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NZ Rugby World column, May 2007
I'm afraid I wasn't much in the mood for rugby during March and April. I found that Bob Woolmer's tragic death in Jamaica overshadowed my lifelong enthusiasm for great sport. I grew up in England and like most young kids in the Northwest spent every waking hour playing soccer and rugby in the Winter and cricket in the Summer. My school, Lancaster Royal Grammar, was blessed with a terrific cricket heritage, an outstanding coach in Doug Cameron and a perfect batting strip. We practised every evening and Summers seemed endless. Progressing through the age group sides to the First XI, I made lifelong friends like Paul Fitton, Dave Bennetts and Eric Rigg whom I met up with a couple of weeks ago for a couple of notable evenings at the Waterwitch and Bayhorse Inn pubs in Lancaster. Having left school I went to play league cricket in the Lancashire Leagues and Surrey Championship with Lancaster and Malden Wanderers. Great days. Extremely competitive with pretty good pros of the ilk of Gary Sobers, Wes Hall and co to keep you on your toes. Cricket was and is a unique game where team effort is vital; just watch the Black Caps and the Aussies; yet there is room for the individual to shine whether you bat or bowl. It was to me the most innocent of games although I was quite relieved when helmets were introduced having faced some quite rapid West Indian fast bowling pros. |
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I've watched cricket over the years and have been a member of Lancashire County Cricket Club since the early 1960's. Although they dominated the one-day game, like my other love Manchester City, championship glory has eluded them. Too much bloody rain in Manchester. Bob Woolmer was a stalwart of the game. Popular with administrators, players, opponents and spectators. He lived for the game and gave it everything. He was an honest man. And yet there he was in the middle of South Africa and Pakistan, in the midst of allegations of match-fixing, bribery and all kinds of scandals. His South African captain Hansie Cronje was a fundamentalist Christian who was corrupted totally. And died in suspicious circumstances. In Pakistan, religious believers packed the side under the captaincy of Inzamam-ul-Haq and were at the heart of ball-tampering and match-fixing allegations for years. Woolmer was an innocent who paid the ultimate penalty. As I write the cause of death is still murky. His wife and family are in South Africa, the body is undergoing a second post-mortem, the Pakistanis have returned home and the World Cup plays on to half empty grounds because of extortionate, corporate ticket pricing and the early defeats of the Asian favourites, India and Pakistan. The ICB maintained there was no real choice but to play on; I hope this never happens in rugby, but if it did I hope the IRB would take a different view and cancel the tournament. The fellowship of rugby is special and I just can't see how our community could carry on playing given these circumstances. As we try to develop the game in the US, the critical element we can bring to this over-sported nation is the great global community of rugby. Our dream is to inspire Americans to love rugby the way we do and to do that we have to encourage them to share in that special rugby community that is the same wherever you go in the world. Friendship, sociability, passion and sportsmanship. Something I used to think was there in cricket but I feel has now gone forever. Despite all the wrangling currently in rugby about who owns the players, which competition should Argentina play in, the News Corp versus NZRU confrontation, the constant tinkering with the laws, we should never ever forget we have something unique and special that transcends all these local difficulties. It is up to each and every one of us to take responsibility for this special spirit and keep in mind that Rugby above all is a game for everyone.
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