Discipline in sports

The sporting world was greeted with the news that four senior members of the touring Australian Cricket team in India had been reprimanded a few days ago. In previous years Ponting and Andrew Symonds have been reprimanded by the ACB.

One of the great attributes of the ACB is that they are not intimidated by the quality of the player. After all the game is larger than the individuals that represent it.

Similarly we watched in disgust the behaviour of Slinger Malinga’s in Colombo outburst at the media at the time when the central contracts were being discussed. Surely there is a more civilised way to deal with the media.

A number of local fans were felt let down by this act of high-handedness and were seething, as a critic commented: “You cannot change the upbringing at this late stage.” My mind goes back to a former England cricketer who labelled a reporter as a buffoon and had a torrid time with the press thereafter.

I sincerely hope that sanity prevails and that whatever it takes to soothe situation is done at the earliest. After all it’s the cricket loving public that eventually funds the salaries of these so called stars.

With the major big matches out of the way, and the lack of decent behaviour during such games, the schools rugby season kicks off on Friday. This should bring back the passion and excitement once again.

The fact that the club season will not kick off till the school season is completed will provide the clubs with a further pool of players to choose from, thereby ensuring that the current year wait is eliminated.

Certain schools have opted for a foreign coach either to boost their current performance or to turn their fortunes around. Whilst having an expat coach is laudable as these players will learn the finer points of the game at a young age, it is left to be seen as to whether the levels of communication will be adequate given the paucity of quality English in general amongst the current crop of schoolboys.  

At a recent talk by Sanga, he pointed out rather light heartedly that one of the cricketers would walk into the office of the sports psychologist shaking his head dreading the thought of the meeting.

Ten minutes later the sports psychologist would walk out shaking his head. Obviously the required level of communication had been absent resulting in a complete breakdown.

On the international rugby front, England will aim for a grand slam win when they take on Wales, and this should be a blockbuster provided the referee does not take away any of the gloss. France will want to finish on high against Scotland boosted no doubt by their last week’s performance.

Those intending to watch all of these matches would have to be in their seats from 8:00 p.m. on Saturday till 3:30 a.m. on Sunday. I am not sure that the home front in many instances would approve of this situation and that, too a week after the big matches and the resultant drinking binge.

The super rugby games are continuing in earnest and the interest in them has taken a back seat for the moment given the final stage of the six nations games and the possible selection of the Lions tour party to Australia.