A Media Person's Musings

Bad Sport?

I had been looking forward to this weekend for some time - it was the Ryder Cup weekend and I am a massive fan of the tournament which pits the leading golfers from America against their European counterparts. It promised to be a gripping competition. This year it was held in Kentucky and The American team bucked the trend of the last few years and romped home beating the Europeans right from the start.

Even though 'our team' lost I still enjoyed watching some brilliant golf. What I didn't enjoy was the near loutish behaviour of some of the American players who had been encouraged to whip up the spectating crowds into a frenzy. The result was that every time a European player missed a put or hit a ball badly the crowds would cheer in delight and the inane chants of "USA, USA, USA" rang out over and over and over again.

What has happened to good sportsmanship in professional sports today? After a spectacularly brilliant Olympics I guess we were spoiled by great examples of sporting endeavour coupled with sportsmanlike behaviour.

Another example of loutish behaviour was seen this weekend at the Manchester United - Chelsea match where a whopping 7 of the 11 players on the Manchester United team were booked by the referee - many for dissent.

In each of these situations the men in charge turned a blind eye to the behaviour of their players. Sir Alex Ferguson didn't 'want to get involved' despite taking a £25,000 fine from the FA and Paul Azinger said that European crowds would do the same and talked down his open instructions to "cheer when they (the Europeans) miss" as simply "educating the crowds. Football already has a bad reputation I would be very sorry to see Golf going the same way but if this weekend is anything to go by we are on the rocky road.

Loony Toon?

It's not a great time for business in the UK at the moment. When America sneezes we catch a cold and with today's breaking news about Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch we are all hoping that the cold doesn't turn into influenza.

Exactly a year since Northern Rock went to the wall we see the football team it used to sponsor in peculiar trouble. Newcastle United is now on the market after a week of turmoil. The chaos began when its much revered manager Kevin Keegan sensationally quit his position. The fans turned on the owner Mike Ashley blaming his 'Cockney mafia' and calling for him to get out. Ashley (once adored by the same fickle bunch of fans for buying the club and bringing back Kevin Keegan) has poured millions of pounds into the club. This apparently doesn't matter to the baying mob and Ashley and his family have even had death threats.

Interestingly Ashley's response was to say "OK" to the fans. "You win, I'm off". The club is now up for sale. Not a fire sale he says but he intimates that whoever takes it off his hands will have to have very deep pockets. This seemed to be a remarkably quick decision and one largely coming from emotion rather than objective, calculated, logical thinking. Football is big business after all.

Football is also an emotional business though. This is evidenced every weekend when peoples' days, weeks and even years are made complete by the result of one football match. With this move Ashley has effectively set up Newcastle's famous Toon Army of fans for a huge fall. It is unlikely that they will find a buyer like Manchester City did. The club is now exposed and the fans might just get to come to understand that sometimes it is better the devil you know!

Dwain's Pain

You can run but you can't hide. Never has that saying been more true when you observe the media spectacle that has surrounded Dwain Chambers since he stormed back onto the UK athletics scene after a 2 year ban for taking the banned steroid THG. Dwain, a former European 100m champion, ran his first competitive race on February 10 and was victorious in the  60 metres at the World Indoor Trials and UK Championships. The vwin qualified him for a place in the World Indoor Athletics Championships. After the win the media went into overdrive and the brouhaha revolved around whether drugs cheats in sports should be allowed to return after a lengthy ban or whether they should be banned for life. The general consensus was that they should be banned for life. And there are calls for the rules to be changed by the leading lights in UK Athletics.

I don't agree. Chambers was introduced to the drug when he was training in America and was being advised by a 'nutrtionist' expert Victor Conte. Conte introduced him to THG telling him that it would help him with his nutrition. Chambers should have questioned it, all athletes are fully knowledgeable of the dangers of ingesting any unknown substance, and he was suspicious. But he went ahead. He was totally influenced by people he had trust in. He made a mistake. A huge, calamitous mistake. Who knows what was going on in his head to do such a thing? How could he risk his whole life, his vocation, his crareer, the only thing he had ever known?  But he did.

I think you should allow everyone a second chance. He didn't kill anyone and even murderers dont get a life sentence. He cheated. People cheat. It is a fact of life. But he was punished, according to the rules and now he is back and being treated like a leper. The media is against him, his sporting colleagues and former friends are against him and the vast majority of the public are against him. I think that is a pretty horrible position to be in.

As it turns out the majority of the organisers of the top UK events have decided not to invite him to participate in their events. That is their choice and even without being banned it seems the powers that be can put him on a 'virtual' ban. I think they should try to show a little compassion - it is no mean feat to come back and win after 5 years out of the sport. If Chambers is prepared to clean up his act, stay drugs free and try to excel in the only thing he knows how to do well then he should be entitled to some support.