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The fact that Darrell Hair requested to step down for ASD500 000, is at best a poor decision on his part, and the fact that the ICC saw fit to publish the details is reprehensible.  However, do not lose sight of the real issue which is the conduct by the Pakistani Team.  The issue is one of whether or not they tampered with the ball not whether Hair has offered to step down.  Hair would not have made the decision he did, if not feel it was justified, and don’t forget Billy Doctrove was there as well.  Now admittedly, the ICC will need to decide whether the evidence supports that decision, but even if they find the Pakistani Team innocent I don’t see how Inzimam can escape the disrepute charge.  As a team they were in a strong position to go on and win a test match, and for matters of pride they decided not to come out after tea.  They could easily have played and then fought there corner afterwards, thereby retaining some dignity, and not depriving the paying public of a day and a half’s worth of play.

Fraser

www.lookupsport.com

I’m not one to recommend the involvement of police and the law in sporting related incidents, but I think there is definitely a case in the Thatcher elbow incident.  If you watch the replay (as I’m sure most have) he’s not even looking at the ball and it’s basically an assualt and one that could have caused some permanent damage.  However, the decision taken by Mendes not to pursue this is honorable and you can only hope that he makes it back soon.  If he had decided to press charges then I don’t think many people would have blamed him.  Let’s hope that Man City and the FA take sufficient action.

Fraser

www.lookupsport.com

Well I take a few days off, to enjoy the bank holiday and all sorts has happened in the sporting world, not to mention Portsmouth riding high in the Premiership - I’ll come onto that but firstly I’ll recap on the past few days.

Congratualtions must go to Zara Phillips for winning Gold in the World Equestrian Games.  It’s good to see our Royal Family make the headlines for the right reasons for a change and bodes well for the Olympics.  Long may it continue.

Congratulations as well to our rowing teams who competed so well in The World Rowing Championships at Eton, which attracted 40 000 spectators demonstrating the popularity of the sport, following the retirement of the “big names”.  It’s good to see that Steve Williams has picked up the mantle for the men, while Katherine Grainger is leading the way for the women, with GB topping the medal table, securing 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.  We also competed well in the disability event, picking up 2 golds and a bronze from 4 events.

Now then - Pompey.  What’s happening down there? As a supporter, I was dismayed not to say disappointed to see the signings made over the summer, with Sol Campell, David “Calamity” James, and Kanu being snapped up for the princely sum of £1Million.  This, when there are reports that Harry has anything from £25-45M to spend.  However, having sat in amazement last night to watch the blue army thrash Middlesborough 4-0, I concede I might have been a little hasty in my comments pre-season.  Campbell looked really sharp and has hopefully put his off pitch troubles behind him, Kanu was a handful and is now the leagues joint top scorer having only scored one less than he did all of last year, and even Calamity made a couple of good saves (although you just know it’s only a matter of time before he comes charging out and screws up).  So now they are second, and although only 3 games in, its encouraging that they have yet to concede and actually have a positive goal difference!  The concern is that there is not enough depth in the squad, but if they continue to play with as much energy and enthusiasm as they did last night then the signs are good.  Let’s just hope that Harry manages to secure a couple of players before the deadline expires on Thursday.

Fraser

www.lookupsport.com

For the second time in 2 major championships I settled down to watch what I hoped would be an exciting climax only to be severely disappointed, as Woods won the USPGA by 5 clear shots.  As with the Open a few weeks ago, Woods came out firing on all cylinders while his main rivals seemed to have trouble finding first gear.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the rest of the competition had put up some sort of fight, but to see them basically throw the towel in is just annoying to somebody who likes to watch competitive sport.  The final straw for me came when Woods shoved his tee shot into the rough and Donald placed his down the middle of the fairway, giving us a glimmer of hope that the gap might be closed.  However, Woods nailed his second to within 3 feet and Donald inexplicably shoved his through the back of the green.  That made me decide it was time for an early night. 

Nobody can doubt that Woods is a genius, but is he good for the game?  I guess unless somebody is able to develop the mental ability to compete with him on the last day of a major (and it is mental ability more than anything else), then the game is being ruined for the spectactors and becoming boring to watch.

So finally at 10:15pm last night a decision was made about the final test, with the ICC deeming that Pakistan had forfeit the game by refusing to come out after tea.  But were Pakistan justified in their refusal to come as a way of lodging a protest?  They are now calling for trial by television, but have they not already had that with the pictures of yesterday’s shambles being beamed worldwide?  I agree that with the number of cameras following players these days that any tampering would surely have been spotted and therefore evidence should be easy to come by.  However, surely the Pakistan team would have been better to continue to play and then allow the inquest to take part afterwards?  All they did was create an unneccessary delay and confusion for 1000s of people who had paid to watch, and ultimately forfeit a game, which barring a miracle they were going to win. 

It’s also fair to say that the delay and confusion was not helped in anyway by the inability of the ICC to make a decision and convey that decision to the paying and spectating public.  Unfortunatley, all this incident has done is highlight the bureaucracy and politics that is still inherent in the sport and hinder the progress that has been made with the introduction of 20/20 cricket and the England ashes victory.  Until cricket rids itself of the crusty, pedantic and obstinate people running the sport it will never move forward.

Fraser

The Darren Campbell drugs row rumbles on, and I have to admit to a change of opinion following his interview this morning on BBC News.  When I first heard the story I thought it was a positive stand to make, despite the fact that it could be seen as hypocritical that Linford Christie is his coach.  However, the question of motivation for running in the first place was raised in another blog by sporting soul. I think the answer may have been revealed in his interview this morning on BBC News.  When asked twice about the reasons for opting out of the lap of honour and then later when asked if he had any regrets about opting out his answer was largely the same.  He is upset at being stripped of 2 other Euroepan Medals due to Chambers testing positive.  This leads me to believe that although he is unhappy about drugs in his sport, he is not unhappy enough to turn down the chance of a medal.  If he was truely against drugs and wanted to make a point, he could have refused to run on the same team as Chambers and let the selectors decide.  I suspect the prospect of glory however, was far too enticing!

Fraser

The more observant of you may have noticed the new look home page.  This has been changed to accommodate a couple of promotions we are running.  You can now buy Lucozade Sport products directly from us delivered next day free of charge.  We’ll also shortly be running a Free Draw, giving clubs the chance to win £500 of Lucozade Sport products, which can be either sold, or raffled to club members helping raise valuable funds for kit or equipment.  Watch the home page for details!

From the www.lookupsport.com home page, you will see a link for listing “all sports”.  If you take the time to do this and cast your eye down the list you will notice a few sports that you may never of heard of.  We’d like to use this blog to highlight some of these sports.  So lets start with Stoolball.  “What is Stoolball?” I hear you cry.  Well I can tell you it’s an early form of cricket but other than that its better to leave it to the experts to tell you.

Are you a stoolball club looking to raise the profile of your sport and attract new members?  If so then take advantage of a free entry on lookupsport.

I can’t believe that David Beckham has been dropped for the first friendly of Steve Mclaren’s tenure.  I hope this isn’t a sign that Mclaren will just bow to media pressure.  During the world cup and even in the warm up games the BBC pundits especially were continually having a go at Beckham for underperforming.  If I remember one quote was “what’s he done this half except put in 4 crosses where we could have and should have scored”.  What else do they want him to do - get on the end of his own crosses maybe?

There is a case certainly for being flexible enough to take him off  and change the system at times, but how can he go from England skipper one minute to not even making the squad the next.  He might not beat players in the way that Lennon does but the that’s not his game - he’s able to whip the ball in and around the defender without beating him.

Let’s hope he makes it back before too long and that Mclaren just doesn’t listen to the media in order to curry favour.

Fraser 

Stirling Moss has stated that he thinks Jenson Button was lucky to win his first GP in Hungary this week.  Agreed the weather helped but how many times has Schumacher won when 2 or 3 cars in front of him have broken down on the last few laps.  Admittedly Schumacher has won on many other occasions based purely on ability but has also benefitted from good fortune and even more important the best strategy, not to mention the odd dirty trick.  It’s therefore a little harsh to accuse Button of being lucky - if you keep putting yourself there or thereabouts surely you have to get the odd slice of luck and deserve it?

Fraser