Day: 7 December 2011

The University of Manchester Rugby League team put in a performance to be proud of against a strong Man Met Cheshire side at the Armitage ground on Wednesday.
The match started under some controversy due to the referee being unable to make it to Fallowfield because of the strikes. However, Manchester started very brightly with two tries within 15 minutes, whilst Man Met Cheshire engineered one of their own.
Joe Butcher and William Dawbarn finished off some brilliant moves out wide, an area of the game where Manchester Uni felt they could dominate due to their expansive and entertaining style of rugby.
With early parity awarded to Manchester, both sides ran at each other very hard which required stern defence and big hits at the breakdown, confirming this game was going to be a very close affair.
Man Met Cheshire scored two tries in quick succession; however it was more to do with Manchester University’s poor defence than anything else. A couple of missed tackles were the cause but it seemed to kick Manchester University into a higher gear as they realised how fine the lines were going to be between winning and losing this match.
Despite the obvious setback, calm remained amongst the home side and they set about constructing waves of pressure by keeping the ball tight and kicking the ball long down field.
With simplicity appearing to be the key for scoring tries, the forwards began to win the battle in midfield through direct running lines and good use of width when gaps were created. Eventually, Man Met Cheshire began to tire after being unable to do anything with their possession.
Manchester took full advantage and the “destructive duo” of Bower and Bates overpowering the midfield resulted in a try out wide for Chris Bates who clattered through two defenders on his way to the line.
At half time the score was 18-16 to Manchester, and during the break, Coach Neil Blackburn demanded more positivity from his team and more communication in defence.
With the second half underway, Manchester set their stall out with some thrusting runs out wide and an increase in commitment at the breakdown. Through sheer intensity they scored an early try which set the marker for the rest of the game.
From the restart, Jack Bower caught the ball on his own 20m line and crashed through five tackles to carry the ball up by himself into Man Met Cheshire’s 20m line. This sent the Armitage crowd into a frenzy of testosterone fuelled pleasure, and the chants of ‘Moooo’ could be heard around Fallowfield in tribute to the oxen-like forward.
The resultant passing phase ended in a debut try for Oli White who outpaced his opposite winger, following some fine handling out wide. This seemed to put Man Met Cheshire into a five minute state of dejection as they replied with lateral running and dropped passing.
However, after a clumsy turnover from Manchester, Man Met Cheshire capitalised on an overlap and managed to score in the corner, and a period of pressure followed which had Manchester Uni well on the back foot and learning that basics would be the key to winning this closely contested match.
Realising it was very much their game to lose, Adam Seabrook scored a brilliant individual try to regain dominance in Manchester’s favour. Again Man Met Cheshire found a way to exert prolonged pressure, but the home defence stood firm against the onslaught.
Oli White rewarded the team with another two tries to have himself a debut hat trick, one of which was made by a pitch long run from Imad Nasir who gathered the ball from inside his own 20m line, broke through two tacklers and offloaded in the tackle. The word glorious was mentioned to describe this feat of skill.
Man Met Cheshire managed to pull a try back in the last ten minutes and got within one failed swan dive attempt of scoring another. The winger in question (with no defenders near him) did not realise that after jumping, he had to hold on to the ball until his body had regained contact with planet earth.
Failing to adhere to this principle the player ended up accidentally jettisoning the ball over the dead ball line whilst in mid air. Beautiful.
Manchester finished the game battered and bruised, but victorious, much to the pleasure of the large crowd who had come to watch.
Captain Chris Bower said ‘The Backs were brilliant today and the team as a whole reacted to little setbacks that could have undone us in the past. We had to work extremely hard for this win, it definitely wasn’t easy and I’m really glad we’ve got back to winning ways’.
The University of Manchester Rugby League club would like to invite everyone to come and watch their Varsity game on Wednesday the 7th December where they take on Manchester Metropolitan University at Broughton Park.
Tickets are £3, there is bus transport to and from the game and kick off is at 8pm.



It was a cold, crisp afternoon at the Armitage Centre as it played host to a pulsating second round cup tie between Manchester and Dundee. As current holders of the trophy, Manchester entered the tournament, having received a bye in the last round, looking to emulate last season’s success.

Before the game, Manchester had been in fine form, having won three of their five league games, including an away victory at much-fancied Leeds. However, they came up against a stubborn Dundee side that is enjoying plenty of domestic achievement. Dundee travelled south sitting in 2nd place of the Scottish University Premier League having also made it to the last eight of the Scottish National Cup. The stage was set for a classic cup encounter and the sides didn’t disappoint.

It was a cagey start to the game as the respective defences held strong. Both teams struggled to maintain possession and create any meaningful chances. The deadlock was broken after ten minutes, as Dundee’s Andrew Crone carried the ball on a mazy dribble and his deft pass to the right of the shooting circle was turned in from close range by Ian Macaulay. Manchester responded well to going a goal down, beginning to pass the ball quicker and more effectively. This good play soon came to fruition as Kav Jabbel smartly converted an excellent through pass from Sion Tuckle to put the home side level.

Dundee’s possession was restricted by the tenacious work of Manchester, however their ability to break away with speed was a constant threat in the first half, the skill of the attacking trio of Crone, Macaulay and Paul Martin proving particularly effective. With twenty minutes on the clock, Martin executed a delicate turn on the half way line, leaving two defenders in his wake. He bore down on goal and his ferocious strike forced a superb save. The game was really beginning to liven up, with chances going begging at either end.

As the half drew to a close, another dribble from Martin spelt trouble for Manchester, but his misplaced pass allowed for a chance at the other end. Manchester’s Jacob Plummer worked resiliently to escape the attention of the Dundee defence, before playing a great pass to Dutoy, who controlled expertly before coolly slotting past the helpless keeper from close range. The umpire then called time on the first half, with Manchester holding a narrow 2-1 advantage.

The half time team talk of coach Johnny Bell appeared to work wonders, Manchester emerging for the second half with renewed vigour and desire. Just three minutes in they came close to extending their lead. As Phil Dutoy’s snapshot was saved by the Dundee keeper, Jabbel slotted in the rebound, only for the umpire to controversially rule the goal out. With ten minutes of the second half gone, Manchester deservedly established a two goal cushion. Kieron Mulholland forced another short corner, which he converted comfortably into the bottom right of the goal to make it 3-1.
Dundee appeared a spent force in the second half, as they struggled to cope with Manchester’s attacking play. Macaulay and Martin continued to show their ability, but they were restricted to only one clear cut opportunity, which Macaulay skewed wide of the target. Manchester on the other hand were growing in confidence as the stretched Dundee defence began to concede more chances.

With twenty minutes of the second half gone, the Dundee keeper was forced into action again to save a fine effort from Plummer that looked destined for the top corner. Sloppy errors began to show through in Dundee’s game, and a misplaced pass amongst the defence led to another opportunity. The Manchester attack forced a double save from the Dundee keeper, Dutoy crashing a third attempt against the crossbar from a narrow angle. As the game wore on, Manchester rounded off their victory with a late fourth goal.

More good dribbling from Jabbel forced yet another short corner, which was set up for Mulholland to fire in his second of the match. The team had demonstrated its character in what had been a tough encounter. They will no doubt look forward to building on this success throughout the rest of this season.

The footballing world was shocked and saddened at the news of Gary Speed’s untimely passing. Remembered with fondness for a long career and an undeniable passion for the game, fans up and down the country are mourning his passing. With 85 caps Speed is Wales’ most capped outfield player, and holds the record for third highest number of premier league appearances with 535 – behind only David James and his compatriot, Ryan Giggs.
Speed’s long career began at Leeds United, where he won the first division title in 1992. After a brief spell at Everton between 1996 and 1998 in which he was made captain, he moved to Newcastle United, winning two FA cup runners up medals and playing Champion’s League football. His 500th premier league appearance came during his time at Bolton Wanderers – a 4-0 victory over West Ham in December 2006.
Succumbing to back injury early in the 2008-9 season after playing for Sheffield United for less than half a season, Speed took up a coaching role at Bramhall Lane. The next season he replaced Kevin Blackwell as manager.
Despite a relatively unsuccessful tenure, the Welsh FA approached Speed with a view to appointing him as their new manager – a role the patriotic Welshman was only too happy to accept. In his first game Wales were beaten by the Republic of Ireland 3-0 in the inaugural Nation’s Cup, and also lost their first competitive match to England 2-0. However, Wales’ results soon picked up and he recorded three more wins during European Championship qualifying. Despite their lowest ever FIFA ranking – 117th – Wales were certainly improving; Gareth Bale claimed that under Speed they would play World Cup football in 2014.
Why Gary Speed chose to end his life so suddenly might forever remain a mystery. What is in no doubt is the love he showed his clubs and his country – a love clearly reciprocated up and down the British Isles. Speed was a man who may have played for Everton, but wasn’t hated by Kopites – a man who wore the white of Leeds and was deeply respected by Manchester United supporters. He was a rarity. Let us remember one of modern football’s truly great players.

Dion Dublin began his career in Norwich but it was his goals for Cambridge United that brought him his big move with Alex Ferguson, who parted with 1 million to acquire the striker’s services for Manchester United. Sadly a broken leg hindered his career at Old Trafford. He made just 12 appearances for the Red Devils before in 1994 he left for Coventry City.
He joined an exciting Sky Blues outfit and went on to become a club legend. His goals were instrumental in keeping Coventry up in the 1996/97 season with a memorable 2-1 win at White Hart Lane on the final day being the highlight. In 1998 he was joint top-scorer in the premiership and his omission from Glenn Hoddle’s England squad that led to their unspectacular performance at the World Cup in the eyes of many Coventry natives.
He then made the switch to local rivals Aston Villa where he undeniably reached the peak of footballing achievement. In the second city derby of 2003 Dublin delighted footballing fans across the country by head butting outspoken Welshman Robbie Savage. Referee Mark Halsey later commented that Dublin’s dismissal was the most gut-wrenching decision of his career as he sent the hero to the stands.
Understandably, Dublin struggled to cope with the pressure his achievements brought and in 2004 he moved on to newly relegated Leicester City. After over a year at the club he crossed the border and had a brief stint at Celtic scoring in the Scottish League Cup Final and winning the SPL. He then returned to Norwich end his career where it had started almost 20 years earlier.
While at Norwich Dublin broadened his horizons and made his latest contribution to the world through inventing The Dube: a cube shaped percussion instrument with six playable sides all with various tones. The instrument has endorsements from various musicians ranging from the Feeder to DJ Tim Westwood who said it would bring ‘nothing but heavy hits’.
Dublin also manages Nottingham based group ‘The Establishment’ who are currently supporting Ocean Colour Scene around the country. Hear the Dube in action with Dion himself at www.thedube.com.

The Eurovision Song Contest and the World Cup might not appear to have much in common. Both are competitions between nations, yet what they test is quite different. However, it is hard to disagree that the most recent iterations of both were some of the dullest yet, and required something a little different to provide entertainment. For many, Jimmy Jump’s cameo provided that much needed spark of imagination and humour.
Jimmy Jump is a serial pitch invader from Spain. He has amassed an impressive tally of pitch invasions, or ‘jumps’, as he likes to call them. His ‘jump’ from the World Cup final of 2010 between Spain and Holland is arguably his most famous, as it left us with an iconic image of him being taken out by FIFA security literally centimetres from the trophy. It was an impressive show of fleet of foot that even Messi himself would have been proud of.
Others include cameos at the Rugby World Cup final of 2007 between England and South Africa, the Euro 2004 final between Greece and Portugal, the 2007 Champions league final between AC Milan and Liverpool, and even an appearance at the 2004 Spanish Grand Prix, in which he managed to run through the starting grid before the parade lap began.
At times, Jimmy’s purpose seems to be political. In the 2010 World Cup final, he was sporting an anti-racist message on his t-shirt; during an invasion in the Euro 2008 semi-final, he carried a Tibet flag declaring ‘Tibet is not China’. However commendable that is, it does not always seem to be his prerogative. His website lists that his aim is purely to ‘make the whole world laugh at his funny and great performances’. Whilst he may have achieved that, especially with his well-timed intervention during another terribly dull Eurovision Song contest, many of his other ‘jumps’ seem to relate merely to his obsessive support of FC Barcelona.
During the 2004 Champions League semi-final, for example, he ran on to the pitch and threw a Barcelona shirt on Thierry Henry (then of Arsenal), with Henry’s name and number on the back. During a Hungarian derby match between Ujpest and Ferencvaros in 2010, Jimmy ran through the field with a Catalan flag displaying the message ‘Kubala Forever’ on it – in adoration of the Barcelona legend and former Hungary international. He even managed to invade a weather forecast on Hungarian channel TV2, running towards the microphone chanting wildly ‘Barca! Barca!’ – much to the surprise of the presenters.
His trademark, though, is the deployment of the ‘Barrentina’. The Barrentina is a small red hat that is closely associated with Catalan culture. Jimmy has successfully managed to don one on Samuel Eto’os’ head before, as well as attempts on Roger Federer in the 2009 French Open final – an attempt which ended comically as Jimmy tangled himself in the net whilst trying to jump it – and the FIFA World Cup trophy itself in 2010.
Whatever Jimmy’s purpose may be, his pitch invading prowess is certainly impressive, and his occasional, if somewhat random, display of political messages is commendable. Attention seeking he may be, but who doesn’t love a good pitch invader?

In the early hours of Saturday the 26th November, Stan Collymore made a post on his Twitter page. It was a long account of his battle with depression – how he hadn’t slept for four days, how he was riddled with suicidal thoughts.
It was a tragic coincidence that the next day terrible rumours of Gary Speed’s suicide began to surface.
The news stunned the footballing world, and many outside of it.
In this post-Diana age we are a nation of grief-junkies. Whether it’s an earthquake in Japan or the death of Jimmy Saville, people are all too keen to show their concern in the form of Twitter hash-tags and Facebook statuses.
Yet when it transpired that Speed had hung himself the tributes which followed were borne out of genuine sadness and shock. There were no band-wagon jumpers who wanted to get their fix of public mourning – people, like myself, who had no real attachment or affiliation with the man from North Wales, were completely stunned.
The same day as Speed’s death the game between Swansea and Aston Villa went ahead. The Sky cameras lapped it up – cruelly focusing on a visibly distraught Shay Given as a minutes silence turned into a minutes applause. That evening on Radio 5 Live Robbie Savage was present in his usual role as co-host of the 606 phone-in. The programme began with Land of my fathers in tribute to Speed and when it was Savage’s turn to speak he simply couldn’t, as he broke down in tears on national radio.
‘Why?’ he asked. Why would a man like Gary Speed, respected up and down the country, with a brilliant career behind him and an equally promising one ahead of him – a man with a young family and movie star looks – kill himself?
It is the question on everybody’s lips. From the outside looking in, Speed had it all. This is the scariest, most sombre aspect of his suicide. How tormented, how mentally ravaged must Speed have been for him to take the most fateful of action?
It appears that even those closest to Speed had no idea about his depression. Less than 24 hours before his death he had appeared on the BBC’s football focus – an articulate, likeable, affable man.
Like homosexuality, depression is one of sport’s last taboos. It is obvious that top flight sports people – people who operate in a fierce, pressure cooker of an environment – are likely to be susceptible to mental health problems. Yet why can’t they speak about them?
In recent times stories of sporting depression have become more commonplace. Ronald Reng’s biography of German goalkeeper Robert Enke and his suicide was named William Hill sports book of the year. Former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, and German referee Babak Rafati, who was found bleeding to death in a hotel bath just hours before he was to take charge of a Bundesliga fixture, are recent examples of desperate cries for help.
Yet nothing has reverberated or saddened people quite like the death of Gary Speed. Since his suicide five footballers have contacted the Sporting Chance clinic, seeking help. Maybe if Speed’s death can urge people to seek treatment – and shatter one of sport’s last taboos – then maybe something positive can come from something so tragic.
Gary Speed should never be forgotten. We can only hope that whatever demons he had have been put to bed.
Goodbye, and rest in peace.

Having fallen to Tsonga in the quarter finals at Wimbledon, the Swiss number one and world number four exorcised some demons, but ultimately failed to silence those who suggest the 16 time Grand Slam champion is on the slide. Instead, 2011 has been dominated by Serbian star Novak Djokovic, who stunned the tennis world in the early part of the year with a run of scintillating tennis, accumulating 43 consecutive victories – including the Australian Open final victory over Andy Murray- along with six other titles.
It took perhaps the match of the year, at the semi-finals of Roland Garros, to ultimately end the Djokovic juggernaut – the Serbian succumbing to the superb Federer in a 3 sets to 1 defeat. In an all too common occurrence however, Federer was powerless to prevent the man to beat on clay, Rafael Nadal, from amassing his 6th French Open title, with the Spaniard strolling to a 3 sets to 1 victory in his solitary grand slam of the year.
Djokovic quickly returned to form at Wimbledon however, disturbing the old axis of Nadal and Federer once again as he comprehensively made his way to the final, and upset the bookies by sending reigning champion Nadal reeling in the final with a 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 victory in impressive fashion. A remarkable year for the Serbian culminated in yet another major at the US open, defeating both Federer and Nadal to become only the 6th player in the history of the sport to win 3 grand slams in a year. Tennis legends such as Pete Sampras waxed lyrical over the new world number 1, claiming the feat to be ‘one of the best achievements in all of sports.’
Sole British interest Andy Murray endured yet another year of great promise, followed by immense disappointment and frustration in his quest for a first grand slam title. The Scot started the year well, reaching his 3rd grand slam final against Djokovic at the Australian open. However, symptomatic of his career to date, Murray failed to deliver when it mattered most, succumbing to a crushing straight sets defeat. Subsequent good runs at the French Open and Wimbledon – reaching semi-finals in both – has sustained hopes in Britain that Murray will one day achieve glory at a major finals.
Frustratingly, the rise of Djokovic at the time of a declining Roger Federer and some patchy Rafael Nadal form has prevented Murray becoming the successor to the world number one throne, yet at the tender age of 24 the Scot’s time will surely come sooner rather than later.
2011 has undoubtedly belonged to Novak Djokovic, and the ‘big four’ have largely dominated the major events as expected. However, those on the periphery such as Jo Wilfred Tsonga, David Ferrer and Juan Martin Del Potro will undoubtedly be looking to make a big impact in 2012, building on their good work this year.