Aussie rules after race mix-up
MR AUSSIE may have stopped racing a circuit too soon, but he still managed to win the Newtown Handicap Chase at Tramore in Ireland yesterday, as every other horse in the race followed suit.
Amid farcical scenes, all 14 jockeys in the two-mile-five-furlong event thought their race was run with a circuit still to go, and pulled up after the line.
They all headed towards the paddock but Andrew McNamara, Davy Russell, Tommy Treacy, Barry Cash and Sean Flanagan realised their mistake and completed the final circuit, with McNamara's mount, the 9-4 favourite Mr Aussie, coming out on top as the reduced five-horse field completed the distance. Francis Flood's charge survived a stewards' inquiry before eventually being confirmed the winner.
Doc Charlie, Alberoni, Dream Believer and Ballysheedy were also judged to have finished the race, with the other nine runners pulled up.
What did you bet in 2007?
DID you know that you could have won 170,100 gbp from bookmakers William Hill if you had put on a 10 gbp accumulative bet that during 2007 Charlotte Church would become pregnant (6/1), Jose Mourinho would leave Chelsea (5/1), Ming Campbell would cease to lead the Lib Dems (5/1), Frankie Dettori would win the Derby (4/1), David Beckham would play for England (7/2) and Louis Walsh would quit the X Factor (2/1)? Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.
Few flocked to back Shepherd
KIRK Shepherd is on the verge of one of the biggest upsets in betting history as he prepares for today's final of the ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.
The 21-year-old English qualifier was a pre-tournament 500/1, but David Williams of Ladbrokes isn't too worried. He said: "We took millions of quid in bets on his rivals but just 5 gbp on Shepherd."
Shepherd is now a 2/1 chance against two-time world champion and 4/11 favourite John Part.
TALES FROM THE TABS
ROY LOOKS TO ROVERS
THE rumour-mill is in full swing ahead of the transfer window, and the Daily Mirror ran an intriguing tale yesterday which claimed that Sunderland manager Roy Keane is lining up a 1 million gbp move for Robbie Savage of Blackburn Rovers, pictured right.
The headline read "The gruesome twosome" in homage to two of English football's ultimate bad boys. It continued: "Be very afraid... it's Savage and Keano United at Sunderland."
The Sun reported that both Manchester City and Liverpool were ready to splash out on new players thismonth but were short on detail. Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "We are going to do something," while Rafael Benitez added: "We will sign the players we need."
Andreas Hinkel's winter move to Celtic is getting closer all the time, and the Daily Express claimed the player has already agreed terms with Celtic and is just waiting for the SPL club to sort out payment of 2.1 million gbp to Sevilla.
Few flocked to back Shepherd
KIRK Shepherd is on the verge of one of the biggest upsets in betting history as he prepares for today's final of the ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.
The 21-year-old English qualifier was a pre-tournament 500/1, but David Williams of Ladbrokes isn't too worried. He said: "We took millions of quid in bets on his rivals but just 5 gbp on Shepherd."
Shepherd is now a 2/1 chance against two-time world champion and 4/11 favourite John Part.
The full article contains 585 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Last Updated: 31 December 2007 10:47 PM
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Johnston Press Digital Publishing
Independent wants tougher betting rules
November 20, 2007 - 10:35AM
Independent Senate candidate Nick Xenophon has called for tighter restrictions on election betting along with strict disclosure rules for large bets.
Mr Xenophon, who looks set to grab a Senate seat in South Australia based on the latest opinion polls, wants candidates, their staff and officials in political parties to be banned from betting on election results.
"Just as jockeys can't bet and AFL players are banned from betting on their games, the same rules should apply to political candidates and those involved in the process," he said.
Mr Xenophon said the Australian Electoral Commission also should have access to the details of anyone who placed a bet worth $1,000 or more on the outcome of any election.
(c) 2007 AAP
West uncertain on future
Western Bulldogs champion Scott West admits he's unsure as to whether 2008 will be his final year at AFL level.
However, the veteran midfielder, who turns 33 on Wednesday, knows that when he eventually has to make that tough call, he'll draw inspiration from the way Chris Grant handled his own retirement.
"I'm just gonna probably have to sit down at the end of the 2008 season and just honestly assess where I think I'm at ... I wouldn't like to get halfway through a year and think that maybe I should have retired then," West explained.
"He (Grant) took his time, he made it for all the right reasons and obviously (it was) very sad to see him go but he made a personal decision that was right."
The Bulldogs had a horrid end to the 2007 season, losing six of its last seven matches by an average of 64 points, and West tried to explain the reasons behind the sensational capitulation.
"We certainly were playing probably without our full-strength squad, probably playing with guys in the squad that were injured, guys without confidence," West said.
"Confidence is an amazing thing in footy, once you lose it, it's harder to get it than it is to lose it and unfortunately it just snowballed towards the end of the year and we played some quality opposition."
Team-mate Jason Akermanis had his own theories as to why the side slipped from seventh to 13th in the space of two months.
"More over-training than anything, we were so fit, we were so skinny our blokes, we ran pretty well, but by the second half of the year, whether it's the players or the conditioning or coaching staff, altogether we probably just misread it a bit and I felt like we were going into games way too fatigued," Akermanis said.
Captain Brad Johnson hopes that last season will be looked back on as a blip in the Bulldogs' radar.
"Things start fresh now, we've got a lot to build on, we've got a whole lot of new coaches and new voices around the club which will be fantastic," said Johnson.
"I think there's one or two clubs that turn things around in any given season and Geelong was certainly one of those last year so next year we'll be striving to be that club that can step up and have a real impact in the competition."
Akermanis also hopes that things will turn around dramatically next year after describing his first season with the Bulldogs as a personal disaster.
The former Lion says he paid the price for trying to impress his new team-mates and coaching staff so early into his time at Whitten Oval.
"I trained since August last year and I had a massive pre-season, I can't tell you how fit I was and then early in the season, the body just said 'I can't go anymore' ... if you had have played the season in February, I would have killed it," the 30-year-old said.
"It didn't work for me ... come the footy season it kinda all went out the door because I just couldn't do what I wanted to do."
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Hudson happy to be back on home turf
Western Bulldogs recruit Ben Hudson has always been a slow starter so it's no surprise it has taken him four years to find his way home from Adelaide.
The ruckman didn't begin his AFL career until he was 24, when he was plucked from obscurity by the Crows in the 2003 AFL draft.
He was playing for the Western Bulldogs' then feeder club, Werribee, who have decided to stand alone in next year's VFL competition.
But after four seasons and 55 games with Adelaide, the 28-year-old jumped at the opportunity to move back to familiar turf, and linked with the Bulldogs on a three-year deal.
"I'm originally from the western suburbs and getting the opportunity to come and play in front of my friends and family was a big reason to play with the Bulldogs," said Hudson after his first training session at Whitten Oval.
"I've had a pretty unique journey in footy and this is obviously another chapter in the book but thoroughly enjoyed my time in Adelaide."
The timing is perfect for the Bulldogs following the retirement of veteran Luke Darcy, and Hudson will vie with Peter Street and Will Minson for game time.
Coach Rodney Eade had already outlined his expectations for Hudson, who has fully recovered from the knee reconstruction which forced him to sit out most of 2006.
Eade said he expected the big man, who finished sixth in the Crows' best and fairest this year, to play 60-70 per cent of the time in the ruck, which delighted Hudson.
"If you ask any ruckman in a game if he wants to stay on the field he certainly does and that was another positive for me to come across," Hudson said.
"I've been brought over here to do a job and looking forward to the challenge."
Another new face at Bulldogs training on Monday was defender Tim Callan, recruited from AFL champions Geelong.
The 23-year-old followed his father Terry to Geelong in the 2002 AFL draft but struggled to get consistent game in the senior side, only managing 15 games.
Renowned for his courage despite his small stature, Callan won best and fairest in their champion VFL side this season.
"It was a great year down at Geelong this year and great to be a part of but at the same time hopefully a few more opportunities will open up here at the Doggies," he said.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Court date for stolen AFL medical files
Two people charged over the theft of private medical records that were the centre of allegations of drug abuse by several players at a top AFL club will appear at a Melbourne court in December.
The pair were to have appeared before the Heidelberg Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning for a first appearance, but the matter was postponed until December 6.
The documents from an Ivanhoe rehabilitation clinic were the centre of a Channel Seven broadcast of allegations of drug use at a Melbourne club in August.
A man and a woman from Ivanhoe West have been charged with theft by finding over the personal records which were reportedly sold to the Seven Network for $3,000.
The woman who sold them has reportedly claimed to have found them in a gutter outside the Ivanhoe clinic.
Theft by finding is an offence where a person is accused of committing a crime by assuming the rights of the property's owner.
After the story caused controversy, the Seven Network dropped its legal challenge to a Victorian Supreme Court injunction which prevented publication of the players' names or their club.
The network also pledged not to report any of the details it had obtained from medical records.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
Sanctions not warranted: Eagles
The West Coast Eagles don't believe sanctions against the club would be warranted over Ben Cousins' drugs disgrace and CEO Trevor Nisbett is not expecting the AFL to impose any penalties.
Nisbett believes the club has acted appropriately in sacking 29-year-old Cousins, the 2005 Brownlow Medalist, who was arrested and charged on Tuesday for drug possession and refusing a blood test.
Unhappy with the club's handling of drug-related issues involving the player group in the lead-up to Cousins' suspension by the Eagles in March and his subsequent treatment for substance abuse at a rehabilitation clinic in California, the league threatened to invoke AFL Rule 1.6 regarding conduct unbecoming.
The rule provides for fines, suspension, the loss of draft picks or premiership points - but Nisbett doesn't believe it will come to that.
"I don't think it is expected," he said.
"The AFL have been informed all the way along with all of the programs that have been running this year. They've also been informed on the hour, basically, of what transpired the other day.
"They've also been informed of what our intentions were with Ben yesterday and consequently they'll have to make a decision on it because they have every right over every club under Rule 1.6 to make those decisions and we're well aware they have those rights.
"We're hopeful that they understand our position and understand where our club's going. They may decide that a sanction is necessary but I don't think it is warranted in this case."
Nisbett stressed to SEN that there had been no issues at West Coast between April and October, but noted there had been elsewhere.
"I don't like talking about other clubs but there's been plenty of other clubs that have had issues throughout the year," he said.
"Ours seem to get dwelled on because of the sanctions hanging over our head and the culture of our player group over a number of incidents.
"In the end everything has to be judged on its merits ... that's not to say that they don't reserve the right to bring down sanctions."
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
AFL players should stop whining and take drug problems seriously
When Australia's Channel 7 claimed to find medical records of Aussie Rules players "in the trash" of a drug rehab facility, all hell broke loose. But the players should realise that their drug use is indeed public business.
'It's time too for the players to get over it and stop pretending that there aren't drug and alcohol problems in the sport' Sports stars and the media don't make for comfortable bed-fellows. Apart from the endless fight over who gets to be on top, neither side really trusts the other.
There can be no denying the symbiotic relationship that exists between the two. Modern professional sport cannot exist without the huge sums paid for broadcast rights directly and the potential exposure that those rights gives to club sponsors. Equally, broadcasters and other media use their broadcast rights to sell advertising, the lifeblood of commercial broadcasting.
But for both parties, the relationship is akin to keeping a wolf as a pet. They are glamorous partners that outsiders are envious of but, every now and then, they will turn on their handler and severely maul them. Of course, both the media and sports stars would have a different opinion on who is the wolf and who is the handler.
A prime example of this tortuous relationship has surfaced in AFL circles this past couple of weeks with Australia's Channel Seven, one of the two free-to-air AFL broadcasters. A reporter from the network's Melbourne news room purchased the personal health records of two players. The reporter's source claimed to have found the records in a gutter outside a drug rehabilitation centre seriously!
The implausibility of that story is staggering. No-one really believes that the records were "found". The sourcing of the records is now the subject of a police inquiry and two people have been arrested, but that is a side issue compared to whether Channel 7 should have paid for and used the information.
It's a difficult line that the media need to walk. On one hand, drug use is directly relevant to the sport. Drug use, recreational or performance enhancing, cannot be defended and any right to privacy is forfeited when the decision to take the drugs is taken. On the other hand, however, any individual's personal medical records are sacrosanct and the idea of someone selling them for profit is reprehensible.
The AFL Players Association has responded by snubbing all representatives of Channel Seven and have even gone so far as to threaten a boycott of the Brownlow Medal (presented to the seasons MVP) presentation function. Adelaide Crows forward and vice-president of the AFL Player's Association, Brett Burton, flagged the boycott in a press conference last week.
Burton stated that the ban would remain in place until Channel 7 apologised, withdrew its ongoing court action to make the players names public and gave assurance that they would not make the players names public in the future. Other players, notably Kangaroos forward Drew Petrie, Sydney's Leo Barry and Brisbane's Chris Scott, publicly supported the ban.
While the decision by one part of the network was to use the words of AFL chief Andrew Demetriou abhorrent, it is equally silly to punish the entire network for that transgression when the relationship is so important for the game. It is also ridiculous for the players to blackmail the broadcaster into giving blanket assurances, regardless of whether circumstances change at some future date.
No credible news organisation could, or should, give such assurances. Indeed, Channel 7's news boss, Steve Carey, maintains that the network did nothing wrong. Nevertheless, the network has blinked first and given assurances not to identify the players involved and withdrawn court actions fighting the injunctions sought by the Players Association.
It's time too for the players to get over it and stop pretending that there aren't drug and alcohol problems in the sport. The drugs in question are allegedly illegal as well as being in contravention of the AFL's anti-doping policy. Rightly or wrongly, sports stars are in positions of influence and we hold them to a higher standard. Yes, they are entitled to privacy, but the issue of drugs is directly relevant to their sport and that makes them fair game. There are some ethical issues here, but they are not all Channel 7's responsibility.
The real issue that is being ignored in all of this is the soft anti-drug policy of the AFL. Rather than taking a firm stand on recreational drug use, the league is taking the softly, softly approach, relying on counselling and time in a room with puppies and fluffy bunnies. They don't even tell the player's club their employers of the test results until the second positive test.
It takes three strikes before the tests are made public. All this while everyone else enforcing zero tolerance it makes you laugh really, or it would if it wasn't so serious.
@ SportBuzz All rights reserved 2007.
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