Run Away from the Bigger Boys Dwain!!

Regular readers will know one of my favourite topics to rant about is sport and negative coverage etc, so before I launch into my monologue of despair, I would like to commend the BBC and their coverage of the track cycling world championships at the weekend – and send my congratulations to all those British cyclists who took part!

But what has made my blood simmer this week is the news that Dwain Chambers has joined rugby league team Castleford Tigers. For those who are unsure – Rugby League is the 13 aside one that they play oop north and Cas are currently sitting at the bottom of the Superleague having won just one (flukey) game.

Anyway, I can’t help but think this is a pretty lame PR stunt by Cas, to recruit a shamed athlete to join their team, despite making no secret of the fact he knows NOTHING about the game, and has never even thrown a ball. I'm all for national coverage of the game, because I tend to miss the games at the moment because I don't have sky sports at home, but this isn't the coverage I had in mind!!

It makes a complete mockery of all the professionals who play the game and have done since they were knee high, and those youngsters striving to break through to the super league. It suggests that you have to be just big and fast to be a good player, disregarding any need for skills, tactics, strategy…I know a sports scientist for a top flight club who looks after the nutrition, psychology, match analysis and some fitness testing – he is one of a coaching team of seven!

His response echoed one that I read today in the Metro, England player Ben Worsley, “he’ll be killed”. Not actually killed but rugby is a very physical game which last for 80 minutes not 10 seconds, he’ll have to run extremely fast to avoid being tackled by a couple of 18 stoners…IT WILLL HURT!

I just can’t see how this can’t back fire for both Castleford and Chambers, allegedly the only reason he is considering playing the game is to earn some money to pay back the sports promoters he owes money to following his drugs ban from athletics. It is also worth noting that if he wasn’t ‘disgraced’ he would be preparing for the Olympics in August…as it happens he is making a mockery of the sport of Rugby League!

He’d better be careful - this time it’s a contact game, this time he is playing with the bigger boys, and they may be out to get him!

Ruth