Excellent article on the horrible shooting at the Togo football team heading into Angola for the African Cup of Nations.
In search for a silver lining, hopefully the publicity will lead to some light being shed on one of the several areas on the west coast of Africa where oil revenues, corruption and internecine struggles are combining unpleasantly (see also Gabon, Equatorial Guinea)
An independent panel recently recommended adding or returning several major sporting events to the so-called “crown jewels”, events of such national resonance that they should be shown on free to air television, accessible to all. One of the most controversial suggestions was that for cricket, that home Ashes Test series between England and Australia should be included. One of the reasons that prompted it was a comparison of viewing figures from the 2005 series shown on Channel 4 that had up to 8 million viewers and the 2009 series shown on Sky which got about 2 million at its highest point. There is currently no live international cricket being shown on terrestrial TV, and critics of the Sky deal claim that it will be impossible to interest a new generation in the game if they have no TV exposure to it. (more…)
The subject of cheating is rarely far from the agenda in the hyperbole-ridden world of professional sport and its media. Thierry Henry’s handball that allowed France to score the winning goal against the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup eliminator has arrived only just in time to shift the dive by his compatriot David Ngog that won Liverpool a penalty and a point against Birmingham.
The obvious lesson here is that the French as a nation cannot be trusted and probably should be banned from sport altogether, perhaps restricted to playing petanque in town squares in order to look picturesque for the tourists. (more…)
So much beauty out there 