Northampton cut Ashton’s nose off to spite their face

I’ve been away for a while (apologies), real-life and all that. I need to catch-up sharpish so I’ll keep the next couple of posts short and sweet. So….rewinding a few weeks to the last round of Heineken Cup pool matches, there was drama aplenty as Harlequins were surpisingly eliminated after the heroics of theier momentous away victory in Toulouse (who themselves flirted dangerously close with an embarrasing exit), though Northampton’s glorious 36-51 defeat won accolade for game of the round. Despite having already qualified, the perenial knock-out experts ensured Northampton suffered heartache to an Irish province for the second consecutive year.

Whilst this fact isn’t that surprising given Munster’s track record for drama, suspense and emotional roller coasters, what disapointed and facsinated me was the omission of Chris Ashton from the Northampton line-up. The England flyer is bound for Saracens next season and in the week where all the specualtion about his future was finally resolved, Northampton deemed it best – and wisest – to leave one of Europe’s best wingers and unarguably one of their best players in recent years out of the match day squad altogether.

I haven’t seen an official Northampton line on why Chris Ashton was deemed not good enough for Northamapton’s match day 22 versus Munster, but if the intention was to try and make a point or statement about his loyalty to the saints cause, it severly backfired. Ashton broke no rules or regualtions (moral or otherwise) by agreeing a contract with Saracens, quickly using his Twitter account to say:…..’until then, it’s all about Saints’… when news of his move to Saracens was finally inked.

It would be folly of Northampton not to plan for Ashton’s departure by blooding other players to minimise the impact of his eventual departure. It would also be folly of Northampton to ignore the services and skills of a current England international who was joint-top try scorer at last year’s World Cup; has scored 95 tries in 105 appearances for the club; and has accumalted 15 tries in only 18 test matches. Considering they are paying his wages until May, Northampton would be best served using Ashton for something both parties will benefit from – playing him and winning rugby matches.

LTA = Lost Tennis Association

Whilst Muhhamad Ali’s 70th birthday is rightly stealing most of this week’s sporting headlines, Monday marked the start of the tennis calendar’s first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open in Melbourne, bringing familiar disapointment. A new sporting year or season naturally generates swathes of optimism about possibilities for the year ahead, illustrated perfectly as Great Britain had six players in the main singles draw of a foreign Grand Slam event for the first time in 20 years (who needs Andy Murray, eh??).

However, by the end of the first day all of this hope was evaporated as five British players all suffered first-round defeats, leaving Andy Murray to carry the nation’s tennis hopes on his shoulders once more. Whilst we’ve become all used to Andy Murray being the lone British interest in the latter weeks of a Grand Slam event, it really should be the LTA carrying the can and being held to account for British tennis’ continued failure.

The ATP and WTA tours are tough, unforgiving, globe-trotting circuses, jam-packed with an array of talented tennis players from every corner of the globe. Success is not guaranteed. Yet, as British tennis continues to suffer, the lavishly funded LTA – in an era when the England rugby union team won the World Cup and the cricket team have topped the ICC Test rankings and won the 20:20 World Cup – can’t even claim credit for the few British tennis success stories of the last 20 years.

After the annual pantomime of watching Jeremy Bates, Tim Henman’s career was developed at the David Lloyd Slater Squad; Tim Rusedski was effectively ‘adopted’ from Canada where he started his tennis education, whilst Andy Murray has often recited how his disregard for the LTA drove him to learn the nuisanaces of the game in Spain at Barcelona’s Sánchez-Casal Academy.

Spot the pattern? Not one world or international class (e.g. regualr top 100) British tennis player has been produced by the LTA this century. Until this organisation is seriously over-hauled, I fear Briish tennis will continue to languish in the duldrums.

Happy 70th birthday Muhhammad Ali

The self-appointed ‘greatest’, one of the sporting world’s most recognisable, loved and once controversial icons, celebrates his 70th birthday this weekend – with no less than four separate parties. After his well-documented acheivements in the ring, his charisma and the universal adoration he now receives, few would begrudge the great man a wee bit of excess to mark his 70th birthday. However, the truth is that these parties are being held to help raise money for his charitable foundation.

As ever, as many of his conquered opponents discovered, things are never quite what they seem with Muhhammad Ali. Happy birthday big man.

This great video of one of his most famous rants, sums the man up perfectly.

Boxing: clever?

The fallout from Amir Khan’s controversial points defeat to Lamont Peterson in a WBA and IBF light-welterweight world title fight continued this week after the WBA’s president said there should be a re-match because of the amount of controversy surrounding the fight, the scoring and ultimately its result. Whether the mysterious presence at ringside during the fight of the pantomime villian, Mustafa Ameen, (and in the ring taking part in the Camp Peterson victory celebrations afterwards), helps answer any questions or proves to be nothing more than a red-herring, one thing is for sure. After watching the full-fight, Amir Khan definitely and absolutely deserves a re-match. In a sport often marred by unsavoury stories and dodgy results (ask Mathew Macklin), boxing would do well to snap this olive branch out of fate’s hand to restore some much needed integrity.

And I couldn’t write a post on boxing without at least mentioning how Floyd Mayweather Jnr, better known for elduing the punches of frustrated opponents, has been able to get a custodial jail-term suspended (seemingly) to allow him to FINALLY fight Manny Pacquiao. Unarguaby, in my opinion, Mayweather should be serving his jail-term the same way most other U.S citizens would do if found guilty of assualting a woman. What is unarguable, is that this fight – if it materialises – is one the boxing and sporting worlds cannot wait to see. Me included.

Let’s just see if the boxing gods allow these controversial fights, for differing reasons, to take place.

Danny’s care free attitude gets just desserts

It was refreshing and pleasing to see the England rugby coach, Stuart Lancaster, take a tough stance and ban Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care from the forthcoming Six Nations after he was charged by police for drink driving on New Years Eve. Whilst most commentators and pundits are universally agreed that the punishment is justified, I can’t fathom why the words ‘slightly harsh’ have crept into some of the rhetoric.

Besides from being a high-profile, professional sportsman and England international, which comes with the responsibilty of not drivng a vehicle whilst under the influence of alcohol, his actions could ultimately have led to serious injury for others, or much worse. But when you consider that this incident came a mere three weeks after the same player was fined and reprimanded by his club following an arrest for being drink and disorderly, there is no room for any sympathy whatsoever.

England’s 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign was blighted by apparent dressing room unrest, stemming in part from the inability of some players to act responsibly while drinking, along with Martin Johnson’s inability to admit they’d actually done anything wrong or enforce any discipline. His refusal to adequately punish these episodes ultimately cost him his job.

I’m an avid rugby watcher and big fan of Danny Care, who England so glaringly missed in New Zealand, where an off-colour Ben Youngs (ahem, still England’s best No.9) misfired. After missing the sport’s showpiece through injury and watching England’s campaign become dogged with off-field, alcohol fuelled controversies, you’d expect someone trying to impress a new coach (with a starting shirt up for grabs) to keep his nose clean. The fact Danny was arrested twice in a matter of weeks for the same offence shows a clear lack of respect for his team-mates and coaching staff, with Harlequins and England respectively.

Having played rugby for seven years, one of the best parts is enjoying a pint after the game with both team-mates and opponents. Drinking has always been a part of rugby – though it isn’t the future – and it’s impact on the dressing room has been recognised already by some. Wales took an equally tough stance with Andy Powell after a series of unsavoury off-field incidents, which played a part in the players voluntarily abstaining from alcohol for the duration of their World Cup campaign. The result? Wales were visiby the fittest Northern Hemisphere team and the most impressive in terms of performances. A fact I’m sure not lost on the new England management team.  One can only hope that other players will take note.

KO

Gary Ablett

After the untimely death of Gary Speed, football lost another of its true gentleman over the festive period with the news that former Liverpool and Everton defender Gary Ablett died at the age of 46 after losing his battle with cancer. I had the pleasure and fortune to meet Gary nine years ago, where me and some of my team mates at Keele University Football Club were used as guniea pigs for ex-players seeking to gain their FA coaching bagdes.

Amid the notable household names and egos who we met and were coached by during the week –  including Paul Ince, Peter Schmeichel, Dean Windass, Shaun Goater and Mark Crossley – Gary’s love of the game shone through, as he treated slightly star-struck students with nothing short of respect, not once displaying the arrogance you’d now expect from a former top-flight player who enjoyed a nine-year trophy-laden spell at the dominant English football team of the decade. Needless to say, two players from the coaching party with equally impressive CVs weren’t quite as ‘humble’ and I’ll never forget the dressing down Gary gave one of them for arriving late to a training session wearing Bermuda shorts and flip-flops.

That amsuing episode certainly left an impression on me, as it did countless others throughout his glittering career, and it’s a tale I recite and recount often. Being a Liverpool fan, I think I can safely speak for supporters of both clubs split by the Stanley Park divide, that Gary Ablett is a true footballing hero and will be sorely missed by many. RIP Gary