Pakistan Cricket

Ban the lot of them I say and while they're at it get rid if the ICC the useless sack of shit that it is. It wouldn't surprise me if the ICC were in on the betting as well, they seem to tie themselves to all sorts of shady people where money is the only thing that matters...

Nothing is going to get better in cricket unless the corruption is stamped out from the top and that includes the ICC not being held to ransom by the Afro-Asian bloc.

As for the Pakistanis, I can understand why they did it, if they did indeed do it, because they never get to play at home, they're underpaid and have massive egos because they're skilled with either a bat or a ball but surely somewhere along the lines morals and ethics have to come into it...

A League - Gold Coast United

Oh my Oh my what is Clive doing again?
Clive Palmer in all his wisdom is talking about the crowd cap at Skilled Park (not Skilled Stadium as people like to call it, we're not in Geelong, thank Christ for that!) and reintroducing it again for the season.
Yes Clive I know it is quite a lot cheaper to only hire a partially opened stadium but I'm afraid that from an A League point of view and from a players point of view it's just crap.
How about instead of closing you club from the people you open your club to people? Radical idea I know but obviously your way isn't working for the people of the Gold Coast so I thought perhaps I could give you a few pointers.
I had hoped that perhaps you could pay me for the following opinnions but as you obviously only hire people who will bow down to you and acquiesce to all your decisions and I really won't do that because having a shitload of money clearly doesn't buy you brains...

Anyway here are my ideas:

1. Treat your members with a bit of respect.
   Both my parents are members of GCU, members totaling in excess of $1000. GCU memberships are among the most expensive in the A League and for what reason? None. Even the Champions Sydney FC aren't as expensive as GCU. But aside from price you need to keep your members in the loop, make them feel a part of the club, as if they're wanted and are valuable assests. Afterall the players play for the love of the game and the fans right?
   GCU treat their members like shit. There is very little interplay between the club and its members, and half the time the club doesn't even know what's going on.
   Members supporters packs are able to be picked up at the 3rd home game of the season, a date which doesn't fall until September, yeah nice one Clive.
   And at public appearences by the players half the time Captain Jason Culina isn't there, this happened at at least 2 appearences last season.
2. Get out in the Community.
   Apparently the club does send it's players to local soccer trainning sessions and good on them they should, but on bye weekends, like this one, perhaps have a kick around session with one of the local teams, or have a family weekend with the players and their families or something.
3. Suck the kids in.
   Sydney FC have a great program in place, all registered soccer players under 12 get free membership. Naturally for kids to take advantage of this offer they can't go alone, they're under 12 for Christ sake and no one in their right mind would let a 12 year old traipse off to the football all on their lonesome, so what do the parents do? They ask little Johnny if he's likely to want to go to all of the games and as little Johnny is a big fan of Nicky Carle because he came to their school/training session and taught them a thing or two and has since become little Johnny's idol little Johnny wants to see Nick in action every week. So what option does that leave poor Mum and/or Dad? Going with them and as it makes sense finacially to buy a membership rather than a ticket to every game they buy a membership. And then little Johnny's brother Tim decides that it's unfair that Mum and/or Dad get to go to the football every weekend and he'd like to go to what does the family do? They buy a membership for Tim as well thus giving FC a bigger membership base and more people to the game simply because little Johnny was given a free membership.
4. Stop blaming the FFA for everything.
   Yes the FFA were stupid in expanding the A League so fast and yes they were stupid enough to believe you when you said you could handle running an A League club but aside from that it's not all their fault and it's a bit of a cop out to blame it all on them. And if it is true that the FFA does hanle your website then that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.
5. Listen to people when they try to help.
   I hate the A League. I have many problems with it and I will continue to have many problems with it until they do something about fixing the quality of the football and start using their heads rather than plan for world domination, but seriously when the people you are marketing to are telling you that there is something wrong and give you suggestions don't just say "yes yes we know" maybe take the time to listen to them and take some of what they say under advisement.
   In the lead up to last year's experiment of capping the crowds I went with my mum to pick up her replacement tickets. While we were there we said a few things to the guy from whom we picked up the tickets, along with other members who were agreeing with what we were saying and added stuff of their own. The guy handing out the tickets couldn't care less. As we were leaving another guy, Blair I think his name was, came out to us to chat. We again told him more of what we were thinking the club could do and he couldn't care less about what we were saying, telling us that they were doing everything they could and blah blah blah. I'm sorry but if that's the best they could do then someone seriously stuffed up when it came to hiring people because what they were doing was nowhere near enough, and it still isn't. In the lead up to the opening game of the season I saw nothing in the papers advertising the game. I guess now that the FFA isn't doing it and paying for the advertising I guess they don't care...

Well good on you Clive because when you stuff this club, and you have stuffed it, and in the process waylay the progress of Australian Football you can look back and say at least you have the somewhat dubious title of Professor to keep you warm at night...

EPL

How quickly things do come around again.
So the English Premier League season started on the weekend and I think it's safe to say that while we all had enough of the World Cup, those vevuzelas just made viewing hell, there is no league like the English Premier League, thankfully without vevuzelas!! I love hearing the crowd singing and chanting and I especially loved the Chelsea faithful all stand up when the boys were singing "If you're 5 - 0 up stand up". Very cool as was Roman Ambramovich, I love the way he seems to take pleasure out of football like any other person despite earning billions of dollars, by the way Roman I'm open to donations!!

Anyway my points of notice so far:

• Joe Hart starting for Man city.
  While I hate Man City I was quite stoked that Joe Hart got the nod over Shay Given who in his own right is a fantastic keeper though not as fantastic or anywhere as good looking as Hart.
  I reckon England should have played him in the World Cup although Lord knows nothing will fix what's wrong with that squad...
• Blackpool winning 4-0 over Wigan.
  Who tipped that one? At the start of the season Blackpool were 5-1 odds on going back down, but I guess being in the Premiership was quite inspiring...
  Good on them, but May is a very long time away and a week is a long time in football...
• Tim Howard's gaffe.
  Oh dear, oh dear Rob Green would be proud, as would some of the keepers in the A League but that's another story....
• Arsenal and Liverpool.
  It's quite clear that both of these clubs need the Aussie keepers they have either signed or want to sign...
  Come on Arsne you know you need Schwarzer so pull out the chequebook and play ball, Mark Hughes knows what big figures look like so give him an offer he can't refuse!!
• Chelsea's 6.
  Good to see the Champions start well, let's hope they can continue and go on and take the triple!
• West Brom's opening month.
  Who did they piss off?
  Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man U all away in the first four rounds of the comp.
• New Squad Rules.
  Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the point of a national competition was to nuture home grown, truly home grown, talent so that for friendlies and international duty you had a mirriad of players to pick from.
  These new rules aren't so much for the sake of the England squad in the years to come but more to ensure that the club's acadamies comtinue with developing young talent that isn't neccessarily of English birth.
  Not that I mind from a Socceroos point of view, the less competition the better in my view, but from an England point of view their ageing squad at the World Cup did show that they needed young blood and these new rules won't neccessarily help...

But May is a long time away and before that we have the close of the Transfer window on the 31st with the big question being will Arsenal pull out the offer it needs to get Mark Schwarzer to the Emirates? Let's hope so for his sake, and maybe theirs...

AFL - rule changes

So the AFL has proposed some rule changes and I thought I would have my say on them, naturally.

1. Restricting interchange.
Personally out of the 3 options here, 3 interchange 1 sub, 2 interchange 2 subs, cap of 80 interchanges, I prefer either of the first 2, I think though I'm leaning more towards 3 interchange 1 sub.
I think capping the number of interchanges is stupid, it slows the game down, which may reduce injury but I also think it could increase injury, especially forcing players to stay out on the ground longer, although it would get their endurance levels up.

2. Length of game.
This one I don't see as a big deal. Sure it's annoying to be at a game and not know how long to go in the quarter but I think 2o minutes of play is fine. If stoppages force it go longer than so be it.

3. Advantage.
While some advantage calls are ridiculous, or moreover the lack of a call ie stopping the play, or bringing the play back for the free to be taken, I think maybe, or a lot of the time, players don't make the best decision when it comes to deciding if there's an advantage. I don't see the problem with letting play continue after the infringement and then if there's no advantage then bring it back. It's just an issue when the play is stopped and there was an advantage or if play wasn't stopped and there wasn't an advantage, but I think let the play continue and then bring it back if neccessary.

4. Boundary umpires paying frees.
All for this.

5. Free kicks for players who drag the ball under.
This would only work if the umpire had a good view and in congested situations would be very hard to pick out who was doing what. I guess in this case it would just be a ball up then, but in blatant situations I'm all for a free if someone is pinning the ball to another player who is trying to get it out.

6. Rough Conduct.
Fair enough. Any conduct to the head shouldn't be in the game.

7. Scoring.
Hell No!!! Most of the time when the ball hits the post it ricochets back into the field of play.
While I reckon from set shots a poster should be worth more because it's harder to hit, i think leaving a poster as a point is fine as long as it actually hits the post or is seen as hitting the post and called as such, not a goal... Tom Hawkins I'm looking at you you dirty cheating liar.

Soccer/football - New Socceroos Coach

So German Holger Osieck has been named as the new Socceroos coach.
A relative unknown but from what I've read he sounds as if he has the requiste knowledge and results to get the job done, although those results are from quite a while ago...
But he's coached in Germany, so he has experience in Europe - very good;
He's coached in Japan, so he has experience in Asia - which is also very good and just for good measure he's coached in Turkey which seems to be the new Japan/Korea for Aussie players...
Obviously this mix of experience is good as we will encounter both styles of play on the way to and during the 2014 world cup.
But I think most importantly he has experience dealing with youth and rebuilding a team. This is what he's going to need to do and hopefully he can do it well.
If he was smart he'll look at the side that took on Slovenia this morning, although apparently the result was not so good, and see the youth that are there and take them and develop them rather than focusing on the older players who weren't there.
The Socceroos need to rebuild and relatively quickly, the Asian cup in 2 years is a great opportunity for these young guys to get some and I say this tentatively, quality, international experience.
In 2006 Australian soccer/football experienced such a high that it would be a shame to fail to build on that.

P.S.
Congrats to Brad Jones whose move from Middlesbourogh to Liverpool was made official today.

P.P.S.
Bozza, where was AFL in your weekend of football? The Swans were in town so there was no excuse...

P.P.P.S.
Why aren't Chelsea buying any players? They have all these guys leaving, granted I think most are free transfer and therefore don't get anything but they need to at least get some more quality into the side because the whole world knows they're going to do the triple this year!!

AFL - video umpires

I say it's about time the AFL introduced video technology, not least because of the stuff ups that happened this weekend, but more importantly from my point of view, what happened in last years grand final with Tom Hawkins poster that was given as a goal.

Yes I know everyone is human and therefore makes mistakes but the general footy going public expects the umpires to be as close to perfect as is humanly possible and making mistakes, as elimentary as the Geelong not goal is simply not good enough. The goal umpire was in the perfect position but still managed to stuff it up. Yes I know it all happens very fast but really it was clear to see that it was a goal and should have been given as such.
But I wonder if video technology was available whether they would have gone upstairs anyway? I guess we'll never know although when the umpire signalled the point it did look as if he was seeking clarification because the all clear isn't given by the boundry umpire.

One instance where video technology in all probability would have been used is on Friday night's is it an Essendon goal or not? I'm still not convinced 100% but i'm 95% sure that it was a goal and replays did help to clear things up for me.

Yes I know video referals are time consuming and costly and confusing for the people at the ground, but personally I'd rather the score be accurate rather than open to interpretation.

But they must come with restrictions. Such as if you can't tell with 5 replays then benefit of the doubt must occur. It's ridiculous in cricket where they take 17 000 different replays and then give it out when if it took so long obviously doubt must have kicked in there somewhere.

Another option that was raised by the Herald Sun was putting a chip in the ball so that when it crosses in between the posts it sets off lights or something.
This is an idea but it has its limitations, such as it doesn't tell you if it was touched, so it wouldn't help in Geelong's case, it just signals if it crossed in between the posts which would help Essendon, and the Saints in the Grand Final as the ball hit the posts.
But the range of the reciever for the chip would have to extend above the goal posts as we have seen more than the odd ball go higher than the goal posts, granted not so much after they raised the height of them, but still it does happen.

I think maybe the best solution would be a mixture of the two, the chip definately would have helped the Saints when they took on Adelaide earlier in the year when the ball went over the line, bounced off the goal umpires leg back into the field of play and was called play on.

Yes umpires aren't perfect and we know this, boy do we know this, but maybe with the help of a little bit of technology they can get close to it...

Cricket

What is going on with Australia's cricket team at the moment?
They're all getting complacent and with an Ashes summer coming up I think it's time the selectors shook it up!
Drop Marcus North, we have plenty of all rounders at the moment so let's go with some who can do all of their jobs ie Steven Smith.
Drop Ricky Ponting, he's getting old and really ought to make this his last summer, come on Ricky you know I speak the truth.
Drop Michael Clarke, what is going on with him? He can't play twenty20 so they make him the captain and now that lack of form is flowing into the test and one day arena, not good enough I'm afraid. I also want to know why from the minute he made it to the national team he was vetted as a future captain. Why him huh? I don't think he has the brains, or at the moment, the form to be a captain of our team. In future give the one day captaincy to Bear, Cameron White and the test captaincy, to I don't know, DOugie Bollinger for all I care, just not Michael Clarke.
Put Phil Hughes in. He's got to learn how to bat at test level and there's only one way he's going to be able to do that. Simon Katich will be retiring soon and I think it's a good idea to have someone in the wings with some experience under his belt.
Make Lee Furlong Watson stay at home. The only time Watto made a century was when she wasn't there, we can't afford for all of our batsmen to fail so do us a favour and keep her away!

AFL Grand Final

Why is it that the AFL seems to have the habit of stepping on everyone's toes?
Play nice Andrew, we have a nice big country here with plenty of room for everyone so just play nice.
You know that you seriously wouldn't hold the Grand Final anywhere but the MCG, where would be big enough for you to stuff the competing clubs members so you can seat all your cronies? Or are you going to ignore the competing clubs members altogether, that would probably be easier, and as you wouldn't have to worry about the MCC Members then you'd be looking at a 50,000 capacity ground, shouldn't be too hard to find now should it?
Seriously, pull your finger out and start making nice with Cricket Victoria so we can get this mess sorted out nice and properly in a gentlemanly fashion.
Let's go Saints!!

Rugby Union - Robbie Deans

Alan Jones shut the hell up! What was all that on the news last night about how Saturday will be the day of reckoning for Robbie Deans? Do the world a favour and shut the hell up will you?
I realise that you may have got an inflated sense of ego when you were coaching a really good Wallabies side that really didn't need much coaching at all but you have to realise that that doesn't happen all the time, that all teams, no matter what the sport, go through a rebuilding phase and that's what the Wallabies are going through at the moment.
"It's not hard to win 6 in a row" bullshit it's not. Of course it is and when you're up against the number 1 and 2 sides in the World, although it's doubtful the Springboks are still number 2 but anyway, the task of keeping a winning streak going becomes all the more harder...
And as for my mate Dingo, I love what he said the other day, that his mission is to get the Wallabies ready for next year's world cup, and he aims to do that whether he's still got the job or not, although undoubtedly that would be a little bit hard if he were to be fired anytime soon.
That's just smart, obviously not something that would describe Alan Jones. Yeah, he's such a good rugby coach he's a talkback radio host... yeah, sweet references Alan...
Do we seriously want to be like the All Blacks who in the lead up to every world cup peak a year too early? Sure it would be nice to beat them, especially with the Faingaa twins making their run on debut together, well it's not Saia's but it is Anthony's and that's really hard to word without making it awkward, but I think the bigger picture has to be the World Cup and I think Robbie Deans is well and truly on the right track, even for a Kiwi...

AFL finals 2011

So lately there has been much talk about the make up of the AFL Finals next year, and when they're gonna hold the bugger. Personally I think it's all details coz it's going to be the Saints defending their title against whoever has the balls to challenge them but they're details really...

Anyway so as it stands there are 8 teams in the finals. 16 teams, 8 in the finals pretty simple maths even for me.
So next year with the introduction of the Suns or whatever dicky name they're going by next year, will bring the number of teams to 17, again simple maths, but we have people starting to think about finals.
How many teams will contest them?
When will we hold the Grand final? and so on and so forth.
Personally and historically the last team to come from outside the top 4 and win the damn thing was Adelaide and we're not going to discuss who they may or may not have beaten in order to win said flag. They were the last team in like 20 years according to my God and Saviour Nick Riewoldt on On the Couch on Monday night, blasphemy to some but the truth in my eyes haha.
But seriously, take as an example last year, I think there were teams getting into the finals having lost more games then they won. Seriously do we think these teams deserve to be there? To be competing for AFL's grandest prize? I think not.
Unfortantely for some the title of AFL Premiers is not won after 22 rounds, it's won after 25 or 26 if you're good enough to get there, and yes I do see the point of a finals system and I also see the point of having no finals, but that's for a time where the Saints are actually looking like taking the minor Premiership, or not.
But getting back to my point, 8 teams is enough for the finals. Personally I can also make an argument for just a final four only but I think that might be a bit silly.
I think to extend it to a top 10, because having an uneven number is just stupid, actually if you really wanted to make things easy it should really be a top 12 so the number of teams knocked out leaves an even number of teams so that they can all play the next week or so there are 2 teams getting a break, making it more equal, is rewarding teams for mediocrity no matter what the number of teams in the finals are.
Yes I know that as the system stands now there are teams who are doing just that but the number is small. I don't think there should be more than 1 or 2 teams at the most who find themselves in that situation.
So in summary, leave the finals at 8.

Now the Grand Final.
Will the fights over the G ever end?
Next year the AFL planned to hold the GF on October 1. As a side note I don't like this coz first weekend in October sounds nowhere near as good as last Saturday in September, but that's a side issue.
But Cricket Victoria has said they are claiming their rights to the G as of the first of October as the traditional start of their season.
So what are the AFL to do? They can't start the season earlier because, again, the state cricket clubs who control the MCG, SCG and Gabba won't release the grounds before March 31. Oh my oh my... I guess at a stretch they could manage it, it would put Eithad under a bit of pressure, but it's workable for 2 weeks.
Eithad hosts 3 games, Friday night, Sat and Sun;
Skilled Stadium gets one;
ANZ Stadium gets one, stuff the NRL;
AAMI Stadium gets one,
Subiacco gets one
and for kicks lets send one to either TIO, which might be a touch hot, or Aurora.
That's 8 stadiums for 17 teams with obviously 1 team having a bye.
This is more workable then moving the AFL Grand final elsewhere, because the Grand final isn't the grand final without the G.