A GREAT SUMMER OF SPORT BECKONS

What a day of sport for the UK, and no sign of any help from the European Union !!

In Rugby Union, England put up a tremendous performance to record a rare win against Australia in their own country, winning 39-28 after trailing by 10 points early on. Wales suffered defeat against the World Champions in New Zealand but gave the hosts a real scare until the last 15 or 20 minutes. In South Africa, Ireland achieved one of the greatest victories ever, defeating the home side 26-20 having had a man sent off after 22 minutes; while playing with a man short in football is often a relatively minor handicap, playing with a man short in the far more physical game of rugby is an appalling handicap and that the Irish side not only coped with, but beat, an opposition who are renowned for their physical prowess and have been one of the best teams in the world for many years, was an astonishing achievement.

In cricket, England enjoyed a good day in the field against their admittedly less than testing opponents, Sri Lanka. After being in a good position overnight, Sri Lanka succumbed rather too easily in the morning, but they did bounce back to put England under pressure later on. Nonetheless, the prospect of a series whitewash now loom large.

Then we have Formula One motor racing, in which Lewis Hamilton, the reigning World Champion, gained pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix tomorrow. His advantage over team mate Nico Rosberg was miniscule at six hundredths of a second, but it was, nonetheless, an advantage. Tomorrow he is in prime position to further reduce Rosberg's lead in the championship and increase his own chances of retaining his world title.

Finally, I come to football, though this is what dominates the sporting media. Sadly, all other sport seems to fade into insignificance under the financial weight of the current world-wide infatuation with kicking a ball around; regardless, the latest international extravaganza, 'The Euros', is a major event and has to be acknowledged as such. Given that, Wales, having made their first appearance in the finals of an international tournament since the dinosaurs ruled the earth or, at least, since 1958 which may be the same thing, came through a challenging first match against Slovakia with a fine win, courtesy of a great team performance. Superstar Gareth Bale did his bit but it needed rather more than one man to win the match.

The Welsh victory was then followed by one of the better England performances of recent times. Indeed, but for a last minute lapse of concentration, they would also have started their Euro campaign with victory; as it was, Eric Dier's goal was cancelled out at the last moment though a draw was far from a bad result. England did look good and probably deserved to win, though they still need to learn the secret of scoring regularly from open play. The next game, matching England against Wales on Thursday afternoon, now becomes that much more important for both, though the Welsh currently have the upper hand.

With other great events coming up soon - Wimbledon, the Open, the Ryder Cup - what a great summer of sport we have in prospect !!

MUHAMMAD ALI - SIMPLY "THE GREATEST".

The death of Muhammad Ali yesterday robs the world of one of the greatest icons of all time. Ali was not a politician, great artist or scientist, he was not a great man of letters or religious leader; he was, quite simply and in his own words 'The Greatest'.

As a boxer Ali was a phenomenon. Olympic light-heavyweight champion, as Cassius Clay, in 1960, aged just 18, he quickly became a serious professional heavyweight. In 1963 he travelled to Wembley where he was put on the canvas by our very own Henry Cooper, only for his very quick thinking corner men to engineer a prolonged break between rounds, time enough for Clay to recover his wits and stop Cooper, whose propensity to horrible cuts was a blight on his career, in the 5th round. Still as Cassius Clay, he went on to defeat the hitherto unbeatable Sonny Liston in 1964 and to become world heavyweight champion.

As champion, Clay suddenly became a man of real substance. He soon changed his name to Muhammad Ali and went on to defeat all comers until the US authorities found a way to stop him; his refusal to serve in the Vietnam war gave them all the excuse they needed to have him stripped of his title and effectively removed from circulation for 3 years. On his eventual return to the ring in 1970, Ali quickly showed that he was still a power and gained a fight against then world champion 'Smokin' Joe Frazier, in 1971. In one of the greatest fights ever, Ali and Frazier hammered each other for 15 rounds, Frazier winning on points but also suffering such damage that he was never the same fighter again. Ali continued to be the iconic figure of boxing and beat Frazier in a re-match in January 1974, before taking on the reigning champion, George Foreman, in Zaire in October of the same year. Ali simply defended himself for round after round, leaning against the ropes and allowing Foreman to pummel him; suddenly, it was all change in round 8 as Ali took advantage of his now tiring opponent and sent him sprawling to the canvas. In the words of commentator Harry Carpenter "Oh My God, he's won the title back at 32 !" I first heard these words on the radio by my bedside as I listened to the

fight in the early hours of 30th October 1974, and have never forgotten them.

A third fight with Frazier followed in 1975, this one being billed as 'The Thriller in Manila' and being another incredible battle between 2 great champions; they fought each other to a standstill, Ali retaining his title when Frazier was retired at the end of the 14th round but he, himself, was on the point of collapse, and held it until he was shocked by Leon Spinks in February 1978, losing on a split points decision. Nonetheless, great champion that he was, he came straight back and regained his title with a unanimous points win over Spinks in September of the same year, becoming the first man to win the heavyweight title 3 times.

His win over Spinks was to be his last, finally calling it a day after losing, on points, to Trevor Berbick in December 1981. Sadly, Ali had already been showing signs of brain damage from years of punishment and he was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The rest of his life was a story of slow decline although it seems that he never complained nor gave up fighting for what he believed in. He became the most recognizable man in the world, undoubtedly one of the most iconic personalities ever and received a tumultuous reception when he appeared to light the Olympic Flame in Atlanta in 1996.

In the UK, Ali became a much loved and honoured superstar. He was the BBC's Overseas Sports' Personality of the Year in 1973, 1974 and 1978, and was the overwhelming winner of the Sports' Personality of the Century award in 1999, voted for by the British public. His television appearances with Michael Parkinson have become almost as legendary as his famous and highly inimitable brand of poetry and invective. Ali's gigantic personality turned him from being a simple sportsman into a truly world-wide celebrity and a figure whose passing will be mourned in every corner of the globe.

Muhammad Ali - we will never see his like again.

LEICESTER CITY OVERKILL.

So Leicester City have won the English football's Premier League - WELL DONE !

However, this is a story which belongs on the sports' pages and perhaps, at the end of a national news broadcast. It does not belong at the head of the national and international news and does not deserve the wall-to-wall coverage afforded to it by the media, especially the BBC. As a news story, it simply isn't that important, in fact, as a news story, it isn't important at all.

Many years ago, the late Bill Shankly, a very successful manager of Liverpool FC, said something along the lines of :

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that".

He was, of course, utterly wrong but, as a football fanatic who'd never really worked in any other sphere for his whole life, football was that important. For the vast majority of the human race, football is just a game over which some if us get excited from time to time but about which we do not obsess. The ludicrously excessive media coverage of Leicester City's triumph merely goes to show how shockingly distorted the values and priorities of our media have become.

McILROY'S MASTERS' MISERY.

Poor old Rory McIlroy simply doesn't understand how to play the Augusta course.

While Danny Willett played good, honest, sensible golf, McIlroy kept blasting away to little effect. That he still finished as high up the leaderboard as he did is testament to his undoubted ability as a golfer, but he will never win The Masters until he learns how to play this particular course.

I lost track of the number of bogeys that he racked up but it was considerable. He also managed a good number of birdies and eagles, but they're of little value when you drop shots as frequently as he did. Augsuta is a  course that's much more about control than anything else and the man who plays 4 rounds, and 72 holes, all in par, will rarely be far from the winning post; the man who does this but picks up half-a-dozen shots on the way, may well be the winner, and this is what McIlroy has to learn.

Without doubt, Jordan Spieth is the best golfer in the world at the moment and, but for a catastrophic spell culminating in an unbelievable quadruple bogey at the 12th hole, he would certainly have won the tournament. The difference between Spieth and McIlroy was that Spieth kept giving himself good putting opportunities even after he'd gone awry from the tee, McIlroy did not. McIlroy kept going all out and, on this course, you can't do that and win 

McIlroy will win more majors and may well win The Masters one day, but he needs to have a few lessons from those who've already been there. I suggest that he sits down with Nick Faldo and gets a few tips from him.

ADAM JOHNSON CAPS IDIOCY.

After much media attention, ex-footballer Adam Johnson has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for his offences against a 15 year old girl. I have no idea as to the rights and wrongs of the case nor as to the appropriateness of the sentence, but I do know that the latest reaction of the footballing authorities has been about as pointless and moronic as one might have expected.

Apparently, Johnson has been 'stripped' of his 12 England international 'caps'. Really ? How does that work ? He played for England on 12 occasions, the 'caps' being a tangible acknowledgment of the facts. That he played for England remains a fact; stripping him of the 'caps' is simply the 'politically correct' reaction of a bunch of pathetically stupid people who run English football. It is an utterly meaningless action unless, of course, they also intend amending all of the related team lists and other records in an attempt to pretend that Johnson never did play for his country, which lunacy I wouldn't put passed them.

Johnson has been found guilty of criminal offences and received his sentence; his footballing career is over. That is it. Nothing can change the facts that he was a successful player for both club and country and playing silly buggers with talk about 'caps' shows just how ridiculous our society has become.

MOURINHO & van GAAL - BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

A couple of weeks ago, the self-appointed 'Special One' was sacked by Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, a man whose opinion of himself knows no bounds, proved pathetically unable to cope with a few defeats and re-energise a team which had been hugely successful only a few short months ago. While his team of overpaid prima donnas failed to live up to their earlier standards, Mourinho thrashed around, blaming everyone except himself - the team doctor, the referees, the media and the players. Nowhere was there the slightest indication that Mourinho, himself, may have shouldered at least some of the responsibility for his team's decline.

In the end, it was all more that Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, could take and he wielded the axe. In truth, no one should have been particularly surprised at Mourinho's failure as his managerial career has not been quite the success he has made it out to be. In 15 years, he's had 7 jobs, his longest spell in charge at any one club being little more than 3 years. Since leaving Porto in 2004, he has relied on the effective patronage of wealthy clubs - Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid - and it may well be argued that his successes have been due as much to the willingness of such clubs to bring in expensive 'superstars' as to any innate ability of Mourinho as a manger. Quite clearly, he has now shown that he is incapable of managing in a more testing environment and was quite unable to galvanise his Chelsea players.

Astonishingly, Mourinho's blatant short-comings may well be ignored by the management of another major club, Manchester United. Eighteen months ago, the 'Red Devils' appointed another arrogant and highly opinionated foreigner as their new manager. Louis van Gaal arrived at Old Trafford lauded as a great manager and just the man to restore United's fortunes. Eighteen months on, van Gaal is also on the point of exiting from his job, another expensive mistake. Whatever tactical ability he may possess, van Gaal has, just like Mourinho, proved incapable of motivating his players and now seems to have lost their confidence altogether; like Mourinho, van Gaal has entered into 'spats' with the media though he's been less willing to criticise his players than was the 'Special One'.

Now, with van Gaal's job hanging by a thread and Mourinho 'available', the talk is that the Portuguese is in the frame to take over from the Dutchman at Old Trafford. Why would any one wish to replace one failed 'man manager' with another ? In common with most modern football managers, at least in the upper echelons of the game, both Mourinho and van Gaal have moved jobs frequently, ensuring that they never became associated with persistent failure and always left successful clubs before the inevitable decline set in. Neither has been called upon to manage a club with problems for any length of time.

Neither of these arrogant men has really demonstrated any great managerial ability, other than Mourinho's success, years ago, at Porto, and van Gaal's at Ajax, in the 1990s; since these episodes, both men have lived on their reputations and the wealth of super-rich clubs. Real managers are those who build teams without vast resources and extract the maximum, and more, from 'ordinary' players. Claudio Ranieri at Leicester, Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford; Tony Pulis wherever he goes, Mark Hughes - these are fine managers. Give me any one of them ahead of any number of Mourinhos and van Gaals.

FIFA WORLD CUP TURMOIL.

So Sepp Blatter has gone, or has he ?

Following the revelations of scandal at FIFA, it's President, Sepp Blatter, finally announced that he'd step down from his post as soon as a new President could be elected. However, he will remain in office until that time and will continue to oversee FIFA's activities and, no doubt, continue to obstruct investigations.

While this has to be good news of a sort, Blatter also made clear that organising a special conference to elect a new boss will take some time, many months in fact. It's perfectly possible that Blatter will still be in office as we approach Easter next year and, if he is, who is to say that he won't find some new way to hang on to power ? There are stories which suggest that he is now being investigated by the FBI and others, but nothing concrete has yet been revealed.

Information given to the investigating authorities has certainly indicated that FIFA has been corrupt for many years and, almost certainly, throughout Blatter's reign. It seems probable that the award of the 2010 tournament to South Africa was tainted and there remain strong suspicions that the 2018 award to Russia and 2022 award to Qatar are also debatable. One FIFA official has now said that either or both of these future tournaments could be cancelled and re-awarded if wrong-doing is proven.

But Blatter is still there, pulling the strings. By the time he is finally shown the door, he may well have been able to delay actions sufficiently at least to prevent any change in the 2018 tournament; as for 2022 in Qatar, that one may well be dead in the water, though only time will tell. Waiting in the wings is the English FA, champing at the bit and desperate to bring the tournament to the UK. Where will it all end ?