T20 CRICKET
A modern affair
Is it coming?
BASKETBALL IN THE UK A brighter future?
GOLDEN AGE
Federer, Nadal & Djokovic examined
Baseball: America’s game – Focus: soccer in Asia – Profile: Johan Cruyff
THE GPS FOR EXPLORERS. _Manual and autolaps _Heart rate graph in real time _Heart rate limits _Heart rate zones in Movescount.com _Peak Training Effect & Recovery Time
_Highly responsive pace / speed (FusedSpeedTM) and distance from accelerometer integrated GPS _Chronograph _Track logging and analysis in Movescount.com _Full-featured GPS (SiRFIV chip)
_3D Compass _Barometric altitude _Temperature _Robust BuiltToLast casing _Water resistant to 100 m (ISO 2281) _Upgradeable with new functionalities
SUUNTO AMBIT You could call it a watch, but that hardly seems fair. Altitude, navigation, speed, heart rate, weather conditions – it’s all at your fingertips. Personalize your device, selecting just what you need to get the most out of your next adventure. The new Suunto AMBIT – conquering new territory with the world’s first GPS for Explorers. Fulfill your Ambition at www.suunto.com
through Movescount.com _Waypoint –navigation with GPS _Made in Finland _Rechargeable lithium-ion battery _Waypoint creation and storing in watch and in Movescount.com _Mineral crystal lens
_Location in multiple coordinate systems _Positive / negative display switch _User adjustable backlight _Watch settings in Movescount.com
Contents Global Sports Quarterly
CONTENTS Issue 1 December 2012
COVER STORY 06 European Super League
Is it time for Europe’s elite football teams to break away and form their own competition? GSQ considers some of the questions raised by the prospect of a European Super League.
13 The American Game
Baseball is often perceived as embodying American cultural values more than any other sport; is that still true and, if so, why?
16 A Golden Opportunity
The United Kingdom is one of the few European nations left relatively untouched by the advance of basketball – but is that about to change?
23 Game Changers
A profile of the man whose tactical approach to football changed – and is continuing to change – the way the game is played.
26 A Thoroughly Modern Sport
The Twenty 20 format of cricket has existed at professional level for less than a decade, but has already exerted a huge impact on the sport. GSQ’s writers examine how.
33 The Golden Age
A detailed analysis of the careers of three of the greatest tennis players ever to have lived: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
37 Focus: Football in Asia
Our writers from India, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates assess the current state of football in their countries.
46 My Life in Sport
Meet the man who has spent the last six months working at an English Premier League football club, Wimbledon and the Olympics.
Front cover photograph courtesy Manchester City Football Club
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
03
Global Blueprint Sports Quarterly
Editor’s letter
Editor’s letter
As with many aspects of society, the way we watch and enjoy sports has changed enormously in the last two decades. In the past, opportunities for fans to see their favourite team or player in action – unless they actually went to the stadium – were largely limited to occasional live television or radio broadcasts, weekly highlights shows and day-old newspaper reports. But the recent proliferation of satellite television and the Internet has revolutionised the relationship between sports and fans. Now, wherever you happen to live, coverage is so extensive that most people can simply pick and choose between their preferred events. If you’re a Manchester United fan, you can watch every single game they play; if your favourite team is the LA Lakers, you can follow them equally closely whether you live in California, Paris or Mumbai; social media allows anyone with access to a computer or a mobile phone to keep up with the action as it happens and instantaneously share opinions with fellow fans.
Andy West
It’s often said that sport possesses a unique ability to draw people together; that has never been truer than it is now. In contemporary society, being a sports fan is a genuinely global activity. That’s especially the case for those select sports that command a significant following in multiple territories. Number one amongst those, of course, is football – the global game. But the same can be said of many more sports: cricket; tennis; golf; basketball; baseball...they and others are all avidly watched and enjoyed by millions of fans all over the planet. And that is where Global Sports Quarterly comes in. Whereas most media coverage is aimed at specific countries or regions, the fact that GSQ is an online-only publication with no distribution challenges allows us to take a truly international perspective and engage with a genuinely global audience. If you like sports and understand the English language, this magazine is for you: as an illustration of that point, this launch issue features writers from four different continents covering topics as diverse as football in Asia, basketball in Europe and baseball in the United States. Something else that makes GSQ different is the way we tackle sports. We will not publish match reports or quotes from press conferences and we do not deal in gossip or speculation. This is not a news magazine; nor will you find vacuous interviews with media-trained sports stars with a product endorsement to sell. As a quarterly publication, we can take a step back and adopt a more thoughtful and objective approach, allowing ourselves the luxury of a reflective, detailed and extended look at some of the deeper issues connected to the global obsession with grown men and women chasing after balls. I hope you enjoy this launch issue and make sure you join the global sports conversation on our Twitter feed @speakmagazines or contact me directly at andy.west@speakmagazines.com
Editor-in-Chief Email Twitter
Andy West andy.west@speakmagazines.com @andywest01
04 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Andy West, Editor
Free online Magazines SpeakMagazines.com A European problem
Global Sports
Click here to download
Fitness
Lose 12kgs of Bodyfat
Month 2
Front squats
1 1
2
Muscles: glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, abs 1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Rest a barbell on the fronts of your shoulders. 2. Bend your hips and knees simultaneously to lower yourself towards the ground. Stop when the bottoms of your thighs become parallel to the floor but go deeper if this feels comfortable. 3. Rise to the start position along the same path by straightening your knees.
3
2
3
1
Reps: 16 Sets: 4 Tempo: 2000 Rest: 60 seconds www.SpeakMagazines.com
Weekday Warrior
3 Reps: 8 Sets: 4 Tempo: 3110 Rest: 10 seconds
Dumb-bell deadlift
Muscles: glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, abs 1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Rest a barbell across the back of your shoulders or hold dumb-bells in each hand. 2. Take a giant step forward with your left foot and bend your left knee until your left thigh is parallel to the floor and your knee forms is at 90º. 3. Take a step forward with your back leg and keep going until you’ve finished all the reps.
48
2
Muscles: quads, glutes, lower back, abs 1. Place a large dumb-bell on the ground in front of you. Stand with your feet double hip-width apart the way a sumo would before a fight. Bend at your knees and hips to bring your upper body towards the weights. Grab the weight with an overhand grip. 2. Use your thighs to raise the bar so your legs become straight. 3. Lower the weight back to the start position keeping your back straight through out the movement.
Reps: 8 Sets: 4 Tempo: 3100 Rest: 10 seconds
Walking lunges
1
Fitness
Sumo deadlifts
2
Muscles: quads, glutes, lower back, abs 1. Place two dumb-bells on the ground in front of you. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your knees and hips to bring your upper body towards the weights. Grab them with an overhand grip. 2. Use your thighs to raise the bar so your legs become straight. 3. Lower the weights back to the start position keeping your back straight through out the movement.
3 Reps: 8 Sets: 4 Tempo: 3100 Rest: 10 seconds
Weekday Warrior
49
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to receive the latest news
Speak Adventure Sports
Speak Adventure Sports
09
Global Sports Quarterly
European Super League
“Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.” Sir Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce
“Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.” William Shakespeare, King Lear
European Super League
Is it time for Europe’s elite to form their own private competition?
Take a look at this theoretical weekend fixture list: Saturday 2pm – Real Madrid v AC Milan Saturday 4pm – Chelsea v Ajax Saturday 6pm – Paris St Germain v Manchester United Saturday 8pm – Barcelona v Arsenal Saturday 10pm – Bayern Munich v Porto Sunday 2pm – PSV v Celtic Sunday 4pm – Borussia Dortmund v Juventus Sunday 6pm – Manchester City v Lyon Sunday 8pm – Inter Milan v Valencia
It would unquestionably be a massive commercial success: the biggest clubs, the best players, the most spectacular venues, all taking part in what would surely quickly become the greatest sports competition on earth. The whole world would be watching.
Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? A veritable feast of mouthwatering football action.
How should we feel about that? Should we welcome it, as Sir Henry Royce no doubt would have done, as an attempt at striving towards sporting perfection or, following the warning of William Shakespeare, should we stop tinkering and avoid the risk of causing long-term damage to the overall health of European football?
06 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
Addressing all the issues raised by the potential of a European Super League could easily fill a good-sized book. Over the next five pages, we look at some of them.
www.SpeakMagazines.com
And, in this hypothetical world, the same teams will be back in action the following weekend, with all of this repeating itself over the course of nine months, until the 18 clubs have played each other twice, home and away, concluding with a neutral venue Final Four knockout extravaganza which results in the winners being declared European champions.
And it might not be such a fanciful idea. In fact, if some of Europe’s most powerful football executives get their way, that’s pretty much how a European Super League will look in the not too distant future.
The global perspective
Global Sports Quarterly
The global perspective
By Raphael Gellar
Raphael Gellar takes a look at how overseas fans and clubs would regard the creation of a European Super League From the viewpoint of the international football fan, a lot of positives would come out of the formation of a European Super League (ESL). For starters, it would increase the level of talent and competition on the pitch every weekend. The team that wins this competition would be considered the best team in the world, no questions asked. Sports fans always love watching top talents go against each other. Imagine every single weekend being able to watch two top teams battle it out... there is nothing more dramatic in sports than the biggest superstars trying to outperform the other in a big match. And look at that phrase: ‘big match’. How often can football fans legitimately use it at the moment? Once a month? In this league, every single game would be a big match, even in the early parts of the season. Barcelona against Manchester United, for example, would always attract a lot of interest, even if neither of them were challenging for the title. As an American citizen I have to admit that the average American sports fan is not well educated on European football. One of the problems is that most Americans are simply not interested in watching a match like Chelsea against Stoke City. Whereas if Chelsea had a four-game stretch containing games against Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, you can be sure that Americans would be captivated. I believe that if the ESL was formed, the general interest of football would go over the top in America. If European soccer officials are able to make football popular in the United States it would generate millions of dollars, which is surely one of the big attractions of forming a new league containing only the elite teams. However, living in Israel and being a big fan of Israeli football, I can also say that it is very hard to see how the ESL would be a positive thing for our
teams.
maybe even play in the ESL.
For example, this year Hapoel Kiryat Shmona were able to pay their entire front office’s annual salary from the money they earned in their European qualifying ties. If the Champions’ League ceased to exist in its current format, the amount of revenue available to clubs like Hapoel would be severely affected.
“However, the ESL could become so big that it would turn the Israeli public away from local soccer and make them soccer snobs who only want to watch the big boys. This would be a big financial blow and affect youth soccer development, the quality of foreign players on the teams and the ability to keep Israeli players in the league – which is already a problem.”
It is also important for our clubs to have the occasional opportunity to play against the top teams in the world, and
Overall, Linhart believes the creation of the ESL would be bittersweet,
“Most Americans are not interested in watching Chelsea against Stoke City. Whereas if Chelsea had a fourgame stretch against Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, Americans would be captivated.” the creation of the ESL would make that very unlikely. I had the opportunity to speak with former Hapoel Tel Aviv star Tamir Linhart, who believes that the creation of a European Super League would have both positive and negative effects on the state of Israeli football. “Israeli soccer would not be impacted as much as the bigger leagues,” he said. “In Spain, the public would have to get used to a league without Barcelona and Real Madrid, and in Italy they will have a league without AC Milan and Juventus. We would still have our big clubs, Maccabi [Tel Aviv] and Hapoel Tel Aviv. “But the chances of playing against the mega clubs in the European competitions would be much lower and it would be important to make sure that it’s still possible by implementing a relegation system – the bottom four teams in the ESL could be relegated and have to play against the ‘common people’ like our teams again. “The Israeli players’ motivation and hunger to succeed would not necessarily decrease. Players would still want to do well in order to be discovered by the bigger clubs and
saying, “The dream of every Hapoel Tel Aviv fan is to play against Barcelona or Manchester United in the Champions’ League. With the ESL, it would be hard, or even impossible, to fulfil that wish. It would take away from the excitement and thrill of participating in the European Cups. “On the other hand, we wouldn’t have to watch Barcelona and Real Madrid abuse smaller Spanish teams every weekend and instead we’d be able to watch the best teams and players on the planet competing against each other on a weekly basis.” So the European Soccer League would have both good points and bad for the global fan. One thing is certain though: for many loyal soccer fans and players all over the world, the ESL would redefine the game we all fell in love with.
About the writer
Raphael Gellar works for Israel Sports Radio and has been an avid sports fan since childhood. He now supports an eclectic mix of the Toronto Blue Jays, New England Patriots, the Spanish national basketball team, Indiana Hoosiers, Arsenal and Maccabi Tel Aviv. He also writes for the Times of Israel, Bleacher Report, Basketball Times and BeyondU Sports.
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
07
Global Sports Quarterly
A European problem
“The pay-off would be the destruction of domestic football, a cruel dismissal of the sport’s proud traditions, and a selfish disregard for loyal supporters.”
A European problem
Adrian Clarke believes European football authorities should focus on getting their own domestic competitions in order
Topping the list are the giants of Spanish and Italian football. As they cast admiring glances towards the all-conquering English Premier League gravy train, it only takes a moment to realise their own domestic competitions have been neglected to such a degree that they now find themselves in a state of worrying disrepair. There are match-fixing furores, financial black holes, a lack of depth, limited revenue opportunities and perhaps most concerning of all, empty stadia. Add into the mix the general (and growing) disenchantment of clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan with the power brokers of UEFA and FIFA, and it’s easy to see why the lure of a breakaway group is as appetising now as it was when the idea was mooted in the nineties. Amid the backdrop of these
08 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
continental uncertainties, a European Super League offers its prospective entrants a simple solution: sign up and this tantalising temptress will likely guarantee power, wealth, prestige, and golden opportunities to further capitalise on consumer globalisation. A ticket to become sporting kings of the modern world, which is unlikely to be taken away for as long as you behave yourself.
with less teams,” he said without a trace of irony, before adding: “I think that here in Spain the Primera Division should be reduced to 16 teams and the Champions League should be increased from its current format of 32 teams to 64.”
The sacrifice asked of those who cannot resist the lure will be a contribution towards the destruction of domestic football, a cruel dismissal of the sport’s proud traditions, and a selfish disregard for their own loyal support.
Through the rich fuzz, I’d hope that somehow our continent’s elite would see beyond the shimmer and shine, and decide not to walk out on their own nations’ less fortunate clubs – but that’s just my hope, not expectation.
Isn’t that pay-off too high a price to pay?
If an all-powerful collective of clubs, sponsors, TV companies, mobile phone and internet providers want it, it will happen. And together they would create an unstoppable force, capable of scarring our Beautiful Game forever.
Not if you believe Barcelona’s President Sandro Rosell, who through his own Euro-tinted glasses recently defended the argument that domestic football would be sunk without trace if his club went global. “Domestic leagues are still interesting and they will remain that way even
Or in other words a three-tier European Super League to replace the current UEFA competition.
Some might argue that leaving behind the often unsavoury empire builders at FIFA and UEFA would be in the game’s best interests, and there is a
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Who needs a European Super League? A growing number of the continent’s most powerful clubs, that’s who.
A European problem Global Sports Quarterly
case to argue in that regard, but surely not at the expense of football as we know it. Why? Because it’s fine as it is. Here in England, at least. The Premier League is a monster, Europe’s current super league. Swimming in pools of cash, the best players are desperate to be part of it, thousands of fans pay their hardearned money each weekend to flock to it, and broadcasters the world over can’t screen enough of it. Originally a breakaway organisation in 1992, it’s now a pioneering enterprise that all other football-related businesses aspire to follow.
In these times of painful austerity is it not wholly unfair to expect those loyal supporters to fork out thousands of extra pounds per season in order to follow their team throughout Europe? As dedicated as they are, most simply wouldn’t be in a position to contemplate it – and that would be tragic. Why should my club, Arsenal, be forced to do this to their fans, and walk away from such a wonderful life? The Gunners, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs don’t need the aggravation. Unless the carrot of Champions’ League football is pulled from beneath their feet, of course...
“Football isn’t just about money; it’s about people and I don’t think too many of them have an appetite for this kind of change.” Ok, there is a ‘Big Six’ that tend to dominate proceedings but nowhere else will you find a club lying in last place more capable of producing a shock victory over the leaders than on English soil. On any given day, anything can happen and that’s why the world loves it. The game here is passionate, fullblooded and it’s a place where big local derbies are a treasured part of the very fabric of British society. Losing them is just unthinkable. Travelling to away fixtures is also part of the fortnightly diet for legions of dedicated British supporters. Home and away these hardy souls won’t miss a match, and the atmosphere they help to produce inside the stadia is magical.
Even though it would initially attract billions of followers the world over, a European Super League would quickly lose its appeal, just as the swathes of empty seats we now see during Champions’ League group stage matches shows. What bigger turn-off could there be than a league that would more than likely operate without relegation? Where’s the romance in an invite-only affair that precludes entry unless you have some serious money or cache to bring to the bloated, VIP table? It’s pretentious and it’s ugly. And eventually it would lead to TV viewers and fans deserting it in their droves. Before that happens, and as they do with current Champions’ League
football, the best players would naturally gravitate towards clubs who are playing at the highest level, effectively turning every domestic league – shorn of its biggest clubs – into a second class feeder competition. If the so-called lesser lights struggle to survive alongside the glamour teams, how can we expect to avoid a wholesale Armageddon that will see century-old clubs vanish into thin air overnight? It’s just unrealistic to claim otherwise. On paper, the lure of a ‘Super League’ sounds great: big clubs enjoying titanic tussles week in, week out, while the minnows left behind get a fair crack at winning the silverware that’s currently out of their reach. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. In reality it would be an altogether more grotesque affair. Traditions would be dumped in the skip, clubs would die, and disillusioned fans would turn their backs on the game. European football, right across the continent, should focus on trying to get its own house in order rather than trying to tear apart what makes the game so special. If they don’t, and the giants end up withdrawing from the Champions’ League, this nightmare scenario could quickly be upon us as everyone else is forced to join in with their unsavoury game. You’ve been warned.
About the writer
Adrian Clarke is a former Arsenal midfielder who has played at every level of English football from the Premier League to the Conference South. Now an experienced football journalist, he writes for many publications around the world, as well as hosting ‘The Breakdown’ on Arsenal TV and the Red White & Blue podcast www.redwhiteandblue.tv
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
09
Global Sports Quarterly
The brand game
The brand game Roger Titford says clubs are more likely to ‘extend their brand’ rather than take the drastic step of quitting their domestic leagues altogether
In effect, the current Champions’ League set-up gives the top clubs, around 12-20 of them, the best of both worlds – an almost guaranteed minimum of around a dozen European fixtures plus the continued domination of their domestic leagues. Being in both competitions gives these clubs a more balanced and interesting fixture list. Why would Chelsea or Barcelona, for example, want to replace regular ‘derby’ fixtures against Fulham or Espanyol with games against lesser-known, far-away European sides? By opting out of domestic league football, the top clubs would miss out on traditional rivalries and thus may find they need to compete harder for domestic media attention. In whatever way a European Super League was structured they might well end up offering their fans fewer matches and a less exciting season. I believe the top clubs are too astute to fall into this trap. Instead I think
10 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
their way ahead will be to extend their brand in different ways in different competitions. Already we are seeing a differentiation in ticketing policies and match marketing between European and domestic league fixtures. Arsenal, for example, have advertised their League Cup games as an opportunity to watch future stars in action – explicitly acknowledging that senior first team players simply do not take part in the competition. It would not be surprising to see the second stage of groups return to the Champions League structure in the medium term. Nor would it be surprising if the player rosters of the major clubs evolve into one squad that is primarily focussed on European games and another separate group of players of lesser ability but still good enough to dominate the domestic league. Currently we can see clubs extending their brands into a more public version of youth football – especially with the ‘Next Generation’ series – and into women’s football. Just as the ‘Mars’ brand once just meant a Mars bar and can now mean a soft drink or an ice cream, so ‘Arsenal’ could mean different things in different football contexts: Europe, England, Youth, Women.
“Already we are seeing a differentiation in ticketing policies and match marketing and presentation between European and domestic league fixtures.”
www.SpeakMagazines.com
The idea of a European Super League has been around for half a century and many of the clubs suggested as members then would still be natural choices now. With greater political, financial and transport integration, it is surely a viable 21st century idea – but only if the leading clubs themselves were interested in opting out of domestic football.
The brand game
Global Sports Quarterly
The inexorable march of the European Cup Although a variety of limited and shortlived competitions took place between the two world wars, the European Cup as an annual, continent-wide tournament first took place in 1955, largely instigated by Gabriel Hanot, editor of French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
For an example of the power of a football brand, I recall seeing the Manchester United youth team play at my local club (about 300km from Manchester). Though there were no players of interest in the United side (and none went on to make a big name), around 9,000 people turned up just to watch this, almost any, Manchester United team play. Against almost any other opposition, the crowd for such a game would be less than 1,000. Currently, repeated and almost annual qualification for the Champions’ League brings a few select clubs enormous financial rewards, enabling them to distance themselves from less successful local rivals and maintain their domestic dominance. But obviously not everyone can reach the Champions’ League final every year, so these clubs need success in the domestic leagues to give their fans the pleasure of winning or competing for honours. If they had no domestic football and only a middling-tounsuccessful campaign in a European Super League, then supporters’ interest levels would diminish. Even now there are many group stage matches in the Champions’ League that lack drama and take place in less than full stadia. In the event of a European Super League, the clubs that would be in the most interesting position and have the most difficult strategic decisions would be those just outside a European Super League; clubs like Everton, Athletic Bilbao, Werder Bremen or Sporting Lisbon. It would be theoretically possible for these second tier clubs, perhaps in alliance with their national associations, to take a stand against
the top clubs on the grounds of them providing unfair financial competition and monopolising the domestic honours. This second tier of clubs could then make the new super league into a sterile ‘walled garden’ by severing all football connections with them: no relegation or promotion, no taking part in domestic league and cup competitions, no international recognition or opportunities for their players, no guaranteed space for European Super League matches on the TV and radio schedules. Clearly this would split the football world in two and the chances of this happening are very remote indeed. It might not even benefit the domestic leagues anyway – but it would make life more interesting. A further and more important step in the direction of Financial Fair Play would be if the revenue gained from European competition was not all kept by each competing club, but shared amongst the all clubs in that country’s top division – so that, for example, some of Arsenal’s Champions’ League prize money went to support non-qualifying Tottenham and West Ham, among others. But that may be too fair an idea – and much too far from business reality.
About the writer
Roger Titford is a marketing and market research professional who also writes extensively on football matters. He is a long-established and frequent contributor to the magazine When Saturday Comes and his most recent work is a digital photo essay, The Legend of Robin Friday. More about Roger and his company at www.furtherthought.co.uk
Only 16 teams took part in the inaugural event and Real Madrid were the winners – as they were for each of the next four seasons. Gradually, the competition expanded as more and more national football associations decided they wanted to be represented, climbing to a total of 33 teams following the admission of the Soviet Union in 1966. The dismantling of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s and the subsequent introduction of a plethora of new nations led to the next major development – the introduction of group stages and the renaming of the competition to the current UEFA Champions’ League. A major step came in 1997, when the strongest countries were allowed to enter two teams, a tally that further grew to four teams in 1999. Various modifications have since been made to the structure of qualifying rounds, and the next anticipated change is the addition of more group games – or even a second group phase – to provide qualified clubs with a greater number of guaranteed fixtures. The European Cup has come a long way. From quiet beginnings with 16 teams representing 16 nations in 1955, the current version of the Champions’ League is being contested between 76 teams from 52 different European countries. Over the years, some of those changes have come about through necessity, with expansions and modified formats reflecting Europe’s changing political landscape and the birth of new nations. Other developments have been purely commercially motivated, seeking to exploit the success of the competition by maximising the revenue available both to competing clubs and to UEFA, the parent organisation. But the one constant has been change. The European Cup, or Champions’ League, has rarely retained the same format for more than a few years. Ever since its inception more than half a century ago, it has relentlessly grown bigger, and bigger, and bigger. There’s no reason to believe that pattern has come to an end. The only question is: what’s next?
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
11
Global Sports Quarterly
The American Game
“America is a country built on hard work and ideas, and the feeling that anyone can be a success by working hard, every single day.”
Al Bethke explains why baseball still encapsulates traditional concepts of American identity
13 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
Does baseball still capture the essence of American culture? That’s a question that requires some serious thought and is open to debate. There is little doubt that other sports, in particular American football, have surpassed baseball as top sports in the USA – as defined by higher TV ratings, at least. But for more than a century, baseball has been known as ‘the great American pastime’. The history of the game is often told in a loving way, through poetry and prose, unlike other sports. Former players are held in high regard, especially so with players from the 1950s and before, but also with
players from the 70s and 80s. They are beloved. I’ve often heard people ask why this is; this is my thought process. Baseball is different from other sports in one simple manner: for the most part, games are played almost every single day, from early April to the end of September. During the Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season each team plays 162 games, and each game lasts about three hours. Consequently, for six months of the year, if you so choose, you can spend a good part of your downtime enjoying a game.
www.SpeakMagazines.com
The American Game
The American Game
Global Sports Quarterly
Glory of the game A selection of quotes about baseball’s timeless appeal: There’s something to be said about that, as time leads to loyalty. True, most fans do not see every game their favourite team plays because there are simply so many of them – furthermore, games are often played in the afternoon while most people are working or at school, or in the evenings when other leisure activities are taking place. Yet this does not seem to water down the value. Viewing habits are very different for other sports. The NFL, which enjoys the highest television viewership of all sports in the US with American football, can be enjoyed by just setting aside three hours a week, almost always on Sunday afternoons. Teams only play sixteen regular season games so, with just a few hours a week, you can easily become a dedicated superfan. I used to chuckle when I worked in retail, seeing how many people would come in wearing their local NFL team’s clothing, basically declaring themselves as true fans, yet they would be shopping while the game was going on. They could not even set aside three hours a week necessary to see the game played. With baseball, you can watch your favourite team pretty much whenever you want. There is one more huge advantage that baseball enjoys over other sports: it can easily be enjoyed on the radio if you are on the road or outside, instead of around a TV set. There is plenty of time between pitches, and in between each batter, for the announcer to tell stories about a player, or another game, or a past event. And don’t forget, baseball is played during the warmest months of the year, when folks schedule summer get-togethers and fishing trips – often accompanied by a radio to stay in touch with the latest baseball action. Most people do not have the time or dedication (or lack of a life, many would say) to sit and watch television every time a game is played, and also have other hobbies or appointments they wish to keep. So the fact that baseball can be enjoyed while
travelling, or while taking part in other activities, greatly adds to its appeal. Many older people actually claim to enjoy the game more on the radio – a reminder of their youth perhaps. MLB has by far the highest total attendance of all sports, due to the large number of games that teams play each year. And as the clubs have so many seats to fill, this means there are plenty of cheaper seats available. Almost anyone can afford to attend a MLB game, while other sports have far fewer games, so thus, far fewer opportunities for inexpensive tickets. I think the fact the game is so affordable allows many to keep it close to their heart. But to me, perhaps the single most endearing thing about baseball is the daily contests. America is a country built on hard work and ideas, and the feeling that anyone can be a success by working hard, every single day. Regardless of the outcome today, baseball gives you another chance, usually the very next day. There’s no time to dwell on a loss and little to celebrate a win...there’s always another ballgame to prepare for. When a team is not playing well, announcers often comment: “You have to have a short memory in this game.” As in life, tomorrow’s a new day. As we reflect on the triumph of the San Francisco Giants in last season’s World Series and look ahead to the new season next spring, never forget why baseball still has people talking and is still the national pastime: it sums up the values of daily hard work that Americans hold dear, and it’s our constant companion throughout the half of the year that we look forward to and look back upon with the greatest fondness.
About the writer
Al Bethke lives in Wisconsin, USA, with his wife, son, and elderly cocker spaniel. His musings on baseball, life, and pie can be found at Al’s Ramblings: albethke.blogspot.com
“There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all.”
New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” Two-time National League Most Valuable Player Rogers Hornsby
“Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose—unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction.” Poet Robert Frost
“You can’t sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You’ve got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That’s why baseball is the greatest game of them all.” Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver
“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.” Journalist George F Will
“Baseball is the only field of endeavour where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” Boston Red Sox all-time great Ted Williams
“I see great things in baseball. It’s our game – the American game.” Writer and poet Walt Whitman
“I guess you could say I’m what this country is all about.” Former New York Yankee hall-of-famer Mickey Mantle
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” Former Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
14
Global Sports Quarterly
Basketball in the UK
“There’s been an incredible increase in the popularity of basketball in France. This is the golden period.”
“In the UK we’d have to look for an hour just to find a gym and get up 50 shots. And then they’d kick us out for badminton.”
George Eddy, French basketball journalist and former NBA player
Luol Deng, Team GB & Chicago Bulls star
A golden opportunity Basketball is the second most popular team sport in the world – but in the UK it’s little more than a minority interest. Is that about to change? The United States’ National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the world’s most-watched sporting competitions, with star performers like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant widely hailed as among the greatest athletes on the planet. And across the Atlantic, the sport is thriving, too. The vast majority of European countries boast well-attended and fast-developing national leagues while elite teams compete annually in the continent-wide Euroleague, with last season’s edition attracting a sell-out crowd of 16,000 to May’s final between victorious Olympiacos and CSKA Moscow in Istanbul.
16 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
An impressive array of statistics and financial figures underline the significance of basketball as a truly international phenomenon, but one country has remained largely untouched by the march of the hoops: the United Kingdom. Why is this? After all, the UK is a sports-crazy nation whose inhabitants are generally more than happy to allow themselves to be strongly influenced by American culture. Why not basketball? Basketball coach and broadcaster Liam Canny – American by birth but British by residence – is uniquely positioned to provide an answer. Here’s his perspective.
www.SpeakMagazines.com
No doubt about it, basketball is a big deal.
Basketball in the UK
Global Sports Quarterly
“Watching British ‘ballers in the Olympics – the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet – was the experience of a lifetime, especially as I’d had the privilege of coaching them during their formative years.”
From Lucky to London This summer’s Olympic basketball tournament was an experience I will never forget.
Championships, where I was serving as an assistant coach on the England national team.
Having the opportunity to be courtside and see magnificent players at the peak of their physical powers, competing for the most coveted title in the game, ranks as one of my highest sporting thrills – in the years to come, I can say I was there when Carmelo Anthony lit up the arena with 37 points on 10 of 12 shooting from behind the three-point line in Team USA’s massacre of Nigeria.
Mick Bett was head coach and his squad were competing in the B Division of the FIBA European Championships, which were being held in Ruzomberok, not so far from our base in Lucky.
Watching the action unfold inside the Basketball Arena in London’s Olympic Park was the culmination of a long personal journey which started more than seven years ago, in the summer of 2005, in a worn-out, communist-era hotel in a small village in northern Slovakia with the quaint name of Lucky. In a picturesque woodland setting, the old spa town of Lucky – which traces its origins back to 1287 – hosted all the teams who were competing at the FIBA Europe U18
This was an England roster laden with emerging talent. Many of the players had returned from their clubs teams in the United States or Spain to represent their country at the championships. And when Mick debriefed the team at the end of the tournament, he challenged them to improve individually, motivating them with the prospect of that oncein-a-lifetime sporting experience – the ultimate carrot – the Olympics. I can remember his speech to this day. “Men, London is going to host the Olympics seven years from now,” he told the young players. “This is a golden opportunity as you will be entering your prime as professional athletes at the same time. As the host
country, Team Great Britain will likely qualify for the Olympics. It may never happen again, so grab your chance with both hands. Some of you may play in the Olympics!” Mick’s statement proved prophetic, with two members of the team indeed going on to line up for Team GB at 2012: Danny Clark, of Spanish club Asefa Estudiantes, and Joel Freeland, formerly of Unicaja Malaga and now with the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers. And as a supporter of British basketball, being there in July and August to watch those British ‘ballers in the Olympics – the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet – was the experience of a lifetime, especially as I’d had the privilege of coaching them during their formative years. But was Bett also prescient in another sense? Was he right in suggesting that Great Britain will never again qualify for the Olympics? What legacy did hosting the Olympics leave for the sport of basketball in the United Kingdom?
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
17
There’s certainly no lack of talent – over the last few years, Britain has produced a number of high-quality basketball players (see separate text box). But the poor infrastructure suffered by the sport across the country forces those talented youngsters to move overseas, with the knock-on effect that overall playing standards are weakened as the best young players are taken out of the system at an early age. Will the Olympics change that? There are two ways to look at this question: from the perspective of the grass roots and from that of the elite level in the top domestic league. Grassroots development At the youth level, the full impact of the Olympics may take some time to measure. Will there be a new generation of players inspired to pick up a basketball by seeing their countrymen in action on home court? Not according to Joe Forber of the Greater Manchester Youth Basketball Club, the UK’s largest club in terms of membership. Joe certainly has not seen any increased interest in the sport at community level; neither has he seen any short-term boost to national league basketball across the junior age groups. In fact, there have been more forfeits and teams not ready to compete in the junior national league this season than in years gone by. Similarly, there are no more primary school age children visiting the Amaechi Centre in Manchester for introductory basketball clinics than before and, arguably, this is where the impact of the Olympics should have taken the most immediate effect – especially since national broadcaster the BBC covered all of Team GB’s games. On the other hand, Reading Rockets coach Matt Johnson cites an increase in the number of junior teams playing in the national league ‘A’ division, which may be attributable to the Olympic spectacle. Perhaps the forfeits have occurred due to the greater proliferation of clubs, so they could represent a mixed blessing. Where the Olympics do seem to have made a significantly positive impact
18 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
Basketball in the UK
“The British Basketball League (BBL) – a semi-professional league at the tip of the domestic pyramid – does not seem to have shown any improvement as a result of the Olympics.”
is in the administration of the junior national team programmes. The pathway for underage players to gain exposure to, and be selected for, the national team is now much clearer than in previous years. Funding for these programmes came as a result of London winning the Olympic bid and due to a decision for England, Scotland and Wales to amalgamate as British teams at the U20 and senior men’s and women’s categories. The creation of a Head of Performance position has made the coaching structure and oversight of all national teams much more professional. Len Busch, who has coached in the England ladies junior national team programme for six years and is the current coach of the England ladies U18 team, told me that he has seen major improvements in the national team set-up in terms of funding, organisation and accountability. Most of these positive improvements can be directly attributable to the Olympics. The highest level In reality, the new millennium has seen a low ebb in sponsorship and attendance for the BBL since more successful days in the 1990s. The lack of a league sponsor and low gates have meant that teams have struggled
financially, most recently illustrated by the decline of the Cheshire Jets, who are now a shadow of the team which won a domestic triple in 2002 – this year, the league has been forced to pay the Jets players as an emergency measure and the onceproud franchise may soon cease to exist. No BBL teams have appeared in a European competition since the Guilford Heat played in the ULEB Cup (now Eurocup) in 20062007. With paltry budgets the BBL cannot keep its best domestic players, nor can it attract talent from overseas of sufficient quality to merit participation in a top class continental tournament like the Eurocup or Euroleague. Some of the reason that the Olympics did not give a much-needed fillip to the BBL is that Team GB did not perform well, winning only one of its five group games. The nation’s generally euphoric atmosphere created by the fantastic results achieved by British athletes across nearly every Olympic discipline (ordinarily grumpy commuters were even seen talking to each other on the tube!) was not shared in basketball circles. And in turn, the BBL did not gain new fans craving to see more basketball. So overall, the impact of hosting
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Global Sports Quarterly
Basketball in the UK the Olympics has been a mixed bag for basketball. In the short run, there have been some positive developments in the junior programmes, which can be directly attributed to the arrival of the Olympics. But sadly, the domestic leagues have not yet shown any improvement. The greatest challenge The full, long-term effects of staging the Games will take some time to materialise but the harsh reality may be that a British team never again qualifies for an Olympics. With only 12 teams allowed to participate in the Olympic tournament as stipulated by the International Olympic Committee, the task of qualifying is monumental – especially coming out of the same European zone as long established titans like Spain, Lithuania, France and Greece. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing British basketball is to attempt to ingrain a love for the game into the mind of the British national psyche. For a football obsessive culture, this is
No lack of talent
“GB has never had a problem with finding talent. In fact, there is an argument to say that we have more natural talent than many other nations across Europe.” These are the sentiments of Matt Johnson, a coach at the Reading Rockets and a former assistant of the 2010 Great Britain U20 women’s team – the only British team ever to win a gold medal at a European championship event. And there is evidence to suggest that Britain does punch above its weight in spawning natural talent. Looking at the first decade of the new century bears out this suggestion. Since 2000, four British-born male players have appeared in the world roster at the Nike Hoop Summit, an annual event that showcases the planet’s most promising young players. They were: YEAR
PLAYER
BORN
2000
Neil Fingleton
Durham, England
2006
Daniel Clark
Greenwich, England
2007
Ryan Richards
Chatham, England
2010
Robert Loe
Leicester, England
a significant cultural challenge. On one of the few occasions this summer when I managed to get tickets in the good seats of the Basketball Arena in the Olympic Park, Tony Parker took a seat no more than 20 metres to my right. He sat in a section reserved for players as he supported the French women’s team, which was playing at the time. A well-heeled British woman sitting next to me, camera in hand, asked if I knew who the young man wearing the white tracksuit to our right was. “That’s Tony Parker,” I replied. “Oh yeah...who’s he?” Where do I begin, I thought. Threetime NBA champion? San Antonio Spurs? SoHo night club fracas? “Well, do you know Eva Longoria from Desperate Housewives?” “Yes, of course.” “That’s her ex-husband.”
Global Sports Quarterly “Oh my God, Imogen!” she exclaimed to her daughter. “Let’s get a photo of him!” On the back of hosting the Olympic basketball tournament, and on the eve of hosting the Euroleague Final Four – two of the basketball world’s most renowned tournaments – let’s hope the British sporting public can learn to appreciate the beauty of the world’s greatest game rather than just the celebrity status enjoyed by some of its players. It is a golden opportunity to inspire young talent and to explore new marketing strategies in London, Europe’s largest city. Time will tell if that opportunity is taken.
About the writer
Liam Canny has been coaching the TASIS High School varsity basketball team in London since 2004, having formerly served as assistant coach for the England U16 and U18 teams. He is also a regular broadcast commentator for Euroleague and FIBA.
A quick look at the NBA draft over the past decade tells a similar story. Since the turn of the century, seven GB-eligible players have been drafted in the NBA: YEAR
PLAYER
COLLEGE
DRAFT
TEAM
2002
Robert Archibald
Missouri
2nd round
Memphis
2003
Ndudi Hamani Edi
Westbury Christian HS
1st round
Minnesota
2004
Luol Deng
Duke
1st round
Phoenix
2004
Ben Gordon
Connecticut
1st round
Chicago
2006
Joel Freeland
n/a
1st round
Portland
2009
Byron Mullens
Ohio State
1st round
Dallas
2010
Ryan Richards
n/a
2nd round
San Antonio
Ardent fans will be aware that Ndudi Edi and Ben Gordon, although both born in London, moved to the United States at early ages. As did Alenna Azubuike, who was undrafted but played three years for the Golden State Warriors. Similarly, Byron Mullens qualifies for Team GB due to his English mom, despite never having lived in the United Kingdom. Luol Deng was born in Wau, Sudan (now the South Sudan), then came to Brixton, South London, when he was a boy. For good measure, you could add Pops Mensah-Bonu’s name to this list – born in London, MensahBonsu played three seasons in the NBA.
Despite their differences, all these players share two things in common: they possess British roots but they received their basketball education overseas. Each of these players went to the United States or Spain for the critical stage of their basketball development. This tradition continues today as many better British players gravitate to American universities. So it appears that Britain has a reasonably deep reservoir of talent, but the cultivation of that talent through quality coaching, a competitive domestic league and a robust national team development programme is lacking. And these factors are the key to long-term international success.
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
19
Global Sports Quarterly
Basketball in the UK
The European game The current Euroleague basketball season got underway in October and will run until the May’s Final Four weekend at The O2 arena in London. 24 teams from 13 countries are involved, with Spain contributing more entrants than any other nation (four), closely followed by Italy and Turkey with three representatives apiece. Ireland Olympiacos from Piraeus, Greece, were the shock winners last season thanks to a dramatic victory in the Istanbul final against CSKA Moscow, who are favourites to go one better this year. Spanish pair Barcelona and Real Madrid, Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zalgiris Kaunas from Lithuania are also among the contenders to progress to May’s Final Four, which will be broadcast in 197 countries.
United Kingdom Holland Belgium France
With BC Donetsk from Ukraine being knocked out in the qualifiers, the United Kingdom is the only European nation with a population of more than 30 million which has no team participating. Another 32 teams from 18 different European nations are competing for the second-tier competition, the Eurocup – but once again, no British teams are involved.
Élan Chalon
Mapooro Cantù Caja Laboral Emporio Armani Milano
Spain Portugal
FC Barcelona Regal Real Madrid
20 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Unicaja Málaga
Basketball in the UK
Global Sports Quarterly
Finland Norway Sweden
Estonia
Russia Khimki
Latvia Denmark
CSKA Moscow
Lithuania Lietuvos Rytas
Žalgiris Kaunas Asseco Prokom
Belarus
Alba Berlin Brose Baskets Bamberg
Germany
Poland Czech Rep
Ukraine Slovakia
Austria Slovenia Hungary Union Olimpija Ljubljana
Romania
Cedevita Zagreb
Italy
Moldova
Serbia
Partizan Belgrade
Bulgaria
Montepaschi Siena
Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Ülker
Greece Olympiacos Piraeus
Anadolu Efes
Turkey
Panathinaikos
Israel
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
21
www.brooksrunning.co.uk @brooksrunninguk
www.facebook.com/brooksrunning.co.uk
Global Sports Quarterly
Game Changers
“Soccer is simple; but it is difficult to play simple.” Johan Cruyff.
By Jason Pettigrove
In the first in a series of profiles on players, coaches and administrators who have significantly altered the way their sport is played, Jason Pettigrove reviews the impact of one of the world’s greatest ever footballers who later became a game-changing coach: Johan Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff, more commonly known as Johan Cruyff, was a god-given talent. A lithe and elegant player and a real student of the beautiful game, he was the perfect exponent of the Total Football system employed by his coach at Ajax Amsterdam, Rinus Michels. Michels had been sold on the innovative system employed by his manager Jack Reynolds, who had developed his own understanding after being seduced by River Plate’s
23 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
‘La Maquina’ side and the ‘Magical Magyars’ of Hungary. It was a fluid style of play that was genius in its simplicity. Whilst it required a large degree of technical ability and tactical nous from each and every player, when executed correctly it rendered the (often more physical) opposition impotent. Players switched position at will, adapting their play accordingly. No one player was pigeon holed into one single role. You were attacker, midfielder and defender all rolled into one. Total Football was perfect for Cruyff, whose on-field intelligence was
peerless. Starting each game as centre forward, he would often drift to whichever area of the pitch he felt would cause maximum damage to the opponent and the flexibility of the system allowed Cruyff ’s wanderlust to flourish. It was devastating and sensational. Born in 1947, Cruyff grew up in a family home facing the Ajax ground, De Meer, and on the occasion of his tenth birthday, the football fanatic put pen to paper to join the youth system of the Dutch giants. His journey to the first team, whilst meteoric, was tinged with sadness: when Cruyff was just 12, his father unexpectedly passed away from a
www.SpeakMagazines.com
If I uttered the phrase ‘Total Football’, I’d be fairly sure that you’d understand who I might be talking about.
Game Changers
heart attack. In a sign of the mental fortitude we would come to admire in later years, young Johan decided to persevere with his development under the watchful eye and guiding hand of Michels. By the age of 17, Cruyff was ready to announce himself to the wider footballing public and he made his first team debut on 15 November 1964 against GVAV, scoring Ajax’s only goal in a 3–1 defeat. As he gained a foothold in the first team, it was clear to anyone who knew a thing or two about football that here was a gifted young man who already had an insight and analysis into the game that belied his tender years. It was manna from heaven for Michels. Cryuff ’s seamless transition from one position to another and his ability to read the game and dictate play was the main component in the success of the Total Football system. Many other teams tried to replicate the system, but it was Ajax that won the silverware to support Michels’ philosophy with three consecutive European Cups between 1971 and 1973. Cruyff was an innovator supreme. Everything he did oozed style, grace, class, genius. As well as the ‘Cruyff Turn’ (how many other players have had a skill named in their honour?), who else could have executed the famous penalty against Helmond Sport in 1982, when Cruyff played a one-two with Jesper Olsen before calmly slotting the ball into an empty net? It was beautiful and iconoclastic. The late sixties and early seventies was the golden era for Dutch football and Cruyff was its standard bearer. Yet ultimately the legacy of the European Player of the Century (awarded by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics in 1999) will not be measured by the successes in his playing career alone. His greatest achievement was still ahead of him. When he went into management, firstly with Ajax, and then famously with another of his former playing clubs, FC Barcelona (mirroring the route of his mentor Michels), it was
obvious that Cruyff could only be content playing one way. The student became the teacher. He was absolutely convinced in Michels’ philosophy of how the game should be played and nothing would deflect him from the core values of the system that he had grown up with. It was, is, and will remain the benchmark of how to play beautiful football. It is a style of football that has elegance and panache and is so wonderfully pleasing on the eye. And when Cruyff returned to FC Barcelona as manager in 1988, it was on the proviso that the whole outlook of the club should be changed to suit his methods, and that he would be given carte blanche to revolutionise the way football was played. He would instil his way of working at every level of the club, from the youngest academy incumbents to the first team superstars. At all age groups and in all situations, there would be no deviation whatsoever from this policy. His ideal was that if all Barcelona teams were trained in the same way, by the time these players reached the first team, the style of play was already completely natural to them. It paid dividends almost immediately, including Barca’s first ever European Cup. Despite being an outspoken, fractious and often aloof character, which made him more enemies than friends, the Dutchman had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and a tactical acumen beyond compare. He was intelligent, incisive, visionary. The greatest successes of Cruyff ’s system came more than a decade after his managerial reign ended in 1996. The legacy of his youth development system was retained after his departure, and Pep Guardiola – who had played under Cruyff in the early 1990s – readily acknowledged the Dutchman’s influence when his all-conquering Barça team of recent years revolutionised modern football. We can also see the success of the formula through the current
Global Sports Quarterly
Spanish national side, who have employed the same style of play, while more and more football clubs all over the world are adopting the policy. Managers now want to sign ball players as opposed to athletes: players such as Joe Allen at Liverpool, Santi Cazorla of Arsenal or David Silva of Manchester City. Intelligent, responsible and talented. Presently Cruyff, the man who brought Total Football into the modern era, sits as a member of the Ajax supervisory board as well as being occasional manager of the Catalan national team, having recently left his role as advisor to Club Deportivo Guadalajara in Mexico (better known as Chivas). He is also the founder of Cruyff Football, a company dedicated to developing players via a training methodology that helps players and coaches maximize their performance. At 65 years of age, he shows no sign of slowing down. His legacy will survive. Working together during that ‘Dream Team’ era at Barca, Cruyff saw himself in Guardiola. The same deep thinking, tactically aware and relentlessly competitive individual that he had once been, accepting nothing but the best. It was therefore a completely natural progression when the baton was passed from Cruyff to Guardiola – just as, years earlier, it had been passed from Michels to Cruyff. And the next link in the chain is the most complete midfielder of our current generation, Xavi Hernandez. Guardiola the teacher; Xavi the pupil. Once the latter has finished playing and accumulated the necessary coaching credentials, I fully expect we will see him take over at Barcelona to lead another reincarnation of Total Football, allowing the philosophy to continue.
About the writer
Jason Pettigrove is a FC Barcelona Socio (member) and acts as the UK Relations Delegate for the Penya Blaugrana London fan club. He lives in Brentwood, UK, is a happily married father of two sons and a daughter and the owner of www.jasonpettigrove.com
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
24
Global Sports Quarterly
A thoroughly modern sport
“I reckon 90% of players, particularly the batters, will tell you that the game they enjoy playing most is Twenty20 – but they might not admit it in public.” Ex-Australia opening batsman Matthew Hayden
“What do you want for your kids: entertainment or education?” Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga
A thoroughly modern sport Our writers examine how the evolution of cricket from a gentle affair into high-octane drama reflects the changing demands of society
Lazy afternoons on the village green; long and hot days in front of the slow developing test match; the action – if it could be called that – unfolding at a pleasant and gentlemanly pace, with occasional bursts of frenetic but short-lived activity rudely disturbing the peace. And very often, even after five days of play, the whole thing would end up with a draw. Then along came the crash bang and
26 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
wallop of the twenty first century and a new form of cricket dreamt up by marketing executives with an eye firmly fixed on lucrative television contracts. To comply with society’s demands for instant gratification and nonstop action, the old methods were unceremoniously thrown out of the window. No more subtlety; no more gentle and gradual changes in momentum. In their place we now have a neverending parade of awesome hitting, larger-than-life personalities and
nerve-wracking finales...all played out to a thudding soundtrack of the latest tunes from the hit parade. This is cricket – T20 style. Exciting cricket; dramatic cricket; sexy cricket. A sport invented out of commercial necessity with the specific intention of luring television viewers. Our team of writers explore the explosive impact of Twenty20 cricket, how its introduction reflects wider society and what it could mean for the future of the sport.
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Cricket always used to be the most traditional of all traditions.
Learning from the amateurs
Learning from the amateurs
Although professionals only adopted the shortened form of the game following extensive market research, Richard Tedham reveals that competitions similar to the T20 format had already been flourishing for decades. After the resoundingly successful launch of professional Twenty20 cricket in 2003, those responsible received a great deal of praise for their innovative approach and imaginative thinking. However, whilst much of this was fully merited, to suggest this form of the game was completely new ignored many years of amateur competition. The Birmingham League’s Challenge Cup, for example, dates from 1958. Peter Radburn, Kidderminster’s captain when they won the cup in 1977, 1980 and 1982, remembers the final as a two-legged affair, regularly drawing crowds in excess of a thousand people, and featuring a number of former first class county cricketers. Chris Higginbottom, who has researched the history of cricket in Derby, told me that the OJ Jackson Cup, originally a sixteen eight ball overs per innings competition, began in 1936. From 1946 it raised money for the Mayor of Derby’s War Memorial Fund and the final attracted huge crowds to the County Ground. And the Julian Cup, based in the Maidenhead area of Berkshire, is perhaps the world’s oldest limited overs tournament. David Evans’ history of the competition records that Mr Arthur Brooks, headmaster of the town’s County Boys’ School, in a letter to the local Advertiser newspaper on 6 February 1924, proposed a ‘knockout’ tourney that limited a batsman’s tenure at the crease to a maximum of twelve overs. Lord Desborough, who had donated the land upon which the school was built, lent his full support and donated a cup, subsequently named in memory
“On 6th February 1924, Arthur Brooks proposed a ‘knockout’ tourney that limited a batsman’s tenure at the crease to a maximum of twelve overs.”
of his son, Julian Grenfell DSO, a casualty of the First World War. The competition was launched that summer, with an initial membership of fourteen sides. Excluding the duration of the Second World War, it has been played every season since then. Crowds for the final soon mirrored those later seen in Birmingham and Derby, with about 3,000 attending in 1938. And anticipating the future introduction of T20 cricket, the duration of a team’s innings was first limited, to 24 overs, way back in 1952.
About the writer
Richard Tedham spent the first three years of his working life in the MCC cricket office at Lord’s, before a decade as groundsman at The Grammar School in High Wycombe. Since going freelance in 1989 he has been employed by various local cricket clubs. He has also played and been groundsman at Little Marlow Cricket Club for nearly 40 years, and club secretary since 1979.
Global Sports Quarterly
For better or worse? By Richard Tedham Alan Sibley, a schoolmaster who played minor counties cricket for Devon, has been coaching young cricketers for nearly half a century. He says professional T20’s greatest benefit has been to spark an interest in the game. Although the initial attraction is towards the shortest format of the game, Sibley reckons a majority of the better cricketers soon become keen to play in longer versions. A tendency towards overuse of risky strokes, such as the reverse sweep and scoop shots, might therefore have to be coached out of them, without curbing their natural enthusiasm. Such strokes can be counter-productive. Essentially pre-determined, they rely upon a correct anticipation of the bowler’s plans. The better the bowler, the more likely it is that he’ll deliver what he intends to. But at lower levels it can be more difficult to predict and a batsman might well miss out on a juicy scoring opportunity through limiting his options with pre-meditated shots. As far as bowlers are concerned, youngsters are now making far greater use of the various forms of slower ball, and England fans can only hope that the recent T20 World Cup will help spawn a generation of English ‘mystery spinners’ as it has in other parts of the world. Sibley also believes that the professionals’ development of athletic fielding, with its diving stops and relay throws, has had a positive effect. Some kids, although not amongst the better batsmen and bowlers, derive great pleasure from their prowess in the field. Not all coaches share Sibley’s generally positive view. Some believe that T20 encourages youngsters to run before they can walk – too many batsmen get themselves out through poor shot selection, whilst bowlers try to introduce too many variations before they have mastered the basics. They often don’t appreciate that a more conservative approach will benefit them in the long run. However, few disagree that high profile televised events are largely responsible for attracting children to the game in the first place. Without that initial interest there is nothing to work with. What does the future hold? Well, Peter Radburn drew my attention to Kidderminster’s Wilden Industrial Estates League, which is now running a Ten10 competition...leading you to wonder how long it will be before professional T20 is regarded as too long, with ‘dead’ overs in the central portion of an innings driving spectators away. Perhaps we’ll eventually see a World Cup consisting purely of ‘super over’ contests, with tournaments completed in one single day. Don’t bet against it!
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
27
T20: The Movie
T20: The Movie
Photo Credit: Marcus Buckner
Global Sports Quarterly
As cricket was invented for television with the intention of providing the same kind of thrilling excitement as a Hollywood blockbuster, who better to examine its impact than an experienced movie critic? Grab the popcorn and allow Quentin Falk to be your guide
It’s perhaps no coincidence that the Australians have labelled their variant of the format ‘The Big Bash’. The title begs for a Tarantino flick. The movie analogy doesn’t end there. For just as film was forced – with a startling decrease in a regular cinemagoing habit allied to the demise of the traditional crowd-pulling star system – to turn increasingly to alternative marketing strategies to halt the decline in attendances, so cricket has also, if rather more belatedly, resorted to more and more inventive sales techniques to re-populate emptying stadia. For cinema, the turnaround began in the mid-80s with the introduction of multiplexes, ostensibly to boost choice. Audiences quickly responded, first to the lure of these customised, parking-
28 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
friendly new arenas and then, in their increasing millions, to the product itself, especially the proliferation – some might suggest a now seemingly unstoppable tsunami – of what is generically labelled ‘the franchise’ or ‘branding’. Defying the old saw that familiarity breeds contempt, Hollywood discovered to its profitable delight that lightning not only could strike twice but could also, as far as film was concerned, survive threequels, prequels, remakes, re-boots and just about any other variation you could name on that particular theme. In other words, if you keep repeating the best bits to easily distracted folk with the attention span of a gnat, then they keep coming back for more. So it is with the ‘Summer Game’ and especially T20: that is, a form of cricket with all the so-called boring bits taken out. The only real surprise is how long it
actually took to discover the secret. Was it really only as recently as 1998 that the ECB, concerned at shrinking crowds for English cricket’s breadand-butter, the county game, first mooted a reduced format? However, like King Canute as the tide rolled in, the 18 English counties and the MCC nixed the very notion. Three years later, in 2001, as the decline continued inexorably, the idea was reactivated and money poured into market research. After endless focus groups and some 4,000 15-minute face-to-face interviews, the ECB had its answer or, at least, an answer. And a devastating one at that. According to Wisden: “Two-thirds of the population either hated or had zero interest in cricket. Prominent among the rejecters were children, young people aged 16-34 – intriguingly, almost exactly the same demographic at which most mainstream cinema is now pitched – women, ethnic minorities and lower social strata.”
www.SpeakMagazines.com
If five-day Test match cricket is a David Lean film – long, sprawling and periodically epic – then T20 is, by comparison, pure Quentin Tarantino: short, sharp and often extremely brutal.
T20: The Movie
“If you keep repeating the best bits to easily distracted folk with the attention span of a gnat, then they keep coming back for more.”
Many of the public didn’t know when, how or even where to watch the game, and thought the grounds were intimidating – “like private members’ clubs that met only when most people were at work or school.” However, “offered a game that went like the clappers, was wrapped up in well under three hours on a weekday evening and included some intriguing innovations”, half those naysayers declared themselves enthusiastically in favour. Just two years later, in July 2003, after a competition spun out across six weeks, the first Twenty20 Cup reached its pulsating climax at Trent Bridge as Surrey beat Warwickshire in the inaugural final. In Wisden’s Notes by the Editor, Matthew Engel wryly, as well as guardedly, observed: “I am delighted by its success but also remember the initial ecstatic response to 65-over cricket (1963) and 40-over cricket (1969), Actually, Twenty20 went on a bit too long for my own taste. I shall try to hang on for Ten10 or maybe Five5.” Despite Engel’s obvious reservations, the “Great Experiment” was off and running, and cricket would never be quite the same again. Two years later, in 2005, Australia climbed on the bandwagon with its Big Bash to be followed in 2008 by the first ICC World Twenty20 Cup. That year also saw the introduction on the sub-continent of the IPL, the Indian Premier League, to date the most controversial, garish and, arguably, most Hollywood – or should that be Bollywood? – manifestation of the whole T20 concept with, in due course, its highlypublicised multi-million dollar auction of players, or ‘draft’, aping the world of American professional sport.
While Hollywood may have dumped its venerable ‘star system’ – the longago days when an uncritical public would mindlessly flock to the latest Gable, Grant, Stewart or Wayne movie (today show me a George Clooney film hit and I will give you a longer list of his box-office stinkers) – you could now argue quite the opposite applies to cricket, especially in its shortest and most breathless format. Even odder still perhaps is that the real stars – and never was this truer than in this year’s World Cup – are some of cricket’s most all-round (and I mean ‘all-round’ in the strictest cricketing sense) and, above all, experienced performers in all forms of the game. For as one-time Aussie skipper Ian Chappell sagely noted after observing the downfall of a novice: “Learn to play the proper shots; then you can do the fancy stuff.” Which is why the likes of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Mahela Jayawardene and, assuming he is ‘re-integrated’, Kevin Pietersen are today’s cricketing equivalents of those versatile Tinseltown giants. They would undoubtedly be the names above the title of ‘T20: The Movie’.
About the writer
Quentin Falk, a former Editor of Screen International and sometime film critic for the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Mirror, is currently film reviewer for the Catholic Herald, Editor of the website Movies1, and a feature writer for BAFTA Online. He is also author of books on Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins, Albert Finney and Graham Greene, not to mention a 45-year veteran of village cricket. Movies1
Global Sports Quarterly
T20 CRICKET TIMELINE 2001: Following lengthy market research exercises, Stuart Robertson, marketing manager of the ECB, proposes a 20 over per innings game to county chairmen, who vote 11–7 in favour of adopting the new format. 2003: First games of the English Counties T20 Cup are staged on 13th June. Warwickshire go on to beat Surrey in the final. 2004: A crowd of 27,509 watch a meeting at Lord’s between Middlesex and Surrey on 15 July – the largest attendance for any county game at the ground other than a one-day final since 1953. 2005: Australia’s first Twenty20 game is played at the WACA Ground between the Western Warriors and the Victorian Bushrangers on 12 January. The game draws a sellout crowd of 20,000 – the ground’s first sell-out for nearly 25 years. 2005: The first T20 international is played between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland on 17th February. 2006: Billionaire American businessman Allen Stanford launches an ill-fated but very lucrative T20 competition in the West Indies. 2007: India become the first T20 world champions, beating Pakistan by five runs in the final in Johannesburg on 24th September. 2012: West Indies follow in the footsteps of former champions India, Pakistan and England to become world champions with a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in the final.
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
29
Global Sports Quarterly
T20 needs parental care
Michael Jeh regards T20 cricket as the boisterous, rebellious offspring of the traditional form of the game, requiring gentle nurturing to avoid burning itself out
T20 needs parental care I always viewed the advent of T20 as something akin to indulgent parenting in the twenty first century. It reminds me of a talented, spoilt, narcissistic child who at a very young age realises that the future is intrinsically invested in their every mood. They are savvy enough to understand that modern parenting is geared towards short attention spans and a predilection for style over substance. T20 was born under a neon star, conceived in a boardroom by marketing gurus who understood Gen Y and were prepared to make pragmatic sacrifices at the altar of tradition. They created a concept that wasn’t entirely new – I used to play 20-over evening games in England in the early 1990s – but through clever marketing they gave the test-tube baby immediate legitimacy. In a time-poor world where we (apparently) prefer our entertainment as part of an overall package, T20 has quickly found itself a niche that is
30 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
more junk food than haute cuisine but is no less popular for that. The legacy can be seen already at any junior cricket match. From the attacking mindset on the field to the need to be constantly stimulated off it, the T20 culture has reminded us that modern life is not meant to be a spectator sport...even for spectators! We are feeding a generation of fans for whom a day at the cricket necessarily needs to be about a packaged entertainment product that cricket alone cannot provide – hence regular bursts of pop music and other entertainment activities to ensure there’s no time for boredom to creep in. In addition to being damn good entertainment, the T20 product has revolutionised batting and spin bowling. No total is safe, no run-rate too high and it’s definitely improved Test cricket in the sense that painstaking draws are rare these days. Fifth day declarations now need to be carefully considered in light of previous unachievable targets being fearlessly attacked by men with big bats and heavy biceps. Innovative and positive batting techniques such as the reverse sweep
www.SpeakMagazines.com
“It is inconceivable that a child conceived by marketers for the sole purpose of entertainment can survive indefinitely.”
The birth of international T20 cricket coincided with fatherhood for me. The parallel path that my children and T20 cricket have taken fills me with optimism, pride and fear in roughly equal measure.
T20 needs parental care and the switch hit over extra cover for six can only be good for the game, and we have T20 to thank for legitimising the use of these innovations without fear of failure. They are now within acceptable risk profiles. Spin bowlers, too, have embraced this format. Bowlers like Saeed Ajmal, Ajantha Mendis and Sunil Narine have created a new paradigm: any decent slow bowler now needs a doosra or mystery ball or they become cannon fodder for heavy bats on small grounds. Perhaps the downside is that they tend to deceive batsmen more off the pitch than through the air, but deception is still an art form and to quibble with that would be churlish. Wicketkeepers have also been forced to sharpen their game, learning to read variations and standing up to bowlers who are nudging the 140kph mark. We can thank the T20 child for all of these gifts. Fast bowlers have less to be proud of. Their inability to execute basic skills, like landing a yorker with some accuracy, makes you wonder what their skill training really involves. The proliferation of knee high fulltosses served up at international level is astounding for professionals who claim world’s best practice. Even allowing for scoop shots and other batting innovations, it is difficult to excuse bowling that is executed so poorly, sometimes up to three times an over. If they could do it 30 years ago with unerring accuracy, I refuse to concede that the game has changed so much that a basic skill requires such an allowance for operator-error. T20 cricket will continue to evolve and, for a game that is built around the twin pillars of innovation and strategy in a slickly packaged format, a lack of variety in tactics is a major flaw in the blueprint. One possible tweak could be to not legislate when the Powerplay can be taken and instead give both teams a three-over Powerplay, to be taken at any time in the innings. That would create the level of intrigue and strategic nous that the game needs – captains would have to consider things like the new ball, losing early wickets vs a lightning start, holding hitters back but possibly risk not using them to maximum effect. Chasing
Global Sports Quarterly
“In a time-poor world where we (apparently) prefer our entertainment as part of an overall package, T20 has quickly found itself a niche that is more junk food than haute cuisine but is no less popular for that.”
teams would adopt different strategies based on their target, while fielding teams may end up holding back their gun bowler for a Powerplay, hoping that he still has time to influence the game near the death. Changes of this nature will be necessary because predictability is T20’s silent killer. The target audience for T20 is characterised by very low boredom thresholds. They are constantly looking for a better alternative and loyalty is not a currency they are accustomed to trading in. When T20 was born, the midwives deliberately threw tradition away but in so doing, they may have inadvertently thrown out the baby’s DNA too. At the core, the rules of cricket still need to apply. The most blatant double-standard that applies to T20 relates to the issue of ‘Mankading’. It is still deemed poor form to run somebody out if they back up too far – some traditions die hard – but if the non-striker is deliberately cheating by backing up too far, the villain becomes the victim if the bowler runs him out. For a sport that lives and dies by millimetres, this anomaly cannot be left to sort itself out according to outdated notions of chivalry. It is an anachronism of the modern game. Ultimately, this T20 child will need constant supervision as it morphs into maturity. It is inconceivable that
a child conceived by marketers for the sole purpose of entertainment can survive indefinitely. The launch of the new Iphone 5 tells a story of a generation of consumers (I use that term with deliberate intent) who have product loyalty only if that product is constantly being upgraded and modified. As a parent of young children, I see T20’s future mirrored in the great irony of their generation: they need change, uniqueness and independence...but they don’t move out of home any sooner! It is cricket’s great challenge to allow T20 the freedom to keep re-inventing itself without straying too far from the sport’s core values. Cricket’s biggest threat is greed. It is this dark angel that sponsors T20 cricket the world over. Cricket Boards around the world court this angel with deep pockets, but is that necessarily the sort of parent care that T20 needs?
About the writer
Michael Jeh is an Oxford Blue and former first-class cricketer. He writes regularly for Wisden Cricinfo and is part of a weekly radio panel on Brisbane’s ABC radio network. Michael runs lifeskills programs for elite athlete squads across the country...and in a parallel universe he is also a wildlife ranger in Africa specialising in “safaris with a conscience” – see www.barefootinafrica.com
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
31
COPYRIGHT© SALOMON SAS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PHOTOGRAPHER: GRANT GUNDERSON. SKIER: CHRIS RUBENS. LOCATION: MT. BAKER, WASHINGTON.
DESIGNED FOR FREEDOM Rockered liberation. Along with our most playful Rocker2 collection yet, we create everything to enable the most liberated mountain experience possible. See more at salomonfreeski.com
Global Sports Quarterly
The golden age
“It’s an incredible time. We’d better enjoy it while it lasts. The shots that these guys come up with are phenomenal and they’ve taken the baseline game to a whole new level.” John McEnroe
The golden age Alistair Hendrie assesses the impact of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic on men’s tennis following the earlier dominance of Pete Sampras
Quite a way to silence the doubters, you might think. That Sampras stands above the likes of Laver in Grand Slam victories is a phenomenal feat that will cement his legacy forever, but his aura of invincibility in the record books has since been smashed to pieces by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
33 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
Since 2005, Sampras’s winning of three consecutive majors has been repeated no less than four times. It goes without saying that Sampras’s place in the annals has always been under stern attack from Federer. The Swiss won his first slam at Wimbledon in 2003, just as Sampras was about to hang up the racket – and Federer progressed to accumulate a staggering eleven slams from then until 2007. Miraculously enough, during that run, he repeated Sampras’s Wimbledon-US OpenAustralian Open hat-trick twice. Tennis had been crying out for another player to capture the public imagination like Sampras, and Federer answered that call. That, of course, was only until Nadal came along. The bullish Spaniard exploded into the mainstream, muscles
bulging, with his staggering French Open victory in 2005. His clay court game, based around a framework of heavy spin and precise groundstrokes, was too much for the field to handle and Nadal has since shown he is not a mere one trick pony, picking up eleven slams including his own treble in 2010. The third player to challenge Sampras’s lofty standing is Djokovic, the Serb. Just like Sampras, Djokovic endured a long wait – more than two years – for his second Grand Slam, with his Wimbledon-US OpenAustralian Open hat-trick from 2011 to 2012 rightly elevating him to a place in the record books. Since Sampras’s heyday, though, tennis has entailed different perceptions of greatness and the contemporary game involves a vastly
www.SpeakMagazines.com
During the build-up to Wimbledon in 1993, Pete Sampras, the man who many consider to be the greatest grass court player of all time, was under a barrage of criticism from those who saw him as a rogue world number one. He went on to win Wimbledon that year – wrestling past a spirited Jim Courier – and also won the next two Grand Slam events, becoming the first man to win three slams in a row since Rod Laver in 1969.
The golden age altered regime of dieting and training. Before the likes of Federer and Nadal came along, a brilliant but relatively limited player like Sampras, who never won the French Open, could still be perched on a pedestal and considered the best on the planet. Perhaps that’s not the case anymore. One of the main characteristics of the current legendary trio, one that sets them apart from Sampras, is the fact that they can adapt to all surfaces, including clay. Djokovic may be in search of his first French Open title, but even so he is excelling in an age where the sport demands a style that can translate to all surfaces.
The Swiss maestro
Sampras’s legacy first came under fire in 2003 when Federer won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon, a fitting location given that Sampras himself won seven titles at SW19. Federer drew comparisons with the great American due to his serene brilliance on both forehand and backhand sides, as well as his graceful movement and nimble footwork. He first repeated Sampras’s treble beginning with Wimbledon in 2005, evoking memories of Sampras’s immense net play when he downed Leyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick – two grass court specialists – to win his third Wimbledon. Two months later, he put an old Sampras rival to the sword by outfighting Andre Agassi in the US Open final. The majestic hattrick was completed when he snuffed out the challenges of big hitters such as Nicholas Keifer and Marcos Bagdhatis to win the Australian Open in 2006. Indeed, Federer’s prowess at the Australian Open, where he has won four titles compared to Sampras’s two, is another facet that works in his favour when comparing the two players. Both move with such ease and guile on a hard court, though
today’s game involves far more agility, balance and speed. The game Federer plays is largely different from Sampras’s rigid serve-and-volley tactics. Federer continued his pursuit of greatness with another treble of slams, starting with Wimbledon in 2006. Nadal brought his rugged, swashbuckling baseline game in the final, becoming the only man to wrestle a set from Federer all tournament. Still, Nadal was too raw on grass at the time and lost in four, despite Federer exerting more energy than in perhaps any match since his rise to the summit. Nadal was still a scampering pup by comparison in 2006, as Federer completed that second trio of successive slams with the US Open and then the Australian the following January. Roddick was blown away in the US Open final, although Fernando Gonzalez emerged in fine fettle from the Australian Open final in spite of his straight sets loss. The Chilean harried Federer with his bludgeoning forehands and, like Nadal, forced him to scrap, fight and sweat for every point. Federer prevailed through a combination of sumptuous volleys, stubborn defence and timely aces. His mental stability on the biggest points was also a factor, just like Sampras’s unshakable nerves. Those years of Federer dominance, peaking in the early to mid 00s, made many critics forget all about Sampras. It was as if, somehow, tennis had found a new Sampras. Federer had that same determined veneer, agility and touch, but he seemed to do everything slightly better. Indeed, the courts were faster and the game was more athletic, it appeared.
The swashbuckling Spaniard
Then came the rise of Nadal. The Spaniard was an utter revelation, and
Global Sports Quarterly perhaps his crowning moment came at his first Wimbledon win in 2008, when he overcame Federer in almost five hours of cinematic, gladiatorial drama. That gutsy win was the first blow landed on Federer’s almost regal standing at the top of the game, and Nadal has since sky-rocketed into the company of Sampras and other such legends of the game. However, it’s difficult to compare the achievements of Nadal and Sampras. The former is a baseline slugger whose game is based on herculean endurance and defence, whereas the latter was a majestic mover who scarcely broke into a sweat. The fact that Nadal has won every slam is perhaps the main glaring advantage he has over Sampras. If Wimbledon was Sampras’s spiritual home, then Roland Garros is Nadal’s. The Mallorcan won his fifth French Open in 2010, winning every set he played en route to his first consecutive trio of majors. He imposed his own game on Robin Soderling, the Swede, in the final, backing him up with devilish slices, chips and unparalleled swing. Weeks later at Wimbledon, the muscular Spaniard dashed the hopes of Britain’s Andy Murray in the semifinals. Nadal was impossible to pin down and dazzled with a vast array of touch and cross court prowess. Tomas Berdych, too, was entirely outmatched in the final. Nadal’s unique brand of depth and length, on a grass court at least, was something fresh and unheard of, particularly from the days of Sampras’s ascent. Just as Sampras was defined by his rivalries with the likes of Agassi and Courier, Nadal’s tussles with Djokovic will be remembered fondly. During 2010, Djokovic tapped into Nadal’s head and forced seeds of doubt into the Mallorcan, although Nadal had the last laugh in the US Open final,
“Federer had the same determined veneer, agility and touch as Sampras, but he seemed to do everything slightly better.” Speak Global Sports Quarterly
34
Global Sports Quarterly
The golden age
completing his remarkable feat of three slams in a calendar year. Having frustrated and tormented Mikhail Youzhny in the semis, Nadal showed his superior strength and power from the back of the court to down a dispirited Djokovic in four sets. The two rivals stood toeto-toe, hitting with unencumbered aggression for the first two sets, but Nadal’s greater resistance on the bigger points paid dividends. Indeed, his mental fibre showed as he raced through the final set to take it 6-2.
The industrious Serb
of Sampras himself. He laboured to outthink Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the big points and then, in a match that would shock the world, traded blows with Nadal in the final. Djokovic entered the court with sharp focus, his drop shots and length too much for Nadal to live with. Granted, Nadal threatened to make it competitive by taking the third set 6-1, although Djokovic carved out a smart gameplan in moving Nadal towards the net and keeping him off balance, taking the final set 6-3.
With that, a great rivalry had begun to blossom. And the following year, during Wimbledon 2011, Djokovic looked every part the champion, hustling through the field with dominance and determination worthy
In the second part of a memorable treble, Djokovic completed his upward arc towards the top of the game with his US Open triumph mere months after that demolition job on Nadal. The Serb showed immense
powers of recovery, in both physical and sporting terms, to overcome Federer in the semi-final, saving a match point with a miraculous return winner. That kind of poise, vision and strength were absent in Sampras’s day: today’s players, or the top players at least, are bordering on the superhuman in terms of condition and self-preservation. It seemed there was nothing Djokovic couldn’t do as, once again, he dashed Nadal’s dreams in the US Open final. Even more than on a grass court, Djokovic bullied Nadal with superior length and defence. Winning in four sets, deservedly so, the Serb’s forehand down the line was firing on all cylinders and it appeared he had found a route into Nadal’s head, becoming the first man to inflict any
YEAR
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
FRENCH OPEN
WIMBLEDON
US OPEN
2003
Andre Agassi
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Roger Federer
Andy Roddick
2004
Roger Federer
Gastón Gaudio
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
2005
Marat Safin
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
2006
Roger Federer
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
2007
Roger Federer
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
2008
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
2009
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Juan Martin del Potro
2010
Roger Federer
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
2011
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic
2012
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
Men’s Grand Slam winners: the last ten years 35 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
www.SpeakMagazines.com
“If Wimbledon was Sampras’s spiritual home, then Roland Garros is Nadal’s.”
The golden age
Global Sports Quarterly
“It seemed there was nothing Djokovic couldn’t do as, once again, he dashed Nadal’s dreams in the US Open final.”
feelings of doubt into the king of clay’s psyche. Having won the Davis Cup with Serbia, Djokovic, looking as dominant as Sampras and Federer in their respective heydays, entered 2012 rejuvenated by his well publicized gluten-free diet. In making bold lifestyle choices such as this, the Serb articulated how the game has changed since the early 1990s. When Sampras was amassing grand slams at an astonishing rate, you could succeed with a game based on serving, net play and little more. Nowadays you need the whole package. The newly chiselled Djokovic asserted himself again during the Australian Open in 2012, completing a fine treble of Grand Slam victories. His recently enhanced stamina, perhaps allied to his diet, steered him through a gruelling semi-final with Murray. Djokovic prevailed through a barrage of slices, chips and measured passing shots, breaking Murray’s heart and spirit before racing through the fourth and final set untested. There was more to come, though, as Djokovic jabbed away at Nadal’s conscience once again in the final. Although his usually bulletproof tactics wavered in the opener, Djokovic ran Nadal ragged with superior variety and timing in the second and third sets. Nadal scurried at the back of the court, endeavouring to merely stick with his opponent, and somehow wriggled away from the fourth set, taking a sternly contested tie breaker. Buoyed by his sudden surge, Nadal was serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider,
having seemingly regrouped and rediscovered his best form. However, Djokovic laboured hard to keep Nadal off pace and off balance, throwing looping balls, flat returns and deep groundstrokes at the Spaniard. Djokovic broke at 5-4 with aggressive tactics and dug deep while serving for the match. It perhaps wasn’t vintage Djokovic, but Nadal’s faltering return and Djokovic’s cool finish at the net brought about a third Australian Open title for the Serb. With that, many thought Djokovic would stretch even further ahead of the pack and secure a historic four slams in a row. Nadal tore up the script at the French Open, however, and exacted a certain kind of revenge on Djokovic in the final. Still, Djokovic held a staggering 6-0 record over Nadal in 2011 and, in many ways, created a permanent wound that may never heal for Nadal.
Raising the standards
Many observers have claimed the 2012 season was the greatest of all time, firmly establishing this as the greatest era in history. With Federer’s victory at Wimbledon and Murray’s maiden Grand Slam coup at the US Open, this season has featured four different major winners for the first time since 2003. That competitiveness and relentless unpredictability have thrown up various questions as we prepare for the next twelve months of tennis. It remains to be seen whether Nadal will ever be the same again, especially given his creaking joints and ever so brittle knees. Murray will be eager to continue his miraculous form and show that his triumph at the US
Open, making him the first British man to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936, was merely the beginning of a long string of major titles. Of course, the majestic trio – with Murray knocking hard at the door – can all lay down significant claims to have emulated Sampras, but it would be wrong to overlook the American’s immense aura, ability and how he held a firm grip on the sport throughout the 90s and, indeed, during the beginning of the millennium. Sampras should be remembered as someone who raised the bar to unprecedented standards. After all, it’s his achievements which are now the benchmark. Sampras, you can be sure, will be admiring the way tennis has progressed since his day as the cream of the crop. And so should we, as we are now blessed with the cinematic brilliance of three players – and perhaps four if Murray continues to emerge – who are chasing history and looking to redefine the very way we will view tennis in decades to come.
About the writer
Alistair Hendrie cut his teeth at a range of local newspapers in the UK before writing for FourFourTwo and The Guardian. He is fascinated by many sports and is a regular contributor to Boxing News magazine. Visit his blog at www. ahendriesportsjourno.blogspot.co.uk/ and follow him on Twitter at @allyh84
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
36
Blueprint Global Sports The Quarterly American Game Focus: football in Asia
“It’s a massive compliment for me to be known in Asia, because Asia is the way forward in football. I believe that strongly.”
Focus: football in Asia Will the world’s biggest continent ever become a true superpower of the world’s most popular sport?
On the one hand, it seems to have worked. Football mania is alive and well across much of the continent, with more traditional strongholds such as South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and the Gulf States gradually being joined by new swathes of supporters in the huge and rapidly developing countries of China and India.
37 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
However, the footballing passions of the vast majority of fans – new and old alike – are still largely directed away from Asia and towards the heavyweight European clubs; when this year’s AFC Champions’ League trophy was lifted by Ulsan Hyundai in November, most Asian fans were so busy following the latest news from England, Spain and Italy that they barely even noticed. Playing standards have also failed to progress. If anything, in fact, Asian football has got worse over the last decade rather than improved – the highest ranked Asian national team in the current FIFA world rankings is
Japan in 24th place (below Ecuador, Algeria and Sweden), while no Asian players or coaches have been shortlisted for the 2012 Ballon d’Or awards. So what does the future hold? Asia is clearly far too large to cover comprehensively in one article, but over the next six pages we take a snapshot of the current state of the game in three different and very distinct countries: India, Malaysia/ Singapore and, firstly, the United Arab Emirates. www.SpeakMagazines.com
It’s now more than a decade since Japan and South Korea co-hosted the 2002 World Cup Finals – an event that was supposed to trigger a rapid growth in the popularity and playing quality of football throughout the enormous continent of Asia.
Zac Purchase - zac@fluidesignuk.com • Paul Mattick - padmattick@fluidesignuk.com • fluidesignuk.com • rowfluidesign.com
Focus: football in Asia
Global Sports Quarterly
Leading by Innovation.
Australia and New York Red # Nobody copies 2 Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
38
Global Sports Quarterly
United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
Martyn Thomas explains that professional football in the gulf state finds itself at the heart of a unique cultural situation Football in the UAE finds itself at something of a crossroads at the moment.
outcome, but there is as yet no clear pathway to getting more fans through the gates.
On the face of it the game in the Emirates is buoyant as attendances for the domestic top flight – the Pro League – continue to grow season on season, while two of its clubs, Al Jazira and Bani Yas, reached the knockout rounds of this year’s AFC Champions’ League.
Traditionally, the league draws its core support from the local Emirati population, and while they are fundamental to the continued prosperity of the game, it has long been acknowledged that there are simply not enough of them to support a 14-team professional league.
However, scratch beneath the surface and there are worrying signs for the country’s most popular sport. A general apathy to attending matches has been accentuated by a recent boycott of the senior national side and this, though by no means exclusive to football, is concerning. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) would like to see average crowds of 5,000 in the UAE by 2013, but while attendances do continue to rise – the average for the 2010/11 season was 3,240, up from around 2,000 at the professional league’s inception in 2008 – there is still a long way to go. Failure to hit the AFC’s target could hurt the Pro League, with a reduction in Champions’ League places from an already generous four one possible
39 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
The UAE is fairly unique in the fact that a large proportion of its inhabitants are not citizens but economic migrants who are tied to the country through work alone. Official figures released last year stated that just 11.5 per cent of the population, around 950,000, were Emirati. Rudimentary maths would suggest only half of those are male, and less still the 16-25 demographic that regularly attend Pro League matches.
However, bar a few exceptions there is still a general reluctance on the part of the clubs to undertake such activities. Most football teams in the UAE are part of wider sports clubs that have been set up over the 41 years since the country’s birth to service their local communities. In this respect they are still ultralocal, a fact borne out by a pursuit that continues to threaten the longterm sustainability of many clubs: the paying of supporters to attend matches. It may seem ludicrous to readers who have had to re-mortgage their house just to follow their beloved team
“The logical step to ensure the future of football in the UAE would be to engage the swathes of expats who flock to the region in search of jobs.” www.SpeakMagazines.com
On top of that, the Under 23 national team gave a glimpse of what could be achieved in the future with a promising showing at the Olympics which earned their star player, Omar Abdulrahman, a trial with Manchester City.
Looking in from the outside, the logical step to ensure the future of football in the UAE would be to attempt to engage the swathes of expats who still flock to the region in search of jobs.
United Arab Emirates
every weekend, but in the UAE fans don’t expect to pay for their matchday experience. A recent study in The National newspaper showed clubs were happy to part with around Dh50 ($13US) per adult or Dh25 for a child, plus food and water, to ensure a decent crowd and atmosphere at their games. Bonuses of up to Dh25 are on offer to those supporters who put in a good ‘performance’ by singing and chanting throughout the matches, while transport to and from the game is often also laid on. Abdullah Al Junaibi, Deputy Chairman of the Pro League Committee, recently defended the practice as the by-product of a “hospitable and charitable culture”, left over from a bygone era when clubs were obliged to treat their fans as guests. But it is not just a practice undertaken by a few smaller clubs. Champions Al Ain, whose attendances of 5,000-6,000 help swell the league’s overall average, reportedly employ supervisors who comb the city looking for young men to come to their games and sing and clap. Abu Dhabi rivals Al Jazira, on the other hand, only pay a band of up to 1,500 local fans to attend matches, but they do also offer free tickets and bus in a much greater number of ‘supporters’ for bigger games. This practice may result in high attendances – Jazira’s average home gate for the 2010/11 season hovered around the 15,000 mark – but it also leads to a strange atmosphere, with many inside the ground unsure of what is actually happening on the pitch. Jazira did flirt with trying to attract a more diverse support to their games during that title-winning campaign of 2011, but it was an experiment that ultimately failed and then Chief Executive Phil Anderton paid the high price for getting bums on seats with his own job.
Global Sports Quarterly
“The biggest frustration arising from the apparent apathy towards the league is that the product on the pitch is not all that bad; it just needs better marketing.”
The club had run a season-long ‘Kick for Cash’ competition that rewarded successful participants not only with Dh25,000 cash but also the chance to win a Ferrari at the end of the season. The final home game of the season, in which Jazira were handed their first ever league trophy, resulted in a Pro League record crowd of 36,000 – although only a fraction of that figure bothered to stick around once the Dh1 million sports car had been given away at half-time. The day had begun with Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid handing out Blackberries and iPhones to the crowd, and ended with a DJ set from Timbaland. It was not hard to see that the strategy might not be sustainable as a business model. The biggest frustration arising from the apparent apathy towards the league is that the product on the pitch is not all that bad; it just needs better marketing. After four rounds of action this season the league was averaging 4.25 goals per game, while there had only been one 0-0 draw in those 28 matches. With talented attacking players like Asamoah Gyan, Grafite and Ricardo Oliveira in town, the one thing the Pro League guarantees is goals. But do you see these stars on posters around Abu Dhabi, Al Ain or Dubai? No.
Over the past few years, the likes of Fabio Cannavaro, Luca Toni and Diego Maradona – possibly the biggest name in world football – have earned their living in the UAE, yet you could have walked down the cities’ streets completely oblivious to the fact they were even here. Since their performances at the Olympics, the UAE’s national team players are starting to get a little more exposure, and both Amer and Omar Abdulrahman – no relation – have secured boot deals with Nike. The former has even fronted an advertising campaign for the company alongside the likes of Andres Iniesta. A step forward definitely, but it is equally frustrating that his name does not appear anywhere on the poster – how do you expect to raise the game’s profile when people are unaware of its biggest stars? The professional league in the UAE is still in its infancy and attitudes have started to change over the last four years. However, there is still a lot of work to be done if the green shoots of progress on the pitch are going to be felt off it.
About the writer
Martyn Thomas is an Abu Dhabibased sports journalist who covers the UAE Pro League for Sport360. Martyn has also contributed articles on Middle East football for The Football Ramble. He can be found on Twitter at @MartynThomas360
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
40
Global Sports Quarterly
India
“European clubs have realised the passion that many Indian football fans have for the game and the entire country is now firmly on their radar.”
India
Asit Ganguli believes the development of grassroots football is being severely neglected in a country of enormous potential
Liverpool kicked things off with their international soccer school in New Delhi; then Blackburn Rovers made their presence felt before FC Barcelona and Manchester United followed suit; Bayern Munich sent down their first team for a friendly while Venezuela and Argentina – Lionel Messi et al – came to Kolkata for an international exhibition match. That’s not all: FIFA has helped the All India Football Federation (AIFF) set up four elite academies, and the biggest boost of all has been a deal worth INR 7 billion ($130million) between Reliance, IMG and the AIFF to promote the sport over a fifteen year period. In a country where the average annual salary of an individual is between $3,000 and $6,000, that
41 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
kind of money goes a really long way. Television channels are now airing everything from English and Spanish league football to the UEFA Champions’ League and even the Brazilian Serie A. Sports manufacturers are also getting involved, so the Indian fan (who can afford the prices) is now wearing the same jerseys and boots as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. European clubs have started to realise the passion that many Indian football fans have for the game and the entire country is now firmly on their radar. The AIFF has been handed a large sum of money and the places they are spending it are quite evident, while the investment processes are being refined all the time. With many European clubs coming in and adding further resources, on the surface everything seems to be moving along quite smoothly. The PR campaign tells us that Indian football authorities are persistently running with the intention of enticing more European clubs to come in and set up their structures. And the
European clubs love every minute of this action because it is giving them the opportunity to enter a large and lucrative new market. Indian football is ‘the next big thing’, claim many European powerhouses, but the problems is this: the definition of ‘thing’ isn’t the same for everyone. Let’s take the example of Manchester United. Despite being one of the first clubs to recognise that India has ‘talent’ and ‘potential’, nothing that Manchester United are doing in this country has anything to do with genuinely hunting for or developing that talent or potential. True, their International Soccer School in Mumbai is a worldclass facility that has been set up specifically for young children. However, the reality is that the cost of one module at the training school is INR 12,600 (approximately $230) per month. The average Indian household has an income just about equal to or slightly above that amount, so a huge proportion of the population is automatically cut out of
www.SpeakMagazines.com
There are always two sides to every story. While everybody loves the beautiful side, few pay attention to the negatives – especially if you have a massive PR machine calling the shots. That is the unfortunate story of football in India, where the sport is loved by many but understood by few.
India
the picture, with only the elite classes of society capable of affording such luxuries. Similarly, another academy is led by former Liverpool and England international Steve McMahon, priced at INR 45,000 ($840) per year. Cheaper than United’s version but there are no short-term finance plans, so the parents of participants must pay a lump sum of roughly three times an average monthly salary, or stay out of it. That, effectively, is the pattern that we are looking at. The money in Indian football is in the hands of the right people but it is not being well spent. The Indian senior football team has a Dutch coach (Wim Koevermans) while the under 23 side has an Aussie (Arthur Papas) leading the charge. This shows that the mindset is slowly changing, but does little to tackle the actual cause of the problem. There is little or no development happening at the grassroots level. Sure, there are plenty of elite academies and good coaches at those academies, but the pool of talent from which those players are picked is miniscule and heavily biased towards the wealthiest families. There is no denying that Indian companies are capable of competing with the best in the world. Massive names like Jaguar and Land Rover have been bought by Indian companies and the count of Indian millionaires is rising at an incredible rate, while studying or working in countries like England and the United States is second nature to us. But our progress in the commercial sectors demonstrates vividly exactly how little progress has been made by Indian football. Since the ‘next big thing’ concept became common
currency, India has slipped from a recent high of 130th in the FIFA world rankings (February 2010) to an all-time low of 169th (September 2012). The only real breakthrough made by a player has been Indian international striker and captain Sunil Chhetri, who has been picked by Sporting Club of Lisbon to play in their reserve team – but when you consider that Chhetri has only scored 30 goals in the last five seasons it leaves a strong suspicion that the move is little more than a publicity stunt. The 2012 edition of the Federation Cup (the Indian equivalent of the FA Cup) was given virtually no television coverage. Despite IMG-Reliance guaranteeing that TEN Sports had been lined up for the coverage, those plans never transpired and in the end the AIFF had to ensure that at least the semi-finals and the finals reached the few who were interested. There seem to be internal disputes amongst IMG, Reliance and AIFF, who are all blaming each other for failing to put the annual sponsorship money to good use. European clubs, in the meantime, have identified the rising spending power of the wealthy Indian classes and independently set up their own marketing infrastructures. Themed bars and merchandise stores can be found all over the country, while Indian children are more interested in wearing a Steven Gerrard jersey than actually becoming like him. For foreign clubs, finding a top quality player is a lot more expensive than getting people to buy shirts so that’s what they are after – and you cannot blame them for running a business like a business. The right questions are not being asked because everyone is looking
Global Sports Quarterly
at the top level in England, Spain or Brazil and trying to get our top level there, without first carrying out any of the foundation work that those countries have had in place for decades. Let’s not even get to the fact that state-level leagues, the third tier of Indian football, aren’t even being organized with regularity in some states while the fourth and fifth tier has been extinct for many years, almost all over the country. The bottom line is that Indian football looks at the best with the aspiration to get there immediately, and refuses to accept that there is a steady climb to the top. We are trying to get a helicopter and land on the top, straightaway, without realising that we don’t have currently enough skill to stay there. Sports, especially football, just aren’t on the minds of the average Indian parent and as long as we just have a handful of children playing the game, we cannot hope to become a superpower. You could empty the coffers of the World Bank Organization into Indian football, but until we focus on making the game fun, take our attention away from fleecing the pockets of the country’s elite, train more coaches and introduce more facilities for all children, Indian football is going nowhere.
About the writer
Asit Ganguli is a former Indian professional footballer who retired at the age of 23 due to a severe knee injury. Since then, Asit has turned to entrepreneurship and runs a successful design and copywriting firm. In 2010, after acquiring his coaching license, Asit launched CleatBeat.com, a technical football website and magazine where all content is free.
“The bottom line is that Indian football refuses to accept there is a steady climb to the top.” Speak Global Sports Quarterly
42
FEEL IS IMPORTANT IF YOU LOVE HOW IT FEELS TO WIN. How you feel after your match depends on what you feel during your match. The new Wilson Blade’s innovative Amplifeel handle technology gives you a cleaner, more enhanced feel. Because nothing feels as good as a win.
©2013 Wilson Sporting Goods Co.
Global Sports Quarterly
Malaysia & Singapore
Malaysia & Singapore The neighbouring nations of Malaysia and Singapore are longstanding favoured pre-season destinations for European clubs in search of a lucrative summer tour. But K. Anand says local politics are hindering the development of the domestic game
Even at the international level, recognising the reality that Malaysia’s and Singapore’s national sides are not likely to make any headway at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games or Olympics, let alone the World Cup, for a long time to come, most of us football supporters have adopted our favourite European or South American nation. That is just the way things are in this part of the world when it comes to appreciating the beautiful game, or the professional game if we want to be more specific. Success is the key ingredient lacking in the state of football here. It’s not always been that way and, as a Malaysian, I can proudly say there was a time when the national side was a force to be reckoned with – not just in South-east Asia, but all of Asia.
44 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
We took on and defeated South Korea and Japan back in the 1970s and early 1980s. Malaysia also managed to qualify for the Munich Olympics in 1972 and won one of our group encounters – 3-0 against the United States – even though the other two games saw us lose to West Germany 3-0 and then suffer a 6-0 thrashing by Morocco. The last great achievement for our national side was when we defeated South Korea in early 1980 to qualify for the Moscow Olympics later that year. Sadly, as a result of the US-led boycott of the Games due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan the year before, we handed our place in the finals to Iraq so our men did not get a chance to prove themselves at the global stage again. And the national side has never regained its glory in a similar way ever since. Singapore was quite evenly matched with Malaysia during the same period. Although Singaporeans would no doubt dispute this, from a Malaysian viewpoint I would say they regularly raised their game against us in the way that a lower-ranked European club would against their more acclaimed local rivals. History demands it. Still, the island republic have also long passed their glory years, and a much-
“Success is the key ingredient lacking but there was a time when the Malaysian national side was a force to be reckoned with.”
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Ask any Malaysian or Singaporean in a quick street poll to name their favourite football club, and an immediate response will bring out a list of club names from the English Premier League (EPL), with an odd mention of a Barcelona or Real Madrid somewhere in between. Of course, even within the EPL clubs, it is almost certain to be one of only six clubs: namely Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester City.
Malaysia & Singapore
Global Sports Quarterly
“Nearly 90,000 fans attended the second leg of last year’s World Cup pre-qualifier between Malaysia and Singapore.” vaunted strategy that was launched in 2000 to qualify for the World Cup in ten years – that is, for South Africa 2010 – brought out more ridicule than cheer from Singaporean football fans. Those fans were proven correct because the challenge proved far too tough and there are no immediate plans to have any more strategies or aspirations drawn up when it comes to success on the football field. Both Malaysia and Singapore have been operating a professional or semi-professional league over the past two decades. But operationally, especially in Malaysia, it has been anything but professional. In Malaysia, the problem lies with the people at the helm of the national football association and its affiliated state associations. With football being the national sport, commanding a huge following, there has always been either some political personality or an ardent football-supporting member of the royalty thrust into the seat of power. As with any position of leadership, once on the seat, it is even more difficult for such people to give it up. Political patronage and the customary kow-towing to royalty make this situation repeat itself year after year. And then we have to suffer repeated interference by these so-called ‘football people’ on team matters, including overriding coach selections for the team line-up. The other negative associated to this problem is not so much that Malaysian football does not progress. Rather, it is that a brain drain occurs with qualified, proven and effective administrators and coaches becoming frustrated and leaving our shores for
greener pastures, where there is less patronage, less interference and more focus on the game itself. For Singapore, owing to the government’s closer scrutiny and a higher level of efficiency in the way things are run generally, the situation is not so bad at the administrative level. Instead, it’s the lack of talent that is most apparent. Football just does not pay enough compared with the other careers that are open to young men. As a result, most parents discourage their son’s active involvement in football past the highschool level. Football, sadly, is not seen as a career choice. Hence, the smaller pool of talent produces fewer choices for the national side. The practical solution taken by the Singapore football authorities has been to naturalise a select number of imported talents, as well as boosting some form of grassroots development. But it does not seem to have worked in any significant manner so far. The FIFA rankings seem to concur with this viewpoint as both countries have dropped considerably from 147 (Singapore) and 148 (Malaysia) in January this year to joint 163rd position in the rankings that were released in November. The above is a brief overview of the key issues that have contributed to the decline in playing standards over the past two to three decades. There are other factors: namely match-fixing – which has driven many Malaysians and Singaporeans alike away from supporting their local teams out of sheer frustration and anger – and also a lack of big money sponsors since the total ban on the tobacco industry from any form of sponsorship or advertising.
Finally, the fact that top quality football from Europe has been delivered straight to our homes for almost 15 years now, via live weekly telecasts of matches from the EPL, Spain’s Primera Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A, has led to local fans making the obvious comparison and raising expectations to unrealistic levels for the football they watch on the local front. National pride will always surface whenever there are important international matches, as witnessed during a World Cup 2014 prequalification round which saw Malaysia take on Singapore last year (Singapore won 6-4 on aggregate with nearly 90,000 fans attending the second leg in Kuala Lumpur – only for Singapore to then lose all six games in the subsequent group stage), as well as the South-east Asian Cup (AFF Suzuki Cup) every two years. However, occasional outbursts of such emotions are not enough to help the raise the standard of football for the better. To be frank, Malaysians and Singaporeans have simply accepted our footballing fate and will just continue to seek glory through adopted teams, thousands of miles away, in order to continue to celebrate the beautiful game.
About the writer
K. Anand is a freelance writer from Malaysia. He has been writing online content for 16 years, besides managing online marketing with a particular focus on sports betting. His passion is The Arsenal and you can contact him at anand.k.pillai@gmail.com
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
45
Global Sports Quarterly
My life in sport
“Contrary to the distorted tabloid stereotype of footballers, prima donnas are few and far between.” By Mark Bradley
My life in sport
In a regular series that asks people working in sport to provide an insight into their profession, we kick off with a man who, in the last six months, has supplemented his full-time job for an English Premier League club with stints at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the Olympic Games.
Commercially, efforts to improve your website income or magazine profits can sometimes seem a drop in the ocean. And while event marketeers, media managers and ticket office staff all work tirelessly to help achieve whatever profit might be possible (or minimise losses), ultimately the company’s success is dictated by the
46 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
performance of eleven men over a ninety minute period every weekend – utterly out of anyone else’s control. You could do a bad job and earn an end-of-season bonus, or excel in your role and be demoted. But the staff stay loyal because working for a football club is similar to supporting one; you ride out the difficulties and frustrations in anticipation of the highs that make it all worthwhile. When I said working in football is unique, I also meant there are not many jobs that force you jump to your feet in sheer excitement, punch the air with a clenched fist and start hugging the colleagues around you. Joining Reading’s communications team gave me a varied grounding in every aspect of sports media. I have taken pitchside photos, filmed
reserve games, edited magazines, edited video packages, written books, handled press accreditation, interviewed famous players, tweeted to thousands and travelled the length and breadth of the country (and beyond) to follow the fortunes of a football club. I swiftly learned to mute my goal celebrations in the confines of an away ground press box situated precariously in the middle of a partisan home crowd. I also learned that, although the thrill you experience when you first stand on the edge of the pitch minutes before kick-off can gradually wane, the goosebumps never really go away. I have also learned that footballers aren’t all that bad; during my career at Reading, we have been blessed with low-maintenance, unassuming, genuinely nice groups of players.
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Working for a professional football club – I’ve been at Reading FC since 2004 – is unique in many ways. Rarely can such disproportion be found in any other business model: while stadium staff are conserving every possible penny on concourse electricity bills and stationery budgets, and merchandise profit margins are measured by something as inconsiderable as how many coffee mugs have been sold, simultaneously tens of thousands are being spent on players’ wages every week.
My life in sport
The prima donnas do exist, I am sure but, contrary to the distorted and perpetuated tabloid stereotype of footballers, prima donnas in my experience have been few and far between.
around the lunch table and never dare to utter the words ‘tennis’ or ‘Wimbledon’, fearful of all the work that surrounded the very same fortnight I was desperately looking forward to.
There was plenty to celebrate this summer with promotion to the Premier League, which means everything for everyone. A communications team’s focus shifts entirely. Suddenly the effective use of our own media channels – the website, online TV station, matchday programme, and social media networks you have slowly built up and populated – all play second fiddle to managing the demands of national newspapers and international broadcasters.
Meanwhile, I would take a postlunch ice cream outside and sit on Henman Hill, taking in the freedom with which I could walk around one of the most beautiful sporting arenas in the world. That is why, even when Reading handed me a full-time job, I wanted to keep coming back for a fortnight every summer.
Seats in pre-match press conferences are filled, interview booths are triple-booked, mixed zones become multilingual and the question of whether your match is being broadcast live at all becomes a question of whether it is being broadcast live in HD or 3D and to how many different territories. The heightened interest in everything you do is exhilarating. But before my own preparations for the Premier League could begin, chalk began to fly at SW19. In 2003 I stumbled across a job in the TV marketing department at The All England Lawn Tennis Club. I remember climbing the stairs to reach the top level of Centre Court and, walking into what was to be my office, being met by springtime sunlight pouring through a large window that overlooked the outside courts. Little did they know that, at that moment, they could have asked me to work for free and I would have signed on the dotted line, so smitten was I with the idea of working for four months in tennis tinseltown. Without that sense of awe and childish excitement, working in sport is not for you. I remember a cluster of permanent staff who would sit
This year’s tournament was my tenth, eight of which have been spent working in the Broadcast Liaison department. Within moments of arriving, you are quickly reminded that you are working at one of the world’s highest-profile international sporting events. TV studios are occupied by Japanese competitors NHK and WOWOW, Australian rivals Channel 7 and Fox Sports, US bigwigs ESPN and the closer to home Sky Italia, Canal Plus, VRT and BBC. My role is to keep the rights-holders happy, ensuring they can access every nook and cranny that their milliondollar contracts entitle them to film from and helping them with their every need: from air conditioning issues in their commentary boxes to access for crews to camera platforms; from chaperoning cameramen in search of unique beauty shots for their highlights programmes to organising interviews with stars of sport and showbusiness in members’ areas that are usually off limits. The perks aren’t bad – grabbing a quick lunch on the Players’ Lawn can’t help but give you a sense of self-importance. Racing through the crowded grounds with John McEnroe to help facilitate a hastily-arranged courtside piece to camera, midMurray marathon, to fill the airtime as the roof slowly closes...that has to get anyone’s heart racing. This summer was like no other. For a Briton who loves working in sport, it
Global Sports Quarterly
would have been negligent not to get involved in the Olympics when they turned up on the doorstep. A short drive down the M4 motorway and a train journey from High Wycombe into London was all it took to deliver me to my Chief Liaison Officer role at Wembley Stadium. OBS (Olympic Broadcast Services) signed me up because football, of course, was familiar to me – as were the broadcast operations at a global sporting event such as Wimbledon. But these two weeks were again unique. The concept of a mixed zone was the biggest change. Normally, in English football, players fulfil no media obligations – bar the occasional flash interview – until they have showered and changed. Then, one or two might be hand-picked for a few quick interviews in front of a couple of cameras. Not so in the Olympics, where every athlete has to pass through a broadcast mixed zone before they leave the field of play. A makeshift mixed zone was set up pitchside upon the final whistle and broadcasters were hastily shuffled into position, in the correct pecking order according to their license agreements. The interest was incredible – South Korea played Gabon in a midweek group game and more than 70,000 people came along to see it. And if the mixed zones for the finals were anything to go by, the interest from abroad was just as exceptional, with a long line of 25 camera crews jockeying for position as the players walked past the organised chaos to the sanctum of their dressing room with medals around their necks and, in jubilant Mexico’s case, sombreros on their heads. With nearly all my annual leave spent, there would be no holiday for me and my new wife this summer. But as the London 2012 withdrawal symptoms tried to kick in, at least I had a Premier League football season to return to!
Speak Global Sports Quarterly
47
Unbeatable performance, unmatched consistency, and the most premium woven felt all add up to more W’s for you. Wilson is used at more than 45 professional tournaments worldwide. That’s why we are played at more majors than any other brand. Wilson, the Official Ball of Australian Open, US Open, Davis Cup and Fed Cup.
©2013 Wilson and W are registered trademarks and More Win. is a trademark of Wilson Sporting Goods Co. Australian Open name and logo are registered trademarks of Lawn Tennis Association of Australia Limited. Trademarks advertised other than those of Wilson Sporting Goods Co. are properties of their respective companies.
WE HAVE HAD A BALL AT MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS. OH YEAH, WE’RE THE OFFICIAL BALL TOO.
Global Sports Quarterly
Subscribe
Subscribe and download Speak Global Sports and other interesting magazines for free www.SpeakMagazines.com My life in sport
Global Sports
life in sport
storted Contrary to the di of abloid stereotype nnas do a ootballers, prim tween.” are few and far be
Movie : The
r ts
l Spo
Globa
get negligent not to would have been pics when they table and never involved in the Olym tep. around the lunch doors words ‘tennis’ or do exist, I am turned up on the dare to utter the The prima donnas the distorted l of all the work fearfu to n’, ary bledo contr ‘Wim sure but, the M4 motorway the very same tabloid stereotype A short drive down from High that surrounded and perpetuated ey rately looking a donnas in my and a train journ fortnight I was despe of footballers, prim few and far on was all it took ket been Wycombe into LondChief Liaison forward to. experience have y mar er me to my length Stuart deliv to between. er a postwing bley Stadium. ses, anag while, I would take Officer role at Wem dcast Services) : Follo ch exerci Mean on sit ting m er 2001 outside and to celebrate OBS (Olympic Broase football, of resear on, marke es a 20 ov lunch ice cream om There was plenty freed g in the promotion oberts B, propos county signed me up becau to me – as were R Henman Hill, takin one this summer with ue, which d aroun C iar walk to E course, was famil tions at a global in with which I could sporting arenas of the ngs game to the Premier Leag everyone. A tiful te 11–7 for ni the broadcast opera as Wimbledon. of the most beau means everything per in en, who vo the new is why, even when team’s focus shifts sporting event such were again in the world. That a full-time job, communications chairm of adopting s me the effective use But these two week Reading handed ur entirely. Suddenly for a vo back the – ng fa nels comi chan a unique. I wanted to keep at. of our own medi h er. form station, matchday Englis ed fortnight every summ website, online TV mixed zone was the of the social media stag The concept of a programme, and games Cup are o ally, in English ament was my slowly built up First re go 20 biggest change. Normno media networks you have play second fiddle This year’s tourn 2003: ounties T arwickshi l. have been spent rs fulfil which playe of all all, – eight , C footb lated W na tenth . and popu nal the occasional flash dcast Liaison June ey in the fi demands of natio t. obligations – bar 13th working in the Broa moments of showered rr to managing the al spor – until they have at Su Within international view nt. on and be a rs inter rtme si pape depa to d news , one or two watch profes quickly reminded dumpe and changed. Then ed for a few quick ican ,509 n arriving, you are broadcasters. have e longAmer ing at one of the d of 27 d’s betwee may th might be hand-pick a couple of that you are work s A crow wood system’ – public Lor of ofile international press conference ey on Holly interviews in front 2004: eeting at ar world’s highest-pr studios are ical Seats in pre-match booths are st ’t know ch the d Surr ce f m While rable ‘st TV uncrit the late ovie ex an an ic didnre to wat ere cameras. es ne an sporting events. nd bl s dl to n are filled, interview d zones become ve te etitor m s pu k id w it ese comp M t at ayne ys whe y floc lm ’ of the en whe ounds occupied by Japan e grou larges triple-booked, mixe question pics, where ago da mindlessl ewart or WClooney fi Many how or ev t the gr e membersle OW, Australian – the game at th l sin the Not so in the Olym gh NHK and WOW multilingual and na ty pass through a list of would , Grant, St a George when, and thou ike privat ost peop and Fox Sports, US match is being coun one-day fi nger very athlete has to m “l rivals Channel 7 of whether your a Gable show me you a lo u could zone before they game,idating – the closer to home when all becomes a than broadcast mixed only ol.” bigwigs ESPN and m BBC. broadcast live at oday I will give kers) – yo applies makeshift et and ti A enty (t VRT play. m in being of is Plus, Tw l it field d her d in site scho that leave the Sky Italia, Cana first question of whet hit an x-office st the oppo shortest an up pitchside upon clubs work or the W alia’s at HD or 3D and to e mixed zone was set broadcasters at Austr played at e broadcast live in me th rapped his bo gue quit ally in its were and the rights-holders is th ent territories. The w 2005: ar ed a ga the final whistle in My role is to keep how many differ game tween an now ket, especi format. access every “offer pers, was s on led into position, can be , everything you shuff they ly in ing d er est hasti s ic ensur inter ap ur were ev happy, the heightened to cr breathless Groun Warrior ge How like the cl three ho uded ng order according that their millionis that cl r rn r the correct pecki nook and cranny do is exhilarating. most ments. went well unde g and in s”, half rhaps this true Weste an Bushran e them to film in ill pe to their license agree as e e ri dollar contracts entitl with their up in kday even innovation emselves der st d never w Cup – ar nd Victo y. The gam ng them preparations for od own helpi th n my and e ee ng ld (a o from befor ve an South But ar d E ,00 a w intrigui declared Just tw incredible – air conditioning ’s Wor ars – Janu roun ue could begin, of 20 The interest was every need: from the Premier Leag real st this year most all- rictest owd a midweek some naysayers in favour. ter a y boxes to in st ks, fly at SW19. out cr ’s first sellt’s a played Gabon in their commentar af to e in e ly s Kore , ee an 0 ke began 3, issue os zines al th w rms; 70,00 ic th 0 l, chalk maga th d more than e al d’ in of cr iastic of to camera platfo ly 20 ss six reserve games, edite written ground s. group game and access for crews some n ‘all-roun and, abov all forms enthuslater, in Ju out acro hed its ges, to see it. And if n men over a ar cameramen in across a job in ac un edited video packa accreditation, people came along the finals were performance of eleved every weekend 25 ye from chaperoning I mea ting sense) ormers in In 2003 I stumbled years tition sp 20 Cup re ridge nal football for beauty shots for rf department at B books, handled pressplayers, tweeted int the mixed zones ninety minute perio e else’s control. search of unique cricke enced pe the TV marketing compe t Twenty at Trent re in the us the interest from ing FC since ammes to Tennis Club. rst T20 ee interviewed famo anything to go by, e firs g climax wickshi – utterly out of anyon and earn an Ian their highlights progr with stars of All England Lawn stairs to the length experi me. l, r th The lled The fi tiona trave pe excep job betw 5: and ny ways. as g ar ip ing the to thousands 200 lsatin beat W abroad was just You could do a bad s, or excel in your the ga organising interviewsess in members’ sie sk r observin crews played alia in pu try (and ra I remember climb t us coun came is Cour 25 the e A ey of portion be of th bonu line e rr tr te of Centr and bread with a long end-of-season sport and showbusin off limits. nes of a r, players e-tim noted af “Learn to do as Su ral final. d Aus uary. reach the top level the fortu to as the be on ion to an ness model: di ted. ly follow was posit to as E for demo ly usual what n beyond) ge ce: jockeying role and be the For areas that are Febr inaugu and, walking into you ca ised chaos to ell sa cas conserving a novi ell as es by sprin 17 th e to gtime met by football club. argue in walked past the organdressing room Chapp wnfall of shots; then s Not ryly, as w delighted a my office, being no a large n concourse loyal because w t regperks gh t at isden’ t bad – grabbing Am throu aren’ the exp thaThe ard, bu the sanctum of their their necks and, the do e proper But the staff stay In W ew Engel ed: “I amember the sunlight pouring t surthe naire , to mute my goal know all club is similar ionery ely Players’ Lawn theit.outsideense of rv footba ooked Billio medals around I swiftly learned Gayle an lunch play thncy stuff.” working for a footb an theseof ll as on Matth dly, obse t also rem 65-over quick window that overl wegive you In times of with 2006: a sense Chris dene you ride out nessm co’s case, sombreros in the confines of dise profit s fa de one; Mexi si g to of bu nt ration e t ortin ar but . s pa it celeb jubila bu supp help se es th in no inful auste to ke et ar es gu ted can’t an in t whgh courts. ollthe Why? Be g throu by something y unfairon their d press box situa e secr 98 the lik ela Jayaw ted’, ches and frustrations s succ atic respon -over cric t on a rits. Racin . groun head y it ulties th tance is hy un loy away diffic cau mpor w er to the it la by al 19 2 exp sup is football, discov McEn wen middle of d 40 porteroe Mah -integra keting En highs that make l ecst at ,thatse it’s finself-i ow many coffee l ly as ive T gland g e as is. grounds with that, rs to fork ect those ofJohn precariously in the d. I also Which Watson, ‘re at lea extra anged initia t (1963) an, Twenty20ste. I shal anticipation of the bere lucrat die ok tothe as st centyershrinkin Here in cric out thoyusa Little did they know have asked to crowitded pounds toleave mest. e I said working crow he is tur ly-arr imultaneously my annu lyal ally gra allnd ly vit pla at s wodIn alna per With to fol a partisan home Shan suming are today’sile uld you cricke , Actually y own ta maybe s tu all worthwhile. WhenI also meant help facilitate a hasti ly on nedtow ay for ac sonnearl moment, they couldThe Pr West alare no midtheir tea sea as brea in ord be wh ra,low m e, although the thrill have signed to ncerate being spent on it reoholid to came I would em er d ,inthere Europ , co and, Pietersen ose versat ould ket’sardfis rs clu t (1969) long for r Ten10 or spent ier theirwoul in football is uniqu jobs that force you learned that, er.yinhgcraticthe Wasthis e m thr CBpla Leagu courtside piece ou, gh e? airtim work for free and Europ eff Eive e As dedic you first stand on was e, he bs esumm ou fill the eek. hig en lisnin thect c thon, to my a moay t too ng on fo lyrawa er,el, e’sen th mo Kevin lents of th ts. They w above th gam ate ngtur and mara atlea be d line, so smitt t t new wife e st current e isMurr bi me ev d l E there are not many sheer excitement, experience when st d nst lev dotte befor a ty th uc as tes the r to sim er, an on di ow g has withd the minu t un eve ha , odthe Swiming gufo In s...thaply asuld e pras y are , for four super leagu roof slowly close on 2012 in co wo e –, sho ?H ds dome ming , work atry equivaltown gian the names to con d in the edge of the pitch wane, the ow aren try to .” thern – Lond ations thBut I doffoits jump to your feet in po rmbig cr llesti 2007: orld ch as thee. be in w pla cC tem ton’t erleast I with the idea of player intbu in,ttat ally a nposit kick atio a clenched fist and reserv f and to improve your w lyg.ne racin tensit, – gesro yion to an tried tinseltown s are.despeols of cas Tinse tedly be Movie’. ifer d- o a sec t eM gl ndgic h,anyon e tide kick-off can gradu du Five5 illio dce an olsymp the bee’s heart punch the air with clanss th d bsC– reon vious d an of seaso frietra tha toms months in tennis it, tho ub thclu footb really go away. feede rate toget ue woin and colleagues aroun si.ng mally the pr no gazine profits wLeagm ted aall anute as ier el’s ob ent” was ver be Pakist n of awe anr dcom w seatem usand undo ‘T20: The be rta of st s Prem no be goosebumps never artiti start hugging the isuld ci . Foresat a had increano ofsport im Without that sense Ifoo gC te Eng ond. fans pay ketpa ha is unties hree yepe ld ne ear,ne other ed that footballers ingsin espe whatn e’ a drop in the solike Kin work d mo h co title of ethe cal in Jo of retur theirsumm Despi reat Exper ket wou I have also learn sugg, it i – to .T lisled self, ntinue necluste ter Editor of e lik you. y sho cricThis ish excitement is to!or hagrd-er wasitWh lestiser y eacath my career htsport on g co ri ng sur child lin r ic ch uld ch ig E durin e in to am w w viv “G ing cr lig a bad; it, we m my in no nt marketeers, an e im ra e work hts strug d and broad e eke fr club,‘th loves for e 18 alo remember , by tsun ted th ngry aren’t all that nd to esen Septem who st m , sp decl isck n ced thw side the Ar t thelk, a formerand somet ly som e gla Brito g, an e again. Ted blethi e ve tivagle ng to u flo ho is not for you. I can cas 20 th been blessed d in unications to do lo o th office sit ac al, pa ay T t ter have comm can b – we lle ticke d as be ’t woul re nn s -d ia op ing’s mo ai ing, , m scr o: eed s the en A ntin Fa who l we xe al aw ru st fro lly labe to their fan ve eennen D lm in s a Europ at Read 01 ect to world g, was ur teat ms, unay 20exp ve Joining Read varied grounding If fi ke Arni the sa of permanent staff ea avo ove rant m such a ic –it.thin Austr h ationa bre ma ea fi ou Mail, s, and nance, unassumin ean help achie r epof akid y tonu r, indo rica 18 Super Legave me a Que awLay ing lygh tI ts teged quite Gu thetid neers Or Tana toidmaar with low-mainte nSpor , tha wh la 2005, Intern e Daily irror, nn ally org ge wit y mber ical ague? t of sports media. I g’. nc wonderful life? walkSpea anisa cluk wi : Wes ,in s of players. bleof the team ed od noDwava pe Ma Quent trigi bsGlob ll in possi orab see centurolesale emellly a ur berfu van ter, in ndwagon 2008 twe Screen itic for th nday M r the he r Cit ex The ish ey 2012 con every Un‘b at rad,nd pure tiotennin genuinely nice group d piorine tinental s, filmed ex199 intpo ite ars la l clubs, n,ng te y-old fo 2, it’s o thi ent’saspec con It’s in ba footst Liverpoo dste thethat’s intin othan Ma ed in 20 enterpri jusd photouncertainti saw thy,em risoeri mon pt, heste er foo ultimately film cr aph and Sureviewer the websi able Suside patba Two ye d on the don’t realistic n air overnian per Le wh se and of an t un follow ty nt an nc o. taken pitch have es, a pela ll-r com the oll, Ch t? ce coea ague off profit r edngthe be to claimoups ghd to fol India legr tly film ditor of r for ted busin that all e car ne ted by the shar dsels arch. d to be orld Twen itsSp im dicta Te yi ag low t, ers its pro European h se ee entrants cl to urs gra the list ef oth fa . or re as br th E ess vat rot gr en D of Ch erwo- . te B ed. Un only sh with less es asp e ion W at ire t ity a are er beco . t less the, as On paper, the ess focus ute face-t ise is curr lic Herald, ature wri author of er or, teams,” he scov pio this tantal simple solution spective its Big first ICC so saw th ntinent of nce th r va and Italia the giants of miliaramd rianis pulle dins’ fad Le ng no lure of -m brutal fe a tra answ in al e : also sounds gre endl fro n ei incide eco foo e htniagu uld Catho s1, and a He is also , Anthony lywmoobe ath 36d its vastating 15 a ‘SuBpeha tbarv by th hat year the sub-co r League, guarante ising temptress sign up and thi ce of irony, be said without admirin football. As Afterat:4,big ll e no co belled th . The titlcou rseH 000clubs the ...ol ht thatnelig T fore addin C r Leaagu will likely ie e nk that g de e’ e buirt feet, of su iv tussles wem la rhaps h’ Movie Online. Hitchcock d Graham Cup. uction on an Prem ial, garish and golde power, wealth, the Eenjoy La eke in, nquerin glances towards ing titanic s, ek delig strike twic ncerned, . And It’s pe alians havehe Big Bas Division here in Spain the g: “I we rs prestige, es, minnowso te iew g En rts swt,erwh BAFTAon Alfred Finney an -year should be introd L, the Indi controve ood capitalise n opportunities s lefrv uld anou as co ls, remak her Primera in avy train, glish Premier ustr rmat ‘T ick. w ile co t an fl be A 45 t s the tea w t hin ot o lm t, to a wi red er on IP ms ly ue fi y furthe d. get a fai os nn in as fo uc consumer and the book ns, Alb the A ticket at lesilv irds o realise it only takes a ention t. the m , most Hol wood? – r crack ofar as uels, preq about an on thatou ing the there. at Champio ed to 16 of the r a Tarant th globalisa r m ki d sho te th erw to becom uld to at op en their ow are t da ly st ke of their t ly ns Leagu fo e at be increa tion. that’s cu “Tw d to the mode e sporting onrea ons have n esn’t with a n:rre threeq ts and ju uld name guab at be Bol le T20 ghly- H reene, no llage cric begs e sed de do ch for ar te sit . ntl is rn y ma It’s fro kin – ua d, been negledomestic y ha ho wo ath Wn-w ther m t of 32 tea vi a wi tion for G gs of hi rld, which an alog to be tak to rced r cinem re-booion you co e. egree tha the w ould t. everyo cted ms to 64 its current ion ran of se, its is ding . lation eiin en la ovie an was fo e t cricke ers were .” ing – or shestation of due cour llar auct of vete behave you away for as lon unlikely Accor pone variat ular them pu in a state they now find The mst as film se in a regu mise of th peatrea Or in oth ct rest in g as you rself. ep re Info of worry lklity it wo manif t with, in -million dothe world er of the zero inte g the reje 16-34 partic For ju g decrea d to the destar system ing you kestracted European words a threemore on entes oruld in hadbe ant alt concepised multi ft’, aping ds, if amog e tier , thgro le aged The sacrif Super Le startl habit allie d-pulling ternative r wor to easily di of a gn er exactly th t current peop aff inen woatuld be quero ague to rep ice asked blic s, or ‘dra geth air he m . g al Tra ot pu un UE ow t in os can P dit to FA compe dumped ren, yo ionm In cr of those er m lace the os not res go ore. atch-fixi n span r m st bits wo lt the ional tition. , al s at which tched – s singly ildin the ng ng furore of play contribu ist the lure will who the be e attentio g back fo wo uld die, and ch tradit rn increa gies to ha cricket ha ui skilyp, ph cluic ck holes s, disillu Through bs now pi tion tow be a th trig uld ed , siom wer turdn the – in ned ra ards the of dome e’ an with ep comin fan – to tu ting strate ances, so y, resort nue oppo a lack of depth, s ma is ies and lo ir bamcks de og somehow the rich fuzz, I’d sti de ne ke dl Ok, there er Gam of rtunities it on hope tha sa e tr m cigam of the spo c football, a cru struction they marke e in attendore belate e sales eathe umm Eu t concer see beyon our continent’s rm t minor el dominate is a ‘Big Six ropean ning of alland m ngfoo the ‘S at is, a fo ’ thatth elite would clin ntiv ptying mains , ethnic e. d ri selfish dis rt’s proud tradit dismissal h er the ve de it ten bo pro shi tba in w , empty d ore and decid en ceedin , if ra mmer an ions, and th ll, omht cond is else will e em mto atEv ta.”the acr butan support. regard for their So it ally T20: e so-calle tinent, should wrig you find alsogs en thoug straoss own natio e not to walk ou d shine, e nodwhre own loyal a get its ow ere -popul focusalon ci l th place mo atoclu h it would mborlyi t espeini n house soci trying to billions ith al ng to re mix the t wlly that’s jus ns’ less fortunate on their trying to ng of n in order it shock vic capableteofchpro niquesin last icketia gen attt.ract lowerscr t my hope Isn’t tha clubs – bu rather gafolin Europbe lotear ap n ou tory ove the nchantm eral (and t pay-off wo .ducing a , not exp gam take rld r stad on Engli of r Le bi iade Supe ew is ho ouend ean so specia art what makes than en lea too high o pay? ectation t tion sh soil. Onthe arprisegia agutse wo over,su rs than e turnarlos . uc its Barcelon t of clubs like the l. . If a ap ce od pri the an pe uldre nts end oijust tr ce t any given a, th ything y don’t alickly a, chal, inem as the sw ly qu day, with theof ptyost tst to If an all-po r Milan Juventus, AC nem bo Champio up withdrawing , and the the world can happen Fo he onathes anrdci wi s ly to piod,sea Not if you ns’ Leagu firs we nowTsee from the tha loves it. -80 sponsors, werful collectiv A and FI th the power idt’s wh tensibCham scenario durin onde ns’ Leinge of clubs, FA, and sptch President believe Barcelon the m plexes, yos y re could qu e, this nightmare ma , park ague group sta g phone an TV companies, es it’s the lure ed eve kl ick a’s Sa sho ti Th is ic ly ryo nd ws ge ul e be ro mo ne game d . of his own upon us m es qu custom it, it will internet provid bile Euro-tin Rosell, who throu as tising no a breakaway their un else is forced to blooded here is passion ud,ienc of these What ha ers want ted glasse savoury join in wi defende Aate w gh an would cre ppen. And tog relbigger tur d game. as moote as it was th derbies are d it’s a place wh e luful eth football the argument thas recently n-off cou d in the than a treasured there big loc capable ate an unstoppab er they would be You’ve be ld the t domesti fabric of al likely a league that wo of his club part en warne Br uld more re be Game for scarring our Be le force, opserate went glo sunk without tra c d. rt just unthi itish society. Lo of the very o tha wi p autiful ever. bal. ce if tho S n Wh sin nk ut ere’s the able. g them is op of the romance relegation? Globalaffair Ab “Domest k se ou t ea in an th Some mi that p ic Travellin Adrian Cla e writer gh and they leagues are still have som precludes entry invite-only 22 S g the often t argue that lea will rem unless you of the for to away fixtures midfield rke is a former ving behin ain that interesting bring to e serious money tnightly is er Ar at FIFA unsavoury empir way even d the bloate or dedicate diet for leg also part level of En who has played senal an e d d, VIP tab cache to game’s be d UEFA would builders ports and away British supporte ions of le? Premier glish football fro at every be in the st intere It’s preten rs. the Ho Le se sts, and me ha a match rdy souls South. No ague to the Co m the there is eventuall tious and it’s ug , an nfe a w rence ly. And an y it would help to pro d the atmosphe won’t miss experien journalist and fans ced desertin lead to TV viewe magical. duce inside the re they publicat , he writes for ma football g it in the rs stadiums ion ir droves is as hosting s around the wony Before tha . rld, as we ‘The Break t ha TV pp ll ens, with curre and the down nt Cham and as they do (link to ww Red White & ’ on Arsenal pions’ Le Blue w.redwh ague iteandblue podcast .tv)
life in spor t
T20
A Europe
Glo
ovie
The M
an proble
.”
: Marcu
The M
an proble
m
Global Sp
or ts
f oEDITORIAL ntion wood e inte y ith th t as a HollEditor-in-Chief: w n io n televis exciteme than an Andy entin West g d for t vente of thrillin its impac d allow Qu in s a d e n w Email: andy.west@speakmagazines.com a in t in k e n m k r e ic xa popco e sam As cr r to e ing th who bette ? Grab the Twitter: @andywest01 id v o r p ic r, ie crit buste block nced mov e id ie exper be your gu DESIGN o Falk t
T20:
Peter Falkous
“Football it’s abou isn’t just about m t o too many people and I don ney; ’t for this k of them have an think appetite ind of ch ange.”
Publisher SpeakMagazines.com
Contact: info@SpeakMagazines.com www.S
om www.SpeakMagazines.c
Adrian C larke bel ieve clubs an d fans hav s English e little to from a E uropean gain Super Le and that ague, football authoriti other Eu es in ropean n atio focus on getting th ns should eir own domestic competit ions in o rder.
ovie
.com
pporters
A Europe
gazines peakMa
A Europe a problem n
r loyal su
s Buck
ner
m
rt to provide ple working in spo eries that asks peo“The pk off with a man who, a kic y-off wou job for we o their profession,of do ld be the his full-time nte edsti plemem catfothe ledon destruction months, has supo otbWiamb ll, a f th stin h spots e cruel d wit b clu e gu rt Lea ’s remier p ro s. u me s d Ga e ic tradition ismissal lf ismp Oly h disrega s, and a pionships and the rd fo
Credit
or ts
T20:
Photo
Global Sp
s
por t bal S
t e bes ng th lk with i t a e p rep racted fo t, then t u kee “If yo easily dis an of a gna more.” o p t s s n it k for o b g bac ttenti the a eep comin they k
ET RICK T20 C LINE TIME
www.SpeakM agaz
ines.com
For advertising enquiries please contact Advertising@SpeakMagazines.com
49 Speak Global Sports Quarterly
ts
10
www.SpeakMagazines.com
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to receive the latest news
Speak Gl obal Spor
d on on
a n ly 15 Ju y for an r he und ot . 53 19 nce
y20 A WAC
e nd th 12 ers on sellsa draw the ly 00 – r near fo ut -o
ional ternat Zealand ew en N and on kl n Auc
.
an meric ford n Stan very n Alle but the ated n ill-f petition in m co 20 es 20 rst T the fi ating come nal ons, be the fi hampi runs in five th n by on 24 rg nnesbu mber. in the ons follow ampi Indies former ch land to ng a teps of an and E with kist pions Pa a, cham sts Sri ho world e er ov om ctory vi l. -run the fina in anka
ports
bal S
k Glo
Spea
23