Cricket: Shane Bond

When Shane Bond announced his retirement from test cricket this week, it brought to an end a career that despite lasting eight years, only saw him play 18 matches, and never saw him fulfil his considerable talent, arguably through no fault of his own.

After a slow start to his professional career, only emerging after a stint as a policeman, Bond burst onto the international scene against Steve Waugh’s dominant Australia side in 2001-02, and immediately showed that he had the pace and class to be a match-winner against the best batting line-up in the world, as the Kiwis shocked their hosts and the South Africans in the one-day series. It was largely the same story whenever he took the field for his country, as Bond was arguably the premier fast bowler in the world when active, in a decade when there was ultimately a distinct lack of genuine pace bowlers of real quality. Witness his 6 for 22 against the Australians in the 2003 World Cup, a tournament they otherwise dominated, or his 13 wickets in the 2007 tournament.

Bond bowling in the 2007 World Cup: an all too rare sight

Nonetheless, his chances of making a lasting impression on the game were ultimately stymied by injuries and politics. Injuries largely removed him from international cricket from 2003 to 2005, and following a successful comeback against Zimbabwe that year, taking 13 wickets at 9.23, including 10 for 99 in the second test, he was again injured for another nine months. Various other injuries restricted him until 2008 when he signed up with the rebel Indian Cricket League, recognising that his was never going to be a long career, and that he needed to gain what financial security he could from it. Pressure from the Indian board (BCCI) meant that he was excluded from appearing for New Zealand throughout this time, a ludicrous position which deprived cricket fans around the world from seeing arguably the best fast bowler of the era in his prime.

Released by the ICL, Bond returned to New Zealand colours this year, and after another match-winning appearance against Pakistan, taking 5 for 107 and 3 for 46 in a 32 run win, he broke down again, and like Andrew Flintoff, came to the realisation that his body was not up to the rigours of test cricket.

Bond celebrates a wicket against Sri Lanka

Bond will continue to play limited overs cricket for his country, and will hopefully showcase his talent on that stage for a few more years, but it is sad that the best years of his talent were lost to injury, and absurd that nearly two of them were lost in order to protect the commercial interests of the BCCI. Perhaps the saddest fact of all is that no-one appeared to be protecting the best interests of Shane Bond, the New Zealand team, or cricket fans around the world.

Rugby: Shaun Edwards on Refereeing and the Laws

Shaun Edwards' weekly column in The Guardian is always informed and interesting, and this week, he reflects on the positive outcome of a slight change of emphasis in refereeing during last weekend's Heineken Cup ties.

Wales, Wasps and Lions coach, Shaun Edwards

In the last few months, there has been a campaign in favour of changing the laws of rugby to encourage a more open game, a campaign led by many of the same people who objected to changing the laws when the ELVs were introduced last year. However, there is a strong argument that there is not that much wrong with the laws as they stand, and that apart from a little tweaking, all that is needed is a change in emphasis, and for one or two trend-setting sides to be more expansive. All sports teams copy each other to some degree, and the minute one side has some success whilst running the ball more, others will follow. For this to happen, all it will take is for the benefit of the doubt to shift to the player taking the ball into contact, and put more onus on the tackler to get away, and gradually the game will open up again.

The recent Barbarians match showed that attacking rugby is still possible

What the ELVs proved was that by the time a problem in the laws has been identified and a solution devised, trialled and introduced, the game will probably have moved on again anyway. The ELVs were designed to reflect perceived flaws in the game around the time of the 2003 World Cup, but by the time they came in, tactics had evolved, and they already seemed dated (although they were flawed anyway). Far better to give the game a chance to sort itself out, and only change the laws if the situation is not improving. It is only a small improvement, but if Edwards is right, and last weekend did see a shift in attitudes, then hopefully by this time next year, we will no longer debating whether rugby is boring or not.

Great Sporting Nicknames: Crazylegs Hirsch

The first subject in a possible series of posts on great sporting nicknames, Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch was a Hall of Fame NFL star of the 1940s and 50s. So named because of his unique running style (you can see a couple of short clips of him here), which first garnered attention whilst he was a star of the equally fantastically named Wisconsin Badgers, Hirsch has recently been back in the news thanks to current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who has tied his record for eight scoring catches of 50-plus yards in a season.

DeSean Jackson

I can't think of too many nicknames that are going to be better than 'Crazylegs'. Five's NFL pundit, Mike Carlson, never misses a chance to bring him up in conversation, and you can understand why.

The Top Earners in Sport

Sport Magazine, a free publication distributed around London (and possibly beyond) recently ran a list of the top-earning sportsmen (and they are all men), based on annual earnings, and it made for interesting reading.

1 Tiger Woods - £59.3m
2 Phil Mickelson - £31.6m
3 David Beckham – £26.9m
4 LeBron James - £ 25.3m
5 Kimi Raikkonen - £23.9m
6 Manny Pacquiao - £23.8m
7 Lionel Messi - £23.7m
8 Alex Rodriguez - £23.3m
9 Valentino Rossi - £20.9m
9 Fernando Alonso - £20.9m
9 Shaquille O’Neal - £20.9m
12 Kevin Garnett - £20.7m
13 Yao Ming - £19.7m
14 Lewis Hamilton – £19.6m
15 Kobe Bryant - £18.6m
16 Roger Federer - £17.6m
17 Allen Iverson - £17.3m
18 Vijay Singh – 17.1m
19 Derek Jeter - £16.9m
20 Ronaldinho - £16.3m

Although you would expect many of those sportsmen to be on the list (compiled from Sports Illustrated’s figures), it did hold a couple of surprises, the main one being the dominance of basketball, with six representatives. Kevin Garnett, a difference-making player in the NBA, but not that well-known outside of the sport, and left out of the most recent US Olympic team, ranks above a global superstar in Roger Federer. Given that the NBA has a salary cap, whereas European football does not, it is surprising that there are not more footballers on the list, especially given their international appeal, and one would expect the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka to figure in future lists. Basketball however, is a truly international sport these days, with a strong following in Europe and South America, whilst the NBA is increasingly multinational in its make-up. Indeed, perhaps one would have expected Yao Ming to be higher on the list, given his international profile, and marketability in China and Asia. Nonetheless, the level of basketball’s dominance is startling.

Kevin Garnett of the NBA's Boston Celtics

That Federer is the only tennis player is also surprising, one would expect the list to be dominated by individual, rather than team sports, although injuries to Rafael Nadal presumably prevented him earning more this year. It is also perhaps surprising that the Williams sisters were not a factor. One might also have expected more golfers to figure, but the dominance of Woods and Mickelson makes it hard for others to build up consistent wins, and both also dominate the market in terms of endorsements. It remains to be seen whether Woods’ personal problems affect his ranking next year, although that would involve Mickelson making up a £28m deficit in one year. Finally, whilst it is not surprising to see the top Formula 1 drivers on the list, it is perhaps a little unexpected to see Valentino Rossi figure so highly, despite the fact that he is perhaps the only figure who currently transcends motorcycle racing into the wider consciousness. Indeed, his endorsements more than double his salary of £9.5m per year.

Tiger Woods, believed to be sport's first billionaire

In coming years, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Jenson Button, Nadal and the aforementioned footballers might expect to break into the top 20, assuming no hiccups along the way. Other one-off events, notably a much-anticipated fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather might also change the makeup of the list. With Woods’ marketability taking a hit recently, there may be a few more opportunities for other sportsmen with international appeal to maximise their earnings.

Sports Personality of the Year

The BBC awards the Sports Personality of the Year award tonight, an award which weighs up a year’s sporting achievements, and judges one of them the greatest of the lot. As a result, it is probably best viewed as due recognition to whoever wins it, but not a rejection on those who don’t. Far too much is achieved by too many sportspeople in a year to say that one is necessarily greater, and there is a natural bias towards participants in individual sports, as they are not reliant on a teammate. However, so long as one does not take the outcome too seriously, it is a good conversation point, and a welcome celebration of British sport.

2007 winner, Joe Calzaghe

What has slightly detracted from the evening for me in recent years is that the award used to be the climax of a programme entitled “The Sports Review of the Year”, which did exactly what the title suggested, reviewing the year’s events and handing out the award at the end. In the last ten years though, the entire programme has been focused on the award, and has been renamed “Sport Personality of the Year”. In the age of celebrity, it is clearly not enough that the award is the climax of the evening, and the one point guaranteed to be discussed the next day, it now has to have top billing as well, just in case the public forgets. The award has over 50 years of prestige, and has been won by some of the biggest names in sport, and this not so subtle shift in focus seems a little tacky, a little desperate. Perhaps that’s just my reaction, but let me know what you think.

2008 winner Chris Hoy, and runner-up Lewis Hamilton

On the plus side, the innovation in recent years of allowing the public in, and taking the show on the road has been a great idea, and has done far more to engage the public than any amount of rebranding.

Ultimately, this is still a prestigious award, and one of the more distinctive and iconic trophies in sport, and as I mentioned previously, how nice to see something that celebrates the positives in British sport, amongst all the hysteria and sniping that goes on the rest of the year.

Football: Ireland and Henry's Handball

The saga of Thierry Henry’s crucial handball in the World Cup playoff against Ireland has taken increasingly bizarre turns, as the FAI and the media have kept the pressure on FIFA to find a solution to a particularly high profile injustice.

Henry and John O'Shea in the first leg of the playoff tie

The Irish team is popular worldwide, fuelled by goodwill towards its enthusiastic and well-behaved fans, and the team’s performances as underdogs at the 1990, 1994 and 2002 World Cups. They have also benefited from the drama-free English qualification for the World Cup, and the straightforward failure of the other Celtic teams, which meant that they had the British media’s full attention for their playoff with France. Ireland have therefore received a lot of sympathy for their misfortune, but this has not translated into any tangible benefit.

Whilst the Irish cannot be blamed for exhausting every remote possibility for claiming a place at the tournament, they never stood a chance of forcing either a replay or a spot as a 33rd team in South Africa, and FIFA, although appearing incompetent on many levels, have called this issue correctly. There is no guarantee that the Irish would have won the tie anyway, and allowing a replay or admitting an extra team would set the precedent that every mistake made by an official should result in a replay or consolation place. This would create a whole new set of problems: which offences would be worthy, and which would not? How would the flood of extra games be scheduled? Would, for example, Ireland first have to replay their qualifier with Georgia, in which they benefited from an undeserved penalty?

Adding an extra team would have meant changing the balanced 32 team format, adjusting the schedule and logistics, and lumbering four unlucky teams with an extra group game. This was clearly never an option.

The Irish anger at these rejections, and the accusations of bias favouring the top countries has therefore been misplaced, because FIFA could not grant concessions to anyone, and have not stepped in to help countries such as England or The Netherlands in the past, or Russia this year, when they have failed to qualify.

What the debates over the handball, replay and 33rd place have overshadowed is the real injustice of the seeding system, which does genuinely reek of bias. Seeding teams so that the strongest nations avoid each other is not uncommon in sport, nor in itself unfair, but what rankled was that the decision was only made in September, instead of at the start of the qualification tournament. Effectively, the goalposts were moved when the competition was already nearly over.

Michel Platini of UEFA and Sepp Blatter

This incident has raised a couple of key issues for FIFA to tackle. Instead, the governing body has been casting around in search of a way of dealing with the bad publicity, without tackling the problems themselves. The suggestion that Ireland might be awarded some sort of fair play award is patronising and insulting, as Richard Dunne has pointed out. It also ignores the fact that the Irish have not done anything to deserve an award, other than be wronged. FIFA are obviously looking at the precedent of Vanderlei de Lima, awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal at the Athens Olympics after an attack by a spectator arguably deprived him of a gold medal in the marathon. However, what seemed genuine and spontaneous in that event, awarded on the same day as the incident by Jacques Rogge, seems calculated when mooted weeks after the event by Sepp Blatter. Moreover, whilst the IOC had no alternatives, other than improving security for future events, FIFA could instead spend their time more productively by ensuring no repeat of the seeding fiasco, and taking seriously the controversies created by ever-improving television technology.

The latest development is the threat of a ban for Henry himself, which is inconsistent again. If, as FIFA insists, the referee’s decision is final and video evidence should not be used, why retrospectively ban the player, especially for what would only have been a yellow card? There is no precedent for using this approach for anything less than a red card offence. Many worse crimes will have escaped punishment during the qualifiers, but none will be punished now. This does not absolve Henry, but again FIFA have ducked the real questions by trying to appear proactive, when they are in fact taking minor steps only.

There appears to be little will for real active leadership at FIFA, and sadly for the Irish, with the World Cup draw now dominating the headlines, the Champions’ League groups stage reaching its climax, and the busy Christmas and New Year period approaching, their plight is already yesterday’s news.

Rugby: London Wasps 24 - 22 Leicester Tigers

A late Jordan Crane try earned Leicester Tigers a losing bonus point, but it was too little, too late for the result of an engrossing match in which they dominated territory and possession, but were unable to turn their dominance into points thanks to the home side’s impressive defence.

These two sides have won ten of the twelve Premiership titles in the professional era, and their clashes are always enthralling, with the clubs having met in three major finals in the last five years. The opening minutes were a microcosm of the game itself, as Leicester swiftly moved into Wasps’ half, and retained possession there, before Paul Sackey counter-attacked and won a penalty 30 metres out. The lively Joe Simpson took a quick tap before offloading to Sackey, whose pace and strength was too much for a string of tacklers, as he touched down on the right. This set the tone for a first 40 minutes in which Wasps scored on all bar one of their visits to the Leicester half. Toby Flood kicked four penalties as good defence from the home side prevented any real try-scoring opportunities, but undermined their efforts somewhat with a string of infringements. Dave Walder replied with a kick of his own, but his best moment came late in the half. The fly-half, often under rated for his attacking skills, drew two defenders and offloaded out of the tackle to Steve Kefu, the Australian scoring under the posts. Another Walder penalty sent Wasps in at half time leading 18-12. Leicester had dominated the scrum, earning yards and penalties from a seemingly outclassed Wasps front row, but they had not been able to turn this into tries, and lacked the home side’s efficiency in attack.

In the second half, the game tightened up, as Wasps’ front five put in a much improved scrummaging performance, neutralising the Tigers’ biggest weapon. The home side were unable to find any clear cut scoring opportunities of their own however, and two more penalties from Walder, against one from Flood, who also missed a simple chance from the edge of the 22, were all either side could produce going into the closing minutes. As Leicester began to show more ambition, the game opened up, and a string of Wasps errors gave the visitors one last chance, with Crane scoring his try from a five metre scrum, despite it seeming to have gone round much more than 90 degrees. However, Aaron Mauger’s rushed conversion was the last act of the game, and time ran out for the Tigers.

With all the recent criticism of the quality of professional rugby in England, it was refreshing to see such a compelling match, with Wasps showing ambition in attack, and although there was plenty of kicking from both sides, it was more purposeful than that seen in the autumn internationals. Coach Shaun Edwards will be pleased with his side’s defensive performance, one or two lapses aside, and the performances of the likes of Simon Shaw in defence are encouraging. Leicester will be disappointed with their inability to turn territory and possession into tries, and their lack of invention.