Reflections On Super Saturday

There are days of Great Sport and there are Great Sportsdays but very rarely do the 2 come together,Saturday August 4th 2012 was one such day and one that those of us privileged to witness it will ever forget.I have been watching Olympic games World cups etc etc since 1964 but never have I known a day of sport that made me so proud to be British,but it's not just the winning it was the manner of the winning the people who won that made it extra special.

The manner of winning in a way was greater than the winning itself,it was pure sport with all the hype and commercialism stripped away be it the rowers surpassing even the exploits of Bejing the cyclists continuing to astonish us with their brilliance or the athletes living up to or in the case of Greg Rutherford exceeding expectations.
And the people themselves,well a few days ago Colin Moyhihan complained about the majority of medals coming from public school kids,look at yesterday though Colin  and to quote Billy Brag  on Twitter

"Tonight, our society was wonderfully represented by a ginger bloke, an immigrant named Mohammed and a mixed race woman"

In addition we had  rowers from a Comprehensive school a posh public school and a Grammar School and cyclists from mixed backgrounds,but all of them however many silver spoons or lack of them they had in their mouths had one thing in common  a burning desire to be the best at what they did and to win Olympic gold for their country.

A complete representation of our country from all classes and backgrounds gave us that wonderful day yesterday and for that we should be eternally grateful.

But of course where there are winners there have to be losers and there we had possibly the most inspirational moment of the day with Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase in tears in the post match interview apologising for letting everybody down by ONLY winning Olympic Silver,compare and contrast with the attitude of some footballers in South Africa after abject failure in the last World Cup

So to all those who gave us Super Saturday thank you for the joy of all those medals and thatnk you for all the hours of training away from the limelight that you did so that the rest of us could have that truly SUPER DAY.

Bradley & The Olympics

I have had over the past few days had a fair bit of stick for disagreeing with the sudden claims for Sir Bradley Wiggins and a few grumps about the Olympics so I thought it was time I put the record straight on where I stand

Bradley and The Tour De France

Firstly I must make the point that unlike many I have not suddenly been attracted to Le Tour because of the success of Bradley,Cav and Chris Froome but have been an avid follower ever since Channel 4 first took the step of showing regular highlights back in the mid 80's a time when the only British interest was likely to be in the hard work of a lowly Domestique,my heroes back in those days were the likes of Lauren Fignon, Greg Lemond and Stephen Roche and especially in the sprints the Tashkent Terror Djamolidine Abdoujaparov.

I know therefore the enormity of both Cav's winning of the points race and the fact that today Bradley will enter the Champs Elysees wearing the  Maillot Jaune and I hold the guy in total admiration as one of the great British sportsman of this and any other generation.I do however have a problem with the clamour for him to be knighted and that's not a problem with Bradley but with any professional be they a sportsman ,Politician,School dinner lady or whatever in that Knighthoods, MBE's etc etc should be an award  not for Doing Your Job but for going the extra mile (Ian Bothan for Charity work, Jummy Saville for the nights on the ward at Stoke Mandevilleetc or the thousands of unknowns who give up their own time to benefit others and not themselves).
So hopefully i wont be accused of being anti Bradley in the future 

The Olympics 

Anti Olympics per se  I am definitely not having watched them avidly since Tokyo in 1964 but from an early stage I have not been blinded by the fact that although they are the greatest sporting show on earth they are an nd never have been without major problems be that the major drugs problems that existed when the likes of Sharon Davies , Cathy Cook and many others were denied Gold medals because they were competing against the chemically enhanced Eastern Europeans through the politics that meant 3 successive games in Montreal,Moscow and LA were not a true test of who was the best because of assorted politically inspired boycotts through to China that was the last throw of a regime trying to prove that Communism was better than Capitalism .

So we come to London and although I profoundly hope it ends up as a great success and a credit to our country I am not going to jump on the bandwagon that all is perfect for the following reasons.

1) The Torch Relay a great idea of getting the whole country involved and had it been local people,maybe those who deserve  MBE's etc being involved I would have had no problem,but right from the start it became celebrity obsessed with the likes of Beckham,Drogba,Will I Am carrying the torch,people with no connection with the area they ran through and if any connection with the Olympics a very tenuous one.

2) Corporate Sponsorship,now I ma not naive enough to believe that in this day and age we can mange without the big boys  shoving their wares down our throat for the privilege of paying big bucks towards the cost of the games but the Sponsors Roadshow around the torch,the only recently clarified issue of wearing Non Sponsors logo's on your clothing when attending the games and the chosing of a company like Mcdonalds to be the "Official Restaurant " of the games when sport is supposed to sponsor a healthy lifestyle.

3) Locog and the "Olympic Brand" protection,what sort of world are we living in where the owner of the Olympic cafe that's not even in London was forced to change it's name for the duration of the games.

4) G4S well enough said about that complete balls up suffice it to say that millions have been paid to G4S that could have been used to stop the cuts in the army personnel who are now being asked to clean up the mess.

5) Team GB what the hell is that all about we are Great Britain not some American inspired branding of a country 


6) And worst of all the fact we are forced to allow convicted drug cheats to take part (Messrs Chambers & Miller) when we tried to take a stand for decency and were overruled not just by the courts but the IOC themselves in their backing of WADA.


So clarification grump over and I really hope Bradley goes on to add Olympic gold to today's success in Paris and that we come away with a clutch of medals from our home games

Olympic Rejection

In today''s Independent was an article that initially was not surprising in today's nanny state but on further reflection given the people involved became rather confusing.

The article was referring to athletes who have either already missed out on 2012 selection or are likely to do so in the next few weeks and their tirades against their sports governing bodies who are failing to give them support or counselling to help them through these tragic times,those recounting their stories from the last Olympics talked of turning to anti depressants to help them through such terrible rejection.

Now the initial reaction was that these are people in the 18-25 age group who are the first brought up in the “Non Competitive” era whereby everybody wins there are no losers and kiddies get a prize for finishing last so they don’t get looked down upon by the winners. Yes I am starting to sound cynical because these are not 7 year old 's at school sports day we are talking about these are International sportsmen and women who are competing in and around the highest level so should be used to the highs of winning and the lows of losing,they will have known for some time that unless their name was Philips Odowu,Jessica Ennis or Dai Green that there was a possibility that they might not make it so why the bleating now.

Is it a case that the early indoctrination of “No losers” has stayed with them over the years and they feel they have a right to compete in their home Olympics,well that’s life there are winners and losers so instead of moaning about counselling maybe they should think more about Kipling

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:

you’ll be a Man, my son! “

A New Musical Revolution Needed

Been watching Punk Britannia over the last few weeks and enjoying an interesting look back at one of the most defining periods in British musical cultural history even though the slagging off of my love of Prog and Rock,”Dinosaurs”, did not go down well but it did make me think that maybe we need a Punk revolution again.

Many of those of a certain age who saw the Jubilee concert will I guess have been saddened by the fayre that was put before us,putting aside the excellent Tom Jones the other oldies,Cliff,Elton & Macca proved little more than the fact that they are well past their sell by date and really need to admit defeat and hand over the mantle to a new generation.

But who are the new generation where are the international mega stars in waiting the Who,Stones,Queen etc who will influence the world of music in the next 20 years,Punk gave us the Pistols,Clash,The Jam and The Dammed all of whom were hugely influential in the years that followed Punk but sadly that type of band no longer appears to be around in the music world.

Now I appreciate that with the Internet and Digital TV mean that we do not see much of the interesting music entertaining many of today's younger music lovers but something needs to be done to get something half decent and potentially influential onto the mainstream in place of the dross that abounds on The Voice,X factor etc etc.

Is it possible or are we doomed to inhabit Simon Cowell world for the rest of our lives,I can only hope that out there somewhere is a new Johnny Rotten,Joe Strummer or Paul Weller that can put a bomb under the music world so that as I sit in the old folks home in years to come I dont have to watch Lord Cowell present X factor series 35 without the ability to hold a knife and slash my wrists

A Letter To Joey Barton

Well Joey you really have excelled yourself this time I mean we already knew you were a complete Neanderthal with a history like this

May 2005 you break someone's leg whilst driving.

March 2007 you are arrested for suspicion of assault on a taxi driver and criminal damage

.May 2008 you get prison for an assault outside McDonald’s

July 2008 you get a suspended sentence for assault and ABH on a team mate, ending your Man City career. You also got charged by the FA for violent conduct.


But Sunday well that was just about the best your team are fighting relegation you are the captain and for once surely you could put your brain dead tendencies to one side and give a performance for the team, but hell why do that only normal human beings behave in such a way.

So let’s give it everything, elbow one player, knee another and try to punch a third just to confirm that you really don't come from the human gene pool.

Well with a bit of luck Joey the FA will ban you for a very long time QPR will rip up your contract and for once football will show it has morals and nobody will employ you so that your worthless hide is never seen on a football pitch again

A Rant Over Childhood Obesity

Now lets get one thing straight first,as all who have known me for many years I am not and never have been Mr Skinny so I am not preaching from the angle of one who has always carried a finely honed physique.

My rant has been triggered by the latest pronouncement from St Jamie bloody Oliver who now want cookery taught in schools as the panacea for that greatest of today's ills obesity,well Jamie (sorry Sir Jamie doffs cap in the presence of the all knowing) cookery may be a great idea so that in later life yo9u dont get people living on take aways but the answer to obesity and it should be bloody obvious in this Olympic year is SPORT & EXCERSISE.

Let me go back to my school days when PE and games were compulsory,when we were forced on X Country runs through muddy woods next to estates whose local Neanderthals would happily beat up a Grammar School kid,when on school sports day even those of us who could not even spell running had to take part in the athletics and look pretty crap at it.Appalling you might say that must scar a child for life,well no because it made you look for a sport you were good at in my case swimming and Table tennis that got me out of X Country etc so that PE and Games periods were actually enjoyable.

Now onto out of school and this is where parents have to take all the blame,kids sat in front of computers or the TV eating take aways and TV dinners,sorry you idle gits but get of your arses and get your kids down to the park or a walk along the canal etc etc get them exercising and when you get back don't go via McDonald's or the chippy get the cook book out and do a Bolognaise or a Chilli or anything that actually contains something nourishing rather than just fat,and you don't need cookery lessons to teach you to do that

And finally the good old government,well governments actually all of you who have sold off school playing fields brought in H&S and Human Rights legislation that means the little darlings can cry of sports because it might upset them well pull your finger out and make sport of some sort compulsory,and if that means getting ain aerobics or Zumba teachers or whatever give the kids options but make them do sport so that just maybe in this Olympic yeart we can start doing something to help fat kids be a bit less fat

What Are The Press doing About Football's Cheats

So today’s question is are her majesty's sporting gutter press and the audio and visual media doing their jobs in attacking the wrongdoings in the nations favourite game,well of course the answer is a big resounding NO.

Over the weekend the cancer that is diving has reached new levels of absurdity with the pathetic actions of to name just 2 Adam Lalana of Southampton and Ashley Young of Manchester Utd so this morning we can expect all areas of the press to be attacking these and other cheats with an enormous avenging zeal.

Well we could but no we get pages and minutes droning on about the pathetic but basically harmless child that is Mario Ballotelli and of course the usual easy option of slagging off the referees comes out in sound and print.

What makes it worse is the fact that vested interests have the media to have their biased say, for example former cricketer Ronnie Irani on Talk Sport radio who is a rabid Utd fan and would defend them even if Fergie were videoed rogering the Queen and yet his bias is allowed to dominate the airways in the morning.

So where are the journalists and broadcasters of courage who will stand up against cheating who will stop droning on about There was contact” when a tap softer than a butterflies wing beat causes a player to fall as if shot where are our attack dogs of the press and media who are going to force clubs,the FA and the leagues to do something about cheats.

Well sadly they appear not to exist with one notable exception,Stan Collymore former bad boy footballer has realised what is wrong with the game and on Twitter and Talk Sport is vehement in his condemnation of cheats,he is however a voice crying in the wilderness until the cowards that inhabit our press boxes decide to put their heads above the parapets and join him.

And if and when they do we may stand a chance of getting back the game we used to love