Monthly Archives: November 2015

Stark challenge to SA sport – staying relevant

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future-sportsAmid the final week of Rugby World Cup, one of South Africa’s most influential sporting leaders came to town.

Kelly Fairweather, former player and coach, runs world hockey. The sign on his desk in Lausanne says “CEO: International Hockey Federation”.

It’s a big deal. The IHF has 133 members around the globe and hockey was the third biggest sport at the London Olympics in terms of tickets sold.

Fairweather is different to many of the stuffy blazer brigade in that he actually played sport, endured the highs and lows and transferred his passion into administration. He was appointed rather than voted in by a boot-licking board. This is good and ought to be the template for all sport, but that would mean turkeys voting for Christmas. It’s never going to happen.

His perspective on international sport was revealing, particularly as he used to be a staffer at the International Olympic Committee, which gives him unique cachet.

Fairweather threw out the fact that the age of the average Olympics watcher is 40-plus. Implicit in this statistic is that the IOC needs to change its game to draw in a fresh, vibrant audience.

“How do you keep people interested?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s the challenge every sport faces.”

Fairweather told his board: “To change our sport, we need a revolution.”

International hockey promptly launched its own response and gave it a name: “Hockey Revolution”.

The revolution has four pillars: entertainment, increased professionalism, a bold and powerful image and the generation of millions of new followers. At its heart is the need to future-proof the sport for at least 20 more years.

It’s a noble ideal and it reflects a CEO who possesses both vision and ambition.

Hockey is toying with more fundamental plans, like reducing team numbers, narrowing field size and even syncing goals with neon technology. Not mere revolution, but evolution.

At the heart of Fairweather’s talk was the need for sport to remain relevant and interesting, particularly with Generation Z who live their lives through mobile phones. Live sport, and even TV-watching, is low on their list of priorities.

Which got me thinking about local rugby. I long subscribed to the belief that if unattractive rugby was a means to a successful end, that was okay. Few SA teams have truly set the pulses racing in the past two decades. This is because we’ve always valued the piano movers above the piano players, the power over the poise.

We’ve done okay by it, but this style and philosophy has begun to betray us in recent years. Cue RWC 2015. Once teams are able to match our muscle, we have no plan B. We saw as much at the World Cup where the rugby the Springboks dished up was antediluvian. It won us few friends.

It’s not stretching the point to say that the Springboks are duty-bound to change their game given the realities painted by Fairweather. You can’t play a stodgy game, which is already on the backfoot because of the multitude of complex laws, and expect to gain converts. Why, indeed, should a Generation Z kid bother with a diversion that offers little in excitement or entertainment?

Event experience is key and quite apart from the sideline entertainment, food and beverages, the game itself must be compelling and appealing. This is why World Rugby’s Sevens programme has been so successful, according to Fairweather. It’s all-action rugby combined with entertainment and bite-size chunks of action.

International basketball is similar. The NBA experience is exhilarating from start to finish because fan engagement is central to the NBA’s business. The fans matter.

Ironically, as Fairweather was giving his state of the (hockey) nation address, the SA game was kicked in the teeth with word from on high that neither the men’s nor the women’s team would be attending the 2016 Olympics via the Africa route. This is because the standard is considered inadequate by the local Olympic body. Our teams have been banished through no fault of their own, but rather the view that hockey on the continent is no measure of success.

Fine. But if Olympic selection was reserved exclusively for potential medalists, Team SA would number fewer than 10. – © Sunday Tribune

 

The strange boxing ritual I love

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PPic: Courtesy N-Squared

II’ve been around boxers for around 30 years. I’ve got used to their rhythms and habits, but there’s a strange ritual I still can’t get my head around.

In the week before a tournament they all get accommodated in the same hotel, although in rare instances world champions demand their own spot. Sometimes they get it.

But for the most part all the fighters congregate in the same place, sharing lounges, breakfast rooms and even the gym. They can’t avoid one another.

It’s often the calm before the storm. Fighters brush past one another in the dinner queue or look across the room, often straight into the face of the opponent they’ll be boxing. There must be a tension that simmers below, but you would never know it. The boxers are mostly quiet and cordial. Respect is their currency.

They doubtless take a look at their plates of food. The bigger guys tend to pile it on; the smaller boxers less so. The boxer who snacks on a lettuce leaf or a single piece of fruit is often struggling with weight. All the signs are there.

Just this morning, I was in the cosy hotel gym when former world champion Ruslan Provodnikov walked in for a workout. Five minutes later, Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez, his opponent on Saturday, strolled in for a run on the treadmill. They didn’t acknowledge each other, the Mexican only doing so with a quick wave upon leaving.

Sunday mornings, the day after the action, are surreal. Bleary-eyed boxers shuffle down to breakfast. Half who do so are winners, the other half are not. The mood is low-key and the fighters wear their scars of battle with quiet dignity. There are puffed eyes and split lips, broken brows and bruised bodies. It’s like a war zone.

They smile and they laugh and they wonder what might have been.

It’s just how boxers are. It’s how they’ve always been. And I love them.

Meeting the man in the meme

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IMG_0265Ruslan Provodnikov may have one of the toughest names to pronounce, but it’s really easy liking him.

Two things make him stand out from his boxing contemporaries: he bleeds like a stuck pig and he throws punches at a rate far higher than normal.

Despite speaking no English, the man they call “Siberian Rocky” is one of the most popular fighters in the hard-to-please US market based on his devastating punching power.

He often takes two punches to land one, so it’s not surprising his style spawned the famous meme seen above.

His 2013 bout with Tim Bradley was wild as the pair waged modern warfare over 12 brutal rounds. Ring magazine promptly declared it “Fight of the Year”. In April, he had another war, this time with Lucas Matthysse. It’s also in the running for Fight of the Year honours.

See for yourself how exciting Provodnikov is. Be sure to hold on tight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT2hbVPF_mU

It was a treat meeting him in Monte Carlo this week where the Russian headlines the “Night of Champions” tournament hosted by South Africa’s Golden Gloves.

Provodnikov stepped in at late notice after Tommy Oosthuizen’s opponent, Juergen Braehmer, injured his hand. The Oosthuizen fight couldn’t be salvaged but the replacement is high value.

Provodnikov is made for TV, blending raw power with the constant desire to blow his opponents away.FullSizeRender

His challenger on Saturday is Mexico’s Jesus Alvarez, an unbeaten youngster taking a major step up. Win or lose, he’ll feel the power and restless energy of one of the most exciting fighters around.

(The show will be live on SS9 from 7.30pm on Saturday).

The World Cup of wonders

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GorgodzeThat’s it, then.

Only 1420 days before the start of the next Rugby World Cup on September 20, 2019.

The 2015 edition that concluded yesterday was without compare, a blend of outstanding rugby, one sensational upset, a deserving winner and enough drama and vibrancy to sustain the game until the next tournament.

As ever, new stars came to the party, but in the main it was the established players who kicked on and made it most memorable.

Just two South Africans crack my World XV based on performances in the World Cup. Predictably, perhaps, New Zealand top the list with four players, followed by Argentina (three), Australia (two), Japan (two) and one each for Wales and Georgia.

Here they are:

  1. Ben Smith will be the pick of most, but for my money Japan’s Ayumu Goromaru was the most thrilling, creative fullback on show, plus he was the architect of rugby’s most famous win. Israel Folau was meant to light up the World Cup, but it was the Japanese who played his way into the hearts of fans. Honourable mention to Scott Spedding, the St John’s old boy.
  2. Tight one, this. Santiago Cordero and Adam Ashley-Cooper were first class, but Nehe Milner-Skudder was dynamite, all fizz and fancy moves as he showed the art of the sidestep.
  3. This wasn’t a tournament for outside centres. But for dependability and earnest endeavour, Conrad Smith takes the biscuit. Special mention to Fiji’s Vereniki Goneva, Marcelo Bosch of Argentina and Canada’s Ciaran Hearn.
  4. Easy. Ma’a Nonu. He kept Sonny Bill Williams out on merit and was all power and poise throughout the tournament. Damien De Allende had his moments and Matt Giteau wasn’t far off.
  5. Julian Savea was monstrous and marvellous, but the thoroughbred was Juan Imhoff of Argentina. Nemani Nadolo, Drew Mitchell and Kurtley Beale also contended.
  6. Dan Carter did what he always does, producing on the big occasion, but the man who came closest to being a miracle worker was Dan Biggar. The Welshman was consistently good, with a suitably eccentric kicking routine. There were powerful cameos by Bernard Foley and Nicolas Sanchez, the Argentine.
  7. Fourie du Preez had one big game, but in the head-to-head against Aaron Smith, the younger, faster man won out. The All Black never skipped a beat.
  8. This was a fierce battle with Toby Faletau, Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Louis Picamoles and David Pocock all in the running. However, they were all second to the rampaging Georgian beast, Mamuka Gorgodze. In a word, brilliant.
  9. It was a good tournament for northern hemisphere sevens, chiefly Sam Warburton and Sean O’Brien, but Australia’s Michael Hooper was non pareil.
  10. Scott Fardy was immense in recent weeks and Burger and Jerome Kaino also showed up well, but Japan’s Michael Leitch was more convincing and made more difference than anyone else. For his performance against the Boks alone, he gets to wear the jersey.
  11. Only one man: Lood de Jager. He may have arrived as a little-known, but the World Cup was his making. With him and Eben Etzebeth in the second row, the Bok pack will be formidable for a few years yet.
  12. Eben Etzebeth is still a youngster at 24, but he plays with the wiles of a grizzled veteran. Kane Douglas and Brodie Retallick were there or thereabouts, keeping him honest.
  13. Not many tightheads stood out. Amazingly, the one who did came from Australia: Sekope Kepu. He offered stability and gave the Wallaby backs an excellent foundation to work off.
  14. Nope, not a single South African in the front row; not even close. Argentina’s Agustin Creevy walks it ahead of Shota Horie and Dane Coles.
  15. Nicolas Ayerza of Argentina was quietly magnificent. But for injury late in the tournament, Scott Sio might have won out.

Coach: No contest. Eddie Jones, by miles. The great coaches aren’t the ones who take top-ranked teams and win. My grandma could do that. The great coaches are the ones who do as Jones has done, by transforming middle-of-the-roaders like Japan who produced the biggest upset in rugby history against the Springboks. – © Sunday Tribune