Mihir Bose's Blog, page 79
December 16, 2011
The gulf that separates the American and British sporting model has yet to be bridged
Insideworldfootball.biz
In the last few weeks, readers of the sports pages of British newspapers may have been forgiven for thinking we are facing another American revolution. Having given the distinct impression that they had joined a new order of sporting Trappist monks on crossing the pond, American owners of English clubs have suddenly become as voluble as teenagers let out of school. Or at least two very prominent owners have.
Yet what they have said shows that there is still a vast gulf between the old world and the new when it comes to sport. These American owners may own English clubs but they do not understand the particular culture of English football.
In the last few weeks, readers of the sports pages of British newspapers may have been forgiven for thinking we are facing another American revolution. Having given the distinct impression that they had joined a new order of sporting Trappist monks on crossing the pond, American owners of English clubs have suddenly become as voluble as teenagers let out of school. Or at least two very prominent owners have.
Yet what they have said shows that there is still a vast gulf between the old world and the new when it comes to sport. These American owners may own English clubs but they do not understand the particular culture of English football.
December 15, 2011
Although more famous for cricket, India looks set to become football's new golden goose
PlayUp
Emerging market targeted as growth at home stagnates
India may not seem the place where you go to learn new things about football.
Cricket, yes. But football? Surely this is one part of the world where the most popular game just does not work. That rather clichéd view needs to be revised. Indeed, India could prove the new frontier of the game.
No, not in terms of what Indian football will do on the field of play. There, India remains a desperately underachieving country, despite the popularity of the game.
Emerging market targeted as growth at home stagnates
India may not seem the place where you go to learn new things about football.
Cricket, yes. But football? Surely this is one part of the world where the most popular game just does not work. That rather clichéd view needs to be revised. Indeed, India could prove the new frontier of the game.
No, not in terms of what Indian football will do on the field of play. There, India remains a desperately underachieving country, despite the popularity of the game.
December 13, 2011
Meet AP McCoy, the champion jockey searching for another 396 winners
Evening Standard
The good news for those trying to be champion jump jockey is that AP McCoy, who has held the crown since 1996, is thinking of retirement. The bad news is that the Northern Irishman will not quit until he has ridden 3,930 winners. As he is on 3,534 before the start of racing today, that could be some time away.
McCoy has set this target because that would pass the number of British jump winners Martin Pipe, for whom he rode for seven years, trained.
Targets matter to McCoy. For all his achievements, the one he rates most highly is riding more winners than Sir Gordon Richards in one season, setting the new mark of 289 in 2002.
The good news for those trying to be champion jump jockey is that AP McCoy, who has held the crown since 1996, is thinking of retirement. The bad news is that the Northern Irishman will not quit until he has ridden 3,930 winners. As he is on 3,534 before the start of racing today, that could be some time away.
McCoy has set this target because that would pass the number of British jump winners Martin Pipe, for whom he rode for seven years, trained.
Targets matter to McCoy. For all his achievements, the one he rates most highly is riding more winners than Sir Gordon Richards in one season, setting the new mark of 289 in 2002.
December 12, 2011
Does sport still embody a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit?
BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein.
Click here to listen to the program
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein.
Click here to listen to the program
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein.
December 9, 2011
FIFA should fear new mood after International Olympic Committee investigation
Insideworldfootball.biz
The wider impact of the investigation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission into Joao Havelange, Issa Hayatou, Lamine Diack, three of the most powerful men in world sport, cannot be overestimated.
The treatment of the three men may not appear all that drastic. But there is a message here about the way the IOC is prepared to react to the demands that the administrators of world sport and, in particular, football must become more accountable and transparent.
The wider impact of the investigation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission into Joao Havelange, Issa Hayatou, Lamine Diack, three of the most powerful men in world sport, cannot be overestimated.
The treatment of the three men may not appear all that drastic. But there is a message here about the way the IOC is prepared to react to the demands that the administrators of world sport and, in particular, football must become more accountable and transparent.
December 6, 2011
Daley Thompson: Olympics can inspire our computer kids
Evening Standard
You would not expect Daley Thompson to advise anyone to stay away from the London Games but he tells me he did exactly that to the doorman at the Dorchester hotel.
"He told me he's going to watch Greco-Roman wrestling. And I said to him, 'I wouldn't.'"
The doorman's response finally convinced Britain's double Olympic decathlon champion that London 2012 will be special.
You would not expect Daley Thompson to advise anyone to stay away from the London Games but he tells me he did exactly that to the doorman at the Dorchester hotel.
"He told me he's going to watch Greco-Roman wrestling. And I said to him, 'I wouldn't.'"
The doorman's response finally convinced Britain's double Olympic decathlon champion that London 2012 will be special.
December 2, 2011
As football becomes more of a business, moving jobs for money is no longer a sin
Insideworldfootball.biz
We may have reached an historic moment with modern, highly paid footballers. They may finally be ready to tell the truth when they move club. The truth is that what motivates them is not the glory of the club they are going to, nor its wonderful supporters, nor even the honours they might win, but how much money the new club will put in their bank account.
I have long believed that the refrain of modern footballers, talking of a club's ambition during transfers, has been misinterpreted by the supporters and media. It does not mean that the player is keen to know what honours the club seeks to win and how it plans to go about achieving its objectives. When a player talks of a "club's ambition" he means the club chairman's ambition to add noughts to his contract, even at the risk of putting the club in financial trouble as so many have done in recent years.
We may have reached an historic moment with modern, highly paid footballers. They may finally be ready to tell the truth when they move club. The truth is that what motivates them is not the glory of the club they are going to, nor its wonderful supporters, nor even the honours they might win, but how much money the new club will put in their bank account.
I have long believed that the refrain of modern footballers, talking of a club's ambition during transfers, has been misinterpreted by the supporters and media. It does not mean that the player is keen to know what honours the club seeks to win and how it plans to go about achieving its objectives. When a player talks of a "club's ambition" he means the club chairman's ambition to add noughts to his contract, even at the risk of putting the club in financial trouble as so many have done in recent years.
Race isn't a black and white issue in grassroots football
Evening Standard
Sepp Blatter has probably never seen a match in the Essex Senior League, but if he did it might give him some insight into racism in football.
The match between London APSA and Bowers & Pitsea, just up the road from Upton Park, starts off well.
The match programme has a full-page advertisement: "Let's kick racism out of football." And the two teams appear to be doing just that. London APSA, largely Asian, have a white goalkeeper. The visiting team from Basildon have several black players, and the referee is black.
Sepp Blatter has probably never seen a match in the Essex Senior League, but if he did it might give him some insight into racism in football.
The match between London APSA and Bowers & Pitsea, just up the road from Upton Park, starts off well.
The match programme has a full-page advertisement: "Let's kick racism out of football." And the two teams appear to be doing just that. London APSA, largely Asian, have a white goalkeeper. The visiting team from Basildon have several black players, and the referee is black.
November 26, 2011
Highlights from Names Not Numbers Mumbai 2011
Editorial Intelligence
Names Not Numbers Mumbai is part of an annual series of invitation-only ideas conferences for 100 key players and thinkers across politics, business, media, culture, academia and technology to discuss and debate what individuality in a mass age means.
Names Not Numbers Mumbai took place on Saturday 26th November 2011 in the south of the [...]
Names Not Numbers Mumbai is part of an annual series of invitation-only ideas conferences for 100 key players and thinkers across politics, business, media, culture, academia and technology to discuss and debate what individuality in a mass age means.
Names Not Numbers Mumbai took place on Saturday 26th November 2011 in the south of the [...]
November 24, 2011
Blatter's outrageous racism comments have done untold damage to him and FIFA
Sepp Blatter may believe the furore he provoked by his comments on racism in football is behind him. He could not be more mistaken. He will have to live with the consequences of his absurd comment that if there is racism on the field of play it can be got rid of by a post-match hand shake.
Worse still, the damage he has done to FIFA, when the organisation is already so beleaguered, cannot be overestimated.
Worse still, the damage he has done to FIFA, when the organisation is already so beleaguered, cannot be overestimated.
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