Bridlington Free Press….

For the first time in an age, it was I, in our household, that acquired the local rag. Whilst I sat in Morrisons car park (and no, I wasn’t on any form of dogging venture) I thumbed through the sports pages to see if there was much ado about the club.

Given that there isn’t much activity at the moment on the football front, the lads, Cyrill and Andy, still manage to put in some snippets every week to try and keep it in the forefront of peoples minds. Given that one or two quarters on the forum have a regular pop at the lads for their supposed “negative” coverage, I personally think they provide excellent support and good reporting of the trials and tribulations at the club.

But what they probably don’t get enough credit for, is their coverage of ALL the sports and ALL the age groups in their sports section. Today there is an excellent piece on Hockey, usual great coverage of the two main cricket teams with a sprinkling of news on the local village sides. Golf, badminton, Petanque, 5’s&3’s, kids football etc etc etc were also covered well.

Many other publications provide nothing comparable to the Free Press, which for a town the size of Brid – circa 32,000 is brilliant. Keep it up lads you do a good job.

Euro 2008 – is it worth watching ? update…

For an Englander it is still NOT worth watching – I stand by that.

However, having spent some nights away from home this week, the football has provided some restbite from the normal garbage that invades our screens midweek. How many interviews can one endure with Nigel Slater – theres no undenying he’s an excellent cook / chef / preparer of food, but how many times a week do we have to listen to the historical drivel from some second rate actor / comedienne / luvvy.

Eastenders / Emmerdale / the bill / Big Brother <what a pile of shite that is>

There have been one or two excellent performances in the Euro’s this week – The Dutchs demolition of the Frogs was sublime, the Dego’s destruction of the Redski’s equally clinical. But the highlight was the sub-aqua event of the neuted Swiss against the Donner kebab kings – it was just like being a kid playing footy in the park after days of torrential rain.

Hopefully theres some more action to come during those long nights away.

But its still NOT worth watching.

Euro 2008 – Is it worth watching ?

NO !!

Lawrence Dallaglio….Alastair Hignell….

These guys retired last weekend and I’d thought a quick acknowledgment of their services not just to rugby but to sport in general would be nice.

Lawrence Dallaglio must rank as one of the most truly inspirational sporting icons this country has ever produced. Playing for the same club team (London Wasps) since he was 20, playing for England for just as long, being captain for both club and country (only blemish coming after a UK Sunday newspaper sting – bastards) and being a member of the 2003 World Cup winning team. He has been instrumental in leading his club to numerous league and cup successes.

I would like to wish the big fella all the best in his retirement, and hope he can inspire future generations or be involved in inspiring a future England World Cup squad.

Alastair Hignell (pictured here recently with current England Captain Phil Vickery) was one of the voices of Rugby Union for many years on BBCs Radio 5 Live. He played for Gloucester in the days when it was an amateur game, and was capped many times for England. For me he stands alongside Dallaglio for a whole host of different reasons. Here’s his bio:

Former England rugby international Alistair Hignell is a rugby union commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live. He has covered every major rugby event, both home and international, since 1991.Born in 1955 in Cambridgeshire, Alistair was educated at Denstone College, Uttoxeter, and Cambridge University and was a gifted all-round sportsman who excelled at rugby and cricket. He was the first Cambridge student to captain the University at both sports. As a professional cricketer, Alastair played for Gloucestershire from 1974 to 1983, and was awarded his county cap in 1977. As a rugby player, he first came to public attention as a freshman student when he was selected for England’s 1975 rugby union tour of Australia aged 19. Playing full-back for England, Alastair won 14 caps during his four-year career. He made his last appearance for England in 1979 when he played all four matches for England in the Five Nations rugby championship. After retiring from professional cricket, Alastair then enjoyed two years teaching history and coaching cricket at Sherborne School before joining the BBC as a sports assistant. From 1989 he commentated on World Cups and Lions tours for HTV then joined 5 Live in 1996, covering the Lions tour to South Africa the following year. In 1999 Alastair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and now campaigns to raise awareness of the illness.

Here is an interview with him (by the great John Inverdale) which was posted on the Multiple Sclerosis site;

Alastair said of his battle with MS, “I was first diagnosed on 8 January 1999. The sun was shining, it was 11.30 in the morning. I’d had a series of symptoms which the doctors had not been able to explain. My right hand was very, very shaky, my right leg kept tripping me up from time to time. I had pins and needles, numb sensations, headaches, bladder problems, all of which were tested individually and nothing was found to be wrong.

“But eventually they said, ‘all those are symptoms of multiple sclerosis’, and they sent me in for an MRI scan and that showed little scarrings on the brain and they were pretty certain it was multiple sclerosis. They put me in for further tests and stuck a great big needle into my back and came out with a diagnosis after that.

“It’s an incurable disease and it’s unpredictable disease and it’s different for individuals. Some people have a very progressive form of the disease, a primary form of the disease; some people have what they call benign multiple sclerosis, where they get one attack and then it’s a long time before the next.

“The one I’ve got is secondary progressive, which means it is gradually getting worse. When I was first diagnosed I was able to run and train and I was determined to prove I could beat this disease and be bigger and better. I threw myself into physical activity and work activity and ended up very exhausted and very angry. I wasn’t getting anywhere, the MS was getting worse.

“I now drive a scooter around most of the time. I can get around with a stick, but I can’t drive a car any more. I’m very lucky to have a support worker through Access to Work, which is a government-funded scheme. My right arm doesn’t work very well and my right leg doesn’t work very well, so I use things like speech recognition on the computer and any aid that’s available I will go out there and use.

I put up an acknowledgment of Alastair to highlight that debilitating illnesses take no prisoners, irrespective of your past and history. But AH has utilised his position to bring further the plight of MS sufferers to the masses. Good Luck and best wishes.

These two guys have been an integral part of the Rugby game and will be sorely missed – thanks chaps. If you wish to get more info on either of these sporting greats – google em.