New coach, new kit, but the same old England
If there was one put-down any long-suffering fan of England Rugby League team did not need to hear after the 36-18 defeat by the Australians, it was that snippet of wisdom.
Supporting your national team IS personal. Isn’t that the whole point of doing it? We stand for the National Anthems, somebody belts out Jerusalem and the teams run out to Land of Hope and Glory. Of course it’s personal.
Then what happens? The Aussies win again. That doesn’t make it any easier to take. In an attempt to halt decades of misery, we even imported a top Australian to coach our players. But is it personal for Wayne Bennett?
Like a couple of Aussie coaches – England RU’s Eddie Jones and cricket’s Trevor Bayliss – it’s a job. When his contract ends he not only leaves the team he leaves the country. In football, England managers Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello even went on to manage other national teams. More anthems to learn – but nothing personal.
And another thing – we are sick of being patronised and words like those of Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga don’t help. “The teams are very close and England can be proud of their players’ efforts,” he said after the game on Sunday. No, Mal, we’re not close and there was not much to be proud of in that performance.
Changing the name from Great Britain to England; coming up with a multitude of different jerseys – the latest looks like it’s been stolen off an Army Red Cross ambulance – and bringing in the world’s best coach have done nothing to narrow a gap that goes back to my first press tour to Australia in 1979. Yes, we do win occasionally – Melbourne 1992 when we hammered them 33-10 was the best of them – but when it comes to the crunch, all we have is the party line that things are getting better. So we live in hopes and on empty promises.
I’ll be at the Four Nations Final at Anfield on Sunday when Australia face New Zealand (who beat England, but couldn’t beat Scotland). But I don’t really care who wins. You see, it’s nothing personal.
IT’S highly likely that, after tonight’s game against Spain at Wembley, Gareth Southgate will lose the “interim” label from his job description and become the “permanent” manager of England.
As the last permanent manager survived just 67 days it is to be hoped that the future of Mr Southgate, clearly not a man given to outrageous chest-beating, does not rest on the result of tonight’s friendly.
Friday’s 3-0 win over Scotland may have been a little flattering – the Scots did waste a few chances – but is there anybody out there capable of doing any better than the man on probation?
If the FA don’t know by now whether he is the right man for the job then he would be wise to avoid making any long-term plans for his family’s future.
BEDLAM in Brazil. That’s how one headline described the chaos that ended with Lewis Hamilton wrapping up his ninth Grand Prix win of the year in the South American rain that brought crashes galore; five safety cars and two red flags. (That will mean something to all F1 fans).
It all makes for a great finish to the season in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight. With Hamilton and rival Nico Rosberg level at nine wins each, it’s the closest we can get to a winner-takes-all final race.
Instead, because of the 12-point difference, Rosberg has only to finish in the top three to take the title. And there’s not a lot Hamilton can do about that.
PETER WILSON
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