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tazitiger80

Listed below are comments made by tazitiger80 between Monday, 24th August 2009 and Monday, 9th November 2009.

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Howard's Way 5:00pm on 09 Nov 2009 Great article Nick, I think you article pointed out a lot about Mr Rudd's Premiership, he has gone for the polls and acted on emotional subjects such as Climate Change and indigenous relations but he has lucked substance on the future.

John Howard may not have been popular but he made decisions and acted with conviction such as Gun Control post Port Arhur, the East Timor situation and on Tax Reform. Those were key things that won him votes but also alienated him. Howard wasn't perfect, I personally found him sometimes trying to be a President when he was against it (ie. Wanting to open the 2000 Olympics, present the 2003 Rugby World Cup & staying on for the glory of APEC) but he was a leader when the country needed one, 11 years as Prime Minister tells you most of the population believed in him.

PS - As a London-based Sydney-sider who was at Twickenham, I groaned when that 3rd minute drop-goal went over, I had feelings we were going to see a repeat of the 12-10 RWC2007 Quarter Final but thankfully not :-)
Is Australia needy for acclaim? 00:47am on 11 Oct 2009 Simple answer Nick, YES but I find this is inflamed by the press. One of the funniest comments I ever heard was when Jerry Seinfeld was asked upon landing at the airport what he thought of Aussie (Probably by Mr Pilger), he replied straight faced, 'I just landed, how do I know if I'll like it'. Sometimes we are definetly a country who requires reassurance that we matter and are loved in the world.
Code dead? 10:35pm on 08 Oct 2009 AarghBees, how many of the Melbourne Storm players are actually from Melbourne, is there a decent grass-roots development there. I did exclude the ACT as again I don't feel their is any development there. NSW/QLD/NZ are the only major areas of player development. I know of the Western Reds team based out of Perth playing in the lower tier (I believe the NSW Cup?), however I excluded them as they are not in the top tier, ditto for the Russian League you mentioned.

In terms of the UK, all bar 3 teams come from the same small area of midland Britain, just like most of the NRL's team are congregated around Sydney. I can only think of Harlequins, Celtic & Catalans playing out of this area. The fact France's only professional team play out of Perpignan shows how small the game is in France.

Internationally, League's TEST playing teams consist of Aussie, England, France, New Zealand, South Africa and the smaller nations of Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Russia & PNG. Only Aussie, England & NZ (To a lesser extent France) have the chance to win a world title. Yes, there are about 20 affiliated nations but the RL does not have the global capacity that RU has.

At Rugby, any of South Africa, England, Aussie, New Zealand, France, Argentina, Wales, Ireland & Scotland could win the World title and the Union game is played at Test level by nations as varse as Namibia, Uganda, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Pakistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Portugal, Samoa & PNG. Globally Union destroys League.

AFL as I said is a local game but the passion of the fans in those 4 states makes AFL like NFL & Gaellic Football where it doesn't need a worldwide audience, I think 70,000 Victorians attending a regular season match is evident of this. And against Football/Soccer the three games stand as minnows globally.

I hope no game ever dies as they all offer something to the fan, like I said in the previous article I was a mad RL fan until the 1990's killed off the team I supported and I gradually lost interest. Another reason why RL is the weaker, until David Gallop arrived, bad management.
Does Australia deserve its boozy reputation? 3:33pm on 08 Oct 2009 Australian's like a drink like everyone, the only problem we have is we are binge drinkers when we do drink - If you go out, you out hard and generally end up in strife from booze-related fights and accidents. I think our drink-driving laws being so tough are a good thing to have.

Seeing the Aussie tourists come over to Europe and booze it up is embarassing, our name is mud in many parts of the world due to stupid acts done by stupid people when stupidly intoxicated.

Aussie like the USA & UK have binge-drinking problems as we hit it hard and sneak around when young to get it, plus alcohol is seen as an icon to have. I think Italy & France have it right by weaning kids onto alcohol in controlled environments but they have it wrong with 16 being the legal drinking age. Though Aussie may have its alcohol problems I think the line we have drawn in the sand suits us right now.
Code dead? 3:29pm on 08 Oct 2009 I think that Rugby Union already has died on a local scale Nick. The ARU's attempted Australian Championship was the local competition and it never took off. Super 14 is a different game, it won't die in Aussie as it has the South African & New Zealand teams, it is a separate entity unto itself. League is a NSW/QLD/NZ and British Midlands game only, it is the weakest of the three. AFL is a VIC/SA/WA/TAS game but like Gaellic Footy in Ireland it is held so passionately there that it only needs a local base to survive and it will survive well.

On a personal note, I think you can follow them all - I am a NSW lad who grew up on League and saw my team (The Mighty Bears) thrown out by the suits who run the game. I lost my love of it and today follow the Swannies in AFL, the Tahs in Rugby but more importantly, I am a lover of the round ball game now thanks to life in England and Sydney FC & Chelsea are my teams, go BLUE!!! (And Red & White for AFL)
The Curious Case of Senator Fielding 7:51pm on 09 Sep 2009 About 10 years ago we said the same of Brian Harradine when he blocked John Howard's GST package in the Senate. Now Labor are suffering from the same problem of minority party senators, it comes with Government Kevin :-)

Having minority senators does mean we get a better look at how policies work and more debate by senators, ie. They have to earn their salary a little bit more - I recall when Johnny won a majority in the Senate a few years back, half the population went 'oh well' and half were screaming of foul play. Some call this DEMOCRACY :-)
Aussie captaincy enters transition phase 10:46pm on 07 Sep 2009 It appears Punter will continue till the 2013 Ashes but he has a wife and family and needs to spend time with them. Dumping the 20/20 game frees him up more for that, don't be surprised to see him finish 50/50 cricket after the 2011 World Cup and play 2011-13 purely in Tests. He desires winning the Ashes in England and that is his guiding light in cricket now
The wonder from down under 10:41pm on 07 Sep 2009 I think your article points out nicely Nick that a number of factors are the reason for Aussie doing well economically and no one person should take the credit. The RBA's management, the fiscal package, the minerals and the state of the economy prior to the recession have all helped as has the banking sector; if Aussie did not have the 'Four Pillars' policy we may have had weaker un-regulated banks at the start of the crisis and a less-easy ride.
After the Ashes 4:04pm on 26 Aug 2009 Thank god the Ashes is over and we won't have to put up with 150 comments from doosh-bag Aussies & English baiting each other and vying for which country are the biggest whingers.

Your last two articles show Nick that both our nations are petty and want to one-up each other, we're both as bad as each other.

Bring on the Football World Cup in June 2010, let's just hope England & Australia are not pooled together or the fireworks will start again :-)
Victory or heist at the Oval? 7:11pm on 24 Aug 2009 England won the Ashes by taking their chances when they came and deservedly so. Aussie dominated tests 1 & 4, England 2 & 5 and in between #3 was slightly to England early and slightly to Aussie towards the end. The key thing was Aussie didn't finish their dominance in test #1 so England have won the little urn back.

Congrats to England, as an Aussie in England I have suffered the loss of 2005 and now 2009, don't worry, I won't be here in 2013 so the jinx (ME!) will be gone :-)

Kiwis who support NZ and anyone against Australia are having a laugh..... at themselves - Personally I say good luck to the All Whites for the football and to the All Blacks against the Springboks, stop suffering little brother syndrome ozbob68

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