Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i Inside Sport

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t the odd twinge here or there … Twinges aside, what I always loved about the game and what I can still enjoy now are the characters and the stories.” My last game of footy was about eight months ago. That’s enough time and distance to look back over all of that time in the game to try and make some sense of it all. I don’t really miss it, I must say. I think it’s easier to let the game go when your body just can’t do it anymore, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t the odd twinge here or there. The appetite to compete still lurks under the surface, as does the simple act of chasing a ball.…

1 The 2018 FIL Men’s Lacrosse World Championship is a men’s field lacrosse event organised by the Federation of International Lacrosse and staged every four years. This year’s championship will be held in Netanya, in Israel’s central north, from 12-21 July. A whopping 51 countries will take part, making it the largest such event of all-time. All teams will compete in six-eight matches across the ten-day tournament. 2 The sport is a long-time cultural tradition of the Iroquois Indians, or Haudenosaunee people, who called it the Creator’s Game. Hundreds of years ago they played it on fields that were kilometres long, in games between tribes which lasted weeks. Rumours have it that they used to use skulls as balls. The Iroquois still compete at the highest level of the sport,…

“It’s funny, you look at 2006 and 2010 and the parallels are almost identical: the results were the same in terms of how many points we got, but obviously we lost one game 4-0 to Germany. That was the difference.” HE HAD a professional career that spanned more than two decades and took him to the heights of club football. But Mark Schwarzer will forever be associated with the Socceroos finally ending its luckless run in qualifying for the World Cup. In 2005, in the play-off between the Oceania champion and South American fifth-placer, Schwarzer and his team-mates stared down Uruguay in a penalty shoot-out, a trip to Germany on the line. The then Middlesbrough and later Fulham goalkeeper saved the first and fourth penalties, setting up John Aloisi’s eternal…

It’s been a learning experience playing amongst international players on a domestic level. What does the World Cup mean to you? It means everything. It’s what you dream of as a kid when you are running around the backyard ... pretending to play in a World Cup. I was fortunate enough to be there as a fan in Germany 2006 and the prospect of being able to be there as a player a few years later is unbelievably exciting. And – fingers crossed – I do enough to make sure I play in Russia. How do you look back on the season you had with Hull on a personal level? It’s been great. Obviously it’s definitely the highest level I’ve played at, as a senior professional, and I’ve made myself…

G’day. Years ago I was honoured to deliver the Inaugural Mad Dog Muir Oration. Anyone here recollect it? Me neither. A transcript would’ve been bloody handy, as I was asked not to give a repeat performance. Not that repetition’s my style – unless it’s involuntary. I take a pill before meals. Today, I address a serious subject. To paraphrase JFK, we are faced with a monstrous conspiracy. The very word “soccer” is repugnant in a free and open society. No matter how advanced we become as a species, a bloke should be allowed freedom of speech, choice of torture techniques when he can’t pay for utilities, and the right to refuse sitting through soccer games! SOCCER ITSELF IS HARMLESS – ITS PLAYERS ARE SUCH LIGHTWEIGHTS THEY COULD TAP-DANCE ON A…

It would prove a fortuitous trip to the velodrome in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Matthews, then 20 and newly based in Europe as a professional cyclist, thought he should head along to the 2011 track world championships to cheer on house-mate and fellow Australian Rohan Dennis. What was intended as a show of support would ultimately change Matthews’ life, because at the velodrome he met Katarína Hajzerová. “Kat”, as Matthews calls his now-wife (they married in 2015), has been a constant ever since. A Slovakian with a background in marketing, she has put her career on hold to help Matthews achieve his cycling ambitions. “Kat is the one that gets me out of bed in the morning and on the bike,” he explains. “Kat has devoted herself to getting me where…

One of the more reliable players of his generation, Luke Wilkshire wore his heart on his sleeve for the Socceroos in more than 80 matches. In major tournaments and in gruelling qualification campaigns, Wilkshire made the right edge of the defence his own, and became a key part of the Australian side for almost ten years. After an illustrious career throughout Europe and a campaign in the A-League, the Wollongong native finds himself home – literally, having signed with the NPL’s Wollongong Wolves – after 20 years away. The 2006 World Cup ended a 32-year wait for the Socceroos. Decades of close calls and heartbreak led to the FFA hiring one of Europe’s leading coaches in Guus Hiddink to steer the nation’s golden generation to the biggest stage of the…

Only twice in 22 deciders has the winner of the comp finished lower than second at the end of the regular season. The 2018 Super Rugby finals are just around the corner, and it’s the first finals series of the revamped 15-team competition. Not only were Australia’s Western Force cut last year, but also two franchises from South Africa, the Cheetahs and Southern Kings. The Sunwolves from Japan have made progress in their new home in the Australian conference, while the men from Argentina, the Jaguares, have also come on in leaps and bounds in the South African conference. As for the serious title contenders, they’ve been clear for most of the season. Australian conference It has been a battle between two teams for top spot. The Melbourne Rebels were…

THE SCORE Full series played: 36 Queensland 21 New South Wales 13 Series drawn2 MOST PLAYED QLD: Cameron Smith 42 NSW: Brad Fittler 31 GAME 1, 1980 DEETS Queensland 20 (Kerry Boustead, Chris Close tries; Mal Meninga 7 goals) beat New South Wales 10 (Greg Brentnall, Tommy Raudonikis tries; Mick Cronin 2 goals) 8 July, 1980 at Lang Park, Brisbane Referee: Billy Thompson. Crowd: 33,210 91K Crowd, Game 2, MCG, 2015 YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE OLDEST PLAYER Petero Civoniceva (36 years and 73 days – Game 3, 2012) YOUNGEST PLAYER Ben Ikin (18 years and 83 days – Game 1, 1995) 4.19 MILLION Highest Origin national average TV audience: Game 3, 2013 21 MOST GAMES REFFED Bill Harrigan 2 MOST FIELD GOALS IN A MATCH Ben Elias (Game 3, 1994) MOST…

THE BIGGEST and best Clubbies Awards yet culminated with an inaugural presentation luncheon at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground in May. Excited winners from around Australia joined with the heavy hitters of Australia’s peak sporting bodies to honour the nation’s grassroots heroes. Some 1200 nominations were whittled down to seven winners, representing the sports of rugby league, triathlon, basketball, Australian rules football, hockey and gymnastics. In just their sixth season, it was the Coomera Cutters Junior Rugby League Club, a hardworking and passionate club based on the Gold Coast, who claimed the top gong. Secretary of the Best Club winner, Fiona Evans, told www.qrl.com.au: “For our committee that has been there since the beginning, to win this is a bit of recognition that we have been doing a great job.”…

Amid the epochal feeling around Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, it was possible to envisage a new world of football. The final of the men’s tournament, then as now contested by the under-23-yearold set, pitted Cameroon against Spain. The United States finished in the top-four, while Brazil had been eliminated early. Australia, still starved of top-flight football after the shock defeat to Iran during qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, went winless. It didn’t stop the host nation, though, from packing out Olympic Stadium for the gold-medal game, a record attendance of 104,098. The wonderfully named Indomitable Lions, a fan favourite since their memorable display at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, once again won over the crowd. FIFA’s technical report on the tournament, in typical report-speak, noted the “lucky spectators ……

“I am Maria from RT. We would love to invite you for a live interview.” It was the day before the final of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup when Maria’s unexpected text message arrived. RT, formerly Russia Today, is an infamous English-language Russian satellite television channel, variously described as the Kremlin’s “propaganda channel” and a “mouthpiece” for President Vladimir Putin. What interest did they have in interviewing an Australian sports journalist? Plenty, it seemed. As I later discovered, my reporting from the tournament had been on RT’s radar after I published a feature about the positive experiences of Socceroos fans. My story had been referenced on RT’s website, boasting that “Australian fans visiting Russia for the 2017 Confederations Cup have been impressed by the hospitality and efficient organisation that has…

SAW SINGLE BUCK The single buck is a massive two-metre-long, one-man saw. With this, the athletes cut off a complete disc from a 46cm log (40cm in the Champions Trophy format). The perfect mix of rhythm and strength is the key to success. All competition single buck saws are hand-filed and cost in the region of $2000-$4000, depending on the filler. Saws will last approximately ten competitive runs before they will need to be re-sharpened. STOCK SAW In the stock saw, athletes use the new MS 661 C-M Magnum Chainsaw available at any STIHL store. Athletes must cut two discs, called cookies, from a 40cm diameter log, within a 10cm mark. Top competitors can cut one downward and one upward cut with the STIHL MS 661 C-M Magnum in less…

“Mix them all together and you have a player who would dominate the game for a decade. It is what each can’t quite overcome … that is stopping the next big step.” Someone once said nothing lasts forever, so obviously they knew little of this era of men’s tennis. Seriously, no, I mean, really, when is someone not named Roger or Rafa going to get a good crack at becoming a regular guest of the court on the final weekend of grand slam tennis? The greatness of these two has once more become so regular, we are accustomed to it, which in itself is the true measure of greatness. Roger Federer is nearly 37. Rafael Nadal is 32. Their more youthful days – in appearance only, everything else remains as…

MOHAMED SALAH (Egypt) The breakout star of this past season hails from Nagrig, a farming village in the Nile Delta. The 26-year-old became a certified phenomenon leading Liverpool to the UEFA Champions League final, breaking the Premier League’s single-season goal-scoring record and tallying 44 in 52 matches across the season. Already iconic in Egypt – literally, as the use of his image sparked various political and commercial controversies – an entire nation will be hanging on his return from a shoulder injury suffered in the Champs League final.…

Matthews’ sprint classification success in France last year demonstrated perseverance and tactical nous. Here’s how the Australian beat some of the world’s best sprinters on the road to Paris. Stage 2: Marcel Kittel wins the opening road stage to move into the points classification lead. Stage 4: Green jersey favourite Peter Sagan is disqualified after blocking an opponent’s move during a sprint finish. Stage 7: Kittel wins consecutive stages to move him back into the green jersey, after it had briefly been held by Arnaud Demare. Stage 10: Kittel is dominant on the sprint into Bergerac to take the stage, while Matthews falters. Stage 11: Kittel wins another stage, his fifth of the race, extending his lead to 133 points. Stage 14: Team Sunweb perfectly positions Matthews for line honours…