There's Nothing New in Sport

It's obviously been a long time since my last post here, and a lot of sporting water has passed under the bridge. However, looking back at the last few posts here it is, perhaps, surprising that many of the issues I talked about then are still very relevant right now.

In particular, almost a year ago I was talking about the Swindon Town "rollercoaster" and bemoaning the fact that the Town had been relegated with barely a whimper. The chairman had just stood down and I was imploring the new man at the helm to give Paul Hart the boot, and replace him with "a new, enthusiastic and inspirational manager to revive the team and get us moving back up the league". Well, Jeremy Wray is obviously an avid reader of this blog, because that was exactly what he did and now, one year on, Swindon Town are just 1 point away from promotion back to League One. The team will almost certainly be crowned champions of League Two over the next week, thanks to the superb debut managerial season of Paolo Di Canio - a man for whom the terms "enthusiastic" and "inspirational" were coined! Promotion assured, championship almost certain to follow, and with a Wembley trip already under his belt, this season has been a sensational start to PDC's coaching career. The Town is buzzing again, and that old rollercoaster has to crank back into gear once more.

Elsewhere this weekend saw both the FA Cup semi-finals and the Grand National take place amid some controversy. Two more horses having to be destroyed after possibly the closest National run ever made it a very bittersweet occasion, and reignited the calls for the race to be altered or even removed from the sporting calendar. And then we had yet another goalmouth incident in the 2nd FA Cup semi-final, which reopened the long-running debate on goal-line technology. A goal was given when the ball clearly, and I mean CLEARLY, didn't cross the goal-line and the course of FA Cup history may well have been altered. The debate has become tiresome now and it seems that it is only the FIFA bigwigs who remain reluctant to use the technology that is available to decide such situations. Methinks that the time has now come for them to see common sense and join the 21st century - as almost every other sport already has. It has to be done.

Oh, and the London Olympics are just 101 days away. Seems like there is still plenty to talk about!!