Hansie Cronje: Ten Years On

Currently available as a podcast on the BBC website and on iTunes is 5 Live's recent documentary about Hansie Cronje, broadcast to commemorate ten years since his death. It is a timely moment to revisit the Cronje story, after a winter which saw three Pakistani cricketers convicted of spot fixing in a 2010 test match, Essex's Mervyn Westfield convicted of a similar offence in a county match, and the announcement of a new ECB initiative to tackle the threat of match fixing in the English game.

The most striking item in the programme was how little we still know about what went on in that period. Journalist Neil Manthorp mentions a series of bank accounts that were allegedly linked to many prominent cricketing figures, yet the investigation into those accounts was shut down after Cronje's death. These accounts had been previously mentioned in a television documentary, 'The Captain and The Bookmaker', made by political journalist Peter Oborne. This film was also critical of the report by the King Commission, which had investigated Cronje's crimes in the immediate aftermath, accusing it of being insubstantial.

Both programmes interview Marlon Aronstam, the bookmaker behind the infamous 'leather jacket test match' between South Africa and England in 2000. One thing that Oborne's documentary gets out of him is the suggestion of an ongoing relationship between Cronje and the bookie after that test match, but no details are forthcoming, nor is this elaborated on in the 5 Live documentary.

Aronstam's testimony is clearly difficult to trust, but what is alarming is the notion that the authorities only scratched the surface. Will this investigation ever be resurrected? The suggestion that dozens of other major cricketers were involved in match fixing but got away with it, would undermine an entire decade's worth of international matches. Perhaps most worrying for the game in the future is the thought that whatever bookmakers or gamblers were involved in these accounts were never identified publicly, leaving them free to continue their efforts.

This is, of course, pure speculation, based on an investigation that was terminated. But unless it is proven that those mysterious bank accounts are a myth, or were unrelated to match fixing, the doubt will always linger. That is perhaps Cronje's greatest crime against cricket: creating a nagging suspicion, that seems unlikely to be lifted any time soon.

CS Film Club: Sugar

Corinthian Spirit is back (sadly not in pog form). To celebrate, here's the first in what may turn into an occasional series of recommended sports films.

Currently available on the BBC iPlayer for five more days, is the 2009 film Sugar. The story of a young Dominican baseball player trying to make it to the major leagues, Sugar is bittersweet and largely free of the clichés of the genre. Though the titular character thinks he's chasing sporting success, the film is more about loneliness, alienation and the search for a place in the world, as well as the contrast between different ways of pursuing the American dream.

 

Though not perfect, the film has a gentle pace and naturalistic style, as well as a melancholy tone, which makes it stand out from the usual pomp and self-importance of the average 'triumph over adversity' sporting dramas. Thanks to some beautiful cinematography, the film is genuinely cinematic, but the directors (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) pull off the difficult trick of making the United States, in its many different guises (multicultural urban jungle, picture postcard countryside, neon-lit diner), appear simultaneously romantic and foreign, illustrating why Sugar feels so lost, just when he should be finding success. This is also due to the performance of Algenis Perez Soto, who totally inhabits Sugar, with his confusing mix of hopes and fears, and growing unease at his surroundings. Soto has yet to appear on screen since, and whether he is capable of matching this performance in the future, or whether this was the one role he was born to play, remains to be seen.

Sugar is light on sporting action, but aside from its universal themes, it offers a glimpse into the world behind the world we know, and it should be easy to draw parallels between this story of a young sportsman alone in a foreign land, and any number of other sports. In particular, football fans used to seeing African players plying their trade in Europe, might see the similarity.

On Hiatus

The more astute of you will have noticed the distinct lack of action on this blog in the last few months. One or two posts of decent length aside, things have been very quiet since the end of February. Whilst I would like to keep up the same rate of activity that I had prior to that, sadly the real world has been getting in the way, and I have come to the conclusion that I need to face facts and accept that nothing's going to happen on Corinthian Spirit for a while.

The sum of all this is a vague plan to restart activity at some point in September, but no promises. It depends on work and, just as importantly, being clear in my head about what I am trying to do.

In the meantime, if you find yourself visiting this page in search of sporting discussion points, take a look at the blogs listed on the right hand side of this page, for some suggested reading.

Maybe see you in September,
Andrew

World Cup 2010: Gyan's Grief, Ghana Gone

Asamoah Gyan has been one of the stars of the World Cup so far, scoring three goals in Ghana's march to the quarter-finals, but sadly for him, their defeat to Uruguay on penalties will probably haunt him for some time to come. It felt fitting that the star of the dramatic second round extra-time victory over the USA was given the chance to repeat the feat by stepping up to take a penalty with the last kick of the game before a shoot-out, his third penalty of the tournament.


Gyan was distraught after Ghana's elimination

Both sides had had their chances throughout the 120 minutes of regular and extra time, and either could have rightfully claimed victory at any time. But when in the 120th minute, Luis Suarez cleared the ball off the Uruguayan line with his hand, Gyan had the chance to take Ghana into uncharted territory: a first semi-final not only for his country, but for any Africa team.
His resulting miss took the match into a shoot-out that Ghana would lose, but the most impressive sight in the entire game, even more so than two wonderful goals, and the high drama of the shoot-out, was Gyan stepping up to take his country's first penalty, just minutes after his previous attempt had crashed into the crossbar. That took a lot of courage, but his confident finish took even more.


Fernando Muslera celebrates Gyan's miss, to the Ghanaian's horror

Gyan plays for Rennes in France, and one must assume that a bigger club somewhere in Europe will make them an offer they cannot refuse. Whether he goes onto bigger things, or never quite lives up to his World Cup performances (like El Hadji Diouf), only time will tell, but his skill, physical prowess and mental toughness will have been noted by many.

Meanwhile, Uruguay live to fight another day. They have been one of the most impressive teams in the competition thus far, and Uruguayan football as a whole is a remarkable story. The relative success of the Slovenian team, despite a population of only two million is marvelled at, but Uruguay have held a fairly regular position at the top table of world football since the international game first took off in the early twentieth century, despite a population of only three million. Whilst they have not been a major World Cup power since their last semi-final in 1970, they have played some of the best football seen this time around (a grim opening match against France aside), and deserve more attention than they have been getting, while Diego Forlan has been possibly the best striker at the competition.

Forlan never seems to get enough credit in England, where memories of his ineffective spell at Manchester United prevail. Nonetheless, he has scored goals consistently throughout the rest of his career, and at two World Cups has looked like a world class forward. What is interesting is that he has mastered the Jabulani ball better than anyone else in the competition, as evidenced by the quality of his set pieces.


Forlan equalises with a trademark set-piece

The sheen is somewhat taken off Uruguay's World Cup after Suarez's handball. It was instinctive, but ultimately cheated Ghana out of a winning goal. Yes, Gyan should have scored, and Ghana had their chance, but in a week where the talking points have been the gross injustices that befell England and Mexico, despite both sides being second best in their respective games, it seems wrong that Suarez's act of cheating will keep him in the tournament, whilst the excellent Ghanaians go home. He will miss the semi-final, but should Uruguay make the final, he will be back. After all the opprobrium directed at Thierry Henry last year, it would not be right to let this go unnoticed.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, this World Cup has kept improving since that uninspiring first week. It got going in week two, and the drama has built steadily since then. If tomorrow's quarter-finals are anything as good as today's double bill, then fans will have been spoiled.

Football: The Kop

There was an interesting short piece at the end of tonight's BBC coverage of the Spain v Portugal second round match, about the often overlooked link between South Africa and English football lore. The famous Kop end at Anfield, actually one of many stands at football grounds around the country with that name, was named after the site of a battle in the Boer War.

The segment, presented by Mark Lawrenson, provided a rather sudden change in tone from the fairly light-hearted coverage of the match itself, but was rather poignant and very informative, and is well worth watching whilst it is on the iPlayer.

Rugby: England's Video Nasty

The England squad have been refreshingly honest in their assessment of their own performance against Australia in the first test last Saturday, with Steve Thompson acknowledging that the side became too preoccupied with their dominance in the scrum, whilst their work in open play was substandard.

Toby Flood has joined in the self-flagellation, admitting that the team's video analysis session had forced the players to own up to their weak performances. However, it is one thing to recognise a bad performance, and another to fix it, and no player has more to learn from last Saturday's test match than Flood himself.


Flood needs to impose his authority on the second test


Flood's abdication of responsibility at key stages of the game was alarming. Late in the first half, with England fruitlessly pounding at the Australian defence with pick and drive tactics, the forwards were allowed to keep the ball for phase after phase, despite their being driven backwards on several occasions. At no stage did Flood appear to demand the ball from Danny Care, his scrum half, or if he did, Care ignored him, which would reflect badly on both players. After perhaps a dozen ineffective drives, the ball finally went to Flood, only for him to immediately pass it back inside, back into the traffic of the Australian pack, and the whole cycle began again.

Early in the second half, England produced their one piece of flowing rugby, as a counter attack from Ben Foden went through the hands of Chris Ashton and Simon Shaw, before Mike Tindall was pulled down just short of the line. This was a perfect situation for England to score a try, the Australian defence was still rushing back into position, and the ball was only yards from the line. However, several phases later, it became clear that England only had two tactics: pick and drive, or crash ball from a forward standing at first receiver. Flood did not touch the ball throughout the entire attack, lasting several minutes. At one stage the camera pulled back to reveal that he was standing at inside centre, with a forward at fly-half waiting for the next crash ball. As an international fly-half, he should have been the playmaker, demanding the ball, demanding that the side play off him, whether it be crash ball, or going down the line to the backs.

These two episodes typified the way the entire game was played by England, never trusting the backs, never thinking about the game, never showing smart leadership as opposed to blood and guts-style leadership. The latter is simply not enough at the highest level.


Cooper showed impressive confidence in his first test performance

Much of this is obviously down to tactics, and the coaching staff are to blame for a one-dimensional game plan, whilst the players must take responsibility for their inability to play with their heads up, and their blinkered belief that all they needed to do was to keep pounding away. But if Flood is being constrained by the tactics, then he should take control of the situation, everything Australia did on Saturday, they did through Quade Cooper, their fair less experienced fly-half. Care was undoubtedly part of the problem: his slow service and lack of tactical nous was shown up by the way that Ben Youngs greatly increased the tempo when he came on, but again, it is up to his fly-half to tell Care what service he wants, and to make sure he gets it.

If Flood is going to be the long term solution at fly-half, he must take responsibility for the way the game is played, he must want the ball, especially with the try line begging. Watch good international fly-halves and they show the confidence and sometimes the arrogance to demand the ball and to try and make things happen. Last Saturday, Toby Flood seemed frozen, too meek to even try.

Rugby: Guinness Premiership Final 2010

The lessons from the Guinness Premiership final are many, and perhaps most notable of them all was that reports of rugby's demise as an entertaining game have been greatly exaggerated.
English rugby was heavily criticised in the early part of the 2009/10 season for the staid tactics being used by both the national team and the Premiership clubs. With hindsight this may come to be seen as a period of adjustment following the abolition of the ELVs, and although English rugby adapted more slowly than other nations, because of the innate conservatism of the league, last summer's Lions tour had already shown that good rugby could be played, whichever set of laws was being used, and in fact, the early part of the season was not all doom and gloom. All it would take was for one team to break the mould, and others would surely follow.

Brendan Venter's Saracens were the story of the season

The second half of the season, when referees changed their interpretation of the tackle law, saw the game open up across all competitions. In the first half the season, Saracens were the epitome of conservative rugby, and they received little credit for setting the pace before Christmas. Subsequently they lost their way in the middle of the season, as their limited game plan relied on stopping their opponents from scoring and then staying in front with the boot. This left them vulnerable to sides that could score tries, and they seemed to lack a plan b. However, later in the season, Brendan Venter's side unleashed their second incarnation, building a layer of attacking rugby on top of the platform of their powerful pack and defence. Schalk Brits typified the new Saracens, the hooker doing his his job at set pieces, playing like a centre in attack and a flanker in defence. Saracens' transformation summed up the entire season: staid but underrated early in the year, explosive in the latter part of the season.

The final itself proved that regardless of the style of rugby on show, knowing how to win is the most important skill of all, and although it was desperately close for Saracens, Leicester's coolness under pressure was remarkable, and made the difference. The Tigers have had no consistency at either head coach, or fly-half in the last decade, and yet they have continued to dominate, producing generation after generation of players who perform when it matters most. Saracens have an excellent team, but do not yet have a lasting winning culture like Leicester do. It also reinforced the concept that the best attacking rugby comes from quick ball at the the breakdown and offloading out of the tackle. The change in refereeing style only affected the former – there was no reason why teams could not pass out of the tackle in the early part of the season, and that realisation, combined with the improvement at the breakdown is what led to the improvement in the Premiership in 2010.

Leicester celebrate at the final whistle

The next step for the Watford-based club is to prove they are not a flash in the pan, like the good Sale and Gloucester sides of recent years, but that they are here to stay. The final proved that they can play, now they need to do it consistently. Leicester meanwhile, have to overcome the loss of a couple of key veterans in Ben Kay and Lewis Moody, but with a few less injuries next season, could be even better for a second full season under coach Richard Cockerill, who deserves credit for winning two league titles and appearing in one Heineken Cup final in only 18 months in the job.

The story of the Guinness Premiership in 2009/10 is one of redemption. It started with controversy: fake blood, drugs and foul play. It went through a spell in purgatory, when no-one seemed to believe that it was worthwhile any more. Yet it finished in style, with a spectacular final, the greatest since the playoffs began. There will be much to look forward to in 2010/11.