England a Year from the World Cup

A year before the World Cup the big talking point involves England, this may seem myopic however,as the host nation England need to have a good World Cup it is vital for the games development and without doubt the greatest opportunity since 2003 to bring rugby into the public eye. In other words displace football as the main sport in public consciousness for  brief period.

England had two games against the two best teams iin the world on successive weekends and unfortunately came up very short. The excuses will be myriad injuries, illness lack of game time. That does not disguise the fact that Stuart Lancaster has failed  to progress the side dramatically. He was handed a blank sheet of paper. Martin Johnson had struggled to get rid of his some of his ex team mates. Lancaster could do as he pleased.

Lancaster came in and had a good six nations Ireland won it but England received the plaudits for gaining purpose and direction. A tour to New Zealand followed. The toughest of all tours England returned with a minor credit. Autumn was meant to be the moment they kicked on and beat New Zealand and South Africa. This has not happened, England have looked slow ponderous and lacking direction. I have never been a fan of Danny Care I have always felt that his delivery has been slow and predictable. Even worse Owen Farrell is not looking like a world class fly half. Compare Farrell's performance today to Sexton's last week and you see the gulf in class. England have strong yeoman like forwards and  backs  with pace to burn but if  your pivot is not working you will not win rugby matches.

England have two major problems that I am not sure can fixed. They concede too many tries, the great England side of 2003 were miserly in giving away points. The other major issue if the lack of decision makers. Over the past two weeks, time after time chances have gone begging because players are making the wrong decisions at key times.

A good six nations is now vital,  whether this will be possible it is hard to say because both Ireland and Scotland are starting to find structure and pattern. France also look like they are coming into form.

In BOD we trust

Brian O Driscoll is without doubt the greatest Irish rugby player of all time. It is fair to say that he was the catalyst behind the revival of Irish rugby. Before  O Driscoll Irish rugby was known for its passion and brief highlights. We had not won a grand slam since the 40's a triple crown since the 80's everybody's second favorite team.

Two things changed this picture:

1. The advent of professionalism which suited the Irish provincial structure better than anyone else.

2 The rise of a global great. 

BOD arrived when the Irish game was discovering that it could thrive in the professional era. In a time when many parts of the rugby world were trying to decide on a structure that would help the national side and the club structure. Ireland had its provinces. They even had a development province in Connacht. How did this have a baring on the young BOD. As it was a centralised structure he was not over played and he was well rewarded. If you look at his Lions team mate Jonny Wilkinson, his body was broken by the sheer volume of rugby he played. This meant arguably he never performed as well as he could have for as long as he could of with England.

 

The environment was right but the man was a genius, not the fastest of foot but without doubt the quickest of thought. Physically he was slightly smaller but this meant that he was more difficult to put down. His tackling was immense and he was like a second openside, scavenging everything on the floor.

Without BOD Irish rugby union would have not had the confidence to win anything. Leinster would have been Munster and Ulster cannon fodder. So BOD thank you.

 

Well Done Yorkshire

That were a reet grand depart. The Tour De France swept through Yorkshire, it was the finest advert for visiting Yorkshire this country has ever seen. What became evident was that this country will turn out for all sports.  It was a joy to see the millions of people climbing up Holme Moss to catch a glimpse of the circus that went by. It also showed that this country has a passion for cycling.

Without a doubt the success of riders like Wiggins and Froome has done much for this. I believe this success was a reawakening of a passion for a sport that was inherent in allowing people to escape the industrial cities of the turn of the century. Maybe the French formalised the tour but it was the British who loved it.

I Believe That We Can Win

I believe that we can win." If you have not heard this phrase at the world cup, you have not seen the USA play in the World Cup. The US have made the last sixteen which was the stated goal of the coach Jurgen Klinsmann.  The achievement cannot be underestimated.  The group they were in contained three sides in Germany, Ghana and Portugal. All these sides were blessed with high quality, high value individuals. The US team by contrast is a team in the true sense of the word. They are a team without superstars, however they have a tremendous team ethic.

The irony about the US style of football is that is reminiscent of the Premier league. A game based on high work rate and high energy. The US team have worked harder than many teams with the central midfielder Bradley covering more ground than any other player. They are an example of what a coach with limited resource's can do. If you look back to to the Charlton, Republic of Ireland sides of the early 90's.  They had a plan and stuck to it. Klinsmann has done the same with the US side they are fit and strong and stick to the strategy that he has laid out. Contrast this with England; Hodgson has been lauded for his policy of bringing in youth. This has masked a fairly serious issue that the England side was without any kind of strategy. If they did have a strategy it was either not obvious or England did not have the players to carry it out.

Maybe the English game is suffering from arrogance due to all the players playing in a high quality national league. Maybe the arrogance is historical,  football in England has historically been an insular game. It is time to realise that England will not produce  enough high quality footballers to win a world cup in the way many fans expect. They have too often on the past tried to fit every good player into the side. Now is the time to define the style and fit the players most appropriate into it. Until then and during this world cup I will be following the US and hoping that they can shock the world.

National Passion and Pride

England fans are often fond of saying that the England football team play with passion. The players may be lacking technical skills, they may struggle to keep the ball but they play with passion, they play for the three lions. Whether that was true in the past, in this world cup the same old statements have been used but the England performances have shown none of this passion. Contrast this with other countries like Chile, USA or Costa Rica. These countries show not only passion but commitment and a willingness to follow a plan.

What is the reason for this? If you believe the media you would say that the players have it too easy, they want for  nothing in the premier league, so why put themselves through the hassle of the England team. I believe that it is simpler than that, I believe that the English game is so parochial that the idea of coming together as a squad is too difficult a concept for the players.  Liverpool hates Manchester United. Arsenal hates Tottenham. These divisions are so deeply set that it flows down to the players, leading to poor England performances. Is this a simplistic view? Maybe!

Waddle Rants, England Stirs

On Thursday night, England were knocked out of the football World Cup. Not unusual, any observer of World Cups since 1966 will tell you that England goes to a world cup full of hope, then gets knocked out.  This then causes anguish and much gnashing of teeth. The difference this time was there was no expectations  at all. However; grim frustration has set in. The English game is richer, than any other game on the world. It is regularly touted as a league that cannot be beaten, for excitement, atmosphere,  marketing in general. This in contrast to the national team whose performances in the recent history of international  have gone steadily downhill since 1966.

On Thursday Chris Waddle , former England winger articulated the frustration of a nation. The crux of his rant was that since the inception of the Premier league the England team has suffered, as the FA, the custodians of the English game have got richer. The original idea of the Premier league was to help make the England team better as fixture lists were meant to be cut. Instead the game has been flooded with high quality foreign players. This means players who are English qualified are not getting exposed to high quality, high pressure football.  Unfortunately this has been happening for so long that  the strength and depth of the English squad is so damaged that the poor tournament play will only continue.

Is this a grim view? Yes! But we have a blueprint for disaster and that is the Scottish game, Scotland regularly qualified for the world cup and produced great players.  Now, Scotland are in crisis,  their game is broke and this is due to the largesse of the 90's where Scotland was importing players and managers. Yes England that is the future and I am not sure whether it can be stopped.

The Post Colonial Football Era

It's been a really long time since I committed any of sports thoughts to the world wide Web. Why? Well life gets in the way! Writing is however a discipline that should be practised.

Watching the world cup has been fantastic the football has been exciting and free flowing. Almost refreshing. I have been excited by this tournament in a way that I had not thought possible. What is the source of this new found excitement? It is the emergence of teams that have previously never been considered as contenders that has excited me. The US, Costa Rica, Mexico to name but three. All these teams have played in different styles but they are willing to play without fear. The biggest result, Chile beating Spain,  the former Lords and masters of South America beaten by Chile. Chile played with such abandon and excitement that Spain were overwhelmed.

The opposite of Chile and Costa Rica is England a country supposedly steeped in football, but we're abject and lifeless in defeat. Vive la Revolution.  Long may it continue. Before long the premier league will be back and England will be back thinking that exciting league equals successful national side. Hopefully the memories of the world cup will mean that that myth is debunked.