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Ross1981

Listed below are comments made by Ross1981 between Saturday, 13th September 2008 and Tuesday, 21st July 2009.

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Flintoff - England's gladiator supreme 12:02pm on 21 Jul 2009 @ sensationalGoBlues: love the immature comment about Strauss's SA heritige. Yes, he was born in Jo'burg, to an English mother. He moved to England aged 6, was educated here (he's an alumni of Durham University), and has played most of his cricket here (save for a brief spell playing junior grade cricket in Oz- nothing unusal in that as plenty of English crickiters have done that.)He's certainly played all his 1st Class cricket for Middlesex- an English team, fuded to a large extent by the ECB. He once commented during the last Engalnd tour of SA that it was useless proteas fans jerring him in Afrikaans as he can't speak the language owing to him never having been taught it! His Englishness is nothing like as dubious as KP's- the accusation that Pietersen is a cricketing mercenary is a lot harder to refute, but Strauss never expressed any desire to play for anyone but England (unlike KP).
Personally, I reckon it's sour grapes from an Aussie (don't hide your anti-English prejudice behing a veil of neutrality) who wishes Lord Brockett was opening their innings (the Aussies did have a claim on him and Strauss's wife, Ruth, is an Aussie) instead of Hughes the Hopeless!
Lions left to lick wounds after epic failure 10:04pm on 29 Jun 2009 The comments from Ruck Maker and the like are very worthy suggestions as to what can be done to make th Lions more competitive. But in the real world they just cannot work, here's why:
The suggestion for better warm up matches has some merit, but looking at it from a SA point of view, why should the Currie Cup teams select their Boks? Why risk a player like Bryan Habanna getting injured. It makes no sense. Far better to have a few young guns soften the Lions up a bit so the big guns can take 'em out in the test- which is exactly what happened.
As for announcing the team well ahead of time and having them meet for regular training camps- it ain't gonna happen. The English clubs fight tooth and nail to stop them being called up for international team training camps so why would they play ball over the Lions? As you've mentioned, the late-season finish to club competitions like the Heineken Cup and the Guiness premiership don't help, either
Lions left to lick wounds after epic failure 11:09pm on 28 Jun 2009 @ChairboyPaul:

To answer our question, I was born in 1981. So I missed the Lions great series wins over NZ in 1971 and SA in 1975- probably their two greatest moments. And you're right- my perspective of what Rugby should be doing will be different to those versed in the old era.
I'm not totally immune to the effects of tradition. I'm gutted that the Welsh, Irish and Scottish Unions have downgraded their club competitions to the extent they mean nothing. It's sad that great names like Llanelli, Newport, Neath, Melrose, Galasheils and the like have dissapeared from top garde Rugby. It's sad that the chase for TV Bucks has seen the SA domestic game rebranded to the extent that North Transvaal are now known as 'The Blue Bulls' (WTF?) and that famous grounds like Kings Park and Newlands have been sold on to coperate sponsorship.
Just like all of this, it will sad if the Lions no longer become a realistic proposition. But as I've hopefully made clear, the game of Rugby had changed dramatically in 20 years, and various traditions have been cast aside in order that it can thrive. If people want to experince the tradition and nostalgia of a Lions tour may I suggest they contact JPR, Phil Bennett, Gareth Edwards and ask them to take on a vets side from NZ/SA/Aus every now and then. If you want to watch top-grade professional Rugby Football and want your team/nation to still ahve a chance of winning, then accept that it comes at a price.
I've tried to stay clear of mentioning his, but as a Rugby and Football fan I'm insulted at you comparing Rugby negatively to Football in such a way. Football has many, many faults. But make no mistake, if a Footy player had been guilty of half the skulduggery which both Lions and Boks players have been guilty of they would ahve been sent off, no question. Vioence is simply not accepted in Football, for better or worse. That Rugby seemingly still accepts various levels of assault as 'part of the game' does it no crdit whatsoever.
Lions left to lick wounds after epic failure 7:01pm on 28 Jun 2009 A few poins about the 'future' of the Lions, in the light of all the recent discussion .
1)International Rugby has changed since the Lions heyday of the 70's. The Five Nations is now Six. We now have a Rugby World Cup. The Southern Hemisphere sides have ther own competition (The Tri-Nations). Sides which weren't as competitive then (Aregnrtina, The Pacific Island Teams, hell even Italy at a stretch)are more than capable of beating many of the traditional powerhouse teams. There's way more Test Rugby played now- more than is good for the game or the players if we're honest and we need to reduce the number of Tests, not make more of them.
2) Club Rugby has changed since then too. Back then, the club system at least was haphazardly organised at best. Nowadays we have a highly competitive club competition (the Heineken Cup)which is at times as intense as any Test Match, further putting more players at risk of fatigue and injury.
3) The SH attitude to tours has changed. Pre-RWC, probably the greatest honour a SANZAR player could recieve was to be part of a touring side to the British Isles (remember that the term 'All-Black' 'Springbok' and 'Wallaby' was orginally given only to touring teams, not teams playing in 'home' internationals.) For example, the 1991 All Blacks touring team had a 20-game tour itinerary featuring such names lost to history as Neath (no longer a top flight side), Midland Counties (when was the last time a top English player represented his county or region?) an Scotland 'A' (in an age when the Scotalnd first XV coldn't stay within 50 points of NZ, the idea that they once fielded a second XV against them seems both funny and sad). Yes it's sad that we'll never see another Llanelli 9, New Zealand 3, but the reason SANZAR don't do such lengthy tours any more because hey just arean't practical these days, so why should the Lions?
3) Back in the 70's the fact that the Lions (and the Baa-Baas too) were a 'scratch' side made no odds as ALL ineternational rugby was played by scracth sides- the amount of prematch training for all Test Sides was very limited becasue of the games' amateur status.In the modern era of training camps and the like, the odds are more in the favour of the settled side. The Boks have probably been preparing for the Lions Tour for months ahead of time, not days or weeks.
5) Was it really a British Isles side? No Scots and only a handful of English players? (I admit that's mainly becasue th Englsih/Scots werent good enough but it doesn't exactly reinforce the image of a United team)
All of which is a long winded way of saying that, sadly, I feel the Lions Tour is something which belongs in Rugby's glorious past, not it's future. The fact is, if the home sides want to be more competitive against the SANZAR sides then as things stand it can only do so by the four permenant teams getting tehri houses in order and preparing for them in the way the England teams of Sir Clive Woodward did in the year or so leading up tp the 2003 RWC.
Monty the right man for job 7:31pm on 02 Feb 2009 Dear Thechildrens reporter: glad I lightened up your day. Yes, I was being serious.

There is no way a player who bails out of a tournament like The Open after 9 holes for reasons other than a genuine injury should be let within a mile of the Ryder Cup captaincy. If he was that bothered abot playing in that awaful weather (and it was awful, I admit) when why take your place in the field in the first place? Let's put it this way- if he were a club golfer who bailed out of ,say, the Captain's Day competition at his local club, and then put himself forward as club captan subsequent to this, everyone from the committe to rank and file members who play off 20+ handicaps would be more than a bit reluctant to have him as Captain.

So what if his statement was graciously worded? I can write a mean statement too given a couple of hours preparation! It doesn't a) mean it was sincere, and b) excuse the behaviour in the first instance. It also raises the issue of whether a player who by his own admission was reduced to 'a wreck' (or words similair to that) is really a good candidiate to take The Ryder Cup hotset, with all the pressure that goes with it.

The last point I'd make on the issue is the The Ryder Cup captaincy has never been about fairness or somebody 'Getting Their Turn.' It's about who'll get the job of winning the match done, plain and simple. The fact is, we don't have an obvious 'ideal' candidate in the manner of a Seve. And to be honest, if we really want to win the RC back, we should have got rid of this 'one time only' concept and asked Langer, Torrence or Woosnam to do it. But as that's not possible, and bear in mind all the percieved problems with Faldo, the Committe would always plump for a candidate who was Euro-centric (as opposed to the US-based Faldo), has recent regular tour playing experinece (so he still gets on with the players), has the respect of the players and isn't goig to butt heads with them.
Now, I feel Olazabal could have been that man, but I can also see why they didn't plump for him- his fitness has been questionable for nearly a decade and (this hasn't been mentioned too much but I feel is worthy of attention) Europe's largely listless performance in the Royal Trophy probably rasied more questions.
Who's left? Given that Darren Clarke wants to go on playing that leaves only one leder statesman who fits the bill- step forward Monty.
Monty the right man for job 00:09am on 31 Jan 2009 Geez, that didn't take long, did it? Already three days in and poor Monty's already getting it in the neck! Give the guy a break. And I never thought I'd be saying that about Monty.

To be honest, I think it's a little premature to be selcting the RC captain well over year before battle is due to commence anyway. There's very little Monty can do at this stage to influence proceedings for better or worse- at least 8 of his side will be chosen on the basis of rank or winnings, something which Colin won't have any control over. Even the captains picks is something that can't really be discussed until nearer the time. Which kind of begs the question why appoint him so soon? It's not inconcievable Colin could have played his way onto the RC team (though I personally belive his days as a top player are gone) or that Ollie, for so long the Tour Committe's choice, would know for sure whether he would be up to the job physically or not.

That said if you have to pick a captain now, then I suppose they've done right. Despite what people ahve said, Ollie's fitness, or lack of it, is a problem- remember how in previous contests we've seen Seve and Langer bombing it over the fairways from match to match? That must surely take it out on you, and you need your captain to be up to it. As for Lyle- well, that walk-off during The Open last year has, rightly in my opinion, come back to haunt him. Exactly how many of the players would have respected him for that, eh? The suprise is not that Lyle wasn't selected but that a) he was even considered in the first place b) he's actually had the gall to sound off about it. If he wants to know why he wasn't selected someone should dig out the tape of Round 1 at Birkdale and show him how a bunch of golfers, some of whom will never come close to winning a major, showed more commitment to the game than a two-time major champion.
Azinger fashions US in Europe's image 11:38pm on 24 Sep 2008 I don't wish to sound like a sycophant, but I think one or two of you are being a bit hard on Iain- he's expressing an opinion that several others share, golfers, journos and amateur fans alike. And no, I'm not a BBC employee in disguise!

I'd largely back Faldo's decisions but I wouldn't call anyone an 'idiot' for daring to disagree with it! And whilst Faldo's selections may have been correct (picking Poulter, leaving the ouy-of-form Westwood/Garcia out of the Saturday foursomes), Captaincy goes beyond mere decision making, and here's where teh Faldo-knockers may have a point.
You do have to wonder why the Europeans, who were most peoples' favourites on paper before the matches, came up so short? Could it be that Azinger's captaincy reached parts that Faldo's didn't, to coin a phrase? Did his oddball press conference performances turn one or two members of the team against him? Did he show favouritism to certain team members that put others off? It's not that unresonable to suggest that Faldo may have created one or two problems.
The truth probably is that Europe's defeat was down to several factors: Some of these were totally out of Faldo's control (an opposition playing inspired golf), some were slightly under his control (big name golfers not performing), and some possible problems have been reported (such as team dishormany) which if true, he had a responsibility to nip in the bud.
Azinger fashions US in Europe's image 3:02pm on 22 Sep 2008 First, Iain, I'd like to offer my congratualations to you and your team on a job well done at the Ryder Cup. Although the result was not the one I'd hoped for, the tension and sportin draam from this weekend was something I won't forget quickly and in a peverse sort of way I actually enjoyed this year more than our two steam-rolling victories in the past two matches. You're dead right to suggest that this could be a definite shot in the arm for the Ryder Cup's future, and there's no doubt needs events like this in it's calendar (far more than it needs to be i the Olympics at any rate).

Secondly, congratulations to Paul Azinger and the US team. They played the better golf and were worthy winners.

The inquest seems to have alreday begun into the European failure judging by the back pages of the English press (presumably the same applies to their Celtic equivelants). Whilst Nick Faldo, as he captain, has to carry some responsibility for the defeat, I think it's totally unfair for him to carry the can himself. There were several big-name European players who, as Iain alludes to, did not turn up. Who would have guessed that Harrigton, Westwood and Garcia would contibute just 2 1/2 points between them? We're used to getting more than that from Garcia alone! I feel sorry for the likes of Justin Rose, Greame McDowell, Robert Karlsson and especially Ian Poulter- these lesser lights gave their all only to be let down by some of their more celebrated colleagues.

I think alot of it was lost on the greens- alot of our golf prior to the final day was exemplerary from tee to green but we were strugling to hole 8 ft putts on a consistent basis whilst our opponents were finding the cup from twice that range with what seemed like regularity- this cost us especially in the saturday foursomes, I felt, where a few holed putts here and there could have seen the sides go into the final day level-peggng which could have made all the difference.

The decisions Falso has took most stick for where ones he was at least partially vindicated on- Poulter took 4 points from 5, whilst the Westwood/Garcia free foursomes was the only session we won outright. Maybe as the dust settles it might be revealed that the poor performances of the Big 3 were down to dressing-room disharmony, in which case Faldo must take some responsibility for this. But first and foremost, I think we have to accept that the US played the better golf, that they held their nerves when it mattered most, and that their golfers for the first time since the 1990's excellend themselves whilst ours did not perform to expectations.

Sorry for the long post, folks!
Europe set up Ryder decider 1:28pm on 21 Sep 2008 Speaking personally, I am glad that it has come to this, with both sides playing spectacular golf at times and both teams having a chance of winning. I'm really looking forward to ths afternoon.

I think it would be fair to say the US have played far better than most European observers would have given them credit for- the numbr of crucial putts the US have holed has been the key (compare this to Garcia and Casey, in paticular, who hadn't holed a putt worthy of the name until the 18th yesterday). Nonetheless, I feel some of the more hot-and-cold members of the US team may be found out playing mano-a-mano- Holmes and Kim have been guilty of playing some really dumb shots over the first two days and might not get away with them in singles.

To answer poster no.18- the prolems with Monty's game at the moment are too numerous to list in such a short space, but he's not in the world's top 50, missed the cut in the three majors he qualified for this season and half his season's earnings came from a runners up cheque in the Fench Open- put simply, he's not playing well enough, and hasn't done in truth since he blew his chance at the 2006 US Open. Specificly, his putting (never his stongest suit, IMO) is poor, and when he misses a crucial putt he tries to force the issue on the next hole, which means his normally solid tee-to-green game goes to pot. Hope this helps...

I'm hoping for a Euro win this afternoon obviously, and I think it makes perfet sense to hold one or two big guns in reserve. I think Faldo's done it just right- put enough 'name'playes out first to ensure some 'blue' on the board, but left enough in reserve to ensure there is somebody to bring home the bacon if we are in a position to win it. Come on bys, you can do t!
Team spirit key to Cup 3:44pm on 13 Sep 2008 Here we go again- the old "The USA will be better because Tiger Woods isn't playing" arguemnet- have you ever heard such a load of rubbish?

Please eplain to me how a side which could have had the best golfer in the world by some distance in it's ranks is supposed to perform better by not having him there? TW obviously doesn't consider the Ryder Cup a priority, but the guy has still never lost a Sunday singles match. Let's put it this way, if you are in the European Team, come Saturday night at least half the team would be losing sleep if they thought there was a chance they would going toe-to-toe with the greatest golfer currently playing. IT's often said Tiger has his opponents beaten before they've hit a single shot because of his rep- Why is missing the one player who has a hoodoo over any player he faces a good thing?

With Wodds out the picture, who have the European team got to fear? Mickelson? Do me a favour- the guy's driving is as bad as it's ever been and at the PGA his short game started to go as he got too cute on a number of rescue shots. And let's not even mention that 9 at US Open when he had to play the same approach shot 4 times! Holmes? After his last round collapse at the PGA I'm suprised he's even in the team. Kim still has a long way to go, as far as I'm concerned. Furyk hasn't won on the PGA Tour all year. Perry ducked out of plaing the majors in order to qualify, which says to me his game isn't up to it. Interesting fact- there hasn't been a US-born winner on the pGA Tour since July- in the event played opposite the Open, and therefore featured none of the big names. Also this will be the first time in Ryder Cup History that the US will go into the match without a single holder of one of the four Majors. If Europe can;t beat this lot, something is seriously wrong!

oNe last point: all this talk of a course that favours big-hitters overlooks the fact that Robert Karlsson, Henrick Stenson and Lee Westwood hit the ball as long (and straight)as anyone.

Europe to win 16-12.

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Ross1981