Congratulations to Roger Federer, Winner of the ATP "Last Man Standing" Tour Finals.

Yours truly was lucky enough to attend the ATP World Tour Final at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday.  Federer and Tsonga put on a feast of tennis for the 17,000 capacity crowd, with Federer just about having the edge and deservedly taking the end of season spoils.

It's strange but if the ATP Tour rankings this year were purely based on the results of the last month, we would be talking about Federer returning to the world number one ranking yet again.  Indeed if you witnessed his demolition of Nadal last week at the O2, you would have been quite easily mistaken him for still being the world number one, such was the astonishing quality of his play that evening. 

So why was Federer playing so incredibly well after 11 months of toil on the tour, when his greatest enemies on a tennis court seemed to be dropping like flies?  Djokovic looked like he couldn't hit a football within the lines let alone a tennis ball, Nadal resembled my skin colour (let's just say i'm pale) for the majority of the week, and Murray was literally having difficulties standing on a court, let alone playing on one.

Well in true "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" style i will give you four answers to choose from:

a) Federer has the common sense to have break every so often and who knows he may even have a Kit Kat in the process.
b) Djokovic and Nadal had played more matches this season than most people have had hot dinners by September and their bodies simply screamed "Enough".
c) Murray clearly only enjoys Asian cities and the Autumn season.  The minute the continent and season changes he tends to hibernate for the winter.
d) The tennis season is simply too long.  Unless you're sensible and do what Roger does.  Revert back to answer a)

You decide!

Whatever the next tennis season holds, we will all be excited for the year ahead if we see glimpses of the same form from Roger as we have seen in the last week, as quite frankly he was awesome.

RIP Gary Speed

The footballing community is in a state of shock after the news of the death of Gary Speed, and the tragic circumstances surrounding his death.

When we face difficult times, such as the death of a loved one, we often look for answers as to why someone has been taken away from us.  It is simply part of our grieving process.  People, not least Gary Speed's family, are today struggling to comprehend why a young man with a wonderful family, a brilliant career as a footballer and what appeared to be a bright future as an international football manager, would want to end his life. The truth is we will probably never have a definitive answer to that question.

Sportsmen and women are often portrayed as strong, invincible human beings, with not a single physical and more importantly mental fraility in sight.  We can only hope that Gary Speed's death brings about a positive change in the way that the professional sporting community handles issues surrounding mental health, through compassion to those sufferers and educating everyone involved in sport to recognise potential signs of any mental illness be it in their colleagues or even themselves.

For now we say Rest In Peace Gary Speed.  A true gentleman and a great footballer.

We What Do You Know!

The day has finally come!  WADA are finally questioning the British Olympic Association's Anti-Doping By-law that bans British athletes from future Olympic Games if they have served bans for drug cheating.  Apparently BOA can now be deemed as "non-compliant" with world rules when it comes to bans on drug cheats. 

Let's get one thing clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong in principle with the British Olympic Association stance of banning athletes from participating in future Olympics if they have served bans of over a period of six months for drug cheating.  In fact, having the courage to stand up to the drug cheats is commendable. 

The problem arises in that Britain is one of the few countries in the world that take this hard line stance.  It's a British Olympic law not an Olympic one and it makes it extremely difficult for WADA to create a viable drug policy if every country does as it pleases.  Let's not forget LaShawn Merritt, the 400 metres American runner who had served a drug ban, was successful in quashing his imposed ban in participating in the proceeding Olympics, as his lawyers successfully won the argument that the ban from the Olympics was additional sanction on top of his ban and therefore not compliant with WADA.

So we could well see the likes of Dwayne Chambers and David Millar partcipating at London 2012, through numerous legal loopholes created by incompetance of organisations at the highest global to come up with a credible stance that really does tackle the drug taking in sport.  Embarrasing really.

Someone Please Explain.................

British Olympic Association Chief Colin Moynihan clearly is not a happy bunny.  He certainly had a few choice words for WADA at a International Federations Forum in Lausanne today.  You get the feeling Colin Moynihan has a pretty hard line stance on the drug cheaters.  As per the current British Olympic Bylaw, if you are banned from any sport for a period longer than six months then your opportunity to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympics is down the plug hole, flushed down toilet, gone.  Moynihan doesn't forgive and forget.  He simply thinks of all the opportunities denied to "clean" athletes because of cheating colleagues.

What i've never been able to understand is Britain holds a hard line stance against drug cheaters by banning them from participating in Olympic Games, yet they can represent their country at other championships after they have served their drug ban.  I appreciate the British Olympic Association is a totally separate entity to other Sporting Bodies staging championships, but surely the same principle arises Mr Moynihan.  These drug cheats have previously denied "clean" athletes winning medals or achieving the honour of representing their country at World, European and Commonwealth championships.  The Olympics are well the Olympics, the greatest sporting festival on this earth, but surely you can't say that the World or European championships are simply less important because of their scale.  Athletes from any sport take pride in representing their country (mostly), whatever the event.

That is why the powers that be need to decide are they simply going to be  a token gesture as a deterrant for sportsmen and women considering taking drugs by banning them for a certain period of time or are they going to have the courage to ban drug cheats for life.  Uniformity is the name of the game.  Otherwise we'll be playing let's have fun in court with the cheats' lawyers finding legal loop holes left right and centre to ensure they are standing on the starting line at London 2012.

What Have You We Learnt From The Sporting Weekend?

On Saturday afternoon sometime between the hours of 5pm and 6pm I was sitting in my living room watching the TV and all of a sudden I found myself with a new career as a statistician.  I actually calculated that England were in possession of the football against Spain for approximately 2 % of the first half of the supposed "Friendly" match.  Actually i lie, but i was slowly losing the will to stay awake as Spain played their own unique version of pass the parcel with a football for at least 43 minutes of the first half and i didn't need a statistician to work that one out.

You could imagine my excitement as the second half approached.  Another 43 minutes of England chasing round after a ball.  Put it on Sky Plus x30 it would resemble something out of a Benny Hill sketch, just add music.

Then all of a sudden it was like some devine power came down from a high and told Fabio Capello and his Lions some pearls of wisdom.  "Thou shall only score a goal against the footballing enemy that is Spain, if you manage to keep possession of the football for more than five seconds".

What do you know!  England get a free kick and a Darren Bent header rebounds off the post and in the direction of Frank Lampard for probably what will the easiest goal of his career.  Spain can't score a goal for love nor money and starting kicking the living daylights out of the England players, and England end up beating the World Champions 1-0.

So in terms of this match, what have we learnt from this sporting weekend? 

Well there is an argument for absolutely nothing.  After all we didn't require a 90 minute exhibition from our Spanish cousins to realise they are a class apart in keeping possession of a football.  Let's face it as well, on another day Spain could well have had two or three goals themselves.

There is another argument that we learnt a lot more from the young England players coming through the ranks such as the likes of Rodwell.  You know the fearless ones who are not afraid to attack on a football pitch and are not weighed down by the guilt of losing several times in penalty shoot outs. A breath of fresh air you may say.

Then there's the fact that Fabio Capello has either come accross the most genius tactic to employ against potentially four or five teams that are ranked higher than England at Euro 2012, or he is stark raving bonkers.  Getting most of England players to stand behind the ball and soak up pressure from teams for 88 minutes of a match and hope they get a corner to score off and win the match 1-0 actually sounds like a ridiculous plan and if employed during Euro 2012 will be most England fan's living and viewing nightmare, and most likely England's demise in tournament.

The truth of the matter is that it is very difficult to know what to take out of this game, simply because it was one of the most bizarre matches i've ever seen between two renowned footballing countries.  There is certainly the positive for England that they have beaten the World Champions irrespective of the manor the victory was accomplished.  There certainly could potentially be more positives, but i think a lot of England fans are reluctant to mould these positives in cast iron.

All we can really do is wait, see and spend an awful lot of time hoping.

Do Sports Governing Bodies Really Have Any Power To Stop Cheating/Corruption/Racism Or Any Other Form Of Inappropriate Behaviour?

The Cricketing world finds itself in a very peculiar position tonight.  Three Pakistani international cricketers have been found guilty of spot fixing in an English court of law and have been sentenced to imprisonment for varying periods of time. 

There is of course the positive note that three cricketers who have cheated, corrupted and shamed the game of cricket are now behind bars, and no longer a threat to the spirit and conduct of those playing the sport.  Then of course "hopefully" a deterrent is now in place to prevent other cricketers following the same doomed path as Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. 

On the other hand, there is now plenty to worry the cricketing community.  No doubt many an honest cricketer and cricketing fan alike are now questioning whether the results of matches they have played in or witnessed, were legitimate battles between two nations, based on cricketing skill, or someone cheating and deliberately bowling a no-ball, in order to finance a property.

What would be slightly more worrying for the ICC is the fact it basically took a now defunct newspaper in the shape of the News of the World and the Metropolitan Police to bring these three Pakistani cricketers to justice.  The Anti-Corruption Panel set up by the ICC with a mission to investigate and irradicate corruption from cricket, do not appear to have had any initial involvement in uncovering this scandal.  It makes you wonder what else they have missed taking place under their noses.

Like most Sports Governing Bodies however, the ICC suffer one major underlying problem in that they do not really have the powers to truly ensure inappropriate behaviour is entirely irradicated from their sport.  Cheaters in sport do not fear Sports Governing Bodies.  There will always be an existing culture of inappropriate behaviour in whatever context you can think of.  For the most part, you, me, them, whoever, will never know what and where it is taking place.  The Sports Governing Bodies are and will continue to play catch up for some time yet.

Oddly enough though, when the police or criminal enforcement organisation become involved in discovering the real truth, a sportsman or woman often crumbles.  Mohammad Amir is a classic case.  The threat of a long prison sentence clearly scared the living daylights out of the young man.  He is now serving 6 months in comparison to Butt and Asif's longer sentences. 

Today's events in some ways have brought back memories of Marion Jones, the US athlete who literally run from WADA for a very, very, long time.  Ironically it took the FBI, to pin the drug fuelled athletic career charge on her, and they were investigating her involvement in a cheque scam concerning her ex.  Jones got a six months prison sentence for lying to a federal investigation.  The way WADA were speaking however, you would have thought they had drummed the drug confession out of her, when in truth they have always been ten steps behind the drugs cheats.

Is it a way forward for Sports Governing Bodies in the future then?  Could there be a statute written into the laws of countries, where sportsmen and women can automatically be prosecuted in a court of law, if it is believed they have taken drugs, they are believed to have used racist behaviour, or attempted to fix the result of a sporting contest?  Would the firm deterrent of having their freedom taken away, make them think twice before no-balling by six feet?

Sports Governing Bodies are undoubtedly going to have to box clever in the future if they wish to keep their houses in order, and that means using every resource at their disposal, be it the media or legal avenues.  Cases like the three Pakistani cricketers and Marion Jones prove beyond all doubt Sports Governing Bodies simply cannot irradicate problems on their own.  They often need external support. The cheaters of this world in a perverse kind of way are imaginative.  Sports Governing Bodies have to become even more imaginative.