Featured Posts
Soccernews can’t do the do for new boss who?
The wait is over. There is a new captain at the helm. Everybody can forget about panning Mr (Pimms) Andlemonade and move forward withthe very under the radar Holgar Osieck.
Who? That’s right. Holgar Osiek beat out a formidable list of contenders with names being thrown around like Frank Rijkaard, Paul Le Guen, Martin O’Neill and Jose Pekerman. And pundits and public alike are scrambling for the google oracle to tell them just who this German man who has the growing expectations of nation now upon him actually is.
Frank Lowry – in an exquisite case of name dropping – is citing a direct line to footballing legend Franz Beckenbauer, saying that he consulted the great man about his one-time protege before giving him the nod. Osiek is being hailed as more than a coach and there is a little of the talismanic panacea about Lowry’s words that he was looking for an educator of both players and coaches and that Osiek fit the bill.
Of course the new boss didn’t have to wait long to cast his eye over the troops though it’s doubtful that he was too pleased. In a match billed kind of like Pepsi – the choice of the new generation – the Soccernews were soundly beaten by a dominant Slovenia: sloppy, mistake-prone, wayward with the few chances they did create and in the end lucky to shake hands only two to the bad. Yazz and the Plastic Population sung it best, The Only Way is Up!!!
The Dutch experiment is now officially over. It delivered qualification for two World Cups, left us with a deep love of Guus (in whom we still trust) though not so much he-who-came-after, Pim. Now all hope lies in German precision (and other such cultural stereotypes).
The German has a big job too: remedy the disaster that was the last Asian Cup campaign, steer generational change, and set sail for the carnival in Brasil in 2014….
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Howard, now really no ICC VP
New Zealander Alan Isaac has been named ICC Vice President. The job of VP comes with an automatic ascension to the top job of el presidente in 2012. He is the appeasement put up after the World clamoured down John Howard’s nomination earlier in the year.
Howard is no great of the game, and though he was wont to describe himself as a ‘cricket tragic’ that is hardly qualification for the role. At the sharp end of proceedings in July, England was the only nation to support the ex-PM, along with Australia and New Zealand of course. In the nay camp huddled India, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa. Curiously, as it is so often Howard’s strong anti-Mugabe stance cited as the reason for putting the kybosh on his nomination, Zimbabwe abstained. The ICC provided no reason for the rejection.
I’ve read speculation it was because he was seen as a racist, citing the immigration policy he presided over when in government, and he also famously referred to test cricket’s highest ever wicket taker Murali as a chucker; not overly diplomatic. The murky power of the sub-continent is claimed to be behind it, proponents moaning over how India controls 80% of the game’s global revenue. Have money, have power, they say.
In trying to understand how the doyens in the cricket commentariat are just as confused by the less-than-transparent actions of the ICC as the rest of we punters, you could do worse than read these two pieces by poet Peter Roebuck here and here. If you can figure out which one of these is the true summation of the situation please leave a comment below. Maybe Roebuck’s contradictions make a meta-argument analysis that is more than the words he uses, that in contradicting himself he reveals how the situation is actually unknowable. Or something.
Perhaps though, the answer is less insidious and more hilarious and Howard was voted down as anyone with this kind of bowling action (click here) has no place at the head of the sports governing body. Any opportunity to watch that footage again is a blessing.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us at Twitter on Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Bluster, bravado and the MCG
Is hallowed turf truly hallowed? Is a sacred stadium sacred for eternity? Could the AFL shift the Grand Final from the MCG?
The word on the street is the impact of the Gold Coast Suns’ addition – taking the league to 17 teams – will be to push the fixture out so the Grand Final goes from the last weekend in September to the first one of October (Aside: Every time I hear the first day in October it doesn’t sit well, the song clearly states it is the one day in September that we will remember. There may also be something to the fact that the draw in the 1990 finals series meant Collingwood took the Cup the last time the GF took place in October. Unsettling.)
The problem is Cricket Victoria holds the rights to the ground on that date and so everyone has started scrambling for advantage. The propaganda war is waged in the public eye and the Chairman is threatening a move.
Chairman Demetriou of the AFL Central Planning Committee has gotten onto the front foot and made stern statements in the press about ‘goodwill’, which translates as do you know who we are, mate? He has name-dropped Sydney’s ANZ stadium, it might work as Sydney-siders are great band-wagoners. Surely it could never be in Adelaide, they can’t get even fill Football Park for home preliminary final. How would they fare with a game between opponents neither of whom calls South Australia home even if it is the Biggest Game in Town?
It sounds a bit like a media beat up covering the early posturing of mismatched opponents. 1,200 people to see the Bushrangers take on the Redbacks or 99,000 footballeros witnessing Collingwood get the Colliwobbles again. No contest. The Grand Final will be played at the East Melbourne Colosseum, be it September’s last weekend or Octobers first. Bluster I tell you, bluster.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Enter city rivals, and… cue hatred
The A-League imperial project takes another leap forward this week when on Thursday night the Heart step out against the Central Coast for their first real competitive run around. This time though the new kids on the block are different. While all previous expansion teams have planted their flag in terra nullius, the Heart have parachuted in to Melbourne and with that one-team-town unity is shattered.
The Victory have had the fertile soils of Australia’s sporting capital all to themselves for the competition’s first five seasons and they have reaped the rewards being twice champions and twice premiers. On top of this they are the only side to turn enough of a buck to be financially solvent But that protection is now over.
The first Melbourne derby – also the first real A-League derby – is slated for October 2 when we will already have some idea about how the two teams seasons are shaping up. Make no mistake Victory fans weened on success will still boo Adelaide and Sydney with equal vigour but they – along with the upstart usurpers of the Heart– already want to win this one more than any other.
Where are the Heart fans going to come from though? Disgruntled Melbourne Knights supporters still bitter at not getting the original licence? People who missed the boat at Victory’s inception and only offered half-hearted love accordingly? Ernie Merrick haters (is he the most hated successful coach ever?). Contrarians in search of being able to scream “I am different”?
Maybe it’s the field of dreams principal – if you build it they will come. The Heart have built a quality list. Half of their squad reads like a Socceroos reunion – Skoko, Beauchamp, Aloisi and captain Colosimo. While the other half reads like a prediction of the Socceroos future – Babalj, Hamill, Ibrahim and Taseski – all in the recent Young Socceroos squad that played in Vietnam. And if they can build early success the punters will get on board.
It doesn’t matter that the two teams have no history. The art of Fandom is often like painting by numbers. Passionate Support 101 mandates that all teams hate other teams based in their town. Cue the hatred.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed and follow us on Twitter on Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Wallabies woeful
The future of Australian rugby looks black, and not black in a pretty All Black kind of way, more black in a Pit-of-Despair way.
The Wallabies may have managed to do what their AFL counterparts have been incapable of and stood up on the Ethiad turf but they didn’t stand up in the face of the Kiwi machine. Was our capitulation a brilliant long-term plan to lull the Kiwis into a false sense of security with an eye on the World Cup that they have been so brilliant at not winning? Nope we were just smashed. Richie McCaw is in terrifying best-player-in-the-world form; Giteau is missing both goals and touch equally – even from penalty kicks!
In searching for positives pundits are pointing to the fact that Wallabies threatened more in the second half even when they were down to 14 men but the contest was long decided by then. Coach Robbie Deans, in an awful post-game press conference which fitted in perfectly with the tenor of the Federation election campaign for saying nothing, claimed we “showed a lot of courage to essentially win the second half, apart from the last score, with 14 men”. ‘Essentially’, which means ‘didn’t’, because, you know, the All Blacks scored the last try.
The All Blacks are now odds-on to defend the Beldisloe, which they have held since 2003. To put that into perspective the last time we Australians had our hands on the cup the war in Iraq hadn’t started, we all thought we were going to be wiped out by a SARS pandemic, and people knew who Russian pop idols Tatu were (remember them?)
Unless something drastic changes in a week – which apparently is a long time in politics but often not long enough in football – Robbie Dean’s homecoming in Christchurch next week is not likely to be a happy one.
Trivia from a trivial performance: We should all lock Drew Mitchell’s name into our brains as he takes over the trivia question mantle from David Codey (1987). Question: who was the last Australian player to be sent off in a test match?
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us at Twitter on Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Ethiad a dud?
The AFL Players Association has leapt to its feet over the state of the playing surface at Ethiad saying that, well, players can’t keep their feet.
Long bemoaned, this year the surface at the Dockland’s stadium seems to be as unstable as the North Korean government. The biggest concern though is the players are being ignored. There is a major disconnect between what players are experiencing and what the AFL are claiming as acceptable. To address this incongruity, the call is for a new set of criteria to be used that more accurately reflects the satisfaction of players.
The AFL and stadium honchos are falling back on the reasonably hollow ‘choice of footwear’ argument, but its not as if players are in six-inch stilettos and the sheer number of individuals slipping and sliding means this argument has as much chance of standing up to interrogation as Shaun Higgins has of standing upright on the Ethiad turf.
Undermining their ‘everything is fine’ argument a little, the AFL are also trying to use their weighty influence to ensure that in the lead up to the season there are no concerts or dance parties held at the stadium. That’s a start – anything that reduces the amount that the surface looks like a patchwork quilt can only be a good thing
The ground is up for another heavy weekend of ball-chasing action. While Friday night see Essendon try to wring some positives out of their season against St Kilda, the Bledisloe cup rolls into town on Saturday night. The Rugby boys are thumbing their noses at the talk of the surface, claiming they will play anywhere. The sound bite of the week goes to Wallabies coach Robbie Deans who stated, “We’d play on asphalt if we had to”. Sure there is a little cross-code bravado here but it is more likely need rather than cajones driving the bravado . The Rugby showpiece in the south has sold 50,000 tickets and the MCG’s dance card is already full. It’s Ethiad or bust.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Just where exactly is the end of the tour?
The tour is like all of the Olympic’s athletic events rolled into one. Thickly muscled dashers have to hang tough in the mountains, the domestiques and the lead-out men struggle manfully as role-players, fluffers tasked with protecting General Classification contenders and sprinters alike. More than in any other race, the competitors – or at least the great majority of them – just seem genuinely happy to make it to the finish line.
But above all others it is the marathoners who are exalted and this year Alberto Contador is bathed in golden glory after holding off Andy Schleck, the third time the Spaniard has had the yellow on his back in Paris.
So, the Tour is over, or maybe it was already over before the final stage begun. Not because the margin was insurmountable rather the final day is homage to the status quo rather than dash to the death. No one attacks on the run to Paris, unless you’re a sprinter of course, then you’re allowed to race, but only once you get to the cobblestones. Makes perfect sense…
For the uninitiated the Tour can be a chaotic beast –a puzzling milieu of races-within-races, convention, tradition and rules-that-are-not-quite-rules – but none are as bizzaro as the final stage being one in which those competing for the GC don’t attack. At the end of 19 days of racing and 3,500km, we were left to see Contador and Schleck, separated by only 39 seconds, feign competition for the cameras, laugh good naturedly then drink more champagne. Surely the public want a climax not a forgone conclusion?
That said Contador was a deserved winner. It doesn’t matter that some see the victory as slightly stained by his failure to win a stage, the tour is about consistency over the distance and the skinny Spaniard’s metronomic legs were the best.
Best name of the tour: Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, so perfect you’d think it was an adopted nom de guerre.
Best crowd moment: What other sport has the crowd the Tour does? The unbridled pandemonium, screaming, snarling, flag waving, running beside and jumping in front of the riders is something to behold. Never was this more acute than on the climb up the Col du Tourmalet. It was frightening even on the TV.
¡Viva España! A Spaniard has worn the yellow in Paris the last five years in a row, combine that with victory in the World Cup and maybe sporting success is enough to stave off the Broke Country Blues, at least for a while.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Aker, you can-a pack-a your bags and go
Why do so many sporting greats have such inglorious ends? Brownlow medallist, triple premiership player, game-winner, Jason Akermanis unceremoniously sacked by his club – the second time he’s been given the chop.
What happened? The wheels started falling off in May when he penned an articlestating gay footballers were better off in the closet than openly in the change rooms. Rumours of harsh criticisms of teammates in his yet-to-be-written autobiography surfaced and then he was suspended again when details of a confidential confrontation with teammates over the story aired on The Footy Show. The Bulldogs hierarchy are also citing a nebulous ‘whole bunch of other things’, which may be true but sounds like The Castle’s the ‘vibe of the thing. Basically respect for him was lost, trust soon followed and the power of the modern playing group is cemented, as it was they who demanded the strongest action.
Never one to shy away from self-aggrandising Aker protested his innocence and drew parallels between his demise and KRudd’s, saying, “I felt like Kevin Rudd … POW! … and I’m gone.” Last night he told the footy show ”I’ve always taken responsibility for everything I’ve done.’ In reality though no one is ever more surprised than Akermanis when fallout falls on him. That’s part of the problem; it’s everyone but him. Aker’s short statement at being shown the door: “I wanted nothing more than to help the club in the finals. The only problem is they didn’t want my help.” He has never been contrite.
Aker is a worthy challenger to Kevin Sheedy for the role of walking headline, though they are very different beasts. Sheedy is like Conficious; no one knows what he’s talking about but his words are directed toward some calculated end. Aker was born with a rare condition leaving him without check or balance between brain and mouth. Think it, say it, and get paid for it. He is guileless but not gutless.
He played some good footy for the Doggies who took him in a last gasp attempt to secure a premiership. They were right to get him as thin lines separate grand finalists from also-rans and Aker was a match winner. But he had become a contributor rather than the premiership difference. Many an indiscretion is forgiven for genius and he was a genius on the field. But the forgiving ran out in Brisbane and it has run out at the Bulldogs. Last gasps are always dangerously close to death throes and now the party is over.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed and follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
See the Bombers Blow Up! Up!
The blame/glory pendulum for coaches doesn’t rest on an even set of scales, the potential on the downside always outweighs that on the up.
That’s not to say coaches aren’t lauded when they guide teams to success, they are, just that when the wheels have fallen off often criticism seems all-consuming. Maybe it’s a function of the limits on what you can do when the sky is falling, it’s hard to sack 12 players in one fell swoop but it takes only one quick knife slash to kill a coach.
This is all in sharp relief now with the incipient performance of Essendon. The crisis is partly a product of expectation after a good first year under Knights and some cracking performances in the first half of this season. The young Bombers have seemed capable of anything, unfortunately being woeful is part of the ‘anything’ spectrum.
When the captain comes out saying the coach has the full support of the players, you know he doesn’t. Rumours abound of bust ups between the coach and players and the whole commentariat is chiming in, Sheedy – football’s equivalent walking headline to Keating in politics – claims Knights was never the right choice and the job should have gone to an Essendon man he groomed. Knights himself is, unsurprisingly, claiming he’s safe. Lloyd is calling for a total review and favourite son-cum-patron saint Hird is devastated by the form but when pushed on the coach’s future falls back on the prosaic defence of having a contract – not resounding support.
The knights (not-so)Merry-Go-Round is deflecting attention form Voss’ Lions who are hiding in the northern sun from similar intense scrutiny. Helped by the tyranny of distance from football’s southern capital, Voss is the only winner in Essendon’s collapse.
Teams rebuilding are allowed inconsistency, they are allowed to lose, but it’s how the Bombers are dropping games that breaks hearts and boils blood. Totally without vigor, with only scant self-belief and adrift in a leaderless sea. And to make matters worse they have the dangerous Kangaroos this weekend. Somebody say everything to lose?
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed and follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
Unfortunate symmetry between Tour and Cricket
Overnight the narrative arcs of both the cricket and the Tour were startlingly similar. From a strong position, a descent into despair.
All the talk before Stage 9 was of Schlek and Contador. Though in the yellow, Cadel was kind of flying under the radar, was he insulted or happy about it? In the end it must have been a heavy radar he was under as Cadel was dropped at the start of the Col de la Madeleine and struggled to the finish more than eight minutes to the bad. The killer day took its emotional toll and Cadel broke down in tears before declaring his tour over and revealing he had a fractured elbow. Having started the Tour so brightly Cadel, was finished.
The surge of Schlek and Contador up the final climb in pursuit of the breakaway destroyed the peloton. It was all that is amazing about the tour. Suffering on an imaginable scale, Schlek attacking Contador before they agreed a pact and worked together. Need makes for the strangest bedfellows though agreements mean nothing in sight of the finish and the mad dash for the line as the two caught the lead group with one kilometre to go was incredible to watch. The tour is now a two-horse race.
Over at the cricket, Australia started spritely enough and though Watson (20) and Ponting (26) fell cheaply, the eternal Katich and new No. 4 Clarke settled in so at 2-171 in the over before tea things looked rosy. Enter disaster of broken-elbow proportions. Asif’s wicket-maidens either side of the break started a collapse that had the Aussies plunge to 9-229, saved from a one-day rout by bad light rather than stoic tail ending. Inauspicious were the debut innings of gloveman Paine (7) and Hope For The Future Smith (1) to say the least. And this was a side supposed to bat as deep as Barry White’s voice – not the ideal start on the road to the Ashes.
The night’s results had an uncomfortable symmetry indeed.
Cycling – cricket connection; how much does Phil Liggett sound like an ever-so-slightly more excited Richie Benaud? More than a coincidence.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
- Soccernews can’t do the do for new boss who?
- Howard, now really no ICC VP
- Bluster, bravado and the MCG
- Enter city rivals, and… cue hatred
- Wallabies woeful
- Ethiad a dud?
- Just where exactly is the end of the tour?
- Aker, you can-a pack-a your bags and go
- See the Bombers Blow Up! Up!
- Unfortunate symmetry between Tour and Cricket
-
Landferno: I agree with the variety of reasons listed by aaro...
-
Simon: True Aaron, though if the best that you can do is ...
-
Aaron: Build it and they will come - all sorts of excuses...
-
-
GleBka: I want to quote your post in my blog. It can? And...
