Author Archives: thesportsdragon
Moth Of The Day Quotes From The Euro 2016 Final
To be fair I was over the moon when the gaffer asked me to do a moth to man marking job on Ronaldo, I normally play a more floating role, I’m a bit of a flier so I often switch wings.
We couldn’t believe it, me and the lads we came for a warm up the night before the game and they had left all the lights on at the Stade de France it was a dream come true.
To be honest we haven’t forgiven Collina for an incident at a champions league match years ago, the whole team, pictured here were determined to put things right and his bald head shining made him an easy target.
Here I am, pictured right, a victim of a late one handed swat early doors from Pepe, Clattenberg didn’t even show him a yellow.
Ever since I was a caterpillar I’ve dreamt of appearing in a major final, here I am about to reduce the great Cristiano Ronaldo to tears got him in a right flap I did ! I’m much better at diving than he is.
JPR Williams Wimbledon And What Might Have Been
JPR Williams chose to play rugby, and played it vigorously for Wales and the Lions, so much so that on the Lions tour to New Zealand in 1971, he was actually barred from certain training sessions because he had a habit of injuring his team-mates, but his tennis-playing feats are largely forgotten.
Only real aficionados of the game are aware that he played in one of the most historic tournaments of all, the one in Bournemouth in 1968 that launched the open era.
The event cleared the way for the Australian maestro Rod Laver, who had been barred from defending the Wimbledon title in 1963 because he had turned pro, to compete again for the game’s crown of crowns – and this time receive a cash prize.
For regaining the Wimbledon title in 1968, Laver won £2,000.
Laver, it so happens, is the player JPR admires most and, although he missed out on playing him in 1968 at Bournemouth, where the Australian was top seed, he did play doubles with and against him in a charity event in the 1980s. ‘He was my all-time favourite, a great player and, just like Roger Federer, a real gentleman.’ Williams is a fan, too, of Andy Murray.
JPR is a retired orthopaedic surgeon, he and his wife Scilla have four children who have inherited the sporting genes.
Their three daughters have played hockey for Wales, and their son is an excellent golfer
Williams had his last game of rugby for Tondu Veterans in 2003 and gave up tennis at about the same time, he has had a hip replacement, but still looks fit and a solid unit.
Of 1968 he says ‘I don’t think the players I knew realised quite how special the occasion was,’ he says, ‘but we all felt very much in awe because we were playing with these professionals such as Laver and [Ken] Rosewall, which had never happened before.’
Williams made it into the main draw in Bournemouth after winning his qualifier against RF Johansen, in the first round of the competition proper, Williams played the Australian Bob Howe, one of the world’s great doubles players in his prime, but by then he was 42 and moving towards retirement. Williams reckoned he had chances, but lost in straight sets. ‘I was very disappointed,’ he says, ‘because I fancied that I could beat him, but he was just too crafty for me.’
By 1968, Williams had proved himself a tennis player of great promise, having first made an impression in 1964.
He played in the British under-15 tournament on grass in Exmouth that year,’ he says, ‘and surprised everyone by getting to the final.
He describes himself as having been a clay-courter with a reasonably good all-round game. ‘My backhand was better than my forehand, because, like most people, it was my weaker side when I started out and I spent all my formative years practising it.’
His steady improvement led to a major success in 1966 when he won Junior Wimbledon, beating David Lloyd in the final.
The Times reported that Williams’s victory over Lloyd was ‘the biggest upset of the week’,
He rated as an even greater success his title victory the following year in a world junior event in Canada, the Canadian Centennial tournament, in which he beat two young Americans, Sandy Mayer and Dick Stockton, who went on to make the world top 10.
‘There was no publicity in this country at all,‘ he says, ‘but that was probably a greater performance than winning Junior Wimbledon.’
Many years later, when Williams was the subject of This Is Your Life, the BBC’s greatly respected commentator Dan Maskell, who had been a leading coach, said that Williams’s fighting qualities meant he would have gone a long way in the sport and his decision to concentrate on rugby had been tennis’ loss.
The day on which Williams lost to Howe at Bournemouth would be a crucial one in his opting for rugby. By losing in straight sets, he left time for his father, Dr Peter Williams, to drive him back to Wales to play for Bridgend in a match against Newport.
Williams, still to win his first cap for Wales, arrived at the Brewery Field just in time for the 7.15pm kick-off and played a blinder. ‘I pulled off two tackles on Stuart Watkins, who was the Wales international winger at the time, and I think that cemented my selection for the tour of Argentina in 1968,’ he says.
Next morning he drove himself back to Bournemouth to play doubles, but soon he would have to choose between tennis and rugby.
The moment to decide came during that summer of ’68. he played in the British under-21s in Manchester and had to scratch after reaching the quarter-finals because he had to get back to Wales for a training session for the tour of Argentina,’ he says. ‘That was the real clash, when rugby took over from tennis.’
If there was any doubt in his mind about abandoning the possibility of a career in tennis, Williams’s father removed it. ‘My father was a big influence on me,’ he says.
‘”Professional sport is not for you.” he told me and that he wanted me to go to medical school.
If you were a good rugby player in those days then you had a very good chance of getting in to one of the London teaching hospitals – and I could do that and keep up the rugby.
‘The other thing was that Gerald Battrick, who was a very good player from Bridgend and was highly ranked in the UK, did not even feature in the top 10 of Welsh sporting personalities. So I thought, “Well, tennis isn’t very popular in Wales, but rugby is.” That also had a bit of an influence on my decision to choose rugby.’
What, though, would he choose now if faced with the same decision, with tennis a veteran of open competition and rugby union just having entered its teens as a professional sport?
‘I would have chosen tennis before rugby,‘ Williams says after barely a moment’s hesitation.
If that is a surprise, how about this: ‘I’d have done so because tennis is much more lucrative now and much more enticing – and because of the dangers of rugby. It’s much more physical than when I played.’
It’s hard to imagine that one of the greatest players ever to put on a Welsh shirt could have been lost to tennis, their loss was our priceless gain.
Wales Euro Millions Provide Financial Legacy
It’s seems rather crass to attempt to put a price on Wales Euro success, how can you evaluate the magical days and nights in Lille, Toulouse and in financial terms ?
Years of heartache finally put to the sword by this wonderfully humble group of men, have not only resulted in our emotional and spiritual fulfilment, but due to the financial rewards this competition provides, Wales have also been victorious in providing a considerable financial legacy for one of the poorest football associations, who last year made a profit of £20,000
Wales have already bagged over £12 million force their heroics in France
£6.4 million for taking part in the tournament
£812,000 for each victory in the pool stages
£2 million for reaching the quarter finals
£3.2 million for reaching the semi finals
The knock on effect of packed houses in Cardiff , for World Cup qualifying matches, will boost the coffers even further, starting with the visit of Moldova on September 5th ,which should be a huge welcome home party .
In the meantime we all have a semi final against Portugal to look forward to….Priceless !
My Summer Romance ⚽️Football Or Rugby 🏉
The Football Association of Wales was founded in 1876, five years before the Welsh Rugby Union, it has always been taken as read that rugby union is the national game of Wales, but is the wind of change sweeping through the sporting landscape of this country ?
Success is obviously a vital factor, and many fans are fickle, so in view of recent international football success it is not surprising that there are questions as to which code currently holds the nations heart.
There is no doubt that the fans in Bordeaux, Lens and Toulouse have displayed a passion that one would have once thought was exclusively reserved for the oval ball team, and not just passion, but also the wonderful choral support that has been sadly missing from Welsh rugby for many years.
To hear the great Welsh hymn, Calon Lan, sung in Bordeaux when Wales beat Slovakia in their opening Euro 2016 match , brought a tear to my eye, it took me back to the 1970s, the days when singing in harmony was the norm at Welsh rugby internationals .
There is wonderful innocence about the Welsh football followers , they are savouring every moment, living every kick and pass, and during the match the football is the priority ,and not the nationalistic social drinking fest that rugby internationals have now become for many .
The real truth of course is, that most football fans will watch rugby, and most rugby fans will watch football, but if you look beyond the international arena, the attendances for the bluebirds and The Swans are at a level that the Pro 12 rugby regions could only dream of achieving.
Two days ago the back page of Wales on Sunday reflected on the huge gulf in emotions between the codes , as the abject gloom of the manner of defeat in New Zealand contrasted starkly with the glorious and unabated joy that was palpable, as Wales defeated Northen Ireland in Paris to reach the quarter finals…. Yes…. That’s right ! The Quarter finals of Euro 2016.
I for one am probably looking forward to Wales FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September more than the Autumn Rugby Internationals, and I never imagined that would ever happen.
Perhaps the years of childhood, and adult, deprivation of Welsh football panini stickers, Esso coins and newspaper pull outs have finally caught up with me , or have I just been caught up in the huge tide of joy, bewilderment and euphoria rolling in between Barry and Bordeaux, Treorchy and Toulouse, Lampeter and Lille, and Pontypridd and Paris ?
Whatever it is ,I am sure there is enough love and enough room in our affections for both codes, but this French summer romance is something very special , and my heart will never be the same again.
The Sporting Colours Of Flaming June
All hail this great summer of sport, well to be accurate it’s actually hail, wind and rain at the moment.
June is not even half way through, and already there has been an awful lot of memorable sporting action to digest
I seem to have entered a twilight world of non stop sport this month, I’m not sure quite what’s happening to me, Ive leapt up from my sofa as Iceland equalised against Portugal, I’ve sighed dejectedly, and hung my head in my hands, as Albania failed to hang on for just one more minute, to claim a draw against host nation France in Marseille, strange days indeed.
For me Euro 2016 is “Its a Knock Out” with the unwelcome added ingredient of crowd violence, the beautiful cities of France providing a glorious backdrop to the sporting action, (we will gloss over Marseille).
Flaming June is over the half way mark, and the bright warm orange colours of summer have yet to show their beauty, as Spring is reluctant to give up its meteorological hold on us.
But we have seen in contrast plenty of blue, the colour of the spectators hands and feet at Roland Garros, throughout the freezing cold and wet tournament in Paris, where the only warmth was provided by the sunny smile of Garbine Muguruzza, after she defeated Serena Williams to win the French open women’s title.
This last week, the colour red has been the dominant hue
We had Red faces in Hamilton, after Wales were humiliated by the Chiefs, an Irish Red card in Cape Town, yet even that did not stop the men in green from gaining an historic win over the Springboks, and the Red Dragons awoke from a fifty-eight year hibernation, to roar majestically in Bordeaux.
Incidentally, the colour red also reflects the state of my bank account, due to the purchases of Panini stickers, rugby programmes, newspapers and magazines this month.
If you are Welsh, then all colour would have drained from your cheeks during this last sporting week.
Whatever the sport, we in Wales do last-minute defeats better than any other country in the world.
What we would give to be able to enjoy the last ten minutes of a sporting encounter, without having to check our systolic and diastolic rates repeatedly, and defeats in Manchester and Lens this last week have only added to the back catalogue of defeats suffered in this heart breaking manner.
Wales Under 20s were leading New Zealand into the final minute, and there were ninety seconds left in the Euro 2016 match between England and Wales, when our faces turned from red to white, as the opposition achieved a vital score to snatch themselves a favourable result.
In the Southern Hemisphere winter has arrived, and the beaches of Australia and New Zealand have seen plenty of pasty British bodies, due to the unseasonal warmth, but nothing compares to the heat the Wallabies have had to endure, as an uncontrollable white tide washed away their hopes.
The tide in New Zealand had been flat calm, but there were a few waves, and a fair bit of swell for sixty minutes in Auckland before the storm passed.
In windy Wellington the All Blacks blew away Wales, in a second half period of ten minutes, before a red sky lit up the damp dewy night, during the last fifteen minutes of a hard-hitting pacey test match.
But, as the New Zealand press reported “Dai Hard 28” was a victory to New Zealand.
So as we enter the final throes of June there is still an awful lot of rugby, and plenty of other sporting action to be played.
The forecast for next week ranges from a deep depression sweeping in from the south to a massive high centering over parts of the British Isles, it all depends on your team , your sport and your results
I think I’d better take a brolly !
Boos And Booze
I find myself in the curious position of leaping to the defence of an England player ,who has been part of a winning team that recently defeated Wales.
Have I become a proper journalist as a result of this damascan type conversion ? Well we can but hope.
The Ford family have not had the greatest few weeks, coach and Dad Mike being dumped by Bath, and son George getting the boos from his own countrymen for his kicking display against Wales last Sunday, I guess neither of them will be buying lottery tickets this week.
Firstly Mike is a great coach, and in my opinion Bath have made a big mistake in dispensing with his services, he will be snapped up very quickly.
As for George, well he won’t be dwelling on the moronic booing.
As a hugely dedicated and talented rugby player, he will be churning up inside , and having sleepless nights reliving the missed kicks, whilst attempting to discover the probably inexplicable reasons for such a poor display.
Well I would rather my player miss six kicks in a warm up international, than one in a grand slam decider, and if there is ever a good time to have a shocker with the boot, then this was the match in which to do it.
But this type of behaviour is not exclusive to those who inhabit the lofty towers of Twickenham.
Plenty of so called Wales fans booed Neil Jenkins at the start of his career , because he had the temerity not to be born in the same mould as Barry John or Phil Bennett.
The same people were In floods of tears when he played his last game for Wales , against the Barbarians many years later at the Millenium stadium.
In another comparison to last weeks match , I once witnessed “Jenks” have an awful day against Ireland in Cardiff, where he missed six kicks at goal, he left the field utterly dejected, and after that game I don’t think he missed another kick for seven years.
Rhys Priestland has also suffered a torrid time from the Welsh boo boys
When you see how much effort these boys are putting in, it might just be worth sparing a thought for how bad they are feeling , without having to cope with the boos and jeers on top of everything else.
FROM BOOS TO BOOZE
Many people I have spoken to, are fed up of having to leap up from their seat every few minutes, as people head back and forth to the bars,during play at international matches.
To many match goers the rugby is now a secondary cabaret, a mere back drop to a night out on the ale.
At Wales v France in Cardiff, during this years RBS 6 Nations, I was sat behind a lady with an £ 80 ticket, who spent the entire match either fetching Beer ,or constantly looking down at the floor to count the number of empty bottles she had collected
I knew this to be the case because I saw her fingers move individually, as each bottle was noted during the complex mathematical calculation that was taking place.
The trouble is that alcohol sales are a huge income for host unions, so they are not going to give a stuff about suffering spectators, no more than they care about Friday night 6 nations games in Cardiff, and Aviva trains, the most lethal combination of disruptive factors known to mankind.
I would suggest bars close 10 minutes before kick off, and open again at half time ,before closing for the second half.
Finally,
As my colleagues and friends head to Australia New Zealand and South Africa, or prepare for Rio, the Sportsdragon will be here,adjusting the central heating thermostat on a daily basis ,whilst bringing you all the rugby news, and updates from Euro 2016 and Wimbledon.
Please join me for my Friday podcasts and the Monday roar
@MPsportsdragon
http://www.thesportsdragon.com
Keep warm till next week !
Tears Of Joy And Sadness In Bordeaux
As Wales prepare to celebrate a very special sporting day, on Saturday, my mind turns back to a dark November afternoon when I turned on the radio to hear the shattering and unbelievable news that Gary Speed had died.
The shock and dismay felt by so many people on 27 November 2011, was only worsened by the fact that he had taken his own life.
Football seemed an insignificant folly in the face of a young man’s death, a popular and charismatic person who on the face of it appeared to have it all, had been taken from us.
Football, and particularly Welsh football was stunned, and somehow through it all a new national manager had to be installed .
To take the job in those circumstances takes a special kind of person, one of Gary’s best friends, and a fellow international colleague proved to be such a man.
Chris Coleman grieving in his own right, took on the role which he has handled from day one with dignity and sensitivity, as the team grieved along with the fans, Chris Coleman stood strong and guided everyone through turbulent waters
When results didn’t go his way there were no excuses, despite the fact their were many, he retained his dignity as the team united and continued to grow with him and around him.
The squad have all been through such a lot together, experiences that put the game of football into perspective, but ultimately ones which have bonded this group of players creating a spirit, a strength and unity within the squad that transcends sport.
Gary sowed the seeds of this wonderful success, his great friend Chris has continued the legacy and added an extra dimension to it.
Next Saturday in Bordeaux our tears will be ones of joy at reaching the finals of Euro 2016 ,but also one’s of sadness for the tragic loss that set us all on this remarkable journey.
Wales motto “Together Stronger” could not be more apt.
Sportsdragon’s Bank Holiday Roar
As Euro 2016 gets ready to kick off , and Roland Garros takes spring into summer in the leafy boulevards of Paris, England and Wales end their exhausting seasons with three test series’ in Australia and New Zealand respectively.
So as Wales head to the land of the long white cloud, it’s worth bearing in mind that even though I am fifty eight years of age, Wales have never beaten the All Blacks since i came into the world.
In fact 1953 was the last time the men in red were victorious over the men in black.
The nearest thing I’ve experienced to a win was the when Wales won the Haka stand off in 2008, but that just made the All Blacks angry, and they beat us yet again.
It’s been a familiar tale throughout the years , even the great Welsh teams of the 70s could not defeat New Zealand, although a memorable day at Stradey Park, Llanelli, in October 1972 was a huge consolation for us Carmathenshire folk.
This tour sees Wales take a vastly experienced squad that have regularly won Northern hemisphere honours, and tasted World Cup knock out experience, but wins against Southern Hemisphere teams have been few and far between.
There is no doubt that there has never been a better time to face New Zealand, now that Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Kevin Mealamu and Tony Woodcock have all retired, but the task is still daunting to say the least.
The All Blacks have not played since the Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham last October, so surely Wales best chance lies in that first test on June 11.
Wales will have to be at their very best just to be in with a chance of a victory in the the three match series, and that is the challenge for a team that have a reputation for being notoriously slow starters.
The first test sees the men in red return to a familiar RWC 2011 venue, Eden Park, in Auckland, before visiting Wellington a week later.
In between the first two tests Wales will be warmly welcomed in Warren Gatland’s home town , Hamilton, where they will face Super Rugby outfit the Chiefs, before ending their tour with a third test in Dunedin.
The Weekend
As I write, the Welsh squad, and entourage are assembling at Heathrow, DVT socks at the ready, for the long flight to Auckland.
Their final run out took place in front of 81,128 sun drenched spectators at Twickenham, on Sunday, where they faced an England team devoid of any Saracens and Exeter players, who played in the Aviva premiership final the previous day.
Wales started brightly and with pace , racing to a 10-0 lead before everything started to slowly unravel, resulting in a 27-13 win for the home team.
Paying the price for not selecting a specialist “7” Wales conceeded twenty turnovers, the other damning statistic is the twenty one tackles they missed.
A team with so much talent at its disposal is having far too many off days, and this is something that Wales clearly have to address.
A Dan Cole knock on ,missed by the officials, and the TMO resulted in a try for England at a crucial point of the match ,with the score at 15-13 to the men in white.
From then on in, Wales played with greater inaccuracy and as their set piece started to creak,they never looked like closing the gap.
George Ford only landed one kick out of seven attempts, which puts the scoreline into perspective.
The weekend saw the Lyon Kings, Saracens defeat Exeter Chiefs in front of 77, 109 at Twickenham in a pulsating final, on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, whilst a more modest crowd of 34,450 ,witnessed the Connacht dream season end with the men in green crowned champions after defeating Leinster at Murrayfield.
It has been a long hard season, and whilst the curtain falls domestically , a whole new production is about to premier globally
Let the games begin !
Here Comes Summer !
Summer is nearly here, so it’s time to dig out the factor 50, or turn up the thermostat on the central heating, depending on which part of the UK you live.
In a season that seems to have no beginning and no end, the rugby circus packs up it tent, and heads to all parts of the world, bringing you the clowns, the Lyon tamers and the exhausted players walking a tightrope.
There are twenty two major internationals to be played in June, stretching from Sacramento to Suva, from Tokyo to Tucuman, and from Cape Town to Calgary.
As a fan the prospect is stirring, from a player welfare point of view it is bordering on the insane.
The one big plus is the fact the the so called tier two nations are getting a look in at last, with meaningful fixtures, and to give them a chance to experience Pro 12 refereeing at first hand.
But this article comes with a warning !
Plan your barbecues, family days out and holidays with care, one simple error and you could miss not just a game, but the Euros, Wimbledon and Roland Garros.
Saturday June 11 is a prime example of the doomsday scenario that can occur if you do not plan properly, here is my recommended itinerary
0830 New Zealand v Wales
1100 Australia v England
1500 South Africa v Ireland
1700 Wales v Slovakia (Euro 2016)
2000 England v Russia (Euro 2016)
And Saturday June 11 is just the start, so to prepare you, here is a list of the summers major international matches.
Also next Sunday May 29, England face Wales at Twickenham , with a team devoid of any Saracens or Wasps players, who will be competing against eachother the previous day in the Aviva Premiership final.
Now I would go and watch Wales play England at needlework, but this surely has to be the most meaningless encounter in the rich history of matches between the two nations.
Wales fly out to New Zealand the following day, and I will be previewing the tour in a special Bank Holiday roar next Monday.
Le Weekend
A pulsating match in Dublin last Friday night saw Leinster beat Ulster to reach the Guinness Pro 12 final in Murrayfield on Saturday, where they will meet Connacht who defeated Glasgow Warriors to set up an all Irish final.
In the Aviva Premiership semi finals Saracens beat Leicester and Wasps were defeated by Exeter in draughty Devon to set up a thrilling showdown at Twickenham on Saturday.
In the season that never ends the rugby just keeps on coming.
Mike Pearce Rugby 