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The importance of realism

Let us be blunt – despite all its special camaraderie and virtuous trappings rugby union is no different to any other sport at the highest elite level. Without donning the rose-tinted glasses, down through its illustrious amateur history those who played the game, and its many fans, wallowed in a [...]

January 23, 2020 // 0 Comments

Test coverage

Once upon a time in the good old days of TMS, lengthy breaks in play were greeted with pleasure as the team could sustain a discussion on all matters cricket for hours on end. The modern broadcaster cannot so they have to pad out with replays of interviews, of the match and/or any other match. [...]

January 20, 2020 // 0 Comments

Brighton 1 Aston Villa 1

There is a misconception in football that we fans know much less than players, managers, coaches and pundits. This dull game – if it did nothing else – disproved this. On the bus to the Amex – the least car-friendly stadium in the world – I met a supporter I knew. He [...]

January 19, 2020 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report : one nil to the Fulham

Two months ago, you would not ever have thought that Fulham would win 3 matches on the bounce 1-0. Yet last night’s victory achieved precisely that. The difference has been six foot five defender Michael Hector, a loanee from Chelsea, is very much a commanding presence in the back four. Alfie [...]

January 18, 2020 // 0 Comments

I suppose you could (just) make it up

Following Sandra McDonnell’s piece in the Rust touching upon the Saracens scandal engulfing rugby’s English Premiership, here is a link to a piece by Robert Kitson that appears today upon the website of – THE [...]

January 18, 2020 // 0 Comments

The Queen’s Gambit /Walter Tevis

Chess fiction is something of a rarity. Stefan Zweig wrote rather a good one (Chess) about a prodigy on a liner. Walter Tevis was seemingly more interested in pool. He wrote The Hustler which became a superb film with Paul Newman. The Queen’s  Gambit is about Beth Harman, an orphaned child who [...]

January 17, 2020 // 0 Comments

The growing pains of a major world sport

Rugby union’s capacity to exhibit the complexities and difficulties of a modern sport trying to advance in all directions – without yet generating the sort of income, turnover and profit that make any business model being applied actually work – continues to startle. The lack of any [...]

January 17, 2020 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Hull 0 Fulham 1

This ground out away win was exactly what we or any aspiring promotion side needs. There were few opportunities either way but with the tall Michael Hector at the heart of the Fulham defence we looked more solid and less prone to silly error. We went into the game with Tom Cairney, Harry Arter, [...]

January 12, 2020 // 0 Comments

Youth trumps experience in a scintillating match

In recent weeks I’ve been spending a lot of my time at my father’s place on the south coast, supporting him, his successive residential carers, local council adult car people and sundry others whose jobs (vocations?) touch upon the needs of the elderly. In the nature of these things – as with [...]

January 6, 2020 // 0 Comments

The TannerReport: Fulham 2 Aston Villa 1 ( FA CUP)

There is no doubt that the FA Cup has lost much of its lustre but – aside from its traditions as the oldest football competition – it gives a boost to clubs not competing for honours in the final phase of the season. Clubs like Aston Villa who are in the relegation zone and have a [...]

January 5, 2020 // 0 Comments

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