How many television sports broadcasters, journalists, pundits, podcasters and ex-players have ranted in the last forty-eight hours about the sin binning of Hudson Young and the subsequent penalty against Canberra? Well, let me be the one and only person in the whole world who says, “I don’t care what you all think. You’re just dead wrong.” For me, the penalty against the … [Read more...]
In sport – what’s more important? Fairness or money.
Who deserves the harshest consequences for unsporting behaviour? A serial offending ludicrously wealthy professional athlete or a homeless teenager with a lot of tough stuff going on in her life? That's what I asked myself as I was pondering the following questions. What is the primary role of sport? What is its most important function in the world? Is it a business? … [Read more...]
Penalty shoot-out? Nah. Let’s play Murderball!
The League Cup is over, and Liverpool wins the comp on penalties, 11-10. When I read a post on Instagram that puts the victory down to Liverpool’s exemplary data driven approach, I slap myself in the side of the head, grunt “derr”, and make a silly incensed reply stating what seemed to me the obvious - that the “data-driven approach” had little to do with a win that was … [Read more...]