David Welch's Blog
No time to waste...
Monday 25th August, 2008
It could be close deciding on the most deserving British casualty of an otherwise splendid Games in Beijing: the tourist chief apparently responsible for allowing Myra Hindley a cameo role in the London hand-over; Leona Lewis' dress designer; or the performance director of British athletics, Dave Collins.
The awarding of the Games was always going to prove a catalyst for improved sporting performance in this country. That it has not yet happened in athletics - while other sports have responded magnificently - is of serious concern.
Just as the Olympics provide a non-negotiable deadline for the delivery of facilities, financing and development, so they leave no room for continued talk of near-misses and excuses on the field of play.
With more than 140 medals available (if you don't drop the baton), the British athletics team failed to reach their unchallenging target of just five in Beijing. Would that meagre 3.5% return...or even six, seven or eight medals have justified the sport's management team escaping scrutiny?
Higher targets should be aspired to, and athletes will have to be convinced that domestic success and subsequent financial security is not what drives on the Jamaicans, Kenyans, Australians, Americans, Russians and Chinese.
Our other sports have already embraced this. There will never be a greater incentive than a home Olympics, and athletics has the best chance it will ever have of repairing the damage done by years of scandal, neglect and mal-administration. Change at the top is needed now.
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What not to wear...
Friday 3rd October, 2008
Hull fans are barely able to contain themselves. Newcastle supporters continue to believe their side should be title contenders. Both (...sorry, Laura) face impossible tasks.
Some will assume this is because of lack of investment, the influx of foreign owners and players, or failing facilities.
The real reason is much closer to home. Much more basic - and much cheaper to remedy: they are wearing the wrong shirts. Any decent sports psychologist would be able to make a convincing case against the sporting of stripes.
Somehow, in this country, this look manages to convey a second-rate, brawn-based, unsophisticated and uncultured image which has long been outdated. Just ask yourself when a team wearing stripes last won top league honours.
Unsuccessful in 16 years of Premiership football, we must go back to before the Second World War to find (believe it, or not) Sunderland lifting the trophy. That's more than 70 years ago.
This season? Hull (6th) lead the way from Wigan (10th), WBA (12th), Sunderland (13th), Stoke (18th) and Newcastle (19th). Meanwhile, the sleek, smooth, streamlined superstars of the country's leading clubs who wouldn't be seen dead in such old-fashioned kit, continue to set the pace.
The throw-backs might win the odd Cup or two along the way, but if its Premiership glory they are after, Newcastle's potential new owners would do well to stop worrying about the likes of Keegan, Venables and 30 million pound signings. Just lose the stripes.
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