Sports Banter.

Originally posted by vladnz

interesting 1st comment

I couldn't agree more with this bloke. I remember an interview with Xavi Hernandez when he said that in England when a defender clears the ball into the stands the crowd applauds. In Barcelona the crowd would whistle and boo him as it shows he is not comfortable with the ball and he is weak.
MrAnthropophagy 4 months ago 22

your thoughts on both?

Boom.He speaks the truth.Don't have time to comment now but will be back in a while to comment on it.This deserves a thread of it's own as though im not English alot of us are surrounded with its football and its media so its a very very interesting topic.TBC no doubt.

On a serious note,England have looked very comfortable away from home and there is some serious talent coming through now.I think ye made the mistake of calling Lampard,Beckham etc etc the golden gereration when maybe the best is yet to come(maybe under Redknapp as well).

I think Redknapp is very likely to become England manager after the Euros and will have younger players like Hart, Smalling, Jones, Baines, Wilshere, Rodwell at his disposal. Future is bright.

Scotland are very very very lucky.Great performance by Romania and great for the WC that its not all walk overs in the group stages.

Originally posted by 1984ioc
Scotland are very very very lucky.Great performance by Romania and great for the WC that its not all walk overs in the group stages.

real awesome game, Romania's scrum was fucking unreal

Originally posted by vladnz

Originally posted by 1984ioc
Scotland are very very very lucky.Great performance by Romania and great for the WC that its not all walk overs in the group stages.

real awesome game, Romania's scrum was fucking unreal

Their forwards were superb today.Hats off to Japan as well,what a fighting spirit they have just like their footballers.Gave France a great game today.Vladnz where in NZ are you mate if you don't mind me asking.My mum was there last year and fell in love with the place.Hope to visit there someday.

I live in Auckland ^_^

England looked a different team with Ben Youngs at 9.

lucky to get over the line though, and proof that Wilko is human...

Eng vs Arg was an awesome game, the tempo was insane, but i think that Argentina where unlucky with some injuries, and England were a bit lucky in the end , they were pretty much dominated almost the whole game.

Rugby World Cup.

Results (HT scores in brackets):

Friday, 9 September 2011

New Zealand 41 - 10 (29 - 3) Tonga
Tries:
Dagg 2, Kahui 2, Kaino, Nonu Tries:
Taumalolo
Penalties:
Carter Penalties:
Morath
Conversions:
Carter 3, Slade Conversions:
Morath

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Argentina 9 - 13 (6 - 3) England
Tries:
Youngs
Penalties:
Contepomi, Rodriguez 2 Penalties:
Wilkinson 2
Conversions:
Wilkinson

Fiji 49 - 25 (32 - 15) Namibia
Tries:
Goneva 4, Nakarawa, Nalaga Tries:
Koll, Botha
Penalties:
Bai 3 Penalties:
Kotze 2
Drop-goals:
Kotze 3
Conversions:
Bai 5

France 47 - 21 (25 - 11) Japan
Tries:
Pierre, Trinh-Duc, Clerc, Nallet, Pape, Parra Tries:
Arlidge 2
Penalties:
Yachvili 3 Penalties:
Arlidge 2
Drop-goals:
Arlidge
Conversions:
Yachvili 4 Conversions:
Arlidge

Scotland 34 - 24 (18 - 11) Romania
Tries:
Blair, Ansbro, Danielli 2 Tries:
Lazar, Carpo
Penalties:
Paterson 4 Penalties:
Dumbrava 2, Dimofte 2
Conversions:
Paterson Conversions:
Dimofte

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Australia 32 - 6 (6 - 6) Italy
Tries:
Alexander, Ashley-Cooper, O'Connor, Ioane
Penalties:
Cooper 2 Penalties:
Bergamasco 2
Conversions:
O'Connor 3

Ireland 22 - 10 (10 - 0) USA
Tries:
Bowe 2, Best Tries:
Emerick
Penalties:
Sexton Penalties:
Paterson
Conversions:
Sexton, O'Gara Conversions:
Paterson

South Africa 17 - 16 (10 - 6) Wales
Tries:
Steyn, Hougaard Tries:
Falatau
Penalties:
Steyn Penalties:
Hook 3
Conversions:
Steyn 2 Conversions:
Hook

RWC News:

• Organisers say one-third of New Zealand's 4.5m people watched television broadcasts of Friday's Rugby World Cup opener between the All Blacks and Tonga.
• Japan's number eight Ryukoliniashi Holani has been ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury. He will be replaced in the 30-man squad by Toetsu Taufa.
• France coach Marc Lievremont slammed his players for an unconvincing showing against Japan despite their eventual 47-21 win against the Asian champions. "I was frustrated with the way our play was polluted with approximations, technical errors, indiscipline," he told a press briefing.
• Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll admits his side need to improve quickly if they are to stand any real chance of causing an upset at the Rugby World Cup. Ireland laboured to a error-strewn 22-10 victory over the USA on Sunday and O'Driscoll said: "We didn't play well, we really had to fight for our win. I suppose it's job done but there's a lot to improve on."
• Argentina centre Gonzalo Tiesi will miss the rest of the tournament with a knee injury he suffered following a tackle by England's Courtney Lawes during Saturday's 13-9 defeat, while captain and fly-half Felipe Contepomi is struggling with bruised ribs.
• Press reaction to England's 13-9 win over Argentina has been scathing. "You're hardly the All Blacks, England," read the headline in the Mail on Sunday.
• New Zealand great Alan Whetton has urged the All Blacks to take a "pop" at cheeky Aussie fly-half Quade Cooper, who has a history of run-ins with the hosts' captain Richie McCaw.
Midweek RWC Fixtures (UK Time):

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Samoa v Namibia, 03:30
Scotland v Georgia, 08:30
Tonga v Canada, 06:00

Thursday, 15 September 2011

Russia v USA, 08:30

Football Results.

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Barclays Premier League:

Arsenal 1-0 Swansea
Bolton 0-5 Man Utd
Everton 2-2 Aston Villa
Man City 3-0 Wigan
Stoke 1-0 Liverpool
Sunderland 1-2 Chelsea
Wolverhampton 0-2 Tottenham

Npower Championship:

Barnsley 1-1 Leicester
Blackpool 2-0 Ipswich
Bristol City 0-1 Brighton
Burnley 0-2 Middlesbrough
Cardiff 2-0 Doncaster
Coventry 2-0 Derby
Leeds 3-2 Crystal Palace
Peterborough 0-1 Hull
Reading 0-2 Watford
Southampton 3-2 Nott'm Forest
West Ham 4-3 Portsmouth

Sunday, 11th

Npower Championship

Birmingham 3-0 Millwall | Report

Friday, 9 September 2011

League of Ireland Premier Division:

Bray 0-3 St Patricks
Derry City 2-1 UCD
Drogheda Utd 0-2 Bohemians
Galway Utd 2-2 Dundalk
Shamrock Rovers 1-2 Sligo

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Clydesdale Bank Premier League

Celtic 4-0 Motherwell
Dundee Utd 0-1 Rangers
Inverness CT 1-1 Hearts
Kilmarnock 3-2 Dunfermline
St Mirren 0-0 St Johnstone

La Liga:

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Real Madrid 4 – 2 Getafe
R.Sociedad 2 – 2 Barcelona
Valencia 1 – 0 Atl.Madrid
Villarreal 2 – 2 Seville

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Real Betis 1 – 0 Mallorca

Midweek Fixtures:

Barclays Premier League:

Monday, 12 September 2011

QPR v Newcastle, 20:00

International Match

Bolivia v Peru

League of Ireland Premier Division:

Bohemians v Dundalk, 19:45
Derry City v Drogheda Utd, 19:45
Sligo v Bray, 19:45
UCD v Galway Utd, 19:45
St Patricks v Shamrock Rovers, 20:00

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Uefa Champions League

Apoel Nicosia v Zenit St Petersburg, GpG, 19:45
Barcelona v AC Milan, GpH, 19:45
Borussia Dortmund v Arsenal, GpF, 19:45
Chelsea v Bayer Leverkusen, GpE, 19:45
FC Porto v Shakhtar Donetsk, GpG, 19:45
Genk v Valencia, GpE, 19:45
Olympiakos v Marseille, GpF, 19:45
Plzen v BATE Borisov, GpH, 19:45

Carling Cup

Charlton v Preston, R2, 19:45
Crystal Palace v Wigan, R2, 20:00

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Uefa Champions League

Ajax v Lyon, GpD, 19:45
Basle v SC Otelul Galati, GpC, 19:45
Benfica v Man Utd, GpC, 19:45
Dinamo Zagreb v Real Madrid, GpD, 19:45
Inter Milan v Trabzonspor, GpB, 19:45
Lille v CSKA Moscow, GpB, 19:45
Man City v Napoli, GpA, 19:45
Villarreal v Bayern Munich, GpA, 19:45

International Match

Argentina v Brazil

Thursday, 15 September 2011

Uefa Europa League

Athletic Bilbao OFF Paris SG, GpF, 18:00
Besiktas v Macc Tel-Aviv, GpE, 18:00
Dynamo Kiev v Stoke, GpE, 18:00
FC Copenhagen v Vorskla Poltava, GpB, 18:00
FC Zurich v Sporting, GpD, 18:00
Hannover 96 v Standard Liege, GpB, 18:00
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Rapid Bucharest, GpC, 18:00
Lazio v FC Vaslui, GpD, 18:00
PAOK Salonika v Tottenham, GpA, 18:00
Paris SG v Red Bull Salzburg, GpF, 18:00
PSV Eindhoven v Legia Warsaw, GpC, 18:00
Red Bull Salzburg OFF Slovan Bratislava, GpF, 18:00
Shamrock Rovers v Rubin Kazan, GpA, 18:00
Slovan Bratislava v Athletic Bilbao, GpF, 18:00
Anderlecht v AEK Athens, GpL, 20:05
Atletico Madrid v Celtic, GpI, 20:05
Austria Vienna v FC Metalist Kharkiv , GpG, 20:05
AZ Alkmaar v Malmo, GpG, 20:05
Birmingham v Braga, GpH, 20:05
Club Bruges v NK Maribor, GpH, 20:05
Fulham v FC Twente, GpK, 20:05
Maccabi Haifa v AEK Larnaca, GpJ, 20:05
SK Sturm Graz v Lokomotiv Moscow, GpL, 20:05
Steaua Bucharest v Schalke 04, GpJ, 20:05
Udinese v Rennes, GpI, 20:05
Wisla Krakow v Odense BK, GpK, 20:05

Football Results.

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Barclays Premier League:

Arsenal 1-0 Swansea
Bolton 0-5 Man Utd
Everton 2-2 Aston Villa
Man City 3-0 Wigan
Stoke 1-0 Liverpool
Sunderland 1-2 Chelsea
Wolverhampton 0-2 Tottenham

Npower Championship:

Barnsley 1-1 Leicester
Blackpool 2-0 Ipswich
Bristol City 0-1 Brighton
Burnley 0-2 Middlesbrough
Cardiff 2-0 Doncaster
Coventry 2-0 Derby
Leeds 3-2 Crystal Palace
Peterborough 0-1 Hull
Reading 0-2 Watford
Southampton 3-2 Nott'm Forest
West Ham 4-3 Portsmouth

Sunday, 11th

Npower Championship

Birmingham 3-0 Millwall | Report

Friday, 9 September 2011

League of Ireland Premier Division:

Bray 0-3 St Patricks
Derry City 2-1 UCD
Drogheda Utd 0-2 Bohemians
Galway Utd 2-2 Dundalk
Shamrock Rovers 1-2 Sligo

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Clydesdale Bank Premier League

Celtic 4-0 Motherwell
Dundee Utd 0-1 Rangers
Inverness CT 1-1 Hearts
Kilmarnock 3-2 Dunfermline
St Mirren 0-0 St Johnstone

La Liga:

Saturday, 10 September 2011.

Real Madrid 4 – 2 Getafe
R.Sociedad 2 – 2 Barcelona
Valencia 1 – 0 Atl.Madrid
Villarreal 2 – 2 Seville

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Real Betis 1 – 0 Mallorca

Midweek Fixtures:

Barclays Premier League:

Monday, 12 September 2011

QPR v Newcastle, 20:00

International Match

Bolivia v Peru

League of Ireland Premier Division:

Bohemians v Dundalk, 19:45
Derry City v Drogheda Utd, 19:45
Sligo v Bray, 19:45
UCD v Galway Utd, 19:45
St Patricks v Shamrock Rovers, 20:00

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Uefa Champions League

Apoel Nicosia v Zenit St Petersburg, GpG, 19:45
Barcelona v AC Milan, GpH, 19:45
Borussia Dortmund v Arsenal, GpF, 19:45
Chelsea v Bayer Leverkusen, GpE, 19:45
FC Porto v Shakhtar Donetsk, GpG, 19:45
Genk v Valencia, GpE, 19:45
Olympiakos v Marseille, GpF, 19:45
Plzen v BATE Borisov, GpH, 19:45

Carling Cup

Charlton v Preston, R2, 19:45
Crystal Palace v Wigan, R2, 20:00

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Uefa Champions League

Ajax v Lyon, GpD, 19:45
Basle v SC Otelul Galati, GpC, 19:45
Benfica v Man Utd, GpC, 19:45
Dinamo Zagreb v Real Madrid, GpD, 19:45
Inter Milan v Trabzonspor, GpB, 19:45
Lille v CSKA Moscow, GpB, 19:45
Man City v Napoli, GpA, 19:45
Villarreal v Bayern Munich, GpA, 19:45

International Match

Argentina v Brazil

Thursday, 15 September 2011

Uefa Europa League

Athletic Bilbao OFF Paris SG, GpF, 18:00
Besiktas v Macc Tel-Aviv, GpE, 18:00
Dynamo Kiev v Stoke, GpE, 18:00
FC Copenhagen v Vorskla Poltava, GpB, 18:00
FC Zurich v Sporting, GpD, 18:00
Hannover 96 v Standard Liege, GpB, 18:00
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Rapid Bucharest, GpC, 18:00
Lazio v FC Vaslui, GpD, 18:00
PAOK Salonika v Tottenham, GpA, 18:00
Paris SG v Red Bull Salzburg, GpF, 18:00
PSV Eindhoven v Legia Warsaw, GpC, 18:00
Red Bull Salzburg OFF Slovan Bratislava, GpF, 18:00
Shamrock Rovers v Rubin Kazan, GpA, 18:00
Slovan Bratislava v Athletic Bilbao, GpF, 18:00
Anderlecht v AEK Athens, GpL, 20:05
Atletico Madrid v Celtic, GpI, 20:05
Austria Vienna v FC Metalist Kharkiv , GpG, 20:05
AZ Alkmaar v Malmo, GpG, 20:05
Birmingham v Braga, GpH, 20:05
Club Bruges v NK Maribor, GpH, 20:05
Fulham v FC Twente, GpK, 20:05
Maccabi Haifa v AEK Larnaca, GpJ, 20:05
SK Sturm Graz v Lokomotiv Moscow, GpL, 20:05
Steaua Bucharest v Schalke 04, GpJ, 20:05
Udinese v Rennes, GpI, 20:05
Wisla Krakow v Odense BK, GpK, 20:05

• Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is being closely monitored by Real Madrid, who are planning a £35m move for him in the January transfer window, according to reports.
• Arsenal are planning a swoop for Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero in January.
• FA chiefs are hatching an ¬emergency plan to install Harry Redknapp as England manager for the Euro 2012 finals
• Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish says he will talk to the club's owners regarding his view that refereeing decisions are consistently going against the Reds.
• Rangers captain David Weir has revealed he will walk away from the club if he ends up being a bit-part player from the bench.
• Celtic may leave skipper Scott Brown out of Thursday's trip to Atletico Madrid to save him for next Sunday's Old Firm showdown.
• Fenerbahce are waiting to discover if Uefa and the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) will be reinstate them in the Champions League. Under pressure from Uefa, the Turkish champions were withdrawn from the competition by the TFF after match-fixing allegations emerged this summer.
• FC Sion have expressed their outrage at Uefa's decision to expel them from the Europa League, saying the verdict is "pure revenge" against their president. Uefa upheld a protest from Celtic after the Swiss club fielded several ineligible players in their 3-1 aggregate win over the Parkhead side. A statement from FC Sion read: "We officially appealed to Uefa on Monday to obtain cancellation of the protest. "For us, it's a pure revenge against our president [Christian Constantin]."

Tennis:

• Novak Djokovic says his fightback to beat Roger Federer from two sets down in the semi-final of the US Open was the "greatest victory" of his incredible season so far. World number one Djokovic produced a stunning comeback to win 6-7 (7-9) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5. The Serbian say he knows his game is good enough to win against Rafael Nadal again in the final, with the pair set for a repeat of their meeting in the final of Wimbledon from which Djokovic emerged victorious.
• Andy Murray gives his thoughts after losing to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the US Open, the third Grand Slam in a row he las lost to the Spaniard at the semi-final stage. The world number four lost 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-3 in three hours and 24 minutes to ensure his wait for a maiden Grand Slam title goes on. Murray says he needs to find a way of matching the world's top three "on a consistent basis" and will be working hard to improve his game even further.

Golf:

• Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Paul McGinley are among the contenders in the Netherlands on the final day of the latest European Tour event.
• Britain and Ireland will take a 7-5 lead over the United States into the final day of the Walker Cup. The home side produced a great start and finish to give the underdogs the advantage at Royal Aberdeen. Rhys Pugh, Steven Brown, James Byrne and Paul Cutler all won singles that went at least to the 17th and Cutler was the only double winner of the day. "It was like playing in a dream," said Pugh, who beat world number three amateur Patrick Rodgers 2&1.
• Britain and Ireland will be without four of the world's top 20 players when they defend the Vivendi Seve Trophy against Continental Europe in Paris. World number one Luke Donald is at the FedEx Cup play-offs, while Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey have turned down the match. However, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Darren Clarke will be playing.

F1:

• Sebastian Vettel fought back to win Red Bull's first Italian Grand Prix and move closer to a second world title. Fernando Alonso took the lead with a brilliant start but Vettel re-passed him to take his eighth win of the year. Jenson Button's fast-finishing McLaren passed Alonso later on and Lewis Hamilton was fourth after losing time in a fight with Michael Schumacher. Red Bull's Mark Webber crashed out and was one of eight cars to retire from the exciting race.
• Renault has set a mid-October deadline for keeping a seat open for Robert Kubica next year, with the team keen to know its 2012 driver line-up as soon as possible. "My issue is I cannot miss the opportunity to have Robert back, but at the same time I have to protect the interests of this team," team boss Eric Boullier said. "I need to define the best driver line-up, or the best one I can afford.
• The Renault Formula 1 team made a £34.3m net loss in 2010, the French car manufacturer's last year as an F1 owner, according to its latest accounts.
• Jenson Button has been offered an £80million contract for life by McLaren.

Cricket:

• England lose two early wickets as they chase a daunting total of 281 to win the fourth one-day international at Lord's.
• Sri Lanka put on a determined batting display on Sunday to improve their chances of forcing a draw in the second cricket Test against Australia. Sri Lanka, who were shot out for 174 in the first innings, moved to 223/2 in their second knock before bad light ended play an hour early on the fourth day at the Pallekele International Stadium
• The new Darren Gough? The Test No.1 ranking in the bag, England have set their sights on the top of the one-day pile and in Surrey paceman Jade Dernbach they may just have found a crucial ingredient in the recipe for success. In the space of a week, Dernbach has bowled England to victories in Dublin and Manchester, equalling the best Twenty20 international figures by an England bowler with 4-22 in the victory over India on Wednesday night. His ability to bowl brilliantly disguised slower balls, yorkers and 90mph rockets seemingly to order has added an extra dimension to England's attack, giving them the specialist death bowler they have lacked for so long.
• The world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, isn't the only member of his family with a sporting talent. Usain's brother, Sadiki Bolt, is being tipped as the next big thing in West Indian Cricket.
Athletics:
• World champion Yohan Blake produces a personal best of 9.82 seconds to beat Asafa Powell in the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich.
• Cuban Dayron Robles atones for his disqualification at the World Championships with first place in the 110m hurdles.
• Britain's Jenny Meadows secures third in the 800m, while World Champion Carmelita Jeter continues her dominance with victory in the 200m.
• Great Britain head coach Charles van Commenee said he had achieved his goal after his team met the target of seven medals at the World Championships.But he admitted there is work still to do before the London Olympics in 2012, when the target is eight.
• And he described the performance of the men's 4x400m relay team in their final as "appalling, unforgivable"

RWC... is... awesome. ♠_love:

Originally posted by Waiboy
RWC... is... awesome. ♠_love:

Got up at 7am to witness a very poor Ireland struggle against the US Eagles. That is the only game I've seen so far. I hope we can progress from the Pool but with some difficult games with Italy, Russia and not to mention Australia coming up, I would not be surprised to see another failure at another WC.

Originally posted by Waiboy
RWC... is... awesome. ♠_love:

believe! ♠_love: ♠_love:

Originally posted by 1984ioc

Originally posted by vladnz

interesting 1st comment

I couldn't agree more with this bloke. I remember an interview with Xavi Hernandez when he said that in England when a defender clears the ball into the stands the crowd applauds. In Barcelona the crowd would whistle and boo him as it shows he is not comfortable with the ball and he is weak.
MrAnthropophagy 4 months ago 22

your thoughts on both?

Boom.He speaks the truth.Don't have time to comment now but will be back in a while to comment on it.This deserves a thread of it's own as though im not English alot of us are surrounded with its football and its media so its a very very interesting topic.TBC no doubt.

I couldn’t agree more, the majority of the current England team are overrated, and well to be honest, ignorant.

The team lacks a football brain and cannot adopt a different gameplan if plan A isn’t working. Look at all the top teams, Spain, Germany, Brazil, they all have players who can put their foot on the ball and make the right tactical decision. When a team starts to up the tempo and have a go at the Spanish teams, how many times have we seen Xavi/Iniesta/Alonso etc, slow the tempo down, then just as they seem to be getting nowhere, suddenly spring forward and unleash a telling through ball/shot? If England’s gameplan isn’t working, they simply lump it forward to whatever lump they have up front. Compared to the top teams, they lack the tactical nous and basic ball skills to challenge the elite. How many times have you seen a ball ping off the shins of an unwitting English defender? The next time England plays, count the amount of misplaced passes.

I feel the only way forward is to address these issues at grass roots and in the academies. More 5 a sides, smaller pitches, get the kids thinking on their feet and encourage them to take more responsibility on the pitch. If the FA continues to worship at the feet of the greedy, over hyped behemoth known as Premiership football, then the oh so familiar pattern, of steaming through average qualifying groups, before being humiliated by the first decent side they come across, will sadly continue.

I read a great quote once (I think it was Romario? Not sure) who said; ‘Throw a kid a ball in Brazil, he will trap it and juggle, throw an English kid a ball and he’ll catch it……’

Originally posted by HollyMichelle

Originally posted by Waiboy
RWC... is... awesome. ♠_love:

Got up at 7am to witness a very poor Ireland struggle against the US Eagles. That is the only game I've seen so far. I hope we can progress from the Pool but with some difficult games with Italy, Russia and not to mention Australia coming up, I would not be surprised to see another failure at another WC.

I watched the 'highlights' and I didn't think Ireland were that bad. Your pack dominated in atrocious conditions and Sexton will only get better. Australia wont be to worried on the back of this match, but you should get your bonus point against Italy, so happy days!

What did you make of King Kenny's outburst re: poor referring decisions?

What will happen to Joey Barton first?

* Booked 7/4
* Score a goal 6/1
* Sent off 20/1
* Substituted 4/1
* None of the above 11/8
* Joey Barton to be booked and substituted in the game - 5/1
* Pulling the master stroke - Barton to assist a goal at any time - 2/1

Sent off at 20/1 is tempting......

All odds provided by Ladbrokes.

A great piece by Martin Samuel, thoughts?

The worst team in the history of the NFL were the 2008 Detroit Lions. They lost all 16 games and conceded 517 points with a differential of minus 249. This eclipsed a previous record, held by the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost every match in a 14-game season, with an aggregate losing margin of 20 points. The Buccaneers averaged nine points per game and failed to score on five occasions. ‘What do you think of the execution of the offense?’ coach John McKay was asked after a particularly abysmal showing. ‘I’m in favour of it,’ he replied. And do you know what then happened to the 2009 Detroit Lions and the 1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a result? Nothing. The Lions began that season in the same group, the NFC North, playing the same teams, while the Buccaneers simply moved from AFC West to NFC Central, which was not a demotion merely geographical reorganisation. That is the difference between sport in America and sport in Britain: relegation. If a franchise is not pulling its weight economically, it may fold; but if the team is useless all that happens is it receives first pick in the college drafts for next season in the hope of levelling the competition

American sport can engage in social engineering exercises such as the Rooney Rule, therefore, because the whole contest is subject to engineering. Over here, the consequences of failure are rather more drastic, like £30million down the chute or the threatened existence of a club. Faced with such serious consequences, chairmen do not always have time to draw up a socially progressive list of candidates in the midst of a mid-season crisis; do that and, with a schedule so crowded, another six points could have slipped by in the time it takes to conduct the interviews. ‘Instead of taking two days to do the search it might take two weeks,’ insists Cyrus Mehri, an employment discrimination lawyer from Washington DC and a Rooney Rule champion. What he fails to recognise is that, in England, those two weeks could equate to 12 points, which last season was the difference, in Birmingham City’s case, between relegation and ruin and eighth place in the Barclays Premier League. The Rooney Rule has been in operation in the NFL since 2003, a beacon of affirmative action. Steered through by Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the rule decrees that a minority candidate must be interviewed for all vacant head coaching and senior football operation posts. When the rule was introduced there was just one minority coach in the NFL; now there are eight. Practising what he preached, Rooney gave the Pittsburgh job to Mike Tomlin who, in 2009, became the youngest coach to win the Super Bowl.

As just two of 92 coaches in England’s professional football leagues are black, there is increasing pressure to introduce an equivalent law. Mehri is working with Gordon Taylor, head of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and Richard Bevan of the League Managers Association, to push it through. And two in 92 is a desperately poor percentage, clearly. Those campaigning for change have their hearts in the right place. Yet for the statistic to be a result of prejudice we first have to believe one thing: that the chairmen of football clubs would deliberately undermine their chances of success rather than employ a black man. This goes against the circumstantial evidence which suggests that if Colonel Gaddafi knew how to spring a decent offside trap, there would be club owners attempting to smuggle him out of Libya ahead of the rebel forces in time for next Saturday’s home game.

For the full article click here:

Martin Samuel: ''Being black is not why Cole and Co have been held back.''