BLOG POSTS ARCHIVE - February 2007
Posted Feb 26th 2007, 10:53am
by Andy Swan
Carling Cup showdown
I think there's every chance the Carling Cup will be sponsored by Stella Artois next season the way that one went off.
Hardly the respectful end to what has been quite a successful and entertaining competition.
There's something ironic too in Arsenal blooding all this youth as good experience and a sound grounding to learn about the in's and out's of the game, only for two of the supposedly more senior (and smarter) players to be the ones trudging back to the changing rooms early.
A bit of a mess of a Final really, but a good day in Cardiff (minus the horrendous queues at Paddington) and a memorable if ultimately disappointing day.
I still can't help thinking that Chelsea cheated their way to the Final with that Drgoba free-kick at Newcastle, but there you go ...
Posted Feb 19th 2007, 2:12pm by Andy Swan
Table football - South
I competed in this last weekend (but have only just found a news story on it.)
Shirley isn't the most salubrious part of Southampton but I have never seen so many boozers within two miles of one another, and the one we were in hosted an excellent event.
Article is below, link is (http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/display.var.1187105.0.tablefootballgiantsbattleit_out.php) for those wanting to get involved in future tournaments in the South ...
"There was plenty of blood, sweat and tears shed for the cause at a Southampton pub over the weekend as more than 60 players battled it out across the tables in the Southern England Table Football championships.
Players had come from far and wide to join in the tournament at the Griffin pub, Shirley.
Contestants were competing for a share of the £2,000 prize-money on offer. They included Canada's Kane Gabriel and Ireland's number one male and female players Norman Clooney and Louise Herring.
England's finest table football talent was headed by world number three, Wigan-based Rob Atha.
The Anglesea Road pub was packed to the rafters well before Saturday's lunch-time kick-off as players of all abilities, ranging from beginners to pro-masters playing across 12 specially drafted-in tables, filled the pub ahead of the start of the two-day tournament. And by the time the championships had reached half-time on Saturday night the 65 players who started the open singles tournament had been whittled down to 26 ahead of finals on Sunday.
On a tense day yesterday Herring claimed the first prize by beating Hannah Ramley to win the women's singles tournament.
advertisementDuo Rob Davy and Tom Burdett then beat James Harold and Stephen Lyle to land the rookie doubles prize.
And the full-time whistle was finally blown on a breathless weekend of action just after 10pm last night.
But only after pre-tournament favourite Atha landed the open singles title by beating a rookie player and then the open doubles title alongside partner Norman Clooney after defeating Joe Hamilton and Dave Bareham.
At the end of an exhausting weekend, organiser Phil Williams said: "It has been a really good weekend I am just glad it is over because I am knackered. It has been even better than I thought it would be and there was a really good turn out."
And Landlady Barbara Risk whose pub agreed to host the tournament and put £1,000 into the prize money kitty said: "It has been a really good weekend in the pub and really busy. We'd love to host something like this again."
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Posted Feb 15th 2007, 10:49am by Andy Swan
The drugs do work!
Interesting piece on drugs in sport, and confirming the suspicions I have had for a while that eventually doping will become so undetectable that you'll never know who is on performance-enhancing drugs and who isn't.
It's a real concern and there's little we can do about it, isn't there?
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,2002942,00.html
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Posted Feb 11th 2007, 2:41pm by Andy Swan
Cricket heroes - surely not?
Tremendous England!
Who would have thought that out of all the adversity of what has been a truly horrid tour, a one-day team could come away with so much glory.
Does this give us hope for the World Cup? Maybe.
But more importantly it takes the Aussies down a notch or two, and while they should still return with their heads bowed for a truly farcical Ashes tour, there is at least a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.
Congratulations England - a stirring performance and a great win when all looked lost against New Zealand.
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