Wada think about that?!
The spectre of England is on the horizon again! Firstly this Saturday the national team face Slovakia at Wembley in a friendly and warm-up to the more important business of a home World Cup qualifier with the Ukraine next Wednesday. After a successful first year in charge, Fabio Capello has risen the profile of England to its current air of expectancy.
There has always been a high amount of pressure on England to deliver results together with good performances, other than Brazil it is probably the international equivalent of Real Madrid, at least when it comes to expectancy. Unfortunately we know only too well how meagre England's rewards have been over it's history, and there is no need to listen to Baddiel and Skinner's '3 Lions on a Shirt' for us to remember.
I could naively try to reminisce over the might of Glen Hoddle's England and it's triumph in Le Tournoi, it was 1997 for those of you who don't wish to scrape the bottom of that barrel. It would be rather like some Manchester Utd supporters who hope to acclaim a sextuplet of trophies. Deep down most fans won't hark on about the Charity Shield (it's a one-off game a season, for charity!), or the World Club Championship (really who cares other than Sepp Blatter?!).
Now at least we can feel that there is an air of realism around England, no longer is the FA quite so eager to appease the whipped up frenzy of hype in and around the team. Instead we have the headteacher approach of 'Don Fabio', today reports have shown him reminding the players that they have a responsibility as role-models. Wayne Rooney has certainly improved his discipline but he was clearly foolish with his spat at Craven Cottage last weekend, there is no need for the petulance to spoil his talent and a repeat of the last World Cup needn't be tolerated.
What exactly has happened with the 'Respect' campaign? Many weeks we are still privy to contentious issues being met with a snarling horde of players who surround a referee. Football really needs to take a look at Rugby and note how a player only speaks with the official if he is the captain, otherwise it is usually the referee who is finding out a player for indiscipline. I can't understand how difficult it would be to implement, a ruling set in place that a captain is the team representative and only he could approach the referee, the game would be a lot better off for it.
Obviously behaviour such as Ashley Cole's most recent indiscretion are more difficult to predict or manage, but then he has never been one to think with much foresight. That is why the presence of Mr Capello has provided so much more reassurance, rather like his Spitting Image style puppet alter ego on Setanta Sports, you can imagine he is lurking in the background and keeping tabs on things.
The major news to surround the current England squad announcements concerned the fitness or lack of for Ledley King. It is a fairly unique situation and it has become clear that other than gentle aerobic training on bikes or in the pool, he is unable to exert any extra pressure on his fragile knee. It is remarkable that King's training routine is what it is, but it is working as Tottenham have managed to get him through many matches this season, a crucial part in them slowly escaping the relegation scramble.
On that note it is understandable that Tottenham have been overly concerned with his call-up, they could ill-afford to lose his calming effect on their defence. Harry Redknapp has done his best to walk the media tightrope and political minefield. Aware that you don't want to look as if you are interfering with England's prospects, he has reiterated that he would also love to see King resume his England career but is wary of how best to do that when he "he simply cannot play two games in a week."
Hopefully there will come a point when the two parties can come to some sort of compromise and work out a way to accommodate King. Remember his impact at Euro 2004, instead of in defence he acted as a utility player and was very impressive as a defensive midfielder against the French. A player with adaptable qualities, he has impressed Capello this season and would be useful in the national squad, and typically the England manager- not one to be bullied- has made the point of assessing Kings fitness for himself.
My one complaint is the continued omission of Michael Owen. He has only just returned from yet another injury, but amongst the various setbacks he has still managed to score ten goals in twenty-five games this season. His pace may not be as blistering as it was, but I believe he is still England's best natural goalscorer. The statistics show that his goals per games ratio is reasonably high and he continues to deliver in that aspect. Not only that but he has consistently set up goals for club and country and England may be missing a trick in not having him around to add to his tally of forty international strikes.
Finally a mention of the Olympics, there have been ongoing reports of the Great British team submitting a football team to represent us in 2012. For those who don't know, the Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all oppose a Great British team. This is based on the fear that FIFA would take such a unity as a reason for disbanding the national associations of said countries.
There has been a reassurance from FIFA that such a thing would never happen and that the national football associations would face no threat if they were to represent each other as Great Britain in the Olympic football tournament. Nonetheless it seems that Wales, Scotland and Ireland are standing stubbornly in their stance. As a result it has been rumoured that an all English team may be submitted as a Great British team in London 2012.
After such commotion it now appears that football in the Olympics at all is under threat. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has been pushing it's newest initiative onto FIFA and UEFA, it is loosely known as the 'whereabouts' code and believes that a sport person's location should be known for one hour of every day of the year. The aim is that it makes drug-testing in sports unpredictable and more random than ever, in order to catch out those who insist on cheating and taking performance-enhancing drugs.
In essence it is an interesting and more fool-proof way of tackling the problem of 'doping'. For once I have unbelievably found myself agreeing with something that Sepp Blatter has had to say. Rather than his usual unnecessary attempts to fix what isn't broken or to suggest a hare-brained scheme, the FIFA president has come to the defence of footballers liberties. He has noted that a requirement to know the whereabouts of every player, every day of the year for a certain hour, is potentially an invasion of privacy.
It would also appear to be a system that could lead to many Rio Ferdinand type incidents, imagine the many circumstances when a player was simply unable to attend the random test. Could an every-day emergency see a player banned for missing a drug-test stipulated with hardly any notice, potentially yes. To find an alternative is difficult, beyond the nearly 30,000 random tests that are already carried out each season around the world bodies. The problem is that the 'whereabouts' code does almost come across as an assumed guilt, and anything that looks to impose on liberties will face opposition.
As it stands the Olympics may expel football from future competitions because of the dispute. The International Olympic Commitee (IOC) stands by the scheme implemented by Wada and if FIFA do not comply it is possible that the Great British Olympic team will have the problem of a football representative taken out of their hands. Maybe that would be a good thing anyway, football at the Olympics has always been contrived due to laws on professional sportspeople taking part in it. Anyway, we all care far more about the World Cup, it is after all the greatest show on Earth!
There has always been a high amount of pressure on England to deliver results together with good performances, other than Brazil it is probably the international equivalent of Real Madrid, at least when it comes to expectancy. Unfortunately we know only too well how meagre England's rewards have been over it's history, and there is no need to listen to Baddiel and Skinner's '3 Lions on a Shirt' for us to remember.
I could naively try to reminisce over the might of Glen Hoddle's England and it's triumph in Le Tournoi, it was 1997 for those of you who don't wish to scrape the bottom of that barrel. It would be rather like some Manchester Utd supporters who hope to acclaim a sextuplet of trophies. Deep down most fans won't hark on about the Charity Shield (it's a one-off game a season, for charity!), or the World Club Championship (really who cares other than Sepp Blatter?!).
Now at least we can feel that there is an air of realism around England, no longer is the FA quite so eager to appease the whipped up frenzy of hype in and around the team. Instead we have the headteacher approach of 'Don Fabio', today reports have shown him reminding the players that they have a responsibility as role-models. Wayne Rooney has certainly improved his discipline but he was clearly foolish with his spat at Craven Cottage last weekend, there is no need for the petulance to spoil his talent and a repeat of the last World Cup needn't be tolerated.
What exactly has happened with the 'Respect' campaign? Many weeks we are still privy to contentious issues being met with a snarling horde of players who surround a referee. Football really needs to take a look at Rugby and note how a player only speaks with the official if he is the captain, otherwise it is usually the referee who is finding out a player for indiscipline. I can't understand how difficult it would be to implement, a ruling set in place that a captain is the team representative and only he could approach the referee, the game would be a lot better off for it.
Obviously behaviour such as Ashley Cole's most recent indiscretion are more difficult to predict or manage, but then he has never been one to think with much foresight. That is why the presence of Mr Capello has provided so much more reassurance, rather like his Spitting Image style puppet alter ego on Setanta Sports, you can imagine he is lurking in the background and keeping tabs on things.
The major news to surround the current England squad announcements concerned the fitness or lack of for Ledley King. It is a fairly unique situation and it has become clear that other than gentle aerobic training on bikes or in the pool, he is unable to exert any extra pressure on his fragile knee. It is remarkable that King's training routine is what it is, but it is working as Tottenham have managed to get him through many matches this season, a crucial part in them slowly escaping the relegation scramble.
On that note it is understandable that Tottenham have been overly concerned with his call-up, they could ill-afford to lose his calming effect on their defence. Harry Redknapp has done his best to walk the media tightrope and political minefield. Aware that you don't want to look as if you are interfering with England's prospects, he has reiterated that he would also love to see King resume his England career but is wary of how best to do that when he "he simply cannot play two games in a week."
Hopefully there will come a point when the two parties can come to some sort of compromise and work out a way to accommodate King. Remember his impact at Euro 2004, instead of in defence he acted as a utility player and was very impressive as a defensive midfielder against the French. A player with adaptable qualities, he has impressed Capello this season and would be useful in the national squad, and typically the England manager- not one to be bullied- has made the point of assessing Kings fitness for himself.
My one complaint is the continued omission of Michael Owen. He has only just returned from yet another injury, but amongst the various setbacks he has still managed to score ten goals in twenty-five games this season. His pace may not be as blistering as it was, but I believe he is still England's best natural goalscorer. The statistics show that his goals per games ratio is reasonably high and he continues to deliver in that aspect. Not only that but he has consistently set up goals for club and country and England may be missing a trick in not having him around to add to his tally of forty international strikes.
Finally a mention of the Olympics, there have been ongoing reports of the Great British team submitting a football team to represent us in 2012. For those who don't know, the Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all oppose a Great British team. This is based on the fear that FIFA would take such a unity as a reason for disbanding the national associations of said countries.
There has been a reassurance from FIFA that such a thing would never happen and that the national football associations would face no threat if they were to represent each other as Great Britain in the Olympic football tournament. Nonetheless it seems that Wales, Scotland and Ireland are standing stubbornly in their stance. As a result it has been rumoured that an all English team may be submitted as a Great British team in London 2012.
After such commotion it now appears that football in the Olympics at all is under threat. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has been pushing it's newest initiative onto FIFA and UEFA, it is loosely known as the 'whereabouts' code and believes that a sport person's location should be known for one hour of every day of the year. The aim is that it makes drug-testing in sports unpredictable and more random than ever, in order to catch out those who insist on cheating and taking performance-enhancing drugs.
In essence it is an interesting and more fool-proof way of tackling the problem of 'doping'. For once I have unbelievably found myself agreeing with something that Sepp Blatter has had to say. Rather than his usual unnecessary attempts to fix what isn't broken or to suggest a hare-brained scheme, the FIFA president has come to the defence of footballers liberties. He has noted that a requirement to know the whereabouts of every player, every day of the year for a certain hour, is potentially an invasion of privacy.
It would also appear to be a system that could lead to many Rio Ferdinand type incidents, imagine the many circumstances when a player was simply unable to attend the random test. Could an every-day emergency see a player banned for missing a drug-test stipulated with hardly any notice, potentially yes. To find an alternative is difficult, beyond the nearly 30,000 random tests that are already carried out each season around the world bodies. The problem is that the 'whereabouts' code does almost come across as an assumed guilt, and anything that looks to impose on liberties will face opposition.
As it stands the Olympics may expel football from future competitions because of the dispute. The International Olympic Commitee (IOC) stands by the scheme implemented by Wada and if FIFA do not comply it is possible that the Great British Olympic team will have the problem of a football representative taken out of their hands. Maybe that would be a good thing anyway, football at the Olympics has always been contrived due to laws on professional sportspeople taking part in it. Anyway, we all care far more about the World Cup, it is after all the greatest show on Earth!
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