A MISSED CONVERSION...

I suppose it simply reflects on the times in which we live, but even by today`s standards the fuss going on in Devon about the Exeter Chiefs really does take some beating.   The Chiefs are a hugely successful rugby union club, having been formed over 100 years ago, being known as the Chiefs for all that time and achieving great success. 

But recently, in keeping with the diktats of the Woke movement, a fans organisation known as Exeter Chiefs for Change demanded an end to the club`s use of "harmful imagery and branding" which included a Native American headdress, saying there was no place for it in a predominantly British environment - or words to that effect.

Another supporters group launched a counter petition saying that the use by the club of a Native North American in its logo was actually a mark of respect and honour.   Given the conflicting points of view about the club`s branding, the management board voted against the removal of its traditional branding but agreed to `retire` the club`s mascot, Big Chief.  An old fashioned compromise that may not suit anyone and so we have probably not heard the end if it just yet.

Now perhaps unsurprisingly I am with those who suggest that a logo depicting an indigenous Native American by a rugby club 4,000 miles away from Omaha, Nebraska was in no way intended to be `harmful,` but is instead an innocent, respectful representation of the figurehead to which the club looks up with pride and admiration.

Seems to me that these days there are people who are looking at everywhere and everything which might be construed as offensive and this episode might be a good example.   If it was - like so many  others - a veiled attempt to convert me to the ways of wokedom, then it has not succeeded.   Nice try, but a missed conversion.  And why are the group who are so opposed to the club`s traditional logo still  calling themselves Exeter Chiefs for Change?

Sure is.   Maybe it`s the time of the year or maybe, as I get older, the events of the year become less and less appealing.  Maybe it`s just me but as darkness descends in late afternoon and the first frosts of winter arrive on cold easterly winds I find myself looking at what is in store for us over the next few weeks and months.

And what a depressing prospect it is.  To get arguably the most painful issue out of the way and done with first, I have so far received no response to my appeal on the village web page for help from a local psychoanalyst to provide some much needed counselling following the Saints embarrassing drubbing at the hands of Leicester City last Friday.  It didn`t get any better last night as they went down to a 3-1  Cup defeat away at Manchester City and they now face the prospect of yet another morale crushing encounter at the Etihad in a league match this coming Saturday.   Next week I might reach crisis point.

And before us lies a series of events, some trivial, some downright ridiculous, others simply irksome -  I leave you to decide which is which..  They begin tomorrow night with the imported nonsense of Halloween when kids roam the streets, knock on doors and demand to be given treats or else.  Then comes Bonfire Night, celebrating the failed attempt to blow up Parliament about 400 years ago (it would make more sense to celebrate a successful attempt to blow up Parliament?)  Trouble is, with all the banging and crashing, out faithful Golden retriever will probably go bonkers and we will have yet another disturbed night.

Then the prospect of yet another General Election in early December.  I don`t know about you but I am heartily tired of politics and especially the politicians who have behaved quite abominably over the past three and a bit years in their dismal failure to carry out the `instruction` they were given by the majority of electors to sensibly arrange an orderly departure from the oppressive clutches of the European Union.   The General Election campaign got off the ground this morning and already I am tired of hearing yet more lies disguised as party manifestos and spending pledges.

After that you would think that Christmas would come as light relief but sadly it is nowadays little more than another excuse for a commercial bonanza which has lost all sense of the true meaning of Christmas which, as Bart Simpson recalled, is when we all come together to celebrate Santa`s birthday.  Ho ho ho !!

And then it`s New Year`s Day and yet more banging, crashing and Retriever meltdown.

You can tell I`ve not had a good time lately - a streaming cold and hacking cough (aka man `flu,) four visits to the dentist in the last couple of weeks, a visit to the optician to get a prescription for new glasses following cataract operations and the onset of my Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADness.)

But I must pull myself together, count my blessings, put on a brave face with a stiff upper lip and face the coming period with more optimism and hope.  It would help if England win the Rugby World Cup on Saturday and the Saints manage to turn their current slough of despond into the sunny uplands of Premier League survival but maybe that is asking just too much of a troublesome world.

Have a nice day!

PARDON ? .....

Thoroughly enjoyed the rugby last evening.  An enthralling start to the Six Nations with England defying the odds to beat Wales in Cardiff.   The BBC`s coverage was, as usual, well over the top and I genuinely lost count of the number of `reporters,` interviewers and pundits they employed for the event.

It seems that in their endless scramble after ratings, the BBC are these days employing `characters,` to add to the ever increasing ranks of pundits and commentators.  Trouble is, they pick some right turkeys to do it.  Robbie Savage is a prime example, all bling and look at me, chirping up with mindless comments because he thinks he should say something, however crass it turns out to be.   And I heard in the week that the bad boy of English cricket, Kevin Petersen, has been booked to join the Test Match Special team for the forthcoming Cricket World Cup.  Goodness knows what his maligned former team mates will make of that, but never mind, after all he is a `character.`. 

But back to last evening`s rugby.   The match commentary itself was, as ever, skilfully anchored by former Welsh international captain, Eddie Butler.  Alongside him was former England hooker Brian Moore, who now seems to be a permanent fixture as co-commentator.   Now I have a lot of time for Moore`s playing and journalistic career - 64 caps for England, short-listed for Sports Journalist of the Year, columnist for the Daily Telegraph and all that - but as a voice behind a microphone he is almost literally unintelligible.   

He never seems to finish a sentence, leaving us  to wonder what he`s trying and failing to say.   And when he does manage to say something that is supposed to enlighten our appreciation of the technical side of a very technical game, he loses us and himself in an endless babble of disjointed mutterings that leave none of us any the wiser.

A memorable game but a forgettable commentary.  

TIME FOR ANOTHER ONE ?

I suppose, like most people, I have vivid memories of where I was when certain events took place.   And one of them took place close to Alresford in Hampshire on 22nd November, 2003.   I was driving from home in Kent to Southampton to see the Saints play Chelsea in a Premier League encounter at St. Mary`s Stadium.   

It`s a long drive and so I had the car radio on for company.  Now I would normally have been listening to Classic FM`s top 20 but on that particular morning a very special event was taking place on the other side of the world - the Rugby World Cup Final between England and Australia in Sydney.   And it was on the A31 close to Alresford that I heard Jonny Wilkinson scoring the decisive drop goal that secured the Webb Ellis Cup for England.   What a moment!   And as well as remembering where I was at the time, I still have the memories in my mind of the jubilant commentary of that moment by the BBC`s Ian Robertson - "And Jonny Wilkinson is England`s hero, yet again."

Now over the last weekend, Wilkinson played his last ever competitive game - for the French club Toulon winning the French Top 14 Final in Paris by defeating Castres 18-10.   The week before, Wilkinson led Toulon to their Heineken Cup triumph in Cardiff, beating Saracens 23-6.   

And so a glorious playing career comes to an end - 91 caps for England, second only to Jason Leonard;  1179 International points scored, second only to New Zealand`s Dan Carter and Wilkinson stands amongst the most revered and admired in the history of the game, not only for his remarkable contribution as a player but also as an example of how to play the game and conduct oneself off the field of play.


Now of course various honours have come his way during his 17 year career.  However, there aren`t too many knights of the realm from the sporting world and Rugby Union seems especially sparse - Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Ian McGeechan and a small handful of others bestowed with knighthoods but it`s arguable that any player has given so much to the game as Wilkinson, so maybe it`s time for another one.

Oh and by the way, Chelsea won 1-0 but on that day it really didn`t matter as the spirits which had been raised on the outskirts of Alresford on that unforgettable morning stayed with me throughout the day and the long drive home.   And even now, each time I make the journey to Southampton and drive along that stretch of the A31 the memories of that glorious moment always come flooding back.   

NOT AMUSED..

I`ve said a few times in these pages that football can learn a lot from rugby union.   Total respect for referees and their assistants, sin bins, immediate on-field sanctions for dissent, after match citing, compulsory rest periods following concussion and so on.   If football were to apply even half of those rules to itself then the game would undergo a transformation.

And yet there seems to be at least one area where rugby union lags behind and which has come to light with the sanctions dished out today to Mike Tindall.   Now this is a player with 70 caps for England, a World Cup winner and a consistent performer both for Gloucester and for England over the years.   In the recent World Cup tournament in New Zealand, however, Tindall was at the centre of a series of less than savoury incidents which brought the reputation and standing of the England team, both management and players, into disrepute.  The players went on to do themselves no favours on the pitch and the management did no-one any favours by not taking the necessary disciplinary action immediately after the incidents took place.

What happened yesterday was that the Rugby Football Union finally decided on what action to take against Tindall, who was perceived as being the main protagonist in the offending incidents.   The result was that Tindall`s contract as an England squad member has been immediately withdrawn and he has been fined £25,000 into the bargain, all of which would seem to bring an unfortunate end to what has been a distinguished England career.  

Now football seems to have a fairly speedy process for dealing with disciplinary matters both on and off the field and until recently I imagined that rugby union had too.   However, this business with Tindall has gone unresolved for weeks which is bad enough for all concerned.   But what really makes it worse is the uncermonious way in which the sanctions have been applied. 

Now I doubt anyone would have found the conduct of Tindall and a few of his team mates in any way acceptable and there`s no doubt that they deserved to have disciplinary action taken against them.   Two of Tindall`s chums have received suspended fines of £5,000 each but Tindall`s fine and contract withdrawal seems almost dismissive, taking little account of the distinction of his career and the contribution he has made to English rugby.

No wonder he`s lodged an appeal.  Strikes me that no-one is amused with this episode, including Tindall himself, certain members of the royal family and not forgetting the dwarfs, but those who should be least happy of all are the muddle headed Rugby Football Union who have spent far too long with a much too complicated process to produce their questionable verdict on something that should have been settled weeks ago in New Zealand.   Wouldn`t happen at the Football Association, would it?