Thoughts coming into this sporting weekend
RUGBY WORLD CUP
As Japan braces itself for super-typhoon Hagabis and sympathy undoubtedly ought to be extended to everyone affected by its arrival including those fans who have travelled half way around the world and booked hotels and tickets for matches which now will not take place, plus those organisations which have spent pots of money purchasing overseas television rights to same – never find those players who will now have to cope with the disappointment of missed opportunities to play ”one last time’ (or in some cases at all) in a Rugby World Cup – it remains important to keep things in perspective.
People could – and probably will – lose their lives during the course of this catastrophic meteorological event.
Meanwhile, although on the face of it World Rugby undoubtedly has cases to answer for its decision to award ‘host nation’ status to Japan in the first place and also its contingency planning, the apparent collective meltdown of everyone in the Scotland camp does seem a tad misplaced.
Overnight in the media a story has appeared that the Scottish Rugby Union are amongst those contemplating legal action against the tournament organisers – along with others such as disappointed fans who had hotel bookings and tickets for games which are now not going to be played and a sizeable list of overseas companies who have paid handsomely for the television rights – because of the match cancellations which have already occurred or may still take place.
From where I sit the Scots’ position looks less than strong given that they, along with the other nineteen national teams taking part, all signed up to contractual terms which specifically included the stipulation that ‘Where a Pool Match cannot be commenced on the day in which it is scheduled, it shall not be postponed until the following day, and shall be considered as cancelled. In such situations, the result shall be declared a draw and Teams will be allocated two Match points each and no score registered.’
That seems pretty ‘open and shut’ to me.
In another world altogether there’s plenty of media chat going around at the moment suggesting that the somewhat hysterical dramatic dance of the seven veils being conducted by those materially involved in the Brexit crisis may be little more than the prelude of the inevitable ‘blame game’ that will accompany any breakdown in talks and/or a “No Deal” outcome.
Maybe the Scots’ indignation at the prospect of their match against Japan not taking place comes from a similar stable.
Their form leading up to the RWC and their performances so far in it have been hugely disappointing and – let’s face it – Scottish sporting history is littered with instances of ludicrously-hyped expectation of success followed by dismal failure later blamed upon random acts or decisions of third parties – i.e. anything other than the more likely and prosaic truth that they simply weren’t good enough.
CZECH REPUBLIC 2 ENGLAND 1
For my sins – football does not happen to be one of my major preoccupations – last night I managed to stay up only for the first quarter of an hour of last night’s international between the Czech Republic and England before retiring to bed shortly after the Harry Kane penalty that gave England a 1-0 lead.
Upstairs in my bedroom, as I slipped into unconsciousness there were already signs that all was not well with the set-up and attitude of the England team according to those commentating and/or providing punditry on Radio 5 Live.
It was therefore little surprise when I awoke this morning to hear that the Czech Republic had taken the spoils 2-1 and that Fleet Street’s finest had been sharpening their pencils in order to criticise Gareth Southgate and his players.
Personally I have never been a particular fan of Mr Southgate, who undoubtedly is a nice and well-meaning man and applies himself diligently to the England head coach job, for one reason only.
He’s not the kind of man who would ever inspire me to follow him into the trenches, let alone ‘over the top’ when the battle whistle was sounded. His charisma-quotient is small.
My hunch is that whenever the England football squad assembles a significant proportion of those in it – who have been, or indeed still are, exposed to some of the top coaches in world football at their Premiership clubs – find the national set-up a somewhat flat experience.
Granted, there’s probably plenty of textbook-sprung, box-ticking and painting-by-numbers type activity and preparation – but precious little fire-in-the-belly, gut-shredding, dressing room wall-kicking team-bonding rituals, and/or even stirring ‘eve of Agincourt’ speeches from their gaffer.
SIR MO FARAH
In the wake of the four year ban imposed upon athletics coach Alberto Salazar for his alleged involvements in doping offences and/or systematic attempts to avoid detection of the same, it was wholly to be expected that Mo Farah, one of his former clients, should come out swinging in his next exposure to the media.
As far as I know, Mo has never crossed any line, been found guilty of any doping offence (even of the mere ‘missed appointment’ variety) and may be entirely innocent. If so, it would certainly go some way to explain his consistently defiant and sometimes aggressive responses whenever his connection to Salazar is brought up.
But what I do find odd – to the point of unworthy – of him is the fact that he did not take the trouble to distance himself from Salazar as soon as open criticism and allegations against him first made their way into the media.
Simply as a matter of ‘management’ of his own public relations activities, he (or perhaps his advisers if he had any) should have appreciated the ‘running sore’ that the story would become as long as he failed to quit the Salazar circle, if only because this would not only come across as tacit approval of Salazar’s methods but – by association – even imply that he (Farah) had more involvement in whatever Salazar was up to that he was letting on.
Even if he didn’t.