Absolutely should not be taking the knee
TH from Karşıyaka can calm down; this isn’t a knock at Black Lives Matter but rather the question of whether or not Gareth Southgate should be knighted. Simple answer: no. To do so would be to reward failure because ultimately, until England win a World Cup or European Championship (stop laughing up in Scotland), then that is what they and he are, failures.
Final thoughts on Euro 2020
I’ve just referred to England as failures, which in truth is a bit harsh on the team, but the buck stops with the manager and if Gareth Southgate had shown just the merest hint of positivity in his team selection and tactics then England would be European Champions. It would also help if he was a bit proactive when it comes to substitutions, an area where Italy’s Antonio Conte took him to the cleaners, and if he wants Harry Kane to score goals then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to actually find a way to supply him in the opposition’s penalty box. The stat that shows that neither Kane nor Sterling had any shots in the 120 minutes against Italy is a shocker.
A tasty sandwich
So once again I got it wrong when trying to predict the winner of a golf major, though in my defence had I made my usual each way selections then all of Collin Morikawa, Jordan Speith, Louis Oosthuizen, and Jon Rahm would have featured. It has to be said though that Morikawa, playing in his first Open Championship, was a superb winner and I wouldn’t be too surprised, seeing as how quickly he adapted his game to links golf, if there were more claret jugs finding their way into his trophy cabinet in the future.
Ireland 5-0 England
Since Nick Faldo hoisted his third claret jug at Muirfield in 1992 not one Englishman has won the Open Championship. To put this miserable statistic into perspective since 2007 no fewer than five claret jugs have wended their merry way across the Irish sea: Padraig Harrington twice, and Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry at one apiece. Why the discrepancy? According to Justin Rose it may be down to pressure with the expectations of the home fans being too much for the English to bear, but if that were truly the case then the English would be getting the job done across the pond wouldn’t they? Apparently not, because since the sainted Sir Nick won his last Open Championship there have been only three English successes across the pond with Faldo winning the last of his three green jackets in 1996, Justin Rose winning the US Open in 2013, and Danny Willet winning the Masters in 2016 being the only English winners in the good old USA. Nobody is saying that England doesn’t produce good golfers, obviously the country does as can be seen by English players usually strong showing in the Ryder Cup, but it’s becoming apparent that while they excel in team golf, when it comes to 72-hole stroke play they lack the mentality for the big prizes.
Rugby Union
South Africa vs British and Irish Lions today, 7pm. In any normal time the prospect of three tests on three successive Saturdays between the Boks and the Lions would have all rugby fans salivating profusely as they sat in their couches in anticipation of a thunderous collision between some of rugby’s finest, but try as I might I cannot get particularly enthused this time around. The reason? Covid and the resulting empty stadiums. I have little doubt that the rugby on offer will be as hard fought and tenacious as ever, but as we’ve seen with footie over the past year zero crowds equals zero sense of occasion. And that sense of occasion is what makes the Lions quadrilateral sorties so highly anticipated and cherished. The Boks are of course the World Champions so beating them was always going to be a tough ask, but as we’ve seen before the presence of thousands of Lions fans gives the tourists a massive boost and negates somewhat the advantage playing at home gives to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Clearly that boost will not be in evidence so we can expect no small measure of sterility in the coming weeks.
F1
Last week’s Silverstone race was ground zero for Lewis Hamilton’s chances of winning a record eighth world championship title and thanks to a coming together at Copse that ended Verstappen’s race on the most enthralling first lap for many in a year the championship is wide open again. Opinion in the Guardian was split between those who think Hamilton’s “take out” of Max Verstappen was just one of those things and the rest who think that Hamilton’s shown himself to be evil incarnate. Me? I saw a driver at the height of his powers putting in a masterful performance and winning a thrilling race at a brilliantly old school circuit, one that puts all the modern venues to shame.
It was also good to see Verstappen being hoisted by his own petard re forcing others to give way on bends or face crashing out of the race. Speaking of the Guardian, Hamilton’s many critics couldn’t seem to work out whether they were more disgusted by his tactics or by his shameful flaunting of the Union Flag on the in lap in front of, shock horror, partisan 140,000ish British spectators. Nice to see that it’s not only English footie they despise, but I have to say that some of the comments about Hamilton seemed, would you believe it, borderline racist. In the Guardian? Surely not!
And finally
Last week’s question: equestrianism has had three, golf four, motor racing eight, football 15. What? The answer is knighthoods bestowed on various participants over the years. This week: what, apart from the obvious, do George Best and Christiano Ronaldo have in common?
Never stir a hornet’s nest; or to be accurate never antagonise mud dauber wasps. Many of us have seen the nests created by these little chaps but last week was the first time for John and Jo Sanders who commendably did the right thing and informed Lapta belediye of their plight. The belediye commendably sent along an exterminator, but things must have been lost in translation as he came equipped to deal with cockroaches. Unperturbed the chap simply unloaded a spray of anti-cockroach fluid into the nest and was last seen running hell for leather for his truck as a swarm of mightily p*** off mud daubers ran him outa Dodge. This left the Sanders’ with a fairly annoyed bunch of squatters and so they duly retreated and went off to drown their sorrows until midnight when the nest had settled down for the night. The following morning John blasted the nest with fly spray and while the inhabitants were groggy flung the nest into the nearest field. Don’t you just love Cyprus!