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Low key final is a fitting anti-climax
IT is a competition that few of the top clubs appear particularly interested in, so it was apt that the Carling Cup final should have ended in the least dramatic penalty shoot out of all time.
Not for Manchester United and Tottenham the 20 successful spot kicks, rather a decent display of the art of penalty taking from United and an inept one from Spurs.
It followed 120 minutes of goalless football that was not particularly high on quality with less than a handful of decent efforts on goal throughout.
The League Cup has been struggling for years.
Burnley's run to the last four had given the competition a bit of a boost, but is it not time to end the sad old tournament's life?
Defeats for Chelsea and Arsenal - both beaten by the Clarets on their run to the semi-finals - barely registered a ripple with anyone but the keenest fan as the competition meandered through the season.
And so indifferent are the top clubs - and their fans - to it that it no longer provides a decent pay day to the so-called minnows in the early rounds.
Arsenal's 'kids' are really Arsenal's reserves and the whole thing is an excuse for resting the best players until there is a chance of silverware.
Stop it now.
PEOPLE far better qualified than me will no doubt have their views on rugby league's world club challenge.
To my mind it undermines any criticism there is in this country about the Americans calling the baseball title decider the world series, but that is an argument for another day.
I watched the second half of Sunday's game at Elland Road and sat there open mouthed as Manly Sea Eagles took Leeds Rhinos apart.
Rarely do you see handling like that on a rugby pitch, perhaps the closest to it are St Helens, usually after the final hooter has blown.
It was stunning.
Manly ran out of steam late on as had been expected - it was only their second friendly of pre-season after all.
But the message was clear despite what recent history in the match-up between the champions of the northern hemispshere and southern hemisphere we still have some way to go in this country.
WHAT is the point of the Sheffield Eagles?
I was at the Don Valley Stadium on Sunday when they were taken apart by Matt Calland's impressive Halifax side - and there was a healthy proportion of away fans as well.
Given that there was just a little over 1,000 inside the stadium, there seems to be little appetite for the game in the city.
The Eagles have battled for years to keep the 13-a-side code going in South Yorkshire and fair play to those involved.
But they cannot be helped by the venue which is far from ideal for watching any team sport.
Players appear like dots across an eight lane running track and two long jump runways.
There is one benefit, however - fewer cries of 'get 'em onside' or 'forward pass' because it is impossible to tell if either offence has occurred.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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