Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Inside Sport

It may not be immediately apparent why Sportscover Australia would commit to sponsoring the Clubbies Awards. Good governance, the management of risk, operational integrity and performance are relevant concepts in our business and central considerations in insurance on a daily basis. Sportscover is visibly investing in the success of sport in this country. We don’t follow the path of sponsors seeking high-visibility brand placements on the front of football jerseys, for instance. We support the industry where it will have meaningful impact. This might be in the form of athlete scholarships, a women in sport initiative, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, an indigenous marathon project or, in this case, a national club awards program. The Clubbies Awards were conceptualised with the intent of becoming the preeminent vehicle to recognise,…

You were 16-years-old for the W-League’s first season, and it arrived at the perfect time for your career. But now that you’re about to kick off your 12th campaign together, how has the league changed over the years? It did come at a good time. My generation has ridden the wave of changes happening in Australian football. I feel like we came at the best time because we experienced what it was like when we were younger and now, what we’re getting, we don’t take for granted. It’s all the little things, like having a full-time training facility and not moving around all the time. These changes are constantly happening and they’ve made the league a lot more professional. There’s more resources now coming through and the standard is higher.…

LEWIS THORPE sits in the suite-level video room of the Minnesota Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, New York, gazing out at the skyline through a panoramic window. “It’s a nice city,” he says. “It’s a smaller city, but there’s stuff to do. Niagara Falls is pretty close, and they’ve got the Genesee River. The team has been around forever. They have a lot of fans who just love baseball.” Last night, the left-handed pitcher from Victoria dazzled those loyal fans by holding the Gwinnett Stripers hitless through four and a third innings, and scoreless for his six-inning stint. “The assistant GM [Rob Antony] was in town and came up to me after the game and said, ‘Well done, you looked good,’” he says. “It’s always comforting to perform well when…

Australia has a fabulous cricket culture. I have been very fortunate to have toured Australia as a player, and to have commentated out here. I just love the buzz around cricket. It is very different to back home. Cricket is obviously cool back in England as well, but there, it is always being overtaken by football, whereas I’d say that cricket is probably the number-one sport here in the summer. Like anything, you always want to be a better broadcaster. I am fortunate to work around the world and learn different skills and work with different broadcasters. What I love about Fox Cricket is they’re really just throwing everything into their cricket coverage. In my opinion there’s never been a better cricket broadcast and I’m just really excited about being…

Michael Kasprowicz was part of that great Australian cricket team that dominated world cricket in the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s. And the great Queensland squad that won the state’s first-ever Sheÿeld Shield trophy in 1995, followed by five others over the next decade. He bowled fast outswingers opening the bowling for Queensland at the ‘Gabba and medium-paced cutters in India. For Australia he could be the workhorse behind Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. Or the strike bowler, when the aforementioned were unavailable. Throughout his ten-year international career he was in and out of the Australian side, but in 2004, in his longest run in the baggy green, he took 47 wickets in 13 Tests. After retiring, Kasprowicz became Queensland Cricket’s CEO. He is on the Cricket…

“WHENEVER I SEE A YOUNG KID WITH A RICHMOND JERSEY AND I ASK WHO THEIR FAVOURITE PLAYER IS, 98›99 PER CENT SAY DUSTIN MARTIN. HE’S CAPTURED THE IMAGINATION OF A LOT OF PEOPLE.” – MATTHEW RICHARDSON “THE IMMEDIATE WORD I ASSOCIATE WITH DUSTIN MARTIN IS DYNAMIC. YOU CAN’T MISS HIM ON THE FIELD. HE PLAYS FOOTBALL LIKE MOST OF US WOULD WANT TO PLAY – BREAKING OUT OF PACKS, PUSHING OFF OPPONENTS AND KICKING LONG GOALS.” – GILLON MCLACHLAN, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE CEO “IT HAS BEEN A PRIVILEGE FOR ME TO WATCH HOW HE PLAYS, AND WEARING THE NO.4 … THE ONLY NO.4 WEARING PICTURES ... ” – ROYCE HART “YOU LOOK AT IMAGES OF FOOTBALLERS – ACTION SHOTS, GETTING THE BALL, ANTICIPATING CONTACT – AND YOU KNOW HOW THEY’VE…

ON THE CHIN A BOXING EDUCATION BY ALEX MCCLINTOCK, TEXT PUBLISHING, $32.99 A friend of mine, a team-mate for a pub trivia outfit, once asked me and a mutual friend in total seriousness: “You’re both intelligent guys. How can you like boxing?” As a fight fan, this is a question you periodically hear, but one you’re perpetually engaged with. Footy or cricket supporters are rarely challenged about the morality of their passion (MMA devotees, and increasingly those of horse racing, get it); to enjoy boxing invites an immediate quandary. Boxing fandom works on two levels: as the most high-concept of sports outside of running, it’s easy to pitch up with every big fight, largely oblivious; if you get into it, it’s a rabbit-hole of globe-spanning culture, tall-tale lore, distinctive characters…

WINNING WORDS Presenting Rod Laver’s fascinating account of the extraordinary two decades when Australia ruled the tennis world. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Australia was the world’s tennis superpower, producing players who dominated amateur grand slam tournaments, the Davis Cup and the professional circuit. And none was more successful, famous or influential than Rod Laver, whose two singles Grand Slams – winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and United States championships in a calendar year – have never been equalled. Including key interviews with Frank Sedgman, Ken Rosewall, the late Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe and Margaret Court, The Golden Era, published by Allen & Unwin, is the definitive story of the two decades of Australian tennis domination that will almost…

Hard to avoid the bellyaching these days about the group stage of the UEFA Champions League – even with a host of unexpected results early in this European season, the predictability of the super clubs’ progress has become more than a little numbing. But the first phase blessedly comes to a close this month, with all these global footballing brands getting set for the precarious fortunes of the knockout stage. So who’s looking good to make the trip to Istanbul next May? Man City $3.75 Pep Guardiola may not want to hear it, but his team has emerged as the clear favourite in the Champions League. This is the last level for City to clear; a prize so sought-after that it will cede away its title in England to Liverpool…

BEFORE they were flung from the Tarpeian Rock that awaits all traitors to Australian sport, they were champions of our cause. Warner had won many a notorious battle to get to the pinnacle, the only giveaway his partiality to a dash of infamy with his fame. After stumbling around briefly on the scree as a kind of all-rounder, Smith swerved suddenly toward the summit in pursuit of a singular runaway talent. At the time of their fall from these Olympian heights they were the team’s leaders, Smith officially, Warner by dint of his accomplishments at the most challenging of posts and his repression of an urge to badger opposition – a role that was bestowed upon him as surely as the captaincy was assigned Smith. He was given the vice-captaincy…

SYDNEY FC The defending premiers are coming into the 2019/20 season with the belief they can do it all over again, and we can’t blame them. Matildas stars Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy and Chloe Logarzo are all returning to Sydney for another season, where they’ll complement high-profile international signings Sofia Huerta and Aubrey Bledsoe from the United States. They’re consistent, with head coach Ante Juric keeping 15 of the players who won the title last season, including Princess Ibini, Elizabeth Ralston and Ally Green. Meanwhile, Ellie Brush will be making her debut for the Sky Blues after playing for the GWS Giants in the AFLW last season, while captain Teresa Polias (pictured below) will be returning to Sydney FC for her tenth season in a Sky Blues shirt. The Sydney…

INTERNATIONAL sports nutritionist Dr Dana Ryan recently visited Australia, headlining the 2019 Sports Wellness Tour by Herbalife Nutrition, which took her to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. With extensive experience in sports performance programs, Dr Ryan has worked with professional sports organisations like the LA Galaxy, Barcelona FC and even locally with our own Western Sydney Wanderers. Inside Sport managed to score some valuable one-on-one interview time with Dr Ryan after she touched down in Sydney ahead of her tour. Dr Ryan’s main focus during her visit to these shores was sharing her learnings from working with elite sporting clubs, and explaining how these principles can be applied to everybody wanting to follow an active lifestyle. Dr Ryan is also well-versed in the top five things that active people…

THE SWEET SCIENCE BY AJ LIEBLING (1956) As the saying goes about sport and literature, the smaller the ball, the better the writing. Axiomatically, the best-written sport might involve no ball at all, as boxing is generally regarded as having the finest body of work. And within that canon, The Sweet Science might be the best of them all. There’s good reason that Sports Illustrated nominated AJ Liebling’s work at no.1 in its 2002 list of the top 100 sports books of all time. Liebling was a star staffer for The New Yorker who had covered World War II in France, and later became known for his writing about the American press, food and the life of the Big Apple generally. Boxing, though, was a deep love, and he returned…

■ THE QUOTE IN CONTEXT Back in 1975, a young Australian player called Craig Johnston, all of 15 years old, arrived in England chasing a dream. From Australia, he had written to a bunch of big-time club managers in England. Only one responded to his queries about an opportunity to trial. So Johnston’s parents mortgaged their house and Craig was off. The score was 3-0 at half-time in his first game, a trial for Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough was losing ... ■ WHAT ELSE WAS SAID? “Jack Charlton, the Middlesbrough manager at the time, walked into the dressing room and had a go at everybody,” Johnston shared with SBS’ The World Game back in 2009, just a few nights after receiving the prestigious Alex Tobin Medal. “He said, ‘You – where are…