, with teams flying up, whilst the back three sit deep, so that both of options of running or kicking the ball give way to recycling it once again in the forwards. Thank god therefore Wales and their ability to find gaps where they didn’t exist, the tournament would have been a lot duller without them.
Jez’s Allstars - Team of the tournament:
1) Andrew Sheridan (ENG), 2) Leonardo Ghiraldini (ITA), 3) Martin Castrogiovanni (ITA), 4) Carlo del Fava (ITA), 5) Ian Gough (WAL), 6 Ryan Jones (WAL), 7 Martin Williams (WAL), 8) Sergio Parisse (ITA), 9) Mike Blair (SCO), 10) Ronan O’Gara (IRE), 11) Shane Williams (WAL), 12) Gavin Henson (WAL), 13) Tom Shanklin (WAL), 14) Vincent Clerc (FRA), 15) Lee Byrne (WAL)
JI 17/03/08
For once television got it right. The 6 Nations scheduling has come in for some abuse in recent years, not least allowing France to kick off their matches at 9pm local time in preparation for the World Cup.
However, on this final weekend of the championships it all worked out to perfection; Italy v Scotland for 5th and 6th place, England v Ireland for 3rd and 4th and Wales and France for the championship, Grand Slam and all done and dusted by 7pm local time. Why wasn’t it like this every week of the tournament?
As ever with important games in the principality the emotion factor was ratcheted up to factor 40; the players and staff wore memorial t-shirts to the former Wales centre Ray Gravell who died recently, whilst his daughters led the team out. Up in the stands Charlotte Church and the other valley WAGS were constantly on the big screen and with the roof closed (why France agreed to that I can’t work out) the emotional outpourings were not lost to the heavens.
Wales had an air about them from the moment the whistle went to signal their first win at Twickenham in 20 years, on the first weekend of the tournament. The new coaching team of Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley needed a quick boost of credibility and that win provided it (and confidence) in spades.
Edwards, over whom the RFU should be kicking themselves for offering such a shabby offer, revolutionised their defence and was it there for all to see as France failed again and again to pick a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. But, as Edwards promised they would do, they allied that to the Welsh desire to keep the ball in hand and spread the play wide.
Shane Williams showed again and again that there is always room for the little ‘un, whilst his namesake Martyn will be doing cartwheels that he returned from post-World Cup retirement. The pack was solid in all areas and provided a strong base for everything that followed, with captain Ryan Jones a revelation in the role. Meanwhile Mike Phillips appears to have secured the number 9 jersey from Dwayne Peel and James Hook will probably be first choice at flyhalf, but don’t expect Stephen Jones to be ushered out of the way just yet. In the centres Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin were back to their 2005 Grand Slam best, whilst at fullback Lee Byrne showed aptitude and appetite in all facets of play, as well as scoring a number of crucial tries.
It is easy to say with hindsight, but this team has the air of solidity that the 2005 lacked. A year after their triumph the side had been torn apart, with coach Mike Ruddock handed his P45 which left aftershocks that reached all the way to the World Cup. This year though, there is a lack of overbearing players from the Welsh dressing room, ones who had a disproportionate amount of power and influence, such as Gareth Thomas and Colin Charvis. Likewise, one cannot imagine Edwards or Howley turning on their coach, as Ruddock’s assistant Scott Johnston did in 2006. This time the collective is stronger than the individuals.
On Saturday, France would have been confident of winning (and with the required 19 points), after all who likes pooping a party more than them. They hadn’t lost in Cardiff since 1986 and their most recent memories of the stadium was their World Cup win over New Zealand. It was a shame then that Marc Lievremont’s rotation policy came back to haunt him.
Whilst Lievremont might have cut a dash in his roll neck jumper and satin jacket, he will probably reflect on the lack of continuity that his rotation policy gave his team at the crucial moment. Sure it will benefit his squad to have blooded so many youngsters, but his decision to turn back to experienced heads cost him dear. 21- year old Francois Trinh Duc did enough to keep his place and should have been brought on at halftime; such was the paucity of David Skrela’s play. Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion failed to gel in the centres, while the pack was still recovering from their mauling by England in week three.
Nonetheless, the fruit of his policy should be seen in a few years when the likes of Trinh Dub, Morgan Parra, François Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedroago move on to the larger clubs, experience European competition and bring those experiences to bear for the national team. But French rugby needs to look at what is happening to their traditional school of srummagging. During the World Cup there were worried remarks that the Top 14 is now too full of Argentines, Georgians and other assorted imports. Until the ferociousness returns, then les bleus are lacking one of their traditional strengths.
Second place will have come as something of a shock for England, but should not hide that they still lost two out of five matches. Worrying still was against Italy and Ireland the team went walk about for a while, whilst beating France was built on brute force and nothing else. The last 20 minutes against Wales and the whole match in Edinburgh should be what occupies the RFU members’ minds, but so should coach Brian Ashton’s conservative selection policy. Ian Balshaw was a liability at best, Lesley Vainikolo should be allowed time to develop in the English Premiership and whilst he was man of the match against Ireland, Jamie Noon should not be keeping Matthew Tait out of the side. So how all three played the majority of the matches should be taxing a few minds tomorrow. But by far and away the best thing the RFU can do now is get on the phone to Shaun Edwards, whose contract with Wales is up, and beg, plead, negotiate, promise, anything in fact, to get him on board.
Whilst Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan will be sleeping a little uneasily after his team’s showing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst prior to the World Cup he was recognised for sticking to the tried and tested, with scrumhalf Eoin Reddan the only played to upset the old order, this 6 Nations may have opened his mind a little. Sure the likes of Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and James Heaslip only made the team because of injuries, they show that there are a number of players who can perform if Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan aren’t performing.
O’Sullivan might also like to leave the captain’s armband with Ronan O’Gara. Brian O’Driscoll isn’t so much as struggling for form, as much as over-trying when things aren’t going well. There were signs of the old magic here and there and it might do him the world of good to focus on his own game for once. Ireland and the paying spectator would be the obvious beneficiaries. For now O’Sullivan should be safe, thanks to the four-year contract he signed pre-World Cup, but a new direction, with new personnel would surely serve him well.
There have been calls galore for Scotland coach to be given his marching orders. After all any man so blindly loyal to Dan Parks, should not be an international coach goes the line. But frankly Parks is the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has probably fewer world-class players than any other team in the tournament (and I include Italy in that) with only captain Mike Blair and the redoubtable Chris Paterson of any decent standing.
The team reeks of mediocrity; Simon Webster, Andrew Henderson and Nicky Walker in the backs and Hadden’s tactics have done nothing to change that perception. When he looked at the backline and saw dross he decided to beef up the pack and try to out-muscle teams. So out went an out and out openside and in came converted number 8 Ally Hogg. Out went the traditional quick rucking game that has allowed them to punch above their weight for so many years and in came one long arm wrestle of a game plan. Their one win of the tournament, against England, came when the opposition were worse than them and the decision to focus the professional game away from the borders heartland, appears to be having the inevitable effect. The game has been a mess for many years and it would be a massive pity if they were to drift further and further out of the reckoning.
One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Italy’s Nick Mallett. It was refreshing to hear him during the build up to their final match against Scotland saying that he would rather take an improved showing with the ball in hand, than a win secured by 10-man rugby. He has done well to build on John Kirwan and Pierre Berbizier’s work and was true to his word of developing their play. The fact that outside centre Gonzalo Canale will look back on two spilled passes with the try-line at his mercy is testament to that. In the past the ball wouldn’t have made it that far down the line.
The flyhalf role is still a problem, though converted-three quarter Andrea Masi did show some improvement as the tournament went on. Andrea Marcato, their drop goal hero against Scotland, has been their find of the season and looked comfortable in the unforgiving arenas of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and Stade de France. He is still young and will probably fill the number 10 shirt in years to come, as he did on occasions this tournament. Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are solid scrum halves, though need to start making breaks of their own, rather than just being a conduit between backs and forwards. Then there is their pack that is as solid as ever and captain Sergio Parisse, who was phenomenal against Scotland, throughout the tournament and is probably the best number 8 in the world right now.
What Italy needs now is for their domestic structure to be sorted out, with the need to turn rumours of two teams entering the Celtic League into solid negotiations. With Mallett on board to drive the bargaining, the FIR should start pushing hard now.
Overall it was an enjoyable tournament, but questions of style still remain and the way some of the teams lined up makes you wonder if they even have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of alignment and quick passing. There is still an emphasis on defence though, with teams flying up, whilst the back three sit deep, so that both of options of running or kicking the ball give way to recycling it once again in the forwards. Thank god therefore Wales and their ability to find gaps where they didn’t exist, the tournament would have been a lot duller without them.
Jez’s Allstars - Team of the tournament:
1) Andrew Sheridan (ENG), 2) Leonardo Ghiraldini (ITA), 3) Martin Castrogiovanni (ITA), 4) Carlo del Fava (ITA), 5) Ian Gough (WAL), 6 Ryan Jones (WAL), 7 Martin Williams (WAL), 8) Sergio Parisse (ITA), 9) Mike Blair (SCO), 10) Ronan O’Gara (IRE), 11) Shane Williams (WAL), 12) Gavin Henson (WAL), 13) Tom Shanklin (WAL), 14) Vincent Clerc (FRA), 15) Lee Byrne (WAL)
JI 17/03/08
domenica 9 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 03/03/08
Silly Danny:
Why oh why couldn’t you have stayed in with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits? Hopefully that is the question England fullback Danny Cipriani will have been asking himself on Thursday after he was unceremoniously dumped from the England team who went on to lose 15-6 to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, after he was photographed leaving a nightclub at just after midnight on Thursday morning. According to Cipriani he went in to the Mayfair club for around 20 minutes, had a chat and a soft drink, dropped off some tickets and then headed home to bed just after midnight (though why said friend couldn’t pick them up from anywhere else and at a more sociable time, has not been cleared up).
In all likelihood he would have made little difference to the score or performance seeing as it was the Scottish forwards’ dominance of the breakdown that was the key factor, allied to the England pack’s ability to undo a lot of hard word with stupid offences at key times. Sure he may have relieved Wilkinson of the burden of kicking from deep, but any hope of seeing his running game in action would have been lost amid the mud and England’s statuesque backline.
There should be the probability of him making his start next weekend against Ireland at Twickenham, so poor was England’s display that it would be better to see what he can do over 80 minutes, rather than wait for the two-test tour to New Zealand in the summer and coach Brian Ashton has said he will be in contention regardless of what occurred in the last seven days.
But why then did Ashton react in so harsh a manner to so minor an offence? Like so many of these incidents that become public we are not really given much insight into what occurred. All we were told was that he was dropped after ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Quite what was inappropriate about his behaviour and/or what rules he broke were not revealed. If there had been a midnight curfew, just tell us. All that has been said is that the players were told to be sensible. He wasn’t drunk, nor had got into a fight. So he may not have been in bed come the witching hour, but so what? There are many players who admit to sleeping very little the night before a match and the effect isn’t always obvious. Just because you go to bed at midnight does not mean you’ll be away with the fairies for your nightly eight hours.
A lot was made in the Sunday newspapers that it was Ashton’s attempts to show who was in charge after the speculation that followed England’s march to the World Cup final last year, when Mike Catt and Lawrence Dallaglio ‘revealed all’ in unflattering terms for Ashton. If that was Ashton’s motivation, then more fool him. His coaching style has been one based on trust and mutual understanding between coach and players. He has never been a table thumper, doing things in a quiet, intelligent manner. One hack suggested that it was an anti-Wasps conspiracy following Dallaglio’s comments, Josh Lewsey’s exclusion from the squad despite good form and the overlooking of Shaun Edwards for an England coaching position. Utter nonsense, seeing as England captain Phil Vickery comes from said club.
Contrasts have been made to the Clive Woodward era and the man himself has admitted that he would never have reacted the way Ashton did. What Woodward did was treat his players as adults. Yes they could go out and get leathered the night before a match, but woe betide them if it affected their performance. As Cipriani’s coach, Edwards, said, rather him go out for a while and enjoy the (alcohol-free) company of friends, than sit in and fret all night.
From Cipriani’s point of view he needs to come back, just be himself once more and show what a talented prospect he is. The worrying thing is though he, along with the rest of us, appears to have little idea of what rule he broke. Under Woodward the whole squad knew as it was written down and signed off by coaches and players. Unfortunately Ashton, who we have been told a thousand times, does not like the management side of being head coach. Well tough. He needs to get hold of things in the way Sir Clive did and stay true to himself and his philosophies. Hopefully then both parties will have learned from this sorry saga and work together for the benefit of England, God knows they need it.
All hail the giant killers:
So that is what they mean by the romance of the cup. After years and years of having to listen to the hollow ramblings of the BBC, finally we have a semifinal line up to look forward to
Whilst Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and, to an extent, Liverpool fans have become accustomed to their place in the May showpiece, for once none of them will be anywhere near the final. Hooray for that.
You see the heads of those four clubs may feel that their presence adds ‘glamour’ and ‘appeal’ to the competition, when all they have done in recent years when getting there is bore us to death. This year we know that at least one of the finalists will be from outside the top flight, which means that even if the one remaining Premiership team, Portsmouth, does win the trophy that a) it will be a different name from the usual suspects and b) there will be someone new in Europe next year, receiving more money from doing so and hopefully being able to attract better players to help them improve further.
The beauty of the FA Cup has always been the democratic nature of it, allowing the smaller teams a fair and even chance of beating one of the bigger sides. Whether it continues next year, is irrelevant for now, unless of course you’re a fan of one the 19 Premiership clubs who failed to make it to the semifinals.
Letdown at the Dome:
The O2 Arena is no stranger to anticlimax after it lay dormant for five years after the Millennium celebrations, until some bright spark hit upon the idea of using to host sports events. Sadly the latest, which had the potential to be the best yet, was nothing short of a damp squib.
David Haye versus Enzo Maccarinelli in the cruiserweight title unification bout was the UK’s biggest fight since 1993 when Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn met, but failed to go past two rounds, thus leaving the crowd in the arena, not to mention thousands in the UK and across the pond in the USA disappointed and no doubt feeling a little short changed.
The first round was dull apart from Maccarinelli’s fierce left hook that he failed to take advantage of, whilst the second belonged to Haye, who went in hard and reaped the rewards when the referee stopped the bout.
Apparently Macca looked nervous when he entered the ring and it seems they betrayed him on his biggest fight night yet. A shame really as the Welshman is a fantastic fighter, yet so too is Haye. But such is the manner of boxing in this day and age, when the ballyhoo and baiting that takes place before a fight almost always overshadows anything that takes place in the ring. It has even got to the stage where death threats are shrugged off.
They shouldn’t be. It should be upto the governing bodies (lord knows how many there are) to come down hard on it and stamp it out. But that’s never going to be the case when they take the attitude that no publicity is bad publicity. If the boxers actually worried more about their performance in the ring, rather than out of it, then maybe we might start having world title bouts, that for once live upto the hype.
JI 10/03/08
Why oh why couldn’t you have stayed in with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits? Hopefully that is the question England fullback Danny Cipriani will have been asking himself on Thursday after he was unceremoniously dumped from the England team who went on to lose 15-6 to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, after he was photographed leaving a nightclub at just after midnight on Thursday morning. According to Cipriani he went in to the Mayfair club for around 20 minutes, had a chat and a soft drink, dropped off some tickets and then headed home to bed just after midnight (though why said friend couldn’t pick them up from anywhere else and at a more sociable time, has not been cleared up).
In all likelihood he would have made little difference to the score or performance seeing as it was the Scottish forwards’ dominance of the breakdown that was the key factor, allied to the England pack’s ability to undo a lot of hard word with stupid offences at key times. Sure he may have relieved Wilkinson of the burden of kicking from deep, but any hope of seeing his running game in action would have been lost amid the mud and England’s statuesque backline.
There should be the probability of him making his start next weekend against Ireland at Twickenham, so poor was England’s display that it would be better to see what he can do over 80 minutes, rather than wait for the two-test tour to New Zealand in the summer and coach Brian Ashton has said he will be in contention regardless of what occurred in the last seven days.
But why then did Ashton react in so harsh a manner to so minor an offence? Like so many of these incidents that become public we are not really given much insight into what occurred. All we were told was that he was dropped after ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Quite what was inappropriate about his behaviour and/or what rules he broke were not revealed. If there had been a midnight curfew, just tell us. All that has been said is that the players were told to be sensible. He wasn’t drunk, nor had got into a fight. So he may not have been in bed come the witching hour, but so what? There are many players who admit to sleeping very little the night before a match and the effect isn’t always obvious. Just because you go to bed at midnight does not mean you’ll be away with the fairies for your nightly eight hours.
A lot was made in the Sunday newspapers that it was Ashton’s attempts to show who was in charge after the speculation that followed England’s march to the World Cup final last year, when Mike Catt and Lawrence Dallaglio ‘revealed all’ in unflattering terms for Ashton. If that was Ashton’s motivation, then more fool him. His coaching style has been one based on trust and mutual understanding between coach and players. He has never been a table thumper, doing things in a quiet, intelligent manner. One hack suggested that it was an anti-Wasps conspiracy following Dallaglio’s comments, Josh Lewsey’s exclusion from the squad despite good form and the overlooking of Shaun Edwards for an England coaching position. Utter nonsense, seeing as England captain Phil Vickery comes from said club.
Contrasts have been made to the Clive Woodward era and the man himself has admitted that he would never have reacted the way Ashton did. What Woodward did was treat his players as adults. Yes they could go out and get leathered the night before a match, but woe betide them if it affected their performance. As Cipriani’s coach, Edwards, said, rather him go out for a while and enjoy the (alcohol-free) company of friends, than sit in and fret all night.
From Cipriani’s point of view he needs to come back, just be himself once more and show what a talented prospect he is. The worrying thing is though he, along with the rest of us, appears to have little idea of what rule he broke. Under Woodward the whole squad knew as it was written down and signed off by coaches and players. Unfortunately Ashton, who we have been told a thousand times, does not like the management side of being head coach. Well tough. He needs to get hold of things in the way Sir Clive did and stay true to himself and his philosophies. Hopefully then both parties will have learned from this sorry saga and work together for the benefit of England, God knows they need it.
All hail the giant killers:
So that is what they mean by the romance of the cup. After years and years of having to listen to the hollow ramblings of the BBC, finally we have a semifinal line up to look forward to
Whilst Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and, to an extent, Liverpool fans have become accustomed to their place in the May showpiece, for once none of them will be anywhere near the final. Hooray for that.
You see the heads of those four clubs may feel that their presence adds ‘glamour’ and ‘appeal’ to the competition, when all they have done in recent years when getting there is bore us to death. This year we know that at least one of the finalists will be from outside the top flight, which means that even if the one remaining Premiership team, Portsmouth, does win the trophy that a) it will be a different name from the usual suspects and b) there will be someone new in Europe next year, receiving more money from doing so and hopefully being able to attract better players to help them improve further.
The beauty of the FA Cup has always been the democratic nature of it, allowing the smaller teams a fair and even chance of beating one of the bigger sides. Whether it continues next year, is irrelevant for now, unless of course you’re a fan of one the 19 Premiership clubs who failed to make it to the semifinals.
Letdown at the Dome:
The O2 Arena is no stranger to anticlimax after it lay dormant for five years after the Millennium celebrations, until some bright spark hit upon the idea of using to host sports events. Sadly the latest, which had the potential to be the best yet, was nothing short of a damp squib.
David Haye versus Enzo Maccarinelli in the cruiserweight title unification bout was the UK’s biggest fight since 1993 when Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn met, but failed to go past two rounds, thus leaving the crowd in the arena, not to mention thousands in the UK and across the pond in the USA disappointed and no doubt feeling a little short changed.
The first round was dull apart from Maccarinelli’s fierce left hook that he failed to take advantage of, whilst the second belonged to Haye, who went in hard and reaped the rewards when the referee stopped the bout.
Apparently Macca looked nervous when he entered the ring and it seems they betrayed him on his biggest fight night yet. A shame really as the Welshman is a fantastic fighter, yet so too is Haye. But such is the manner of boxing in this day and age, when the ballyhoo and baiting that takes place before a fight almost always overshadows anything that takes place in the ring. It has even got to the stage where death threats are shrugged off.
They shouldn’t be. It should be upto the governing bodies (lord knows how many there are) to come down hard on it and stamp it out. But that’s never going to be the case when they take the attitude that no publicity is bad publicity. If the boxers actually worried more about their performance in the ring, rather than out of it, then maybe we might start having world title bouts, that for once live upto the hype.
JI 10/03/08
domenica 24 febbraio 2008
Notes from a sporting week – 25/02/08
More tears for Gazza:
Paul Gascoigne became world famous for the tears he shed when England failed to reach the 1990 World Cup final, a match that he would have missed thanks to a swinging leg and an over-acting Thomas Berthold, but this week the crying for Gazza should be less hollow than those spilled over a mere football match.
For anyone who has followed Gascoigne’s career and post-career, the sad truth is that his sectioning this week under the mental health act was inevitable. Like George Best before him he has failed to control the demons within him and locking him in an institution appears to be the only way of stopping him from harming others, as well as himself.
Even when it was at its worse, Best could never control the alcoholism that had taken grip as a nervous youngster fresh off the ship from Belfast in Manchester. Likewise Gascoigne has been unable to take hold of his addictive traits that have stained his life and those of others, notably his ex-wife, whom he beat during one of his drunken tirades.
A lot of ex-managers, teammates and sports commentators have come out and asked how did it ever reach this point? The fact that he had not controlled matters during his playing days meant that when the simple of joy of playing, of training on a day by day basis had come to and end with nothing to replace it, he became a man with too much time on his hands and for a while too much money.
There was an interesting article in a football magazine a year or so ago in which fans write in questions for someone in the game to answer. When it was Gascoigne’s turn one question asked, ‘do you fell you wasted your career?’ Rather than point at the medals he had acquired, or the awards received, he talked about money and particular how much various teams and managers had squandered on him down the years, hoping to reignite the magic that he showed at Italia 90 and again in Euro 96. That was his justification for his career, how much someone else had valued his ability at the time, rather than anything more tangible.
Sure he has the odd medal on his mantelpiece; a fourth place World Cup medal from 1990, an FA Cup winner’s medal from 1991 and a few Scottish medals of various varieties. Sadly each one comes with a caveat of its own. The World Cup one we have touched upon, the FA Cup medal was given to him in his hospital bed after he had ruptured his ligaments crunching Gary Parker and Gary Charles in the opening minutes of the match. The Scottish ones came after he left Lazio for Rangers in 1995 and whilst he should have been at the peak of his powers, he chose the easy life north of the border, rather than test himself in England or somewhere else on the continent. Or perhaps too many managers had heard stories of his drinking; of the company he kept or just that such a big personality wasn’t worth the risk.
Of course everyone has a favourite Gazza story, which was half the problem. So many of those who have come out in sympathy this week said that his personality, the ability to you feel the most special person in the world, meant that you went along with him regardless, that you forgave him things you knew you shouldn’t.
There has been the constant debate with him of how he would have turned out had he chosen Manchester United in 1989 rather than Tottenham Hotspur. In Manchester he would have come under the tutelage of the far stricter, Alec Ferguson, rather than the laissez-faire style of Terry Venables. It is an interesting thought that the Scot would have curbed his overly exuberant personality in the way he has done of late with Wayne Rooney, but it is one of life’s little debates and instead he went south and enjoyed the bright lights of London. From there in 1991 to Lazio in Rome, where he picked up the useful habit of smoking, off to Rangers in 1995, Middlesbrough in 1998 and then Everton, where his light barely flickered at all.
Since leaving the Toffeemen in 2002 he moved to Burnley and then made the bizarre decision to join Gansu Tianma in the Chinese second division. After that came an aborted spell at fourth tier Boston United as player-coach and an attempt to crack the USA with DC United, who quickly refused to sign him after he had stayed up till 3am at a post-match function getting thoroughly drunk. His last incarnation was as coach of non-league Kettering Town, who fired him after 39 days for ‘being under the influence of alcohol’ before and after matches and training. His attempts to crack the media have failed and he has been conspicuous by his absence since 2002 when, for ITV, he appeared on set clearly the worse for alcohol.
At no stage have any of these events come as any surprise, not least in 1998 when Glenn Hoddle omitted him from the World Cup squad and he reacted by smashing up his hotel room. A lot has been made of trying to help him as and when he leaves his detention, but there have been people trying to help him all the way throughout his career. Sadly the one person who could help him, himself, has been unable to. Until he does, then the worry won’t just be whether he can make anything of himself in football, a horse that has surely bolted, but whether he can survive to an age where he can draw his pension.
Breaks on for sledging:
It was a pity to hear this week that the International Cricket Council took a sledgehammer to crack a nut with their call for umpires to take a zero-tolerance approach to sledging on the field of play. This comes in the light of the Harbhajan Singh/Andrew Symonds incident in which the Indian spinner was accused of racially abusing the Australian all-rounder. That it led to protests from the subcontinent, came down to the word of Ricky Ponting over that of Sachin Tendulkar and was then thrown out further muddied the waters.
The sad thing is that sledging in its purest form is witty, comical and well timed. What did or did not occur between Singh and Symonds was abuse, pure and simple. It goes without saying that this has no place on the field of play, should be eradicated and when it does occur, should be punished. Furthermore that some teams consciously target players before taking the field is not on either, though trying to stop abuse in its organised form will be much harder, not least because some players are always susceptible to verbal intimidation.
Cricket isn’t the only sport to suffer from any such incidents; one only has to look at boxing where this week Bernard Hopkins charmingly declared that Joe Calzaghe should be prepared to die, ahead of their 19th April fight. However, to ban any verbal exchanges will be rather like King Canute’s attempts to stop the tide. When it is done well, sledging adds a little spice to the main event and on the whole is respected by both teams. For sure if the chatter becomes abuse then the umpires should act, which until now they have seemed reluctant to do so, and the culprits punished. But that does not mean that there should be one catchall rule that makes the sport a far more sanitised spectale.
JI 25/02/08
Paul Gascoigne became world famous for the tears he shed when England failed to reach the 1990 World Cup final, a match that he would have missed thanks to a swinging leg and an over-acting Thomas Berthold, but this week the crying for Gazza should be less hollow than those spilled over a mere football match.
For anyone who has followed Gascoigne’s career and post-career, the sad truth is that his sectioning this week under the mental health act was inevitable. Like George Best before him he has failed to control the demons within him and locking him in an institution appears to be the only way of stopping him from harming others, as well as himself.
Even when it was at its worse, Best could never control the alcoholism that had taken grip as a nervous youngster fresh off the ship from Belfast in Manchester. Likewise Gascoigne has been unable to take hold of his addictive traits that have stained his life and those of others, notably his ex-wife, whom he beat during one of his drunken tirades.
A lot of ex-managers, teammates and sports commentators have come out and asked how did it ever reach this point? The fact that he had not controlled matters during his playing days meant that when the simple of joy of playing, of training on a day by day basis had come to and end with nothing to replace it, he became a man with too much time on his hands and for a while too much money.
There was an interesting article in a football magazine a year or so ago in which fans write in questions for someone in the game to answer. When it was Gascoigne’s turn one question asked, ‘do you fell you wasted your career?’ Rather than point at the medals he had acquired, or the awards received, he talked about money and particular how much various teams and managers had squandered on him down the years, hoping to reignite the magic that he showed at Italia 90 and again in Euro 96. That was his justification for his career, how much someone else had valued his ability at the time, rather than anything more tangible.
Sure he has the odd medal on his mantelpiece; a fourth place World Cup medal from 1990, an FA Cup winner’s medal from 1991 and a few Scottish medals of various varieties. Sadly each one comes with a caveat of its own. The World Cup one we have touched upon, the FA Cup medal was given to him in his hospital bed after he had ruptured his ligaments crunching Gary Parker and Gary Charles in the opening minutes of the match. The Scottish ones came after he left Lazio for Rangers in 1995 and whilst he should have been at the peak of his powers, he chose the easy life north of the border, rather than test himself in England or somewhere else on the continent. Or perhaps too many managers had heard stories of his drinking; of the company he kept or just that such a big personality wasn’t worth the risk.
Of course everyone has a favourite Gazza story, which was half the problem. So many of those who have come out in sympathy this week said that his personality, the ability to you feel the most special person in the world, meant that you went along with him regardless, that you forgave him things you knew you shouldn’t.
There has been the constant debate with him of how he would have turned out had he chosen Manchester United in 1989 rather than Tottenham Hotspur. In Manchester he would have come under the tutelage of the far stricter, Alec Ferguson, rather than the laissez-faire style of Terry Venables. It is an interesting thought that the Scot would have curbed his overly exuberant personality in the way he has done of late with Wayne Rooney, but it is one of life’s little debates and instead he went south and enjoyed the bright lights of London. From there in 1991 to Lazio in Rome, where he picked up the useful habit of smoking, off to Rangers in 1995, Middlesbrough in 1998 and then Everton, where his light barely flickered at all.
Since leaving the Toffeemen in 2002 he moved to Burnley and then made the bizarre decision to join Gansu Tianma in the Chinese second division. After that came an aborted spell at fourth tier Boston United as player-coach and an attempt to crack the USA with DC United, who quickly refused to sign him after he had stayed up till 3am at a post-match function getting thoroughly drunk. His last incarnation was as coach of non-league Kettering Town, who fired him after 39 days for ‘being under the influence of alcohol’ before and after matches and training. His attempts to crack the media have failed and he has been conspicuous by his absence since 2002 when, for ITV, he appeared on set clearly the worse for alcohol.
At no stage have any of these events come as any surprise, not least in 1998 when Glenn Hoddle omitted him from the World Cup squad and he reacted by smashing up his hotel room. A lot has been made of trying to help him as and when he leaves his detention, but there have been people trying to help him all the way throughout his career. Sadly the one person who could help him, himself, has been unable to. Until he does, then the worry won’t just be whether he can make anything of himself in football, a horse that has surely bolted, but whether he can survive to an age where he can draw his pension.
Breaks on for sledging:
It was a pity to hear this week that the International Cricket Council took a sledgehammer to crack a nut with their call for umpires to take a zero-tolerance approach to sledging on the field of play. This comes in the light of the Harbhajan Singh/Andrew Symonds incident in which the Indian spinner was accused of racially abusing the Australian all-rounder. That it led to protests from the subcontinent, came down to the word of Ricky Ponting over that of Sachin Tendulkar and was then thrown out further muddied the waters.
The sad thing is that sledging in its purest form is witty, comical and well timed. What did or did not occur between Singh and Symonds was abuse, pure and simple. It goes without saying that this has no place on the field of play, should be eradicated and when it does occur, should be punished. Furthermore that some teams consciously target players before taking the field is not on either, though trying to stop abuse in its organised form will be much harder, not least because some players are always susceptible to verbal intimidation.
Cricket isn’t the only sport to suffer from any such incidents; one only has to look at boxing where this week Bernard Hopkins charmingly declared that Joe Calzaghe should be prepared to die, ahead of their 19th April fight. However, to ban any verbal exchanges will be rather like King Canute’s attempts to stop the tide. When it is done well, sledging adds a little spice to the main event and on the whole is respected by both teams. For sure if the chatter becomes abuse then the umpires should act, which until now they have seemed reluctant to do so, and the culprits punished. But that does not mean that there should be one catchall rule that makes the sport a far more sanitised spectale.
JI 25/02/08
domenica 3 febbraio 2008
Notes from a sporting week 04/02/08
Six off and running:
It wasn’t quite the spectacular start that had been expected, but the first weekend of the 6 Nations Championship threw up few clues as to how the rest of the tournament would progress to its finish on 15th March.
Six teams will be feeling six different emotions as they retake the training pitch on Monday ahead of next weekend’s matches. Wales will be elated after their comeback in the final 20 minutes to beat England for the first time in 20 years at Twickenham. France will have their happiness tempered by sloppiness in their otherwise encouraging 27-6 win over Scotland. Ireland have a win and that is the least they could ask for, even if it didn’t completely remove the stigma of a disastrous World Cup.
As for those that lost, Italy will be the happiest after that 16-11 loss at Croke Park and will try to get their new look halfbacks slicker before the match with England on Sunday. Scotland will be the sickest of the lot, having made far too many elementary errors in the loss to France, their performance as awful as the nearside of the Murrayfield pitch on which they played. Their must now be questions as to why coach Frank Hadden left Chris Paterson, Scotland’s best player kicking his heels on the bench for 60 minutes.
England then will be the most confused out of the bunch. How did it go so spectacularly wrong in those last 20 minutes? Take out the obvious of Jonny Wilkinson and Ian Balshaw’s dithering and look at what the Welsh did to win. It would have been interesting to listen to Shaun Edwards’ halftime team talk, which I’m sure was nothing more interesting than, “Stick to what you’re doing and the rewards will come.”
Around the 60-minute mark both teams made a change at outside centre. Tom Shanklin came on for the average Sonny Parker for Wales, whilst England’s 13, Mike Tindall was being carried off the pitch leaving the uncapped Danny Cipriani to come on in his place, a position he had yet to play in senior rugby. It meant that if Wilkinson was feeling the rush defence at flyhalf, there was no Tindall-shaped safety valve outside him. This was emphasised when he flung the ball out to Cipriani to clear, only for the 20 year-old to watch it sail over his head and add to the schmozzle that England’s performance had become.
At Twickenham it was pleasing to see Gavin Henson back to somewhere near his best. Since the glory days of the 2005 Grand Slam he has struggled with form and fitness, some of his own making, some of it out of his hands. Either way it seems that he realises that being left out of the World Cup was a kick up the arse and that if he didn’t knuckle down and get some consistency in his game then there would be the good chance that the 2011 edition would pass him by as well. The run he made in the second half, past, amongst others Wilkinson, helped give the Welsh the confidence needed to turn the result around. If he’s still doing it at the end of the tournament, then it will be a sign that progress, both physical and mental has been made on his part.
The beauty of the 6 Nations is that very rarely does the first weekend point the way for the rest of the tournament. Last year France ran Italy ragged in the opening weekend in Rome, yet the Azzurri had their best tournament ever. Nonetheless such is the importance of a strong start and the need to build momentum that a win on the opening weekend provides much needed succour for the weeks ahead.
It provides no guarantees though. In 2007 that same French team that started so well was torn apart when they went to Twickenham and needed a last minute try in their final match to secure the championship. For now it is all smiles across the River Severn, but by no means does that mean you should put your house on this staying that way until the ides of March.
Super-prices for Super Bowl:
Whether it was the New York Giants or the New England Patriots who won the Superbowl in the early hours of Monday morning, there is one group of people who are the real victors on the night; the black marketers, the ticket touts and scalpers.
For both teams the Vince Lombardi Trophy is what they are after, but for the fans getting a ticket for America’s biggest sports event evokes much the same feeling. Every year there are pictures of fans carrying placards asking for spare tickets and offering exorbitant sums of money for even the worst seat in the house. This year’s match at Phoenix University Stadium, Glendale, Arizona will be no exception.
This year a basic ticket has been available on the internet for $19,446, a pair on ebay were yours for a mere $77,000, whilst if you wanted to push the boat out and entertain some friends and clients, you could snap up a luxury suite for $224,825. Estimates put the minimum price of a ticket at around $3,000, which makes complaints about black market tickets for the football and rugby World Cup look like loose change by comparison.
Of course this year is something of an exception. The Patriots were aiming to finish the season with a 19-0 win-loss ratio, the first time that would ever have happened. On top of which winning the title would mean the trophy went to Boston for the fourth time in seven seasons. For New Yorkers it is their first final since 2001 and extends the Boston-New York sports rivalry, allowing the underdogs from the big apple the chance to upset the favourites from their rival city up the coast.
What then can be done to keep the tickets at slightly saner prices? Well for a start the distribution of the tickets should be looked at. 17.5 per cent go to each of the competing teams, 5 to the host team (in this case the Arizona Cardinals), 34 per cent to the other 29 NFL teams and 25.2 per cent to media, sponsors and fans. No prizes for guessing which lot are most responsible for ending up on the black market.
Of course there are always people out there who are happy to pay over the odds for sports tickets, if there moment seems historical enough. On top of which it is hard, in a country the size of the USA, to talk about average fans. After all it’s not like you can catch a five hour bus from New York to Arizona, as would be the case if Newcastle, for instance, were to reach a cup final at Wembley. With flights and hotels to be paid for it already means a certain economic band is priced out of the equation and that either the particularly wealthy or high saving can afford the cost.
That said part of any big sports event is hearing stories of how much was spent and how far people went to get their hands on a ticket for the big event. But sadly that is the problem with big sports occasions. They are no longer the preserve of fans of the teams, now there are people who go for the occasion, regardless of whether their team is there. Moreover, it seems particularly sad that in a sport that created the concept of equal footing and opportunities for every team, that capitalism has been allowed to run amuck on a ridiculous scale, on the most important day in its calendar.
JI 04/02/08
It wasn’t quite the spectacular start that had been expected, but the first weekend of the 6 Nations Championship threw up few clues as to how the rest of the tournament would progress to its finish on 15th March.
Six teams will be feeling six different emotions as they retake the training pitch on Monday ahead of next weekend’s matches. Wales will be elated after their comeback in the final 20 minutes to beat England for the first time in 20 years at Twickenham. France will have their happiness tempered by sloppiness in their otherwise encouraging 27-6 win over Scotland. Ireland have a win and that is the least they could ask for, even if it didn’t completely remove the stigma of a disastrous World Cup.
As for those that lost, Italy will be the happiest after that 16-11 loss at Croke Park and will try to get their new look halfbacks slicker before the match with England on Sunday. Scotland will be the sickest of the lot, having made far too many elementary errors in the loss to France, their performance as awful as the nearside of the Murrayfield pitch on which they played. Their must now be questions as to why coach Frank Hadden left Chris Paterson, Scotland’s best player kicking his heels on the bench for 60 minutes.
England then will be the most confused out of the bunch. How did it go so spectacularly wrong in those last 20 minutes? Take out the obvious of Jonny Wilkinson and Ian Balshaw’s dithering and look at what the Welsh did to win. It would have been interesting to listen to Shaun Edwards’ halftime team talk, which I’m sure was nothing more interesting than, “Stick to what you’re doing and the rewards will come.”
Around the 60-minute mark both teams made a change at outside centre. Tom Shanklin came on for the average Sonny Parker for Wales, whilst England’s 13, Mike Tindall was being carried off the pitch leaving the uncapped Danny Cipriani to come on in his place, a position he had yet to play in senior rugby. It meant that if Wilkinson was feeling the rush defence at flyhalf, there was no Tindall-shaped safety valve outside him. This was emphasised when he flung the ball out to Cipriani to clear, only for the 20 year-old to watch it sail over his head and add to the schmozzle that England’s performance had become.
At Twickenham it was pleasing to see Gavin Henson back to somewhere near his best. Since the glory days of the 2005 Grand Slam he has struggled with form and fitness, some of his own making, some of it out of his hands. Either way it seems that he realises that being left out of the World Cup was a kick up the arse and that if he didn’t knuckle down and get some consistency in his game then there would be the good chance that the 2011 edition would pass him by as well. The run he made in the second half, past, amongst others Wilkinson, helped give the Welsh the confidence needed to turn the result around. If he’s still doing it at the end of the tournament, then it will be a sign that progress, both physical and mental has been made on his part.
The beauty of the 6 Nations is that very rarely does the first weekend point the way for the rest of the tournament. Last year France ran Italy ragged in the opening weekend in Rome, yet the Azzurri had their best tournament ever. Nonetheless such is the importance of a strong start and the need to build momentum that a win on the opening weekend provides much needed succour for the weeks ahead.
It provides no guarantees though. In 2007 that same French team that started so well was torn apart when they went to Twickenham and needed a last minute try in their final match to secure the championship. For now it is all smiles across the River Severn, but by no means does that mean you should put your house on this staying that way until the ides of March.
Super-prices for Super Bowl:
Whether it was the New York Giants or the New England Patriots who won the Superbowl in the early hours of Monday morning, there is one group of people who are the real victors on the night; the black marketers, the ticket touts and scalpers.
For both teams the Vince Lombardi Trophy is what they are after, but for the fans getting a ticket for America’s biggest sports event evokes much the same feeling. Every year there are pictures of fans carrying placards asking for spare tickets and offering exorbitant sums of money for even the worst seat in the house. This year’s match at Phoenix University Stadium, Glendale, Arizona will be no exception.
This year a basic ticket has been available on the internet for $19,446, a pair on ebay were yours for a mere $77,000, whilst if you wanted to push the boat out and entertain some friends and clients, you could snap up a luxury suite for $224,825. Estimates put the minimum price of a ticket at around $3,000, which makes complaints about black market tickets for the football and rugby World Cup look like loose change by comparison.
Of course this year is something of an exception. The Patriots were aiming to finish the season with a 19-0 win-loss ratio, the first time that would ever have happened. On top of which winning the title would mean the trophy went to Boston for the fourth time in seven seasons. For New Yorkers it is their first final since 2001 and extends the Boston-New York sports rivalry, allowing the underdogs from the big apple the chance to upset the favourites from their rival city up the coast.
What then can be done to keep the tickets at slightly saner prices? Well for a start the distribution of the tickets should be looked at. 17.5 per cent go to each of the competing teams, 5 to the host team (in this case the Arizona Cardinals), 34 per cent to the other 29 NFL teams and 25.2 per cent to media, sponsors and fans. No prizes for guessing which lot are most responsible for ending up on the black market.
Of course there are always people out there who are happy to pay over the odds for sports tickets, if there moment seems historical enough. On top of which it is hard, in a country the size of the USA, to talk about average fans. After all it’s not like you can catch a five hour bus from New York to Arizona, as would be the case if Newcastle, for instance, were to reach a cup final at Wembley. With flights and hotels to be paid for it already means a certain economic band is priced out of the equation and that either the particularly wealthy or high saving can afford the cost.
That said part of any big sports event is hearing stories of how much was spent and how far people went to get their hands on a ticket for the big event. But sadly that is the problem with big sports occasions. They are no longer the preserve of fans of the teams, now there are people who go for the occasion, regardless of whether their team is there. Moreover, it seems particularly sad that in a sport that created the concept of equal footing and opportunities for every team, that capitalism has been allowed to run amuck on a ridiculous scale, on the most important day in its calendar.
JI 04/02/08
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