Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2015 i Inside Sport

FEEL IT’S SAFE to say that it’s been a particularly turbulent month in the world of sport. As is so often the case, the on-field action has well and truly spilled over the sidelines and into the crowd “conversation”. Racism, corruption, bigotry, bullying – sport does indeed hold a mirror up to society, and very often we don’t like what we are seeing. Just don’t blame sport. Ramy Haidar has written some fine pieces for this magazine in recent years, even collecting an Australian Sports Commission Media Award last year for the “Best analysis of the business of sport”. He’s back in this issue with a candidate for another gong in this year’s awards. In “Dropping The Ball”, he steps into one of the most controversial discussions occupying everyone from…

WIN Think you can write a funnier caption for this pic than our humour-challenged Inside Sport staffer? Check out page 86 for your chance to prove your wit and win stuff.…

1 What was the nationality of the runner up to Serena Williams at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships? 2 Brazil has won the FIFA World Cup five times over how many different decades? 3 What watch company has been the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932? 4 Which Australian won the first stage of the 2015 Tour de France? 5 Which sport was originally known as “Murderball”? 6 At the 2015 British Open, 15 Australians were entered. How many made the cut? 7 In what year did Brent Harvey make his AFL debut? 8 Which Australian surfer was Mick Fanning’s opponent when he was attacked by a shark at Jeffrey’s Bay in July? 9 At which Olympics did Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner win a gold medal in the decathlon?…

MICHELLE WHO? Haven’t heard of her? You probably just reckon you haven’t ... Think “pre-race jiggle dance”. Michelle Jenneke is the Sydney gal who sent the internet into meltdown with her warm-up prior to her heat at the 2012 World Juniors. She is rather easy on the eye. And it was definitely rather cute. And it has since rated only about 27 million views on Youtube ... When quizzed about her dancey warm-up, and that radiant smile permanently plastered across her face, it’s clear this is a young woman simply loving her sport, loving life, and definitely not minding the attention. It started as a bit of fun to relax herself before a race, and has since won her worldwide fame, with subsequent appearances on talkshows and in several steamy…

BACHAR HOULI AFL, midfielder with Richmond Tigers (Lebanese descent) ADAM SAAD AFL, defender with Gold Coast Suns (Egyptian descent) AHMAD SAAD AFL, forward pocket and wingman with St Kilda Saints (Egyptian descent) FAWAD AHMED Cricket, Australian and Victorian spin bowler (Pakistani descent) USMAN KHAWAJA Cricket, Australian and Queensland batsman (Pakistani descent) ALI ABBAS Soccer, winger and midfielder with Sydney FC (Iraqi descent) MUSTAFA AMINI Soccer, midfielder with Borussia Dortmund (Nicaraguan and Afghani descent) KEREM BULUT Soccer, Iraklis Greek Super League (Turkish descent) TAREK ELRICH Soccer, defender with Adelaide United (Lebanese descent) ANTHONY MUNDINE Boxing (Indigenous Australian) BILLY DIB Boxing (Palestinian and Lebanese descent) CARMEN MARTON Taekwondo, Olympian and World Champion (Polish Descent)…

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MARIKA SHAPIRO is a big St Kilda fan, so winning the June Fox Sports WOW Card competition posed an instant dilemma – NOT! Her first task was to choose ANY AFL game to attend, which just so happened to be her beloved Sainters up against the reigning premiers Hawthorn back on June 7. Unfortunately it was a big win for the Hawks, but the Fox Footy team found a way to cheer her up: after the game Marika and her son were driven by Harley Davidson motorcycles straight to the Fox Footy studios, where they were given a tour and got to watch the live recording of Bounce, as well as meeting the all-star cast. How do you follow up a day like that? Well, you step on a plane…

• Cheeky Martina Hingis may be number one on the rankings list, but some rivals resent her arrogance. When asked what becoming the youngest-ever a tournament mean to her, the 16-year-old replied dismissively: “It’s just another record. I mean, I have so many records already” ... But cocksure American Venus Starr Williams insists she’ll dethrone Hingis, and then face the toughest competition from her super-athletic sister Serena. She even crows: “I could go beyond number one because there are times when an athlete is just ahead of the rest of the league. That could be me” ... The undisputed queen bitch of the brat pack, however, is 16-year-old Russian Anna Kournikova. “Anna is a goddamn Dennis Rodman all over again,” says her noted coach Nick Bollettieri. The Ego Has Landed…

“I’ve read a whole lot. Comments like ‘he shouldn’t be representing Australia’, ‘he’s a disgrace’. It’s tough to read. I’m human. I don’t really want them to love me. I don’t want their love, but everyone deserves respect.” – The curious Nick Kyrgios. “A game is like 55 seconds. Again, did he really do it or not? A game where a guy serves well, is that tanking, too? It is like ... sometimes it’s like a boxer when he puts his hands down, is that tanking? Then he swings freely again ... If you told me he did an entire set, plus more, plus this, I’d say, ‘Okay, it’s a bit much, probably’.” – Roger Federer, when asked whether Kyrgios tanked against Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon. “A guy at that…

NRL The finals are visible on the horizon, which wasn’t something said too much in preseason in regards to the Broncos and Dragons. But lo, Brisbane vs St George-Illawarra (Aug 14) is now one of those games with ramifications, and also offers up the always-fun match of Wayne Bennett’s team against his almost-team. The Friday after brings the GF rematch of South Sydney vs Canterbury (Aug 21) at ANZ, which also marks the pair’s first meeting since the Good Friday bottle-throwing incident. Good luck to whoever’s reffing that one. The Roosters vs South Sydney (Sep 4) fixture at Allianz once again occupies the prime-time spot in the final round, and we can’t help but note that the winner of this contest the last two years has eventually gone on to…

He looks like he's 44 going on 24. But don't let Brad Hogg's impish grin and larrikin ways fool you: he's actually 44 going on 45! And still definitely at the top of his game in T20, and still a wanted man in the various leagues around the world. The West Australian got a new lease on cricketing life with the introduction of the Big Bash in Australia in 2011, coming out of retirement to put in stellar performances for the Perth Scorchers that have seen them take the last two titles and seen him reselected for Australia in 2012 and 2014. That's a long time since his Test debut back in 1996! He was in Shane Warne's shadow for much of his career (phase one), but has proved himself…

WE CALL THEM “five-eighths” or “fly-halves”. The Kiwis call them “first five-eighths” to differentiate from “second five-eighths”, the position Australians call “inside centres”, French call “le centre” and Poms may yet call “Sam Burgess”. But today, in modern rugby-speak, the man one off the ruck, scrum, maul or line-out is a “10”. And they’re no less pivotal. And before each World Cup we trot one out and hope. In ’87 it was Michael Lynagh, the great “Noddy”, who nearly got us there save for Serge Blanco. Four years later, Lynagh again, who won the ’91 quarterfinal against Ireland because he didn’t give up or panic and just played rugby. And the William Webb Ellis trophy, “Bill”, flew home on QF1. In ’95 Australia were favourites but Lynagh was too old…

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CANTERBURY PRIZE PACK Our Freeze Frame Freebies caption comp winner will score for themselves this awesome bundle of goodies, which includes a Packaway gym bag, three sock packs, a Packaway jacket and a cap. That’s almost $160 of high-quality gear! “SEE, MY IDEAS REALLY DID TURN SOCCER IN THIS COUNTRY ON ITS HEAD!” July’s Freeze Frame Freebies caption competition winner was Barry Scolnik of Balgownie, NSW. Email your entries for this month’s Freeze Frame comp on page 22 to iscomps@insidesport.com.au, or check out the website: www.insidesport.com.au. If, however, you are still “analogue”, and resist the march of technology, you can still post your entries the traditional way to Freeze Frame Comp, Inside Sport, PO Box 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590. For enquiries about this section, please…

BOOKS TIME AND SPACE BY JAMES COVENTRY, ABC BOOKS, $32.99 With laments about congestion, skill levels or rules inconsistencies so commonly heard across the AFL these days, it’s useful to have some broad perspective. And this book certainly provides it, a historical survey of how the domestic code has evolved from a scratch game in a park into the chaos theory of modern football. Taking a leaf from Inverting The Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson’s superb history of soccer tactics, Time And Space goes back to the very origins of the sport to examine its conceptual underpinnings from the late 19th century. The picture that emerges is a supremely adaptive game, particularly when compared to soccer, which finds it far more difficult to change its rules or playing conditions. Author James Coventry’s…

This time of year brings the end of our footy season, but also the start of England’s, which revives a long-running conversation I have with an English mate of mine. “Why is it,” he asks, “that your rugby league and AFL play all season, then have one month where they determine the champion?” To my friend, more familiar with league tables and relegation battles, the notion of finals footy was illogical, unfair, perverse even. And the more I consider his confusion, the more I think that he’s right. Why doesn’t the longer part of the season with all of the teams, rather than the bit at the end with half of them, determine the ultimate victors? It might be the biggest backhanded compliment in sports: “minor premiers” or “regular-season champs”.…

WINNER Earlier this year, we argued that too few athletes were named Australian of the Year. In another respect, maybe the award should go to the individual who does the most Australian thing of the past 12 months. And by that standard, no one in 2015 will beat Mick Fanning: a guy named Mick, while surfing and competing, punched a shark and survived. Can’t top that. Joking aside, Fanning, who has enjoyed a decorated life as a triple world champion, understood entirely that coming away unscathed from his encounter at South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay was a victory of a whole other magnitude. We can only hope that Fanning’s psyche came away without damage, and he continues to author what will be one of the more interesting stories in sport through…

AUSTRALIA’S LATEST WORLDBEATERS Australians won nine gold medals at last month’s 2015 IPC World Swimming Championships in Glasgow. And four of them belong to Maddison Elliott, the 16-year-old sensation from Queensland. The youngest Australian at the London 2012 Paralympics to make the podium, with bronze medals in the 100 and 400m freestyle in the S8 category, she was at it again in Scotland, this time winning the 100m free in a new world record of 1:04.71. She also won the 50m free. Paralympian gold-medallist Ellie Cole won the S9 100m backstroke along with the 100m freestyle. Brenden Hall won gold in the men’s S9 100m backstroke. The Dolphins swam 47 personal best times, set three new world records and won a total of 30 medals, including eight silver and 13…

Like Claudio Ranieri, newly appointed at Leicester, we miss the English Premier League. Even if the offseason seems to last five minutes. We’re back into nine months of late Saturdays and early Sundays, getting worked up about what Jose Mourinho said and whether any of the top teams will field actual players from England. The 2015-16 campaign shapes as a heavyweight bout – mid-table insurgents need not apply – as the league’s established powers all appear primed for a crack at the title. SAFE BET Chelsea made it academic last season, sucking the drama out of the race in a very, well, Mourinho way. In claiming its first league crown in five years, Chelsea again conceded the fewest goals in the comp, just as it has in each of its…

TO THE Brisbane Broncos, State of Origin rugby league is a bit like a boozy session at the local on a Sunday afternoon. When it’s on, how good’s this – wouldn’t want to be anywhere else! But when the alarm sounds on Monday morning, it’s back to reality, with a boulder of a hangover to carry around for good measure. It’s been like this for the Broncos ever since they entered the comp back in the late eighties. In 2006, for example, the post-Origin fade hit them seriously hard. They’d lost either side of Game II, had regrouped as a club after the series, then dropped five matches in a row. How was veteran Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett going to get his men out of this? Wasn’t he their “super…