Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Inside Sport

ONE of my most distinct, early memories in sportswriting occurred in a Canberra newsroom, when I picked up a colleague’s phone. Raspy voice at the other end of the line: “Can I speak to Gary?” Sure, and may I ask who’s calling? “Eddie Jones.” For a still-new cadet journo, this was a pretty cool moment. The then-Brumbies coach calls us back. This recollection came to mind during a recent holiday, in which I was travelling in Japan. Idly wandering around an opulent Kyoto shopping mall, hanging from the mezzanine was a giant portrait image of Jones, looking every bit the guru who had guided the nation to a paradigm-shattering victory over South Africa. It had a tinge of Spinal Tap to it – the ex-Wallabies coach, big in Japan –…

1 Since the IRB World Rugby Sevens Series started, which team other than NZ, Fiji and South Africa has won the overall series? 2 The long side of a full-length snooker table is approximately how many feet in length? 3 At which Olympics did mountain biking make its debut? 4 True or false: Australia does not currently hold at least one long course swimming world record? 5 Who kicked four goals in each of the first four rounds of the 2016 AFL season? 6 Who is the only Australian to hit a hole in one at the famed 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale course in a PGA Tour event? 7 What was the first Winter Olympics in which Australia won a medal of any colour? 8 Who scored four…

"BEFORE THE OLYMPICS, BMX WAS SERIOUS, BUT PEOPLE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT BMX RACING WAS." WHAT’S HIS STORY? It wasn’t always about the Olympics. Turner started racing when he was four years old, pushed along by the presence of the Eastfield BMX track around the corner from his childhood home in Kilsyth, Victoria. By age ten he was competing in junior international events, and with his brother also racing, the Turner family made a decision to get highly involved in their sons’ pursuits. “Mum and Dad realised, ‘We’re going to be in this,’” Turner says. “So we opened up the shop. It’s called BMX Mad, and it’s gone 12 years strong now.” A year before the shop opened in the Melbourne suburb of Boronia, BMX had been…

THE LOSS OF THE EPL HAS BEEN PREDICTED TO COST FOX SPORTS UP TO 70,000 SUBSCRIBERS IN AUSTRALIA WHO SIGNED ON PURELY TO WATCH THE LEAGUE. IT WAS the television broadcast deal nobody saw coming – and it didn’t even involve television. Appearing out of nowhere, phone company Optus stunned Fox Sports and lashed out $189 million in November to secure the broadcast and digital rights to the world’s most popular soccer competition, the English Premier League. It was a move as audacious as anything that might be seen from the code’s stars on the pitch or managers in the transfer market. More broadly, it was a play that looks set to redefine how Australians watch their sport, local and international, in what is being seen as a major changing…

Olympic Games: Summer and Winter; every event including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Commonwealth Games: every event including Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Horse racing: Melbourne Cup. AFL: Every match during the premiership season. Rugby league: Every NRL and State of Origin series match; each Kangaroos Test played in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and each Australian match at the Rugby League World Cup. Rugby union: Every Wallabies Test played in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or Europe; every Wallaby match at the Rugby World Cup, as well as the quarters, semis and final of the tournament. Cricket: Each Test, one-day and T20 international in Australia involving the senior men’s Australian team; every Ashes Test in the UK; every Australian match of the ICC World Cup and ICC T20, as…

CHICKEN ANTIPASTO RISONI SALAD Serves 4. Cost per serve: $4.50. Time to make: 15 min. 400g chicken breast fillets, sliced in half horizontally 1 cup risoni pasta 350g deli antipasto mix, drained of excess oil 4 cups rocket 50g reduced-fat feta, crumbled Lemon wedges, to serve 1 Cook risoni in a saucepan of boiling water according to packet instructions, or until al dente. Drain well and set aside. 2 Meanwhile, spray a large non-stick frying pan with olive oil and set over medium heat. Cook chicken for 10–12 minutes, turning halfway, until cooked through. Remove from pan and slice. 3 Toss antipasto mix, feta and rocket through risoni. Divide salad among four serving plates, top with sliced chicken breast and serve. DUKKAH-CRUMBED FISH WITH SWEET POTATO WEDGES Serves 4. Cost…

CLEVER FOXES Over the years there have been some awesome upsets in the world of sport. Australia winning the America’s Cup after 132 years of domination by the Yanks; Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson at 42/1; Japan beating the Springboks at the recent Rugby World Cup and who could forget Michelle Payne’s victory on an 80/1 outsider in the Melbourne Cup. But in the world of football, now a big business run by oil oligarchs and the like, there really is no room for fairytale stories. In the EPL, only four teams have won the title in the last 20 years. Leicester City finished 14th last year and their best result ever was second in 1929. Their odds for this season: 5000/1. This surely is the greatest sports result of…

“It never was an ambition to be the first person to compete at both Games. I’ve always just wanted to compete at my best .” – Table tennis player Melissa Tapper, who became the first Australian to qualify for both the Olympics and Paralympics. “Hopefully the science has advanced far beyond what it is today and they don’t need it. It was something I didn’t have to ask myself whether I wanted to do it or not ... It was a no-brainer for me.” – Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr, announcing he would donate his brain to concussion-related trauma researchers. Uh, Dale ... “I told my caddy, ‘Buddy, it seems like we are collapsing,’ because I wanted to be brutally honest ... Big picture, this one will…

RUGBY LEAGUE Whither Origin? The dominant narrative entering last year’s series was Queensland’s quest for vindication after the end of eight-straight, and while the Blues got their hopes up after winning game two, the Maroons’ classic 52-6 smackdown in third game restored the order of the last decade. New South Wales partisans have been reduced to waiting for Thurston, Smith, Cronk and GI to just age out, or hoping that the nocturnal foibles of Queensland’s emerging Origin players is a sign of future weakness. Or maybe Mal Meninga had a lot more to do with the successful formula than anyone imagined, and it might elude new coach Kevin Walters. Maybe having a pair of home games in Sydney will help, with State of Origin I (Jun 1) taking place at…

“SEEING THESE QUEENSLANDERS FROTHING AT THE MOUTH, THROWING XXXX CANS AT THE BUS, IT’S AN INTENSE AND INTIMIDATING PLACE.” ONE always got the sense from the early days of Adam MacDougall’s rugby league career that he was going to end up doing something a little different to the typical retired footballer. The man called Mad Dog was known for being an intense and unconventional thinker during his playing days, whether it was his aversion to long training runs, choosing post-game protein shakes over beers, or the notorious tale of him yelling at his own thighs after a match for letting him down. The madness shouldn’t obscure the facts of a long and very accomplished stint in the league. MacDougall played 16 seasons in the NRL and ARL, mainly with the…

“The effort put into Origin ... People think ’d be exhausted and that you could sleep for days, but it’s the complete opposite.” PAUL GALLEN loses sleep over State of Origin, literally. We’re not talking about the coach-like stress that keeps mentors the world-over awake in the nights before an important game. Surprisingly, it’s the after-effect of elite rugby league matches that takes the greatest toll on arguably the most vital New South Wales player of all time. In game three of last year’s Origin series, dominated by Queensland 52-6, Gallen still made 41 tackles, clamping blokes down all night with his lethal one-on-one technique and carting the ball up the guts at Queensland’s engine room. In a well-beaten pack, he was the only NSW forward to run for more…

The power of TV as a broadcast platform may be on the wane, but in the battle for eyeballs, free-to-air and pay-TV players continue to throw record amounts of money at sports. Viewers are more than happy to time-shift entertainment programs and fast-forward through the ads, but when it comes to sport, live rules. And while Australia’s broadband infrastructure remains under development, the reliability of streaming as an option is yet to be fully realised. Last year both the Australian Football League and National Rugby League signed new longterm broadcast partnerships with the major networks – the funding to be used to support competing clubs and help develop sport at community level. When the rights come up for bidding again in five years, players such as Optus, Telstra, Google, Twitter…

EDDIE JONES is an imp. A mischievous, little imp with a half-grin and dual cocked eyebrows; less a glint in his eyes than a mini-galaxy of mischief. He haunts the dreams of rugby players around the world, from Wallabies' props to Japanese pin-heads who’d hide under chairs rather than face his withering stare-outs. And now he’s coach of England. And you wonder: do they know what they have done? “Eddie could go through a litany of players throughout his coaching career and single them out: ‘I remember him crying, I remember him crying, I remember him crying’,” says Jones’ friend and colleague, Australian Rugby Sevens coach Andy Friend. “And they couldn’t handle it and left thinking Eddie was the worst coach they’ve ever had. But they’re the minority. The rest…

“GYMNASTICS BUILDS SUCH INCREDIBLE AIR AWARENESS AND STRENGTH IN THE CORE.” After performing as a nine-year-old in the Closing Ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Steph Magiros was inspired to make it to the Games one day as a competitor. But the then-gymnastics prospect probably didn’t expect how her path to becoming an Olympian would unfold. Magiros, who hails from Sydney’s south, represented NSW at national gymnastics championships all the way up to level ten (just below elite). But at 17, having tried snowboarding for the first time, Magiros made the decision to switch sports. Six years later, she made it into the halfpipe event at the Winter Olympics in Sochi where she reached the semi-finals and finished 18th. Having accomplished that, Magiros made another bold switch – back…

WIN A $150 CANTERBURY WARDROBE! For over 110 years, Canterbury has built its foundations on authentic quality. From New Zealand grassroots to the global sporting stage, their iconic products endure and evolve, and continue to inspire sports enthusiasts and professionals alike. Here is your chance to WIN a $150 gift voucher to enjoy shopping at your nearest Canterbury store or online at canterburynz.com.au IT’S JUST A JUMP TO THE LEFT ... April’s Freeze Frame Freebies caption competition was won by Stuart John of Bowen Hills, Qld. 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…

SHOE DOG A MEMOIR BY THE CREATOR OF NIKE BY PHIL KNIGHT, SIMON & SCHUSTER, $35 For a man who has created a brand to rival Apple or Microsoft, Nike founder Phil Knight remains an enigma. When he shows up at sporting events, usually fronted by a star adorned in swooshes, it’s always off to the side, darkly clad, desperately trying to be non-descript. Plenty has been written about Nike, which comes with the territory of being so ubiquitous. The company has weathered shifts in fashion and recreational culture, the ups and downs of celebrity endorsement and that persistent bout of bad press over Third World working conditions. And yet, more than a half-century after Knight imported his first Japanese-made sneaker, Nike remains pre-eminent in its category and a heavyweight…

As one British athlete put it on Twitter, Claudio Ranieri is the only man “to have completed Football Manager in real life”. The Italian does merit a lifetime spot on the cover of the videogame for what he and Leicester City did during the 2015-16 Premier League season. All the praise directed toward the Foxes for pulling off perhaps the greatest sporting underdog tale is not hyperbole or recency bias – the sustained effort required of Leicester to prevail over the 30-plus weeks of an EPL season, stacked against the deeper reserves of its rivals, is indeed an against-the-odds challenge that has few comparisons in any sport, anywhere. A hearty congratulations to the fans of Leicester City, but this is an achievement for all non-superclub fans everywhere. While it may…

WORLDBEATING AUSSIE PERFORMERS Mathew Hayman claimed perhaps the most prestigious and usually most arduous of Europe’s one-day cycling classics, Paris-Roubaix. The 37-year-old (above), who rides for the Australian Orica-GreenEdge team, conquered the cobbles to surprise more-fancied names such as four-time winner Tom Boonen, who finished second at the end of the 257km route. The victory came as a surprise for Hayman, a classics specialist who had missed some early season racing because of a broken arm suffered five weeks earlier. Hayman became the second Aussie to win L’Enfer du Nord, after Stuart O’Grady’s breakthrough in 2008. In only her second full year as a professional, and before her 20th birthday, Minjee Lee (above right) won her second career LPGA Tour title at the Lotte Championship. The West Australian was five…

UEFA’s confederation championships, last seen toiling deep in the wilds Eastern Europe, returns bigger, literally. Euro 2016 expands the field to 24 nations, which has led to some delightful surprise entries, including the likes of Euro first-timers Northern Ireland, Albania and Iceland. They all head to France, which reprises its hosting duties from the 1998 World Cup, an advantage for a talented French side that would seek to emulate the home-standing feats of Zidane and company. SAFE BET You don’t win a World Cup as convincingly as Germany did and not go in as favourites for the next big event. And after France and Spain backed up a global title with a continental one, the target is clear for die mannschaft, which still oozes midfield quality (Ozil, Muller, Kroos, Reus,…

The Man Challenge is an online health and fitness ten-week program just for blokes, where you can lose the beer gut without losing all the beers. Adam and his expert team show you how to get the best results in the least amount of time, no matter your fitness level. They’ll show you how to train and what to eat. There’s no thinking required. Daily video workouts and simple-to-follow meal plans and recipes featuring Adam are available directly to your smartphone or computer, plus fun celebrity workout challenges to test yourself against. It’s been created for men who don’t have the time, motivation or knowledge of how to get fit, build muscle or lose weight. Brad Langworthy, 45, of Kellyville in NSW, is a shift worker who found it hard…

GARY LARSON (QLD, across 1991-1998) With his voice box busted, the ultra-rugged, determined and fit Larson did his talking on the field. Played 24-straight State of Origins across eight years. PAUL SIRONEN (NSW, 1989-1994) Former police officer who broke several laws of attrition on the footy field. Amongst the most fearless players to ever lace on a boot; a human battering ram. TREVOR GILLMEISTER (QLD, 1987-1996) No Origin player hit defenders as hard as “The Axe”. We wasn’t only a tough bastard, he was very quick on his feet, too. Small in stature but a giant in spirit. RAY PRICE (NSW, 1981-1984) Never tasted a series victory but he’ll be forever celebrated as one of the men who built the legend of State of Origin. Mr Perpetual Motion grew more…

The arrival of pay-TV in Australia in 1995 created a new headache for politicians. Sport was seen as a major driver to subscriptions and there was public concern that events which had traditionally been seen free on TV would be locked up by the likes of Fox Sports and Optus Vision. Urged on by powerful lobbying from the free-to-air networks, the Federal Government stepped in with Sports Anti-Siphoning legislation, quarantining more than 1000 sporting events and matches from being acquired exclusively by pay-TV. The move meant major events such as the AFL and NRL grand finals, Melbourne Cup, Cricket Tests and others had to be offered to free TV broadcasters first and at one time there were no guarantees in the legislation that once a network acquired the rights to…

FEELING BLUE The NSW Winning 2016 VB Blues Captains Jersey is a tribute to some of State of Origin’s greatest players. It features all nine victorious NSW captains in some of the most iconic Blues moments, such as current NSW captain Paul Gallen lifting the Origin shield in 2014. Other notable mentions are Steve Mortimer, Andrew Johns, Laurie Daley, Danny Buderus, Ben Elias, Wayne Pearce, Geoff Toovey and Brad Fittler. RRP $139.99. (BREAKING NEWS: VB Blues training jersey on sale now.) Visit www.classicsports.com.au for more info. DOWN AND DIRTY A lightweight and durable machine built for fast trail-riding, the Solo360 from Reid is a great place to start when looking for your next mountain bike monster. Running the latest Shimano XT hydraulic disc brakes and drivetrain with a Fox Float…

“I DON’T THINK WINNING THE OLYMPICS WITH DOUBLE SOMERSAULTS WOULD BE AS SATISFYING FOR ME.” LYDIA LASSILA’S new documentary, The Will To Fly, and her book of the same name are deserving of publicity because Lassila is a sporting hero: an innovative, skilful, smiling, fearless flying tiger of an aerial skier. She is a unique Innovator subject – a pioneer in defeat, which was a victory, because she proved the impossible was a possibility. Lassila is the first woman aerial skier to execute a quadruple-twisting triple somersault. If men had already achieved it, you might ask, is it really an innovation? It is. Because Lassila was the first woman to dare to believe such a manoeuvre was even conceivable for a woman to pull off. Lassila had stepped out of…

THERE WAS NO SUPER RUGBY YET, OR FOX SPORTS TO WATCH IT ON. For many of us, rose-coloured glasses will never go out of fashion. A mere glimpse of a retro jersey in a sports store – or witnessing the slightest hint of on-field violence – is enough to make us wish we could drive Marty McFly’s time machine car back to the 1970s and ‘80s ... back to when footy was “better”. But better for who? Today’s players seem rather happy wearing their designer suits and playing wiz-bang computer consoles on their days off. Meanwhile you, the dear fan, might think you’ve had a bad night out at the game if the stadium’s free wi-fi drops out. So let’s take a look at how “good” things really were in…