The JABU list: Top Gingers in Sport

This blog arises as a result of the difficulties in Ireland. The Irish are a country famous for many things. Whiskey (with an "e"), Guinness, St. Pa tricks day and of course Gingers! And with all the focus on Ireland, it got me thinking, surely there are some great gingers in sport.

Of course this blog is also dedicated to two team mates for my soccer side (The Cannons), Mr Marcy Marc and Dave the Car Guy, a golfing buddy Marco and to one of my favourite radio personalities Sias du Plessis.

So without further adieu, here are the top Gingers in sport as brought to you by All Things Jabu:

Boris Becker:

The German Maestro was the first German, the first unseeded player and the youngest ever player to win Wimbledon when he triumphed over Kevin Curren in the 1985 (a vintage year in my family, I was born!) final. In total he collected 5 major titles and set the world alight. He of course spent time "Tiger Woodsing" it in broom closets, however his record, much like Tigers, can not be faulted. A definite highlight in his spell at the top was the great duel between him and Stefan Edberg, in a very Nadal-Federer kind of manner. He also helped Germany to win the Davis Cup in 1989. Read a biography of the cupboard bonking German here.

While we are talking tennis, it makes sense that we should bring up South Africa's favourite son, Wayne Ferreira

An Olympic silver medalist and an all round nice guy. Wayne Ferreira is the good guy of South African Tennis. He reached a career high ranking of 6th (1995) and held the record for playing in the most consecutive Grand Slams by competing in 56 between 1991 and 2004. This run was highlighted by twice reaching the semi finals of the Australian Open. He won 15 career titles and is still the most successful South African in the modern era. Remarkably had a P12 W6 L6 head to head record with Pete Sampras, possibly the greatest player of our era (no disrespect to Federer). And a ginger too!

Moving onto a different sport, it is only fair when talking about gingers who have excelled in sport, to bring up the evergreen Paul Scholes

The Manchester United hard man is the classic one-club man. He has been at Manchester United since he was 14 years old and has just surpassed his 36th birthday. He is the 4th highest capped player of Manchester United history behind Giggs, Charlton and Foulkes. He represented England 66 times and scored 14 times for the 3 lions. If ever a ginger has made his mark on European football it is Mr Scholes. He has won the premier league 9 times, the FA Cup 3 times and the Champions League twice.

Further into football we could look at Nicky Butt and Dirk Kuyt, but in the shadow of the man named Mr Scholes, these two are really just boring. So lets move on. After the Springboks managed to salvage some pride on the weekend, I am happy to ponder on rugby. Of course if you are thinking Rugby and Gingers, surely one man comes to mind. That man can only be Welshman Neil Jenkins. He was the first player to score 1000 international rugby points and one wonders if he had been at a team like the Springboks how much better it would have been! He played 87 times for Wales as well as 4 times for the British and Irish Lions. Amassing 1090 points in total. For South Africa we will always remember that his kicking was the difference in the 1997 Lions tour. He also endeared himself to Scots and Aussies worlds over when in the 1999 Five nations he kicked a touchline conversion to beat England 32-31, giving Scotland the title on points difference.

The other notable rugby player being ginger is Clyde Rathbone, but he is a chop. Nuff said.

Moving on to the home of the gingers, cricket. South Africa have been blessed with ginger fast men over the years in namely Mornantu Hayward, David Tebrugge and new boy Rusty Theron. But undoubtedly for me and also earning the "All things Jabu Best Ginger Sportsman" is the ex captain Shaun Pollock.

The son of the legendary Peter Pollock and nephew of the even more legendary Graeme Pollock, some say he was born with a cricket bat in his one hand and a cricket ball in the other. Cricket was always going to be in his blood! Considered by many as one of the greatest all rounders to play the game, he is also South Africa's all time leading wicket taker with 421 scalps. He played for his country a remarkable 108 tests and 303 ODI's. He will always be remembered for the 2003 blunder that led to South Africa being eliminated from the Cricket World Cup. Considered to have bowed out at the top of his game, but he will also be remembered as the only Ginger to unify a nation as opinion is not split on the great man.

Until next time, consider putting a ginger in your team, or don't.

JABU

Officialdumb!

First off I would like to apologise for the deafening silence. I have been on study leave and put everything else on the back burner for the month. But enough about me, lets talk about sport!

Wow, is it just me or has sporting officiating dropped to an all time low? I actually cant remember watching a game of late and having nothing to say about the referee. For those of you that don't know, I am a provincial field hockey umpire. I know that officiating is not the easiest thing in the world, however, I know its not the most difficult job.

Heart Surgery must definitely be more difficult, yet people who are adequately trained, are performing this on a daily basis with no mistakes. Officials cant be bothered to not make a mistake. Here I will just highlight some of the flaws I have seen of late:

South Africa vs Scotland rugby - Stuart Dickinson. Dickinson decided that while South Africa were playing rubbish rugby, he would also blow rubbishly. So much so that the Scottish commentators at one point said they would be very disappointed if they were South African with the decisions being made. The highlight was blowing Juan Smith for going off his feet at a ruck. Juan Smith was still on his feet after the whistle went, he hadn't moved. Shocking!

Arsenal vs Braga - Some European dude. The Uefa Champions League is seen as the best league in the world by many. However, it is not matched by the best referees. Braga were seen to dive about 10 or 11 times in the game, everyone of them being given as fouls. 2 of them leading to yellow cards for Arsenal. Eboue was then chopped down from behind and damaged medial ligament in his knee and not even a free kick was given. Then to top it all off Vela is taken out in the box. Stonewall penalty! No? You say HE DIVED! And promptly a yellow is shown. Its moments like that which will haunt you. Think Chelsea vs Barca a few years back even!

Tottenham vs Man Utd - Clattenburg. What a pathetic moment in English Premier League. Nani (Portuguese like Braga!) goes down by tripping over his own foot and in the process grabs the ball. He then proceeds to lie on the floor like a baby, while Gomes picks the ball up to play a free kick. Gomes moves away from the ball to kick it and Nani runs and knocks it in. The cherry on the cake is the referee just waved play on. I'm sorry United fans, but that was appalling refereeing.

South Africa vs Pakistan - Assoka da Silva. The ball missed amla's bat by a good spacing, yet again Amla was given out caught behind. Are you serious?

Football - Various. Time Wasting has been ludicrous. Teams like Stoke City will kick the ball out and take a minute to throw it back in. at the end of the day, 3 minutes will be added. Time wasting is the worst form of sportsmanship for me, because it isn't sportsmanship!

The thing is that we don't hear from refs afterwards, which I think is something that needs to change. When I umpire a hockey match I can tell you why I made each decision. I can also tell you that above all I am 100% consistent. If this was a card for you, the same is a card for your opponent. Another big problem in football.

Mike Dean (who brags about Arsenal losing when he refs) in an Arsenal game gave a red card to Laurent Koscielny for being the last man. The incident occurred 45 metres from the goal line and against the touch line. The very next week Ashley Young was mauled down by Wes Brown, the last defender, a mere 10 metres from goal, in the penalty box. Only a yellow card! Seriously dude, you are a (insert choice insult here)

All we want from refs is that they don't influence the result. We are asking for consistency, fairness and not being idiots. Is it too much to ask? I don't think so, I mean these days reffing is a profession. If I keep making mistakes at work I would get fired and that's without millions of bucks riding on my decisions!

Big Sporting weekend. Springboks try to redeem themselves (not likely), The Ashes heads into day 3 and 4, the EPL and of course the PSL. Lets hope these games are decided on skill and not referees being stupid!

Until next time, don't throw your remote at the TV, it will hurt you not the ref!

JABU