When boys were boys

December 20th, 2007 Posted in Mick Cleary No Comments »

Are the chaps turning into louts? How long before rugby has its own self-styled Manchester United-style decadent night on the tiles? Money, girls, bring it on.

Phil Vickery
Self-indulgent: is money corrupting rugby like it has football?

Now, I might imagine that one or two of you out there might be squirming shamefully at blurred memory of what might or might not have gone on back in the dim and distant when boys were boys, rugby tours were rugby tours, and what went on tour stayed on tour.

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No Black mark against the RFU

December 18th, 2007 Posted in Mick Cleary No Comments »

I dunno. What’s happening at the RFU? I find myself agreeing more and more with things that they do. What’s going on? Once a firebrand leftie, now a middle-class, middle-of-the-road, anything-for-a quiet-life saddo, you find yourself nodding approvingly at things and people and institutions that once used to drive you to the edge of madness. Age. That’s what it is.

Alan Black
Black magic: Alan Black vents his frustrations at Adams Park

I’ve tried throughout the day to pick holes in their disciplinary stance on Alan Black, he of the rolled-up programme and red mist. But I’ll be damned if I can find a hole.

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Roll up for the role model

December 13th, 2007 Posted in Mick Cleary No Comments »

Do you need a role model for England captain?

John Terry argues with the ref
Bad boy: Terry argues with the referee

Or just a bloke who helps you win games?

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Go, Jonny, go?

December 12th, 2007 Posted in Mick Cleary No Comments »

Will he go or will he stay? Should he go or should he stay?

Jonny Wilkinson could soon be leaving the North-East
Jonny Wilkinson could be leaving the North-East

Jonny Wilkinson – stick or twist at Newcastle? This story could run and run, another sign of rugby’s changing times. Transfer talk, the staple diet of the football pages many a year.

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Big bash misplaced rugby

December 10th, 2007 Posted in Mick Cleary No Comments »

I could never work out what Jonny Wilkinson was doing on the short-list of candidates for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (in association with Robinsons). Am I going deaf or daft or did I actually hear Sue Barker sign-off with that line at the end of proceedings last night? If so, why?

Jonny Wilkinson arrives at the Sports Personality awards
Shying away: Jonny Wilkinson was a contender for the BBC award

Are the Beeb no longer an ad-free zone? If not, can I get a refund on my licence fee?

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