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Many words have been written about the contrast between football and rugby, but the contrast can never have been so stark as this weekend.

First up - Respect for the opposition

The Irish applauding the English National anthem at the emotional start to the rugby at Croke park on Sunday.  I’m not sure when it started but I can’t remember the last International match I saw when the opposition did NOT jeer the other teams National anthem.  Applauding might be too much for some but surely a little respect and not jeering would be a start.

Secondly - Self respect

Rarely if ever do you see a rugby player try and con the referee into sending off or booking an opponent,or simply to gain an advantage.  Rarely do you see a football match (certainly not in the top flight), where a player doesn’t dive, and you never see a match where a player doesn’t over react to a slight knock and require the “magic sponge”, or to be stretchered off where he goes on to make a miraculous recovery.

Thirdly - Respect for Officials

Swearing and intimidation of the referee and linesmen is simply not tolerated in Rugby.  This enables the referees to wear microphones, making it more interactive for the spectators and adding another dimension to the game.  Despite a “tougher line” being taken by FIFA, you can watch any game and see that swearing, whether directed at the officials or at an opponent is as prevalent now as it ever was.

Fourthly - Video Evidence

The introduction of video evidence has added an extra dimension to Rugby and eradicated a lot of mistakes.  FIFA stubbornly refuses to move with the times for whatever reason. Take this weekend’s fracas during the Carling Cup Final.  If the 4th offical was able to review the trouble and inform the referee who the main culprits were, then justice could have been handed out there and then.  Instead the referee and assistant are put under enormous pressure to unpick the situation and then criticised by the fans when they make a mistake. 

All of these problems and things can be addressed quickly and easily if only FIFA wanted to.  But they seem more content to keep playing around with the offside rule than tackling the real issues.  If they give the referees the tools and authority to deal with the problems when they occur, and they then carry out the requisite punishment, then the players would very quickly tow the line.  They have made some moves in this direction with stopping players from intimidating referees, but it’s only the tip of the ice berg.  They should grasp the nettle and clean up the game ready for the start of next season.

Once again David Beckham has proved he is still a top class player, worthy of a place in pretty much any team in the world.

Having been told he would never play for Real Madrid again he not only played in their biggest game of the season against Bayern Munich this week, but created 2 goals and won the man of the match award, putting a case to be included in the next England squad.

Now one game doesn’t justify a place, but he has proved enough times that he is a man for the big occasion, in the same way that Gerrard is for Liverpool.  They are both capable of taking a game by the scruff of the neck, inspiring their team mates and turning it round.  Mclaren has said all the right things since Tuesday night’s game, but has he got the bottle to admit he made a mistake and including him in the next squad. 

Mclaren obviously wanted to make a fresh start, but with Beckham having resigned the captaincy, I thought and said at the time that he was still worthy of a place in the squad.  Unfortunately like so much of Britain’s top sports people, he was victim of a tabloid vendetta, and negative comments from a variety of TV pundits that had their own agenda.  Comments by Ian Wright for example, who was clearly upset about the exclusion of his step son and mentioned on more than one occasion that Beckham could not go round a player in the same way that Lennon could (for Lennon read Shaun Wright-Phillips).  The fact that Beckham does not need to beat a defender because he has the ability to bend a ball around him didn’t enter the equation - I remember one quote at half time along the lines of “what’s he done this half except put in 4 crosses where we could have and should have scored”.  What else do they expect him to do?  Get on the end of his own crosses maybe? 

The problem Beckham now has is his impending move to LA Galaxy - he will be out of the European limelight and therefore presumably out of mind next season, and is therefore running out of time and opportunity to stake a claim for Euro 2008.

How can we come so close to another football disaster?  Nearly 18 years after 96 people were killed at Hillsborough, the authorities in France almost caused another disaster with a complete error in judgement last night when Manchester United played Lille.

It’s not clear just yet exactly what happened, and no doubt there will be a full inquiry and we will find out, but it appears that too many people were let in to a part of the ground, causing fans at the front to be crushed.  How can this possibly happen when the rules are now one seat per person?   

To make matters worse, instead of realising their error and helping people out, somebody obviously believed the fans were trying to storm the pitch and the police went to work with batons and tear gas.  Even at Hillsborough, the police were helping to get people clear and not trying to force them back into danger.

The police, and the stadium authorites should be punished to the full extent that the law and UEFA regualations will allow.  It’s a miracle that nobody was killed, although no doubt there will be more than a few injuries and a nightmares for many in the forth coming weeks.

Platini now has some serious work to do, and hopefully he will not pull his punches even though it is a French club.  Maybe it will take his mind off of trying to reduce the number or Premier League clubs allowed in the Champions League  - at least in the UK we have learned lessons from the past.

So despite Brian Ashton request that International players be rested this week, 14 will take the field.  It would have been more had it not been for injuries suffered during the last round of Internationals.

Who can blame the clubs though. Relegation would be financially disastrous to any of them and they are paying these players a healthy wage. They will therefore always field their strongest sides regardless of the pressure brought to bear by the RFU.  On the face of it the solution would be centralised contracts which the RFU own, but that would only create it’s own problems and effect the quality of rugby at club level.  If we want to bring through the best talent, then they have to play against the best and that includes international players.  So no easy solution!

Well the Commonwealth Bank series final won’t be going to Adelaide and not because Australia have won it 2-0.  That’s something that no England fan would have thought likely a week or so ago but it’s true.  Even without Vaughan and KP, they have won their last 4 matches on the trot.  That will make for some interesting selection decisions come the World Cup, assuming that both are fit again by then.

One thing for sure - England need to try and build on this success with some consistancy in selection and performance - one will hopefully lead to the other.  The thing which must not happen is that we get complacent like we did after the Ashes - yes we have recovered well but this series has to all intents and purposes been a disaster, with some of the worst performance ever seen by English cricket fans.

I wonder what happened to the Ozzies though.  They can’t blame the sudden twist in fortunes on the injury to Symonds - England have had more than their fair share of problems in this department this tour.  What became clear in Sunday’s match though, was that when Ponting failed for the first time this summer practically, then they look a different side.  They may well end up losing their No 1 spot if they lose in New Zealand when Ponting and  Gilchrist are rested, and if South Africa beat Pakistan in their last match. 

The good news though, is that England have proved to themselves and the rest of the world that Australia can be beaten and it’s up to them to re-build their aura of invincibility.

The even better news is that my £10 at 7/1 on England to win the Commonwealth Bank Series has cashed in - now shoud I let it ride on England for the World Cup?  I think not!

What an amazing turn around in just a couple of weeks.  Almost as fast as they capsized, England appear to have righted the ship, and turned the tables on Australia.  Just a couple of weeks ago, England couldn’t catch, and fumbled time and again in the field, and then the fall of one or two wickets pretty much signalled the end of the innings.

Today the Ozzies got off to a flyer at 170/1, before collapsing in 20 overs and not batting the full 50.  England at 14/3 looked done in then up come Collingwood and Bell and rescue the innings thanks to sloppy fielding. in particular by McGrath, who dropped Bell.  Does it get any better than that?

So roll on Sunday - will be up early to cheer on the boys to what I hope will be a victory as I have £10 on at 7/1 - a bet which looked long gone a week ago.

Wonder what sort of crowd it will draw on Sunday - the Australians have been clearly getting disenchanted with thrashing everybody and the MCG was only half full by the looks of it. Now that they have some competition let’s hope they come back to create an atmosphere and watch the winging poms give their boys aright royal stuffing!

Finally English cricket fans have something to shout about.  The big question is will they stop shouting for Fletcher to go or has this bought him a lifeline?

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So umpire Hair is going to sue the cricket governing bodies and the PCB for racism. 

Interesting situation this one. I can see both sides of the argument.

First up Hair was wrong to impose the five run penalty. Video evidence - and there are enough cameras around - could prove nothing, and it was only a few overs since the umpires had had the ball in their hands if I remember correctly, so the time frame we are talking about for something to happen is very small. He seemed to take charge of that situation, (even if he wasn’t the “senior” umpire present). However, once the Pakistan team refused to come out, then Doctrove and Hair had no choice but to award the match to the England team.

Secondly, the subsequent leaking of emails was outrageous and a deliberate attempt to sully his reputation. The punishment as well was clearly very hard and not fair - if they were to be punished at all, then both should have received the same. If Doctrove did not agree with the 5 run penalty he should have said so at the time - to my knowledge he has never commented on it.

I for one, am sick of the racism card being played as soon as somebody from a minority finds things going against them. No doubt racism does exist still, but constantly raising it as an issue only serves to harm the cause when genuine cases come to light. It seems that nobody can dislike or rule against somebody from a minority group on the grounds that they might be wrong or heaven forbid not like the person because of their actions - it has to be because of their colour (witness the recent Big Brother fiasco).

It’s therefore strangely ironic that Hair is playing the racism card. However, imagine the fuss had the positions been reversed and Doctrove had received the bigger punishment.

Personally I don’t think Racism has played a part here - I think his previous form went against him. I also doubt that Hair beleives it. For him, money is a big factor, as was demonstrated by the email, and I therefore strongly suspect this allegation is no more than a bargaining chip!

Well it’s good to see that Jonny is back, although he’s done nothing to discourage the fact that England are virtually reliant on one man.  His display of kicking was sublime, scoring 27 on Englands 40 points (even with a disputed try - so match for the value of video evidence).  After a shaky start he settled down and it was as if he’d never been away.  Let’s just hope he can last a few months before his next injury.

Despite such a strong display though, I think all the World Cup talk might be a little premature - let’s start with the Grand Slam (or at least wins over France and or Ireland) first and work from there - any World Cup bid is going to be in jeopoardy if a team is so reliant on one player.  Just look at the Rooney fiasco in the football World Cup!  Facing Italy next week, England will have much sterner tests in the weeks to come. 

Elsewhere the Irish turned over a resiliant Welsh side, who also fancied themselves for 6 Nation triumph and France predictably hammered the Italians.  But the tournament looks set to be the closest for years with at least 3 of the 6 in with a shout.