Samoa – A nation of forward thinkers??

The Samoan flag but for how much longer??? (Courtesy: Google)

Based on articles found on the ABC website, the tiny island nation of Samoa has undergone some serious changes in recent months. The Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has changed the side of the road Samoans drive on and now has changed the time zone of Samoa.

The significance of the time zone change is that Samoa was on the eastern side of the International Date Line (IDL) which meant it was a day behind New Zealand and Australia its closest developed nations. Originally Samoa was on the same side of the IDL as NZ and Australia. However in 1892 it changed sides to reflect its trade with the US which is understandable given both Australia and NZ were nations in their infancy at the time.
As a result of the change Samoa, goes from Thursday 29^th Dec straight to Saturday 31^st Dec skipping Friday in the process. Surely skipping a Monday or a Tuesday would be a better idea than skipping a Friday, but each to their own I guess.

So Samoa goes from the last nation on the planet to see the sun set to the first nation to see the sun rise. The island nation of Kiribati may not take too kindly to Samoa taking the mantle of the first nation to see the sun rise and it will be interesting to see if the relationship between the island nations is strained in future months. If relations do become strained, Kiribati would have to send in its flotilla of warships … erm Triremes (???) to Apia in a show of strength against Samoa.

According to reports PM Tuilaepa also plans to change the flag and I imagine it will not stop there. As a suggestion I think he should change the position of all hot and cold water taps on basins as well. On a more serious note, perhaps changing the business hours to run simultaneously with Sydney or Auckland may be an option to consider and given it is a tropical nation it would mean that businesses are not open in the hottest part of the day and it may open the country up to more trade.

Should the AFL employ goal-line video technology for AFL matches?

This topic has often come up for debate in recent years and was unfortunately highlighted when a Tom Hawkins shot for goal actually hit the post in a grand final but was awarded a goal. St.Kilda lost the game and it would be easy to imagine that some of their supporters would be aggrieved to this day.

The game itself appears to have sped up in the last few years and yet the umpiring of the most important aspect of the game …scoring…has not changed in light of this. Therefore, assuming that something needs to be done to maintain accuracy, what solutions are available to AFL to remedy any mistakes.

Video Technology… Many sports have gone down this path and while it is successful in some sports (i.e. cricket with run-outs and the use of hot spot, or tennis with the use of Hawkeye or Rugby in general) it has not been as effective in others (e.g. American Football) as it can slow the game down. It is worth noting that an American Football game can take over 4 hours for just 60 minutes of actual playing time.

Does the AFL go down this path? In the knowledge that the game can be delayed by several minutes over the course of the game while contentious goals are reviewed by a fifth umpire, who would need to be employed just to review these decisions.

In my opinion the AFL indicated through its rule changes surrounding holding the ball and its experiment with the kicking backwards rule in the NAB cup that it wanted to keep the game competitive and retain a high action game (i.e. fast). Although it could also be argued that they wanted to slow the game down a little with the introduction of the substitute rule.

Video technology is expensive and not necessarily accurate and there are shortcomings with the use of the technology on Hawkeye for LBW decisions or video replays on low catches in cricket... Well according to the Indian’s anyway!!! 

More Goal Umpires…this may not be as costly to the AFL as the use of Video Technology, although there is problem that decisions are still prone to human error. But both Rugby Union and Rugby League use two umpires that stand behind each post to judge if the ball has passed correctly through the uprights.

Given the speed of an AFL match has increased, this may be an option as it would mean that goal umpires would have less ground to cover in a short time and this may lengthen the life span of a goal umpire (difficult to believe I know… but logically true). Potentially fewer mistakes are made given that the umpire is in position earlier and the game is not stopped to review a decision.

But I can already hear the cries of derision and the first question asked will be how the scoring will be signalled by the umpires to avoid confusion. Some thought has been given to this by yours truly and I think the following will logically work.

Both umpires to raise a flag at the pole to signal a goal (just as is in Rugby)

If it is a goal then one designated umpire at either end to perform the normal flag signal for the goal.

For points the umpire in control of the point region to signal a point with downward flag wave (as per Rugby) and then to signal the point as per the normal flag signal.

The contentious area is for touched or rushed behinds this is to be signalled by a downward flag waving motion by the umpire that sees it (and if both deem the point to be rushed then both signal the behind) this is followed by the normal flag waving signal for a behind by the designated goal scoring umpire.

Personally I favour the “More Goal Umpires” option; however it is all food for thought. Perhaps this is something that the AFL could consider as the game moves forward.

How much longer will Neil Craig be coaching at Adelaide ?

Source: www.adelaidenow.com.au

In May I wrote a piece asking what has happened at the Adelaide Crows and are changes required at Adelaide to arrest the slide in the 2011 season. Well two months down the track and after witnessing Adelaide’s recent performance against St. Kilda it would indicate that the situation has gone from bad to worse.

There are now constant rumours about Neil Craig’s future not only in Adelaide, but in Melbourne as well. This is probably justified as there has been no change to the Adelaide Crows game plan. This suggests that Craig has undeniable faith in his game plan and presumes that as the playing group improves so will the results. Or worse, Neil Craig is unwilling to make changes to a plan that is clearly not working through stubbornness.

Players have gone off the boil and there is a lack of belief in the playing group. The hierarchy will tell you that the playing group is solid, but this is pure spin. Nothing shows up more in team performance than despondency and the coaching staff has not been able to fix this within the playing group. There is no fluency within the play on the field with constant “stop-start” football and the Crows are often exposed by the opposition team’s forward press.

With these facts in mind, the board at Adelaide seriously need to consider Craig’s future and quickly. The Adelaide performances of late have been below standard and look to be getting worse. The supporters want the coach to be dismissed after a string of horrible performances and the playing group are showing signs on the field that the messages from the coach are having no effect. Leaders should demand respect of the playing group and the supporters and it appears that Craig has lost this respect. The best answer to this situation is for Craig to be removed from the post.

Ex-Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett recently wrote an article on leadership to which he held the theory that those appointed to leadership positions should remain in that position for approximately 6-8 years. In that time the person is able to stamp their authority in the position with the impetus to add innovation without the need to defend what has been established. Kennett suggests that after this time there is a shift towards protecting everything that has been previously gained. After that they should distance themselves completely from the organisation to allow the new leader to make his mark. Craig has been at the helm for seven years at Adelaide so from that perspective his time is now up.

If the Adelaide board has someone in mind then appoint them now and give them a few weeks with the playing group before the end of season to determine which players to keep and which to delist. The captain needs to be changed as his exploits on field are not inspiring enough. This did prompt a friend of mine to suggest that Van Berlo is the “softest” captain in the AFL and I could not agree more.

Personally I would delist Tambling (looks all at sea), Van Berlo (softest Captain in the AFL and simply not hard enough), Walker (very talented but does not apply it), Doughty, Symes, Sellar, Knights and Moran (all form based) just to name a few off the top of my head.

It will be interesting to see what decisions are made by the Adelaide board over the next few weeks.

What is happening at the Adelaide Crows?

I must apologise for the length of time between articles. This article looks at some problem areas at the Adelaide Crows and discusses what could be done to produce winning performances from the team.

After witnessing an insipid performance against Melbourne on the weekend I would like to briefly discuss three areas; Leadership, Game Plan and Personnel.

In terms of Leadership, the simple question arises: “Is Nathan Van Berlo the right man for the job?”

Based on the performances that I have seen this year, the answer is no. The word from West Lakes is that Van Berlo is a natural leader, but performances on field do not suggest this to be the case. A leader of men needs to be fearless, uncompromising and passionate about the cause. Leaders command respect just by their presence and motivate their army, their followers and their men to perform great deeds. 

However on Sunday against Melbourne, I saw a Captain who dropped his head at a crucial time. A captain who did not chase the opposition player which every last bit of energy he could muster. It was very disappointing moment and something that no other Adelaide Captain would ever do. This attitude quickly spread through the players as a result. Yes, it is Van Berlo’s first year as captain, but based on this performance the future is not very encouraging. 

So, who should replace Van Berlo if he should be deposed of the Captaincy?

My choices are Scott Thompson, Kurt Tippett and Patrick Dangerfield, although the latter is still very young so we are left with Scott Thompson and Kurt Tippett. For my mind, Tippett has too much responsibility at Full Forward as the spearhead with additional Ruck duties thrown in to be given the Captaincy as well. This leaves Thompson as my choice for Captainm this is based on his determinination and his on-field presence.

Are the playing personnel a problem? 

This could be one aspect in Adelaide’s favour as the playing is fairly young and Adelaide currently has the longest injury list in the AFL. The list will take time to develop and there are encouraging signs with Luke Thompson, Rory Sloane and Sam Jacobs to name a few. Adelaide has also recently lost well over 1000 games of experience with the retirements of Riccuito, McLeod, Burton, Goodwin and Edwards so there is a lack of on-field presence when times are tough. That said senior players currently within the side need to stand up during games and the Captain’s example mentioned above does not set a good precedent.

Does Adelaide’s game plan need tweaking?

It become obvious at the Melbourne game that when Adelaide were in trouble the players went back to chipping the ball around and the game plan of rushing the ball forward became non-existent. Is this because the players on the ground are not able to execute the game plan under pressure?

However, there are still question marks over Craig’s ability to change plan mid-game when circumstances change in a match. There have been times when Craig goes defensive when in an attacking position. The semi-final against Collingwood in 2009 is an example. So are there other game plans in Craig’s repertoire or is it time for new blood?

Is there a grass roots solution to improving tennis in Australia?

Source: www.daviscup.com

Given that in Australia we take pride in performing to our best in sport (and all forms of life), we have a situation where Australian Tennis has been in decline for roughly 20 years which is not a very good outcome to say the least. Every few years it seems that only one or maybe two juniors go on to succeed at the highest echelons of the tennis world.

Expanding on an idea from a work colleague and having played tennis to a reasonable standard myself, perhaps a solution can be found to consistently produce talented players at the grass roots level. In each Australian state or territory tennis is played every Saturday by thousands of players. The competitiveness of these competitions can be quite intense. Teams from a club are graded on ability and they compete against other clubs. There are elite leagues called Pennant Competitions which feature teams across tennis districts (several clubs within a specified region) in which players are often paid a small amount to represent their “club” in order to win the pennant. 

Some districts are stronger than others and may have more than one club in the competition; however participation often depends on sponsorships and ability to form a team. Juniors on the other hand are identified early and are often invited to elite “training schools” to develop their skills for preparation for the world tour (if they are good enough). This is currently based on the model used for swimming in Australia which works quite well for that sport. 

Unfortunately it appears that when our junior tennis players come of age they are usually left to fend for themselves whereas other countries players appear to have their support structures in place to monitor the progress of their player and the player is able to perform to a high standard on the tour.

So how do we correct this situation? The “swimming” model does not appear to be working for tennis, given that there has been no consistent representation of players in the Top 10 singles for Men since Hewett and Rafter while for the women’s Samantha Stosur is the first player to grace the Top 10 for a few years.

Most other sports in Australia have a national league (or competition) of some sort. This improves the skills and enhances the competitive spirit of the players involved. To improve the game it needs to be done at the grass roots level and then filter through to the higher levels (i.e. Pennant). Pennant competitions are run as per the normal tennis season each year and are generally the highest based club competition in each state. 

So what about having a league where the winners of each state based Pennant competition played each other each year. This competition could be called the Australian Tennis League (ATL) and would feature the Men’s and Women’s winners from each league (6 states and 2 territories) to play a round robin tournament over two weeks in late December to early January at Melbourne Park.

The Winner is first past the post for each of the Men’s and Women’s Competitions with a cash prize of say $100,000, Runners-up get $40,000 and third place $25,000. The best 8 male and best 8 female players based on results from this competition then get the opportunity to play-off for a wild card spot at the Australian Open during Qualifying week. It is probably worth noting that the usual wildcard spots remain for those players who want to choose that path to playing the Open. However the implementation of this idea will result in one less spot in both Men’s and Women’s draws being available each year.

The aim is to try to enhance competition within Australia and develop the mental strength of our promising future stars by playing against hardened Pennant players on a regular basis. With the exception of Hewitt and Rafter, the players of Australian tennis in recent years have lost their spirit and toughness on court and recent results tend to show that competitiveness is lacking. The use of club based competitions should give encouragement and hopefully that competitive edge to juniors that want to progress their careers as they will potentially within reach of players who have competed in the ATL.

This is not a quick fix solution, but a solution designed to encourage clubs to develop juniors for preparation to the Pennant competition and encourage more participation at the grass roots level. It allows State Pennant winners to play in a competition with clubs at a similar level and hopefully provides enough incentive to encourage prospective players to enter the “big stage” of world tennis while maintaining some roots to their home club.

If anyone has Paul McNamee’s e-mail address please let me know, as I am quite happy to forward this idea to him. Perhaps if the idea is adopted it will lead to an improvement in Australian tennis.

Is Valentine’s Day merely a marketing tool?

Given that Valentine’s Day for 2011 is approaching at a fast rate, it begs the question “Is Valentine’s Day  merely a marketing tool?”, and further more “Why do we have to wait for one particular day in the year to celebrate being in love?”

Let’s think about it, over the next week restaurants, florists, jewellery stores and even lingerie shops will be out in full force to secure your hard earned cash for that one day in the year where you say to your loved one “I love you”. The colour red will be splashed about like no tomorrow. Restaurants will ensure that no group bookings are allowed (unless they’re into that way of thinking) and there will be no expense spared to make everything “perfect”. If I were being cynical, I could also suggest that these places would increase their prices because they know that they will get the sales. It’s similar to mentioning the word “wedding” whilst preparing for the big day, you are suddenly slugged an extra 200% because of the occasion.

To illustrate the “idea” of perfection, this is a true story.

A few years ago, I was travelling for work on Valentine’s Day in Brisbane and wanted to eat out that night. After looking around Southbank and being unable to find a suitable place to eat I went back to the Saville (where I was staying) and asked for a table. The waiter said “We have no tables, can’t you just eat dinner in your room?” There were spare tables but the waiter was not prepared to seat a single person in restaurant as it may spoil the mood. Needless to say I strongly requested a table (it was 8:30pm by this stage) and one was found but it was in a corner so I was out of the way. Understandably, there was no tip and I didn’t have dinner there for the remainder of the time I was in Brisbane.

So, is this idea of perfection really warranted...... ask yourselves this: When you are with someone you love, do you need a special occasion to tell them that you love them and does it have to be on a specific day of the year? The answer should be “No” for these questions. Romance should be spontaneous and (girls ...sorry if this offends) it should not matter who instigates the spontaneity!!!

Girls, you want equal opportunities at work and with most things in life which I agree with completely, but most of you still expect the male to take the lead when it comes to the “Dating Game”, romance, and relationships. Now some guys can be relatively shy in these matters, (I fit in this category) and they really appreciate it if a girl takes the lead every now and then. It shows that she is interested and willing to spend time with you.

So yes I think that Valentine’s Day is somewhat of a marketing tool. That’s not saying Valentine’s Day is a complete waste as I really like the idea of a nice dinner with that special someone. However, I think it is pointless to promote the idea of perfection when none exists and quite shallow of people to expect it.

Of course, it would be interesting to see if others had a similar view.

The Rambling Couch Sitter’s Top Five Least Favourite Sports Teams

Here are my Top Five Least Favourite Sports Teams in order. These are teams that have had a large influence on everything I dislike about sport. I can never truly hate any team..... well maybe one or two from this list can be put into the “Hate” category.

 

Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL) – If there is one team I truly hate it is the Port Adelaide Football Club (PAFC), they are represented by the Magpies in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the Power in the Australian Football League (AFL). This is a team that tried to turn its back on the SANFL in 1990 to join the lucrative AFL competition much to the outrage of South Australia. It resulted in the Adelaide Crows being created by the SANFL to counter the push by Port Adelaide. The culture at PAFC is very much “us versus them” and the socio-demographic of the supporters is working class which further fuels this attitude. 

It was this attitude that drove them in 1990 and if they looked at the “big picture” they would have seen that there were some Victorian clubs in real strife which may have lead to a true club competition in the AFL rather than just an expended Victorian Football League calling itself the AFL. They are often referred to as the collective brain cell by yours truly. So much is my hatred to this club whenever I see supporters in the street I will mutter under my breath “Wharfie Scum” and a trip to Alberton Oval is always a pleasant experience.

Melbourne Victory (A-League) - Rank second and are fast tracking themselves towards the “hate” category. Captained by Kevin Muscat this team plays tough football which is good, but it is often too tough. Their team is arrogant and their supporters are at times scary especially when in a group. So bad is the rivalry between the Victory, Sydney FC and Adelaide United that the visiting supporters are given a police escort while walking to the Victory home ground. Whenever the Victory fall behind there is a great tension in the stadium. The players start whining to the referee and the fans will just whine.... Quite simply, they are very sore losers!!

Sri Lanka Cricket Team – It was tough to decide between third and fourth, but Sri Lanka gets the nod purely around the “Murali” chucking furore. Murali was called for throwing during the Boxing Day test in 1996 based on the Laws of Cricket. Usually this meant that the bowler was banished and never came back to the game until they sorted out their action or never came back at all. The problem was that the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga thought that his bowler was victimised and added fuel to the fire saying that the call was racially motivated. 

This incident threatened to split world cricket with the powerful Asian block of countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) and the West Indies threatening to break away from the ICC. The potential loss of revenue resulted in the ICC reviewing the laws around when a bowler is deemed to be throwing and the bowler is referred to coaches for “corrective action”. Murali went on to take 500-600 more wickets to become the highest test wicket taker of all time. Not bad for someone who should be branded a “chucker” and banished from the game.

Italian Football Team – are fourth due to their performance against Australia at the 2006 World Cup. Fabio Grosso did a nice little dive in the penalty box just before full time to earn Italy a penalty. The penalty was converted and Italy won 1-0. Italy was already down to 10 men after Marco Materazzi was sent off in the 50^th minute and Australia due to their superior fitness probably would have won had the game gone to extra time. The referee decision to award the penalty was considered controversial. There was also an incident earlier in the play that the referee should have awarded a free kick but this was missed and hence no advantage was given. If the goal had been scored from that then well done, but scoring one after the dive is sacrilege. 

The Italians did go on to win the World Cup, so the decision ended up being very crucial. After the game, Grosso maintained he was fouled, saying, "I tried to avoid contact, I got past one defender but then my leg got stuck in between the other defender's legs and I had no option but to go down. My aim was to go all the way." But of course Grosso would say something along those lines.

St Kilda (AFL) – Scrape into the Top 5 more from their off field antics rather than their on-field play. While footballers in general have a reputation for being “lads”, the reaction that St Kilda initially had to a 17 year old girl releasing nude photos of some of their players was overdone and a public relations nightmare. The incident was the result of revenge by the girl over the treatment by some of the players towards her. There were rumours of her being pregnant and losing the baby amongst other things. St Kilda threatened to sue her for a large amount of money that she would be paying off well into her 30’s. The morality of the players was never questioned by the club and tragically the girl’s family have disowned her. It is one of those situations where there is no winner and it was clear that the girl needed help. Recently the club has agreed to provide accommodation for the girl in exchange for the photos being removed from the internet. The right outcome has been achieved but the Saints have lost respect from the incident.

This is not the first time that St Kilda have been involved in such an incident. Players Stephen Milne and Leigh Montagna in 2004 were the at the centre of a police investigation of the rape of a woman. No charges were laid, however in June 2010 a former detective who was the lead detective in the case made claims that the case collapsed under internal pressure from within the Victorian police force and powerful club backers as well as another detective alleging the cost of the case was a factor.

Other teams to miss out on the top 5 were Arsenal, Glasgow Celtic, Croatia and Manchester United

Should Michael Clarke be the next Australian Test Cricket Captain?

Photo: Getty Images

Before I begin this, I want to acknowledge that Michael Clarke is a very good player and I like his technique when he is in form. However Clarke is currently out of form and lacking confidence with the bat. Without speaking to the man himself, one can only ponder the reasons why the form and confidence have dropped so dramatically. Do we put it down to the break up with Lara Bingle, or is it part of the normal form slump that most cricketers can have. Who knows ?

Perhaps we need to look at Clarke’s record pre and post the Lara Bingle break up to see if that could be a factor. The www.news.com.au website has an article dated March 13, 2010 which refers to the couple having not spoken since Tuesday. March 13 was a Saturday, so that makes Tuesday March 9^th. So I’ll take my statistics from there, and I would like to thank the www.cricinfo.com website for providing the data.

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Pre Lara Bingle Split	58	94	12	4116	166	50.20	13	17	441	17	56
Post Lara Bingle Split	11	20	0	626	168	31.30	1	3	81	2	13
Vs NZ in NZ	2	3	0	259	168	86.33	1	1	37	2	3
Post Lara excl NZ Tour	9	17	0	367	80	21.59	0	2	44	0	10

As you can see since the split with Lara Bingle, Clarke’s average has dropped by about 19 runs overall. Now the interesting part comes if you exclude the NZ tour statistics. The reason I have completed this analysis is that the break-up occurred at the time the Australian Team was in New Zealand. This was done to see if the break up had an immediate effect on Clarke’s performance, which given the row “vs NZ in NZ” most people would say that it had a positive effect.

This is clearly an aberration which could just be put down to Clarke reacting to the situation. If you consider the post Lara Bingle split averages and exclude the NZ tour as the row “Post Lara excl NZ tour” shows. The average drops to just 21.59 from 17 innings with 2 fifties and a highest score of 80 in that time. As much as Clarke would hate to admit it, these stats would indicate that this dramatic event in his life has had a fair impact on his batting form.

With these stats most people (including me) would suggest that Michael Clarke should not be in the test side, let alone be the next Test Captain. Personally, I would much rather see him return to the Sheffield Shield to regain form and confidence but most of all spend the time getting his head right. This is not a bad thing and players of Clarke’s calibre will find the missing pieces to the puzzle and work on earning their spot in the Australian side.

As for the Captaincy, given the high profile of the position in Australia, I tend to agree with Darren Berry’s article in the Age recently where he suggested that the Captaincy should be rotated amongst various aspirants to determine if they can perform under pressure. This would provide the best opportunity to pick the right person for this important position. However it must be on the proviso that the person can make the side based on form.

Cheers,