A few things have been frustrating me these last few days and seeing as there has been a few sport related threads on this forum, I thought this would be a good place to vent them.

The sporting media have been concentrating their literal efforts on the events surrounding alleged assaults and failed drug testing of certain footballing "icons" (and I use the word icons with my tongue firmly in my cheek) rather than giving the backing and coverage to the UK's Rugby Union squads that are about to start the World Cup down under. Most of yesterday's supplements devoted half a page to the sport, the rest of the paper being taken over by the Ferdinand and assault issues.

Fact: Unfortunately, the England football squad are unlikely to win neither this, nor any future tournaments that they enter - the standard is not high enough on the world or European stages.

Fact: There is a real chance that one of the home Rugby squads could win this forthcoming tournament. Both England and Ireland are probably in the best form they've been in and will give the Down Under squads a real battle in the later stages of the competition. Wales unfortunately have a tough group but at least they are there, along with Scotland.

Why don't the media get behind the rugby squad and give them the sort of coverage they deserve rather than devoting so much space to the overpaid princesses that represent our country at football? They are not even writing about the Turkey v England game - its just gossip and scandal at the moment!

Fact: The rugby offside rule really isn't that complicated and do you ever see crowd trouble at rugby matches? EXACTLY!

Lets get behind the squad and ignore the football for now!

I feel much better for that and can now concentrate efforts on the weekend's cycling! Thanks Polaris for the soap box!

My point exactly, what a bunch of spoilt jessies.
I will have a TV on the finish line to see Jonny and the boys rack 100 points on Georgia.
But what were Man Utd doing letting Ferdinand leave the training ground with taking his drugs test, do they not know the rules? having been a MTB commissaire I know that cyclists and other athletes are not treated like this, they have to deliver a sample as testers turn up at their homes. Bad form alround, the FA had no choice but to ban him but everyone is just seeing it as victimisation, bollocks, he should have been made to take the test by his club and not allowed to go home, nuff said, no sympathy. It is all about respect and modern overpaid footballers have none at all.
Now I feel much better, se you all tomorrow night.

I'd agree with most of your comments regarding the football and that they've got zero case complaining about Ferdinand's treatment.

However I totally disagree with your build up of the Rugby 'World Cup', it's got barely more claim to be universal than the Yanks' world baseball series.

England must be the biggest country playing Rugby Union and there are less than a handful of countries that play top level, compare that with football which is very much a universal game.

If England win they would deserve it, but I don't think you would compare the competition to winning the football world cup. It maybe on par with the cricket, but there's more people playing that at world level.

I quite agree with Graham, although I do accept that atheletes can "forget" their responsibilities towards drug testing (see below) but I don't accept Ferdinands lame excuse (why choose to move house on the day you have a scheduled drugs test)?

Like Graham (was) I am a UCI Commissaire and had a similar(ish) incident at the Fort William World Cup this summer. Greg Minnar, after winning the downhill was so excited that he accepted the offer of a lift back to his hotel to phone his family in South Africa and get some champagne down his neck!

Of course he completely forgot about the nice man from the Sports Council who had accosted him on the finish line and got him to sign up for the obligatory drugs test. After lots of running around by me and a couple of other commissaires and a breakneck car journey back to town to collect Greg, he was delivered for the (late) drugs test and after a severe reprimand all went ahead (he could have been automatically deemed as positive for failing to show in the alloted time). In this case he was so genuinely over the moon about his victory, all concerned accepted it was a one off error. As nothing was made public we must all presume the test was negative and Greg went on to win this years Downhill World Championship.

The difference? at no point would any of the officials have spoken to the public or the press until after the matter was resolved, only those closest to Greg knew what was going on. In this matter I feel the FA have acted irresponsibly in releasing details to the press prior to a) a major game for England (of which I care very little) and b) before Ferdinand's disciplinary hearing on Monday, that is simply not correct.

I wouldn't for a minute condone drug taking but I do believe in giving an athelete (even an overpaid footballer) the chance to a fair hearing, not one by the tabloid press!

Rant over

A few years ago a british woman time trialist was selected for a drugs test after an event, she forgot somehow, but remembered on the way home. she phoned the organiser but the testers had packed up & gone. she was recommended to go immediately to a police station who apparently have testing facilities & she gave a sample. Even though her sample was negative, she was still banned for 2 years for not attending the drug test, wonder what will happen to the footballer. We should support the England Rugby team like Graham says & don't forget Nicole Cooke & David Millar in the world cycling champs taking place in Canada this week. see you all at the weekend.