Deadline day with Hockey and No Balls

What a disgrace.

Match fixing has reared its ugly head once again and the cricketing world collectively sighed that the ugly beast has not left the sport! 9 years on from Hansiegate the Pakistan players agreed to bowl no balls at certain times and above is an image of how bad the overstep was! (3 times!) The game of cricket is in shock. The sporting world is in shock. I am not shocked at all! Match fixing, spot fixing and other fixing have been a big part of the cricket world for a long time! And the sad thing is the Pakistani's are always involved somehow. Many feel that Hansie took the flak for many in 2001 and with the new outbreak of this virus it may very well be that others who avoided the axe are soon going to be staring straight into it.

Can we ban betting on cricket? I don't think so. The ICC have no control over the betting world and if the bookmakers wanted to bet on what time i would wake up in the morning, they could do with very little input from me. Once again something that I mentioned in a previous post ("Cheaters never prosper, till they do") I again think the only way for cricketers to avoid this is if the punishment is severe and harsh! Take away the one thing that makes them cheat, the sport itself. It was an easy decision to ban Hansie, why not do the same to the disgraceful Pakistani's!

I HATE CHEATING!

Onto deadline day in the footballing world, this event is like a full moon, except it only happens twice a year, but much like a full moon, more often than not it turns out to be disappointing! My mind goes back to 2006 (When the deadline ended at midnight), Arsenal and Chelsea made the surprise swap of Cashley Cole and William "now a spud" Gallas in a great eye catching deal. In 2008 we saw the deadline deals for newly found money bags getting the outrageously disappointing Robinho and Manchester United getting the lazy looking Berbatov. But with the weaker economy, the new premier league rulings and the lack of available class, the past two seasons have been very disappointing. The big news that came through is that Spurs were allowed to bend the rules and sign Van der Vaart after the transfer window, however it must be said VDV 8 million, Bebe 7 million, i hate to say it but Spurs beat United in this one! The nice news from deadline day was that African hero Asomoah Gyan went to Sunderland in the biggest transfer of the day (Which should help him overcome this) and former Gunner Hleb went to Birmingham instead of Liverpool and Spurs.

The disappointment is surely this for South Africans:
World Cup Squad (team before world cup/ team after world cup)
Khune (Chiefs/ Chiefs)
Josephs (Pirates / Pirates)
Walters (Maritzburg/Maritzburg)
Khumalo (Supersport/Supersport)
Booth (Sundowns/ Sundowns)
Gaxa (Sundowns/ Lierse)
Masilela (Macabi Haifa / Macabi Haifa)
Mokoena (Portsmouth / Portsmouth)
Ngcongca (Racing Genk / Racing Genk)
Sangweni (Arrows / Arrows)
Thwala (Pirates / Pirates)
Moriri (Sundowns / Sundowns)
Davids (Ajax CT / Ajax CT)
Dikgacoi (Fulham / Fulham)
Modise (Pirates / Pirates)
Lethsoloanyane (Chiefs / Chiefs)
Tshabalala (Chiefs / Chiefs)
Pienaar (Everton / Everton)
Sibaya (Rubin Kazan / Rubin Kazan)
Khuboni (Arrows / Arrows)
Nomvethe (Swallows / Swallows)
Mphela (Sundowns / Sundowns)
Parker (Twente / Twente)
This means that we have two players playing in the big leagues (England, Italy and Spain). Only two players play champions league (Parker and Sibaya). If we want to be world beaters we need our players to play against the best there is on a regular basis! Mphela should have gone to Birmingham, Tshabalala should have gone, Khune should have gone. I love the PSL and am an avid chiefs fan, but Bafana comes first and these players can only grow by playing the best.

A last thought on the transfer window. I really feel the window should close at the end of July, keep it open for two months. by keeping it open you change the dynamics of leagues already started all around the world and this is a problem in my eyes!

On an ending note this week. Hockey. This is a sport close to my heart. For those that don't know, i still coach and manage provincial hockey although i have now stopped playing the game. The South African women are competing in the world cup currently. They beat Spain 2-1. for you to understand Spain have professional hockey, South Africa don't. This is a great result and hopefully the ladies can continue to fly the flag as high as they do in preparation for the Commonwealth games in Delhi in November.

JABU's PICKS
2 out of 3 again last week. Here are the pick for this weekend:
The big 4 to go marching on in the US Open (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray)
Bafana to spark a frenzy in Nelspruit by winning by more than 2 against Niger
The Springboks to end the tri nations with a comfortable win by more than 10

Closing notes
Thanks to all those that nominated. All things Jabu is now a finalist for the SA Blog Awards 2010. Please keep voting if you like the blog. Or comment if you want change!

Until next week. If you are asked to bowl a no ball, please say no!

JABU