What constitutes a sport?

Football, rugby, cricket... cup stacking?!



How do you define a sport? What does something need to be for it to constitute a sport?

Answers on a postcard (or in the comment box below)

Bookies relief as Liverpool look to prosper

So it appears Manchester United are doing all they can to make the Premier League title race interesting this year.

Last week's 4-1 humiliation at home to Liverpool and yesterday's 2-0 defeat at Fulham has given Liverpool the chance to close the gap at the top to just one point.

But, United would still have a game in hand, and would still be required to lose perhaps two games to lose the league title now.

However, just a few weeks ago, it seemed Sir Alex Ferguson was not far away from the greatest managerial achievement of all time - an unprecedented quintuple.

Bookies up and down the country have been sweating for weeks about the eventuality of this achievement, as they are set for a massive pay-out if United pull it off. But they will be breathing a little sigh of relief after United's last two games.

Leg two of five was completed with the penalty shoot-out victory over Spurs in the Carling Cup final, and leg three (the league) was all but in the bag then, but things have changed. United have lost their bottle. Vidic, Scholes and Rooney have all seen red in a mad six days which could be seen as the turning point if this United team fail to create a legacy.

Liverpool are traditionally strong finishers to the league season, but they have all too often been long out of the race by now. This year is different. However, it would not be a surprise to see them slip up at Villa today, and fail to take advantage of both United and Chelsea's defeats yesterday.

There's a reason the Premier League is by far the best league in the world, and that is because virtually every team in the league still has something to play for. From the twist and turns of the title race to the battle for fourth place and then of course the relegation scrap at the bottom. Yesterday saw Middlesbrough and Newcastle's fate take a turn for the worst, as defeats left them in the bottom three.

It's going to take a minor miracle for West Brom to stay up now - boss Tony Mowbray needs to scrap the nice football mentality and just do what they have to do to stay up. They missed a massive chance at West Ham last Monday when the match was there for the taking. They need to take more risks if they are to pull off a similar great escape to that orchestrated by Bryan Robson not so many years ago at The Hawthorns.

But it is perhaps the quality of player within the ranks at Boro and Newcastle that makes their relegation woes even more interesting. Huth, Downing, Tuncay, Owen, Martins and Nolan are just six players who could do a job for the majority of Premier League sides, and who would all surely leave if their respective clubs were relegated.

Liverpool would surely be silly to ignore their forgotten son, Owen, if he was allowed to leave. The former Real Madrid striker could be the ideal partner for Fernando Torres and may help take the Liverpool team to the next level. Injuries have plagued the little front man's career, but a world class partnership with Torres may well put him back on the map, and back on Fabio Capello's radar.

The future of Stewart Downing would too be a talking point. He is another man that would suit Liverpool, but Spurs have always been his most likely destination.

But whatever happens, the fate of the bottom few clubs this season could well have an impact on a few of the top clubs next season.

PS. Special mention to Grimsby Town who yesterday moved out of the League Two relegation zone with an impressive 3-0 win over promotion chasing Gillingham. My Mariners-mad flat mate informs me it was the best he's seen them play for a very long time.

Don't fix what isn't broken?

Am I the only one dismayed by the new ruling in Formula 1 that decides the World Champion is the driver with the most wins?

It has been brought in place basically because Lewis Hamilton was able to win the World Championship last year having won one less race than Felipe Massa. The ruling would not have been brought in place had Hamilton not sealed the title in such dramatic fashion - overtaking Toyota's Timo Glock on the final corner at Interlagos in the final race of the season to claim 5th place, while Massa was celebrating the title he thought was his.

The thing is, next year, Hamilton could finish 2nd in every race and be denied by someone who has won say 6 races, who may well retire from every other race in the season. Does this mean they are the best racer? It means that unreliable cars will come to the fore, and that manufacturers can pick and choose their races. Ferrari will choose the races that most suit their cars to go for broke, and perhaps be more conservative at races where their car does not perhaps suit.

This effectively means that rather get in a battle to move up the field, they can settle for a low points finish, knowing that they cannot win the race, but they can focus on the next race instead. Previously, they would have had to push for the highest possible finish to make sure they get the points for the World Championship push.

But how much difference would it have made in the past five years?

2008
Actual Winner: Lewis Hamilton
Most Wins: Felipe Massa (6), Lewis Hamilton (5), Kimi Raikkonen (3), Fernando Alonso (2), Robert Kubica (1), Sebastian Vettel (1)
Difference?: YES

2007
Actual Winner: Kimi Raikkonen
Most Wins: Kimi Raikkonen (6), Fernando Alonso (4), Lewis Hamilton (4), Felipe Massa (3)
Difference?: NO

2006
Actual Winner: Fernando Alonso
Most Wins: Fernando Alonso (7), Michael Schumacher (7), Felipe Massa (2), Jenson Button (1), Giancarlo Fisichella (1)
Difference?: NO

2005
Actual Winner: Fernando Alonso
Most Wins: Fernando Alonso (7), Kimi Raikkonen (7), Juan Pablo Montoya (3), Giancarlo Fisichella (1), Michael Schumacher (1)
Difference?: NO

2004
Actual Winner: Michael Schumacher
Most Wins: Michael Schumacher (13), Rubens Barrichello (2), Kimi Raikkonen (1), Jarno Trulli (1), Juan Pablo Montoya (1)
Difference?: NO

So only last year would it have made a difference. Seems to me they are trying to fix something that isn't broken. Why must their be a continuing need for change in Formula 1?

Franchised Super League enjoys exciting start

It's been a barnstorming start to Super League XIV.

Warrington, Wigan and Bradford - all highly fancied for a play-off push - have struggled, and find themselves at the wrong end of the table, while Castleford, Huddersfield and Hull KR have staked an early claim for a top eight finish come the business end of the season.

James Lowes has been seemingly demoted as Wire have brought in Tony Smith, who seemed to have an impact against Leeds before the 60-8 humiliation at Harlequins, while Steve McNamara and Brian Noble find themselves under pressure following disappointing starts.

Leeds and Hull are the two sides leading the way with 100% records, while St Helens and Wakefield have both won four games so far this season. But it is Hull KR who have impressed the most, securing three wins and a draw from their opening five games, which have seen them face Leeds, St Helens and Bradford.

The beginning of the season has also featured controversy over the new visa ruling, which has denied Hull of their star signing Michael Crocker, prevented Leeds from signing Greg Eastwood and has also seen Catalans take advantage of the UK law which obviously does not impact on them; swooping to steal Greg Bird from the clutches of Bradford, after the former Cronulla Shark was denied a visa to join up with the Bulls.

The start to the season has been that good, even the referees have avoided the limelight. Play the balls have become more consistent, and we are no longer plagued by the continuous penalties given for lying on or incorrect play the balls. John Kear has attributed improved refereeing standards to the increased competitiveness in the league.

An issue that may rear its head in future weeks for referees is the grapple tackle, which Castleford coach Terry Matterson has claimed is being introduced to our game from the NRL, following their defeat to Huddersfield last weekend.

Meanwhile, the RFL have started a series of review visits to the clubs who were granted licences to see if they are keeping up their standards. It is unlikely that any teams are going to be punished if they fail to meet the standards, although there are rumours that the league could be reduced to 12 in three years time, further hindering the chances of top Championship clubs Leigh, Widnes and Halifax staking their claim for a chance in the top flight.

Critics of the licensing system said that the abolition of relegation would make Super League less entertaining. It certainly hasn't so far, but we'll see come Round 20, whether the bottom few clubs still have a genuine interest in this year's competition. If Warrington, Celtic and Bradford continue to struggle, it'll be interesting to see at what point of the season they write off 2009, and begin serious planning for 2010, therefore taking advantage of their prolonged top flight status, courtesy of the licensing system.

Do sportsmen define themselves by the tools they use?

Just how much impact on a sportsman does equipment have?

Would Roger Federer be the same player without the same top of the range tennis racket? Could Tiger Woods still dominate golf with a bog standard golf club? And would Michael Schumacher have won as many Formula 1 World Championships had he been driving a Minardi?

The issue has reared its head this week after swimming body Fina stipulated that swimsuits should not cover the neck and must not extend past the shoulders and ankles.

It has raised questions over the achievements of Rebecca Adlington, who won two gold medals in the Beijing Olympics last year.

It is harsh to bring her achievements under the microscope. Her undoubted talent should not be questioned. But there will be increased pressure on her at her next meet to ensure her standards do not drop as a result in a change of swimwear.

Equipment or teamwear should not give telling advantages to sportspeople, and there's arguments both for and against to whether it does or not.

Two times Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso won a few races last year in the unfancied Renault car, proving his talent. Many F1 fans would have liked to have seen Michael Schumacher race in a lesser car than the Ferrari, and early in his career Benetton, that he dominated the sport with.

If Federer played with a wooden racket, he would still be better than everybody else, who of course would have to use a wooden racket too.

Equipment merely compliments the talents on show, it does not give sportsmen a telling advantage over others, and it is unfair on Adlington and others to suggest otherwise.

Pic Credit: Squidoo

...I love it - Can cricket appeal to the masses?

So, after five days, 1628 runs and 17 wickets, the West Indies-England test match is over. It has raised serious questions about test match cricket in the Caribbean.

Even the purists would struggle to argue that it was worthwhile watching. Even Graham Gooch has spoken out about the state of pitches. Everybody likes watching a good few runs being scored, but when the end result is a virtual "dud" match, where's the entertainment in that?

Cricket, like many other sports, faces a fight to gain media coverage ahead, or even alongside, football. And games like this are hardly an advert for it.

Thanks to satellite television, I have not watched a test match since 2005. Nearly four years ago, England secured the Ashes after a thrilling series, which had virtually the whole country gripped. There was even talk of cricket overthrowing football as a popular sport. It was naive to think that. It was never going to happen, and most people knew it.

But, cricket missed an opportunity. A big opportunity. Instead, it disappeared from terrestrial television, and those casual watchers that it picked up in 2005 did not see the home tests of the next summer, with Channel 4 losing the rights to SKY.

Cricket should have taken its chance to put itself further in the limelight. It has done that, to an extent, with the advent of Twenty20, which has provided an alternative to sitting through four/five days worth of strategy fuelled test match cricket. But it could really kick on from that, and really become THE summer sport of many. There are thousands of football fans crying out for something to do during the summer months, e.g. the football close season, and Twenty20 cricket would be ideal.

An Indian Premier League style competition, but perhaps without the ridiculous pay packets floating around, perhaps based around city teams, rather than the ageing county system, and people can enjoy the British summer (I know) with a few drinks and a carnival atmosphere.

That's not to say test cricket is dead. Far from it. With Australia's dominance at an end, there's an increased competitiveness between the test playing nations, and it's providing some good entertainment. But pitches such as that in Barbados are not good for cricket.

English domestic cricket could do with a kick too. Although Twenty20 has improved things, four day matches and the one-dayers struggle to pull in the crowds. I mention the ageing county system above. I used to be a fan of it, but now not so much. I find it difficulty to imagine people being loyal to a county in the modern day and age. Boundaries have changed, and with people moving around the country even more so than previous, they have no real loyalty to the county in which they live. Lancashire for instance, don't even play in their county. Perhaps a city or franchise based system would work, who knows.

Perhaps if the Ashes goes well for England later this year, cricket can take the opportunity to kick on and open itself up to the masses.

Pic credit: BBC Sport

I don't like cricket....

This post was supposed to be about cricket, missed opportunities and one of the most pointless test matches of all time. Instead, you'll have to do with this.



*I'll re-write my blog post tomorrow with a clear head. Having just wrote it all out and losing it after a computer error, I can't bring myself to start all over again just yet.

Stevens ban fair?

A few weeks ago, I watched Matt Stevens' most revealing interview ever on SKY Sports News. Despite his admissions, I gained respect for a player I had never really followed, aside from seeing him turn out for England on occasions. To admit to be in the wrong, and to do so in such a public domain, is something many other players would fail to do. Footballer Paul Merson did a similar thing in the 1990s, when admitting his problems.

Stevens was this week handed a two year ban from rugby union. Is this fair?

There are always people who argue that drug abusers in sport should be banned for life, and that they can never be "clean". But Stevens was tested positive for a social drug, rather than a performance-enhancing one. In fact, he and his coaches admitted to seeing a drop in his standards as a player, and undoubted side effect of his drug abuse.

Of course, if you were in the workplace of a regular job, if you were tested positive for cocaine, or whatever it may be, you would be sacked. But would you be denied employment for a further two years after that?

Is the solution to Stevens' problem denying him the right to earn a living over the next 24 months? Surely support and rehabilitation is a more suitable approach, give him some time out, and then allow him to return to union when he has recovered from something that has gripped his recent life.

But maybe this attitude has been provoked by a clever, emotive PR set from Stevens and his crew. Who knows. He seemed genuine to me, but there are cynics out there who believe otherwise.

It will be interesting to see how Bath deal with the situation. What's for sure though is that it will be a low two years for Stevens as he recovers and reflects from his mistakes. The question is, whether he'll be able to return to the top of his game on his comeback to union in 2011.