Frenchman Fiddling With The Facts.

Don't you just love Bernard Laporte the French rugby coach and soon to be French Minister of Sport. According to Bernie the Bolt from the blue (never trust a man who sings his national anthem with his arms folded). "This World Cup has been crazy. Who has played any rugby? The only ones are the All Blacks. They have the power and the genius, something that no-one else has. They are the best team in the world."

Well of course he would say that wouldn't he. France having beaten the New Zealanders it's his feeble attempt to try and salvage some pride. The fact is Bernie we beat you, beat you fair and square and whether or not we play better rugby is irrelevant 'cos winning is what counts.

Awfully sorry to gloat, but it's normally England who have to find such excuses.

The London Olympics

Somebody got paid for this!! Seems incredable that this is the logo for the Olympics. Can you imagine the way in which it was presented at the meeting from the branding agency - Wolff Ollins. "We see pink as redolent of all that's best about London, it embraces the gay community but of course the colour can be changed to appeal to all the other groups that we wish to engage with in the run up to the Olympics, Green, black, red (cheers Ken), Gold, and even white. The broken boxes we feel will reach out and embrace young people (how? We haven't a $%$&*ing clue)."

UPDATE

There's already an online petition to get it scrapped. I just signed it, 10,757 others already had.

A Life Less Ordinary

It's been revealed that schools in the Scottish Borders are failing to provide enough PE when compared to the Scottish Executive guidelines - the target is a mere two hours per week. Not that our region is alone but it is well behind most of the councils. When The Southern Reporter asked for an explanation, the council claimed they did not paint a true picture. Their basic explanation is that the figures are misleading. This maybe the case, but anecdotal evidence suggests that most people feel that school kids don't get enough exercise within the curriculum. Certainly most people I know suggest that the emphasis on homework and exam results is so highly focused that other activities take a back seat; even after school activities suffer.

Add this situation to the row about the Borders rugby team and there’s a worrying link. There's no doubt that the emphasis has changed in our education system. Government targets for producing more and more 'qualified' students with better and better grades is equipping kids with pieces of paper that indicate their performance but it fails to equip them for life. The focus on turning out children from our schools that are then pointed in the direction of university is all part of our 'league table’ driven politics. This is far more about how it reflects on Education managers and professionals than it is about the needs of the pupils. Over management of our schools by administrators and managers instead of leaving things to the teachers is part of the problem.

How does this relate to Borders rugby? Well we are becoming a virtual society, one in which people are more and more focused on what happens on one of the ‘screens of life’ - the computer screen, the TV screen, the mobile phone screen and the ipod screen. We live vicariously instead of vivaciously. The trend is towards isolation rather than involvement. We need to get back to living a life more real to avoid a life that’s less than ordinary.

The FA Know FA

According to the Daily Telegraph. "Criticism of the England team from BBC pundits Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen played an important part in the FA's decision to dump them and instead award their television rights to ITV and Setanta. According to sources, the FA felt the BBC's coverage of the national team was bordering on a "campaign", and "not as positive as it could be". Lineker is believed to have responded defiantly, insisting that it is the BBC's duty to call it as they see it."

Gary's absolutely correct. He along with Alan Hansen. Alan Shearer et al have been a brilliant team and my only criticism is that at times they’ve held back from telling it like it really is. What a bunch of no-hopers the FA board are. They tolerated the Swede for longer than they should have, desperate to try and save themselves money. They pick McClaren despite his lack of success as a manger and being part of the losing regime - of course this was to save money too. Most of all they sit in their offices, enjoying the fruits of their positions and seem completely out of touch with the modern game.

It's a great shame that the BBC and Sky Sports have lost the coverage because ITV's commentators are worse than useless. Their pundits are second rate and they will take the whole thing downmarket.

Not So Sweet F A

“Gentlemen, if you want to write whatever you want to write, you can write it because that is all I am going to say. Thank you.” These were the last words of Steve McClaren as he stormed out of the post-match press conference follwing the bore of a game against Andorra.

First of all he should remember he's letting the country down with his inept management, but more to the point what does it say about the attitude in the England camp. They looked and played like a side that were miserable. Clearly no sports psychologist is McClaren, but then again what a boring uninteresting side was Middlesbrough and he was part of the Swede's losing regime. You would think that the FA would know better, but you get monkeys if you pay peanuts and that's what motivated McClaren being given the job.

The sooner he goes the better!

p.s. I've just read that Andorra has a population of 70,000 that's fewer than Mancheter United's stadioum holds.

Football's Going West!

According to the Daily Mirror, "Steve McClaren last night tried to defend the indefensible and claimed his England flops played well in Israel. McClaren dismissively waved his hands as he hit back at fans who jeered the team and said that "people within football" saw it as the best performance of any international team last weekend"

I'm remined of one of my favourite sayings, from an American Football Coach -

'Winning isn't everything - it's the only thing."