Golden Balls Part 2: Who Gives a Stuff?
May 08, 2008
Every now and again a story appears in the Yahoo!Xtra news feed which gets me worked up to the point where I'll pick any poor sap nearby to vent my fury at.
Those times tend to be the worst time to blog as invariably I'll end up swearing and making myself look like some kind of maniac.
So, having given myself a couple of days to cool down before commenting, here are the stories which have annoyed me most this week.
(The observant amongst you will see I still come across as some kind of maniac.)
First up is the possible return of Golden Balls himself, David Beckham, to New Zealand.
It now appears top of Mike Lee's agenda at the Auckland Regional Council is persuading (i.e paying money to) LA Galaxy to come and play at Mount Smart Stadium.
Sod Auckland's infrastructure and trying to ensure we have public transport which doesn't take three times as long as driving.
No, let's attract a has-been footballer with an apparent Tom Cruise fetish to kick a ball with Oceania's finest footballers.
Footballers, if you're to believe press reports, like Wynton Rufer (aged 45) and Christian Karembeu (aged 37).
Sounds like a fantastic investment to me.
Let's recognise this for what it is. It's an opportunity for self-important politicians to shake hands with one of the more over-rated football players of my generation and appear as if they're doing something for the people.
Secondly, with the exception of the 32,000 crowd who saw the game against the Wellington Phoenix last December (and it's debatable if they got real value), who benefited most from Beckham's last visit?
It wasn't the Phoenix (who in Terry Serepisos' words "broke even").
Of course it was the businesses – hotels, restaurants, bars and airlines – which took the majority of the estimated $8m injected into the local economy. Which you and I will be luck to see a cent of.
So, in the time of rising petrol prices, food prices and rate increases, some of our hard earned tax dollars may well be spent feathering the nest of a person already earning around $30m a year.
I'd prefer the money (however small an amount it actually is) was spent helping to ensure Eden Park doesn't look like a botch-up job at the 2011 World Cup rather than this crass exhibition match. And I say that as a football man first and a rugby man second.
I realise this rant may appear antithetical to my role as a sports journalist – but we're not exactly getting one of the world's greatest sportsmen at the peak of his game. We're getting hype beyond substance to a level similar to that of the "Blair Witch Project".
Apologies if you've read this before at Yahoo!Xtra, but there's never a bad time to use a George Best quote. Here's what the great man said about Beckham:
"He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right."
Best, for all his faults, was an astute judge of talent. Let's leave it at that.
The second story is Karen Li's omission from the New Zealand Olympic Squad.
Oceania's best table tennis player has been denied a Beijing spot because the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) didn't think she could get into the top 16.
Frankly, who cares if she gets knocked out in the first round? She qualified for the Olympics so she should be on the plane.
Does anyone really think the Olywhites (either the men's or women's team) can achieve the expectations of a quarter-final place?
But it's not all bad news.
My understanding (from listening to Radio We Hate Graham Henry last night) is a table tennis umpire is going to Beijing. Just brilliant.
It's good to know we aspire to be one of the top-16 table tennis umpiring nations in the world, rather than giving a woman who has already been to the Olympic Games an opportunity to test herself against the best.
I've said this before, and will surely do so again – I'd rather one less suit on a jolly to Beijing went, if it meant ensuring a qualified athlete takes their rightful position in China.
I can't wait to see how many "essential personal and support staff" are going to Beijing and how many athletes will be denied the opportunity!
So what do you think about Beckham's possible return to Aotearoa?
Should we welcome him with open arms and insist he brings Vicky so she can do an acoustic gig at the Vector Arena?
Or should we be telling New Zealand First he's trying to immigrate and he doesn't speak English very well?
What about Karen Li? Should she be going to Beijing? Have the NZOC forgotten what the Olympics is all about?
As always, I appreciate the thoughts.
(And for the record, I know I'm fat, not very attractive and tend to annoy people, so there's no reason to point it out again in the comments. It's why I write about sport and not play it.)
Those times tend to be the worst time to blog as invariably I'll end up swearing and making myself look like some kind of maniac.
So, having given myself a couple of days to cool down before commenting, here are the stories which have annoyed me most this week.
(The observant amongst you will see I still come across as some kind of maniac.)
First up is the possible return of Golden Balls himself, David Beckham, to New Zealand.
It now appears top of Mike Lee's agenda at the Auckland Regional Council is persuading (i.e paying money to) LA Galaxy to come and play at Mount Smart Stadium.
Sod Auckland's infrastructure and trying to ensure we have public transport which doesn't take three times as long as driving.
No, let's attract a has-been footballer with an apparent Tom Cruise fetish to kick a ball with Oceania's finest footballers.
Footballers, if you're to believe press reports, like Wynton Rufer (aged 45) and Christian Karembeu (aged 37).
Sounds like a fantastic investment to me.
Let's recognise this for what it is. It's an opportunity for self-important politicians to shake hands with one of the more over-rated football players of my generation and appear as if they're doing something for the people.
Secondly, with the exception of the 32,000 crowd who saw the game against the Wellington Phoenix last December (and it's debatable if they got real value), who benefited most from Beckham's last visit?
It wasn't the Phoenix (who in Terry Serepisos' words "broke even").
Of course it was the businesses – hotels, restaurants, bars and airlines – which took the majority of the estimated $8m injected into the local economy. Which you and I will be luck to see a cent of.
So, in the time of rising petrol prices, food prices and rate increases, some of our hard earned tax dollars may well be spent feathering the nest of a person already earning around $30m a year.
I'd prefer the money (however small an amount it actually is) was spent helping to ensure Eden Park doesn't look like a botch-up job at the 2011 World Cup rather than this crass exhibition match. And I say that as a football man first and a rugby man second.
I realise this rant may appear antithetical to my role as a sports journalist – but we're not exactly getting one of the world's greatest sportsmen at the peak of his game. We're getting hype beyond substance to a level similar to that of the "Blair Witch Project".
Apologies if you've read this before at Yahoo!Xtra, but there's never a bad time to use a George Best quote. Here's what the great man said about Beckham:
"He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right."
Best, for all his faults, was an astute judge of talent. Let's leave it at that.
The second story is Karen Li's omission from the New Zealand Olympic Squad.
Oceania's best table tennis player has been denied a Beijing spot because the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) didn't think she could get into the top 16.
Frankly, who cares if she gets knocked out in the first round? She qualified for the Olympics so she should be on the plane.
Does anyone really think the Olywhites (either the men's or women's team) can achieve the expectations of a quarter-final place?
But it's not all bad news.
My understanding (from listening to Radio We Hate Graham Henry last night) is a table tennis umpire is going to Beijing. Just brilliant.
It's good to know we aspire to be one of the top-16 table tennis umpiring nations in the world, rather than giving a woman who has already been to the Olympic Games an opportunity to test herself against the best.
I've said this before, and will surely do so again – I'd rather one less suit on a jolly to Beijing went, if it meant ensuring a qualified athlete takes their rightful position in China.
I can't wait to see how many "essential personal and support staff" are going to Beijing and how many athletes will be denied the opportunity!
So what do you think about Beckham's possible return to Aotearoa?
Should we welcome him with open arms and insist he brings Vicky so she can do an acoustic gig at the Vector Arena?
Or should we be telling New Zealand First he's trying to immigrate and he doesn't speak English very well?
What about Karen Li? Should she be going to Beijing? Have the NZOC forgotten what the Olympics is all about?
As always, I appreciate the thoughts.
(And for the record, I know I'm fat, not very attractive and tend to annoy people, so there's no reason to point it out again in the comments. It's why I write about sport and not play it.)
I agree with you completely, Im sure our tax payer dollars can be better spent in terms of
benefitting the "People of New Zealand" rather than hosting an extemely over rated
footballer in a country where "Football" or "Soccer" is far from being dominant or even a
sport of interest for most New Zealanders. However as an investment from the government
in terms of creating revenue for the "benefit of new zealands economy" yes well this ma
rather attend than any exposure to Mr Beckham
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