Sunday Times - Reports

[travelling_gerry]

I was just enjoying breakfast on this fine Sunday morning, basking in the overglow of the win and reading the excellent reports from Nick Taylor in Pretoria and well as some great photo's by Jodie D'Arcy.

The bugger me if I dont choke on my weeties when I get to the inside of the back page to see the "Serve of the Week" by "WA's Hardest hitting sports journalist Kim Hagdorn.

Now I can get an electronic copy of the column but the "Serve of the week" was directed at "Western Force Coach John MItchell in suspending Scott Fava for breaching club drinking rules"

He goes on to say " Mitchell and his staff should not have made public issue of a top player and potential match winner".

He goes on to say " It might have been different if Fava, Shepherd and Sare been nursiing injuries when an absolute alcohol ban been wise to prevent soft tissue swelling and bleeding"

Well heres my serve back to you pal.

Team rules are team rules and the players play a part in formulating them as well as the punishments.

While we as fans are dissapointed in Scotts actions we fully support him and the decisions made by the team and the team management.

To say that the team management should "not have made public issue" would only have left them open to pubic ridicule by journalists like you when the story was "broken".

I dont know if you played rugby mate but after every game players have swelling and soft tissue injury and this measure has been put in to allow the players the great traditions of sharing a drink with team mates and opponents after the game while making sure they also have a controlled recovery.

We the fans are also very aware that the AFL bias of the press here in WA who would just love for our players to "play up" and be the equal of the cocaine sniffing, booze bus running, game betting and car crashing heros of the AFL, and be the scorn of blokes like you.




His email is hagdornk@sundaytimes.newsltd.com.au

[pruc]

yeh. i just read that. there are team rules for a reason. we dont spend so much time and money in our stars for them to hav piss ups.

[Burgs]

A little too much soft tissue damage in the "top four inches" for Mr Hagdorn I fear?
Assuming that our ever reliable kind and generous bookie has it right (I'm sure you have mate ) then I don't think Mr Hagdorn can expect too many exclusives from Perry Lakes any time soon!
Tool of the Week Award in need of inauguration perhaps?

[shasta]

The bugger me if I dont choke on my weeties when I get to the inside of the back page to see the "Serve of the Week" by "WA's Hardest hitting sports journalist Kim Hagdorn.

[/EMAIL]

He's not alone. I heard Carl Langdon and Brad Hardey bleating the same shit on 6PR Sports Central last week. Barra defended The Force's re-hydration regime and they howled him down over it.

Those wallies have egg splattered all over their faces right now and I'll lay odds they'll be busy bandwagon jumping after the first home win next Saturday.

[Darren]

It ain't a bandwagon anymore mate - its a Juggernaut!!

[Thequeerone]

Bet all these Afl commentators are all boning up on rugby now - they'ill get really scared if there is a sell out crowd next week - a more popular sport than AFL

[pruc]

He's not alone. I heard Carl Langdon and Brad Hardey bleating the same shit on 6PR Sports Central last week. Barra defended The Force's re-hydration regime and they howled him down over it.

good to see barra stuck behind his team. nice to see we have converted him

[frontrow]

Good on ya Barra, rulz is rulz, at least we dont let the vice captain get away with whatever he wants, that would be a bad example to set for the rest, not like the eagles who make an example out of one player ie Gardiner, while stoking the ego of the ex captain (tool of the year) Cousins....Hypocritical to the highest degree for those AFL wankers i must say, and i don't think there is room on our bandwagon for small minded petty princesses who follow and report on the AFL...Let me clarify that last bit, not having a go at the fair dinkum honest AFL/Rugby supporters, only the tools who enjoy a short jump over when the going is good...But bag us the rest of the time...

[JediKnight]

It ain't a bandwagon anymore mate - its a Juggernaut!!

Or a "Jedi-naut"!!!!

[travelling_gerry]

Lets tell this guy what we really think!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Burgs]

Well it didn't take long, and don't think this takes any of the heat off you for your stupid article Mr Hagdorn, but it appears we may already have a competitor for "Tool of the Week" (if we happen to run it!).
My second nomination would be South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for his public attack on the 80-year-old grandmother of Clyde Rathbone!

Rathbone's nan cops blacklash

Rupert Guinness
Sunday, February 18, 2007

The 80-year-old grandmother of Wallabies winger Clyde Rathbone is at the centre of a political furore in South Africa after she left the country to return to Australia due to concerns over crime levels.

Violet Rathbone, who was born in Australia but migrated to South Africa as a child, has been the target of a scathing attack by South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, which has made local front-page news.

His broadside came after Violet wrote to the Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon outlining her reasons for last week returning to Australia where her Brumbies grandson and other family members live.

Crime in South Africa is rampant, with reports of muggings, murders, and rapes filling column after column in newspapers every day.

The Rathbones have not been spared, either. On August 25, 2004, Violet's daughter-in-law Glynis - South African-born Clyde's mother - was lucky to survive after being thrown over the balcony of her home one night by an intruder.

She was hospitalised with five broken ribs, a fractured hand and lacerations to her foot. Clyde's parents stayed in South Africa for another two years after that attack before moving to Canberra to live.

Last week Lekota launched a tirade of criticism in parliament at those expatriates who had recently left South Africa, branding them "crime-whingers", unpatriotic and disloyal to the country. Questioned after by the Independent Newspapers group, he cited Violet as an example, asking if her motives to leave were due to crime, or because "white people were still in law" in Australia.

Lekota was also quoted in the The Star newspaper as saying many South Africans who had left were returning, "having watched the movement in this country".

But he also said that those who were leaving South Africa now knew that "the scare stories that drive others away" were not true.

In reference to Violet Rathbone, Lekota was quoted in The Star saying: "Her black counterparts who are 80, who did not have rights before now, have rights like herself. She leaves and goes to a country like that.

"Why shouldn't I or anybody else wonder: is she really leaving because of crime, or is she leaving because maybe she is trying to enjoy a status in which she is better than other sections of the population? Why should I not ask that question? What is it Mrs Rathbone will get in Australia that she cannot get in this country? What is it that we are doing to whites to justify her saying: 'no, I am better off in Australia', save that Australia has the situation in which whites are the law, and blacks there are what they are."

Mrs Rathbone's niece, Cecilia Russell, has come to her aunt's defence. In a page-one story in The Star newspaper, for which she used to be news editor, she wrote: "She loved this country . . ."

Russell then quoted Violet's letter to Tony Leon, which said: "I will always love South Africa and will never run it down. I hope and pray . . . that the government will do all in its power to fight the rampant crime in South Africa at the moment."

Russell then wrote about Lekota's attack on her aunt, saying: "I've wondered if he could really be talking about my Aunty Vi.

"The truth is that circumstances - and crime - meant that she chose to join her family in Australia, the country of her birth."

[blindsid3]

Well heres my serve back to you pal.

Team rules are team rules and the players play a part in formulating them as well as the punishments.

While we as fans are disappointed in Scott’s actions we fully support him and the decisions made by the team and the team management.

Once again I am drawn to reference Clive Woodward's book, "Winning!". When Mitch (that's our John Mitchell to the uninformed) was assistant coach to England, Clive and the assistant coaches, and the team, developed what became a big black book of rules on how to be a team player in the England team. It contained every piece of information that a player would need to know - how to behave on and off the field, where to go and when, what to wear, what to say to media, what time the lights go out, when to shower, shave etc...

it became known as the "Teamsmanship Rules" and as it was written by the players and staff, for the players, and for anything to be included it

had to be voted on by the player group .

As I understand it, selection for England came with a phone call to call you up and a knock on the door from the courier with your teamsmanship rules (before you had a chance to hang up on Clive and ring yer mum and tell her). That’s how important it was to that team.

One doesn't need to be Einstein to suggest that the Force probably have a similar book, since Mitch was involved in the original...so whatever it says inside it (and the only way to find that out is earn a spot in the team) it has been voted on by the team to be unbending, unbreakable law.

That such a "Culture Guide" exists is evident in the amazing culture and teamsmanship that is already permeating the club, the way they speak about each other before during and after matches and the way they have played their past two games.

Woodward says you can have the best score on the day, but not "Win!" the game - likewise you can be beaten on the scoreboard yet "Win!". "Winning!" is about aligning game results and integrity and spirit and how you are perceived by the public and how you carry yourself on and off the park and then maintaining it ad nauseam.

Our boys are showing that culture.

The media would do well to cast their scorn on those teams who can string a few games together yet not display the characteristics of True Champions.

[Lonzy]

I agree completely rules are rules, if I broke the rules at my work I would expect to be punished. I think its great that the force have rules like these and make sure they inforce them. It keeps our boys from playing up, and in the long run they are going to earn more respect then any AFL player I know.

[.X.]

The Management of the Western Force/RugbyWA should be congratulated.

A brand new team, from a new code in an Australian Rules state could have quite easily just let their players do what young players with lots of dollars in their pocket do when they have a night off. Drink, get drunk, get in to trouble. (Can some one say Ben Cousins?)

But they didn't do that.

The Western Force have quietly gone about their business, leaving the trouble making headlines for other players of other codes. The fact that the only time the Force players have made headlines involving alcohol have been through breaking team implemented rules that have the full support of players and management and they are less then any legal limits.

You just gotta love this team, don't ya?

[frontrow]

Well it didn't take long, and don't think this takes any of the heat off you for your stupid article Mr Hagdorn, but it appears we may already have a competitor for "Tool of the Week" (if we happen to run it!).
My second nomination would be South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for his public attack on the 80-year-old grandmother of Clyde Rathbone!

Rathbone's nan cops blacklash

Rupert Guinness
Sunday, February 18, 2007

The 80-year-old grandmother of Wallabies winger Clyde Rathbone is at the centre of a political furore in South Africa after she left the country to return to Australia due to concerns over crime levels.

Violet Rathbone, who was born in Australia but migrated to South Africa as a child, has been the target of a scathing attack by South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, which has made local front-page news.

His broadside came after Violet wrote to the Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon outlining her reasons for last week returning to Australia where her Brumbies grandson and other family members live.

Crime in South Africa is rampant, with reports of muggings, murders, and rapes filling column after column in newspapers every day.

The Rathbones have not been spared, either. On August 25, 2004, Violet's daughter-in-law Glynis - South African-born Clyde's mother - was lucky to survive after being thrown over the balcony of her home one night by an intruder.

She was hospitalised with five broken ribs, a fractured hand and lacerations to her foot. Clyde's parents stayed in South Africa for another two years after that attack before moving to Canberra to live.

Last week Lekota launched a tirade of criticism in parliament at those expatriates who had recently left South Africa, branding them "crime-whingers", unpatriotic and disloyal to the country. Questioned after by the Independent Newspapers group, he cited Violet as an example, asking if her motives to leave were due to crime, or because "white people were still in law" in Australia.

Lekota was also quoted in the The Star newspaper as saying many South Africans who had left were returning, "having watched the movement in this country".

But he also said that those who were leaving South Africa now knew that "the scare stories that drive others away" were not true.

In reference to Violet Rathbone, Lekota was quoted in The Star saying: "Her black counterparts who are 80, who did not have rights before now, have rights like herself. She leaves and goes to a country like that.

"Why shouldn't I or anybody else wonder: is she really leaving because of crime, or is she leaving because maybe she is trying to enjoy a status in which she is better than other sections of the population? Why should I not ask that question? What is it Mrs Rathbone will get in Australia that she cannot get in this country? What is it that we are doing to whites to justify her saying: 'no, I am better off in Australia', save that Australia has the situation in which whites are the law, and blacks there are what they are."

Mrs Rathbone's niece, Cecilia Russell, has come to her aunt's defence. In a page-one story in The Star newspaper, for which she used to be news editor, she wrote: "She loved this country . . ."

Russell then quoted Violet's letter to Tony Leon, which said: "I will always love South Africa and will never run it down. I hope and pray . . . that the government will do all in its power to fight the rampant crime in South Africa at the moment."

Russell then wrote about Lekota's attack on her aunt, saying: "I've wondered if he could really be talking about my Aunty Vi.

"The truth is that circumstances - and crime - meant that she chose to join her family in Australia, the country of her birth."

Has someone got some sh*t paper, this bloke is dribbling shit...