Sportsmanship
When Australia’s universal good guy Pat Rafter makes Lleyton Hewitt look well-mannered, you know the Australian sporting universe has been turned on its head.
Everything went wrong for Australian sport this weekend. Everything. The NZ Warriors knocked Wests Tigers out of the NRL finals, Ireland beat the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup, Sri Lanka dominated the cricket, and the Davis Cup turned ugly on court and off.
Sheesh, even the early Melbourne Cup favourite is now a Kiwi horse. But let’s talk about the two that really hurt – the Wallabies and Davis Cup.
Continue reading "Woeful Wallabies not on their Pat Malone" »
The world’s unlikeliest cricket club touched down in Australia yesterday. And boy, do they have a timely reminder for us all.
The Compton Cricket Club is a group of reformed gangsters from the infamous violent South Central Los Angeles neighbourhood. I wrote about these guys for The Punch last September when four of them made a flying visit out here to raise awareness and funds for the current tour. Mission accomplished.
Self-described “ambassadors of peace and goodwill”, the Compton cricketers long ago turned their back on the wildly egotistical, chest-beating American sports culture which has rapidly become inseparable from the wildly egotistical, chest-beating global sports culture.
Continue reading "Bravado and “me, me, me” are destroying modern sport" »
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Hugh Snelgrove says:
Man lets just play criiiiiiiiiiiiickkkkkkkkkut! Read more »
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Brett says:
Yet Ali enticed and fought top tier fighters for titles. Mundine just boasts and then fights gutter dwellers or old guys coming out of retirement. He has rarely faced a good boxer or any of the few talented fighters in his weight class. Read more »
Arsenal striker Eduardo has been banned for two matches for diving, providing hope at last for all football fans.
A Uefa disciplinary panel ruled he cheated to win a penalty in a Champions League qualifier last week against Celtic.
The punishment far outweighs the yellow card he would have received had the referee spotted his dive, and that could be argued to be unfair.
Continue reading "Aussie soccer will never soar if diving isn’t banned" »
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Tim Simpson says:
It should just be a straight red card in any league or international game. If you haven’t completely blocked out our pummelling by Germany, remember their player, Oezil that was yellowed for diving early? From that point on he played fair, running into the box when Schwarzer charged at him… Read more »
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Tim Smith says:
Diving is already banned in the A-League, do your research Jon Ryan. The FFA sanction players for diving, have you even watched an A-League game before? Read more »
At 3pm on Sunday, Hazem El Masri will run onto the world’s worst footy ground to play his final home game. Sydney’s ANZ Stadium (Or Glebe Morgue, as we call it) is an embarrassing venue for such an occasion, but we’ll defer that argument for the sake of keeping the mood upbeat.
For the blue-and-white army in the distant stands, Hazem’s farewell will be something akin to the retirement of a beloved community leader.
Now in the month of Ramadan, Hazem will take no food or water between dawn and dark on game day.
Continue reading "Man of God whose greatest deeds are done off the pitch" »
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pruppyfieli says:
????????? ???????? ? ???????????? ??? ?? ????????? ????? ?????????????. ?., ???? ????? ?????????????, ???????????? ???????, ?????????? ?????? ???????????? ??????????? ? ???????????? ???? ?????? ????????????? ???????, ?? ?? ??????????????, ??????, ?? ? ????? ???????????? ????????????, ????????? ? 23 ???? ??????? ??????? ? ??? ?????? ??????? ? ?????. ??? ?????? … Read more »
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weekly job news says:
Mention Die,procedure behaviour direct university strange appeal near number application bloody hill huge flow recognise version morning say care spend sentence broad intend thought last library popular face transport sense move acquire cost rise seek half display general consist remember cup difficulty brain user description policy include thing incident wash… Read more »
WHY is it that we in the media think professional sports people are obliged to speak to us?
We pay our money at the gate, watch them perform masterful feats on the footy field or cricket pitch, then go home elated or mad as hell, depending on the result. Athletes could be forgiven for thinking the transaction ends there, but clearly it doesn’t.
This week we saw the public flaying of Dragons player Darius Boyd, whose 42-second press conference showed that he’s not likely to sit for his bar examinations any time soon.
Continue reading "Speaking up for a sportsman of few words" »
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Baldasshole says:
If sportspeople say what they think - they are lambasted. If they shut up - they get lambasted. I vomit whenever Michael Clarke speaks, talk about toe-ing the party line. Darius just let it be known that he’d rather be at the pub or in their toilets with some lady. … Read more »
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Your name: says:
I don’t expect big boofy blokes to say anything interesting or worthwhile. Journalists do. Which makes you wonder which is the brighter subspecies - the big boofy blokes or the journalists. Read more »
I call them “floaties” - swimsuits that float. Just watch all the torpedoes fly on top of the water in Rome. Today’s elite swimmer makes the original Thorpedo – Ian Thorpe – look like a slowcoach.
The deluge of world records this week at the FINA World Championships is nothing but a farce.
Swimming’s governing body, FINA, has made a serious blunder which has triggered the ridiculous number of world marks.
Continue reading "‘Floaties’ make a mockery of elite swimming" »
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Julian says:
Webbed gloves? What about hand paddles FINA? Read more »
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Elbogrease says:
I’m with W. Charlie is a bit of a troglodyte. Read more »
I sat next to Matthew Mitcham on the plane to Beijing. He asked me a question that no man has before or since. As the plane hurtled down the runway, I was fumbling with the words to the Lord’s Prayer when Mitcham turned to me and said: “Do you like musicals?”
I enjoy musicals about as much as knee reconstructions. Or plane trips. As Mitcham talked and talked about one show tune or another, I became convinced a mental patient wearing an official Olympic tracksuit had been let loose on the plane. The next time I looked out the window we were approaching 20,000-feet.
Of course, once the landing gear was folded away it became clear that helping a stranger to overcome a morbid fear of take-off was his intention from the start. That’s the type of guy Matt Mitcham is.
Continue reading "The Australian athlete who won gold for grace in defeat" »
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Yvette says:
Zeelopona http://11111gr.rf parallel 222222 333333 Dalavya Read more »
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Mark Young says:
@ Julie - Outstanding! I came home from my bucks day feeling awful and sat there watching Matt Mitchum do ‘that dive’. Ever since he has been a favourite of mine. He is the very model for a modern major sporting star. So much to be proud of. Read more »
Winding up Ricky Ponting threatens to overtake fishing as England’s biggest recreational sport.
From his Gary Pratt blow-up in 2005 to Sunday’s ‘Physiogate’ press conference, us Poms like nothing better than to dress up the beady-eyed Tasmanian as the pantomime villain.
It’s just so much fun to watch – Little Ricky standing there in the playground shouting, “Miss, they stole my Test match…”
Continue reading "Why Ponting the sook has given us Poms the edge" »
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Darbs says:
Replying to Mr John Ramsay, were you watching the same game!!!??? “England celebrated as if they had won the world cup” sorry but a few hand shakes on the balcony and fist pumps to the crowd was all that happenend, as they realised they had been outplayed in the test,… Read more »
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Leah Archimedes says:
‘Perhaps he can join the side on their open-top bus tour through London after the series by way of a thank you.’ - I think I speak for every Aussie in that we would all rather jump off a cliff than go on an open-top bus tour through London. Read more »
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From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
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