So England’s hopes of qualifying for a major international tournament look in as much doubt as it has done since defeats away to Norway and Holland in 1993 left England almost without hope of qualifying for USA ’94.

But is it really any surprise? Well no not really. This was always a tougher grouper than so called experts/rent-a-quotes would have you believe. Not quite on the level Scotland had to deal with but certainly tougher in terms of strength in depth than anything Eriksson had to deal with before. But this is not an anti-Eriksson rant, far from it.

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So New Zealand have been dumped out of the 2007 World Cup and a nation is in mourning. For the people of these rugby crazed islands, whose global identity is built on their prowess in the 15 man game it is nothing short of a national tragedy.

As they desperately grope around in the gloom cast over the national psyche for answers it is understandable that they look for someone to blame. Like losing a loved one to tragic circumstances, sinews stripped bare to the raw emotions bring out a primeval desire for retribution.

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On the face of things British sport appears to be in rude health. Ever since BSkyB and the Labour government decided that sport would be the vehicle to win the hearts and minds of the British public, it’s been boom time in Britain.

Is the bubble about to burst both on and off the pitch? As Northern Rock, bank and major contributor to sport in the North East felt the credit pinch, Gordon Brown’s assertion that the days of ‘boom or bust’ were a thing of the past seemed as realistic as England’s chance of winning the Rugby World Cup. Read the rest of this entry »

Following a summer break we are returning for another winter of opinion and debate. We could claim that we were away bailing water from flooded houses, taking the world by storm as real journalists or on the best holiday ever. All that would of course be lies of a magnitude normally only ever scaled by politicians.

We were in fact playing sport, or in Jonnos case, lying in hospital recovering from sport. This only accounts for the British wing of the team however. If anyone in New Zealand knows where Fergie is, tell him the English Football team are missing their most generous critic.

Hayden criticises the tournament length, Lara admits his team is poor but Flintoff just lets out a hearty belch!

When I think of the in-form teams at this year’s World Cup I glance at the England squad list & can only see a couple of team players in that whole list. NZ’s Jacob Oram was prepared to amputate part of a broken finger to play the tournament & I would hazard I guess that little ol’ Muddy Panesar would forgo his quarter century birthday for his abortive English team to make the semi-finals. Another is Paul Collingwood, probably one of my favourite players outside of The Long White Cloud, who seems to be the only adhesive in a team of over hyped, toffee nosed, public schooled w*****s.

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The English language is very often a thing to marvel at. It is a huge melting pot of other languages with a literary tradition to rival many of the modern languages. It has a great fluidity and playful spirit at it’s core which lends itself to poetry and creative writing. All the rules are there to be broken and to use the same adjective twice is to sully the essence of the language with all the clumsiness of a striker putting a tap in over the bar.

Sports journalism has been a great beneficiary of the language. Cricket especially has embraced the language and it has at times existed in perfect syncronisation; an idiosyncratic language married to an eccentric sport. You need look no further than the work of Neville Cardus.

Neville Cardus
One of the great
sports writers

But like a new cricket bat of the finest English Willow, it’s effectiveness and worth can only become a valuable attribute in the correct hands. In the wrong hands it’s detrimental effect can blight sport and have a direct effect on it. Read the rest of this entry »

We are all critics and as someone writing on a place of public access I am no better than any other writer or critic. Add to that the fact that I am neither English or a football fan beyond passing interest, and you would be forgiven for dismissing my two penny’s worth out of hand.

It seems to me though that there is one faction with more influence over English football at both a domestic and international level that goes unnoticed in it’s uncandidness: The English Media.

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“The decision to overlook key Liverpool players despite our magnificent achievement was frustrating,” Chief Executive Rick Parry told Liverpool’s official magazine.

“What do you have to do to be recognised by the powers-that-be? I don’t want to take anything away from the England cricketers and their wonderful Ashes success against Australia. But the fact that the inspirational efforts of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in helping us win the Champions League were effectively dismissed is little short of staggering.”

“Of course, we have been here before,” he said. “The achievements of the legendary Bob Paisley, the most successful English club manager of all time and three-times European Cup winner, were never truly recognised. My own bemusement now comes full circle to encompass the failure to recognise the achievements of the Anfield boys of 2005.”

Never a truer word spoken plus the fact that every member of the England Rugby Squad got a MBE including someone who played for 25 minutes against Uruguay and the physio. Paul Collingwood, who scored about 20 runs and took no wickets in the final test got one as did the England bowling coach who is an Australian!!!

Jonno

On the weekend of all the home nations playing big games - what do the British Broadcasting Corporation choose to show? Two Foreign countries playing each other. Ireland v New Zealand - I accept as two of our former colonies we do take some interest but surely Scotland’s first full international under new management takes precedent.

Apparently not, Scotland whose premier team has flown to the top of the Celtic League, are relegated to BBC2 Scotland. Maybe Scotland should start a 25 year bombing campaign against the British army - we may then be given pride of place on BBC1!

Steven Fergus