Why Hold Rugby League World Cup Semi-Finals In London?

I BECAME embroiled in a war of words over Twitter last week after I suggested that the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals should not have been held at Wembley.

For just £20, you could have bought a ticket for both semi-finals. Of a WORLD CUP. There’s no denying it, that’s great value for Rugby League fans – it’s just unfortunate that hardly anyone in London falls into that category.

As a result, rather embarrassingly, the authorities were forced to buy air-time on radio stations last Friday, telling people they could buy tickets for an event the following day.

Unsurprisingly, there were more than 20,000 empty seats – but that’s not the biggest issue.

I’m fairly sure that the event would have sold out weeks earlier had it been taking place in the sport’s northern heartland. I’m also certain that many of the people at Wembley will have made the long trek down from Yorkshire and Lancashire for it.

The result is two-fold.

Firstly, thousands of genuine Rugby League fans missed out on the chance to see the World Cup semi-finals because they weren’t either willing or able to travel hundreds of miles, when the event could have been held on their doorstep.

Secondly, thousands more had to pay out more hard-earned money to travel down for the matches, which were played out in front of a crowd smaller than the capacity of Old Trafford, where Sunday’s final will be held.

I can see why they did it, but I just don’t think that London deserves to host such an occasion when the people of the city are so obviously uninterested in the sport.

Sports Personality of the Year

THE 10 shortlisted athletes for the 2013 Sports Personality of the Year award were announced on Tuesday night and it’s safe to say that there were not too many surprises.

Without a plethora of Olympic medallists to pick from, I was able to go on Twitter a few hours before the announcement and correctly predict eight of the 10 on the list.

You certainly cannot argue with the selection of Andy Murray, Justin Rose, Chris Froome or Mo Farah, the four most likely to claim spots in the top three, while AP McCoy’s achievement in riding 4,000 winners should not be under-estimated.

Leigh Halfpenny played a vital role in the Lions’ series win in Australia, Christine Ohuruogu’s world title made her a certainty and Ben Ainslie helped to work a miracle in sailing’s America’s Cup.

It was a toss-up between Ian Bell and James Anderson, who I selected, to represent cricket, with Bell deserving his place after an outstanding summer against Australia.

Only ignorance of wheelchair athletics prevented me selecting Hannah Cockroft, who continues to dominate her events and is, hopefully, raising the profile of the sport.

It’s a good line-up, but I think that Gareth Bale, my 10th choice, should feel very hard done-by. The Welsh winger carried Tottenham on his back for most of last season before becoming the world’s most expensive footballer ever. If not selected this year, I’m not sure he ever will be.

To be fair, it matters little as Murray is almost certain to pick up the big prize next month. He deserves it as well, having handled the pressure of expectation to become Britain’s first male Wimbledon winner in more than 70 years.

Froome should come second but he must be one of the unluckiest sportsmen ever, destined to forever live in Bradley Wiggins’ shadow.

Wiggins became the first British winner of the Tour de France last year and went on to lift the Sports Personality prize, but we’ll never know whether Froome could have beaten him. There were certainly moments when he looked like he could – and his triumph this year, without the support Wiggins had, is perhaps even more impressive.

Third place is up for grabs, but I’d like to see it go to Rose. Not only is he a local, having grown up in Hook, but he produced a truly great performance to win the US Open, ending a long run without major success for English golfers.

England’s Ashes collapse

I WOKE up last Friday to the sound of Englishmen crowing across television and the social networks after the opening day of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.

When I looked at the scoreboard and saw the Australians had reached almost 300, having been 100-5 at one point, I feared the confidence may be misplaced.

Sadly, I was right.

The rest of the match was like going back 10 years as the English side were bullied out of contention. They batted poorly and Australia never let them off the hook.

I was also disappointed to see James Anderson complaining to the umpires about the Aussies’ sledging, right before Michael Clarke made an idiot of himself by swearing within range of the stump microphone.

It’s part of the game and, in my view, Anderson showed weakness by telling tales to the umpires. If the Australians think it will get to him, expect them to do it all the more. It’s in their DNA.

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