Sidestep

Gent lemen Behaving Badly There’s an issue I’ve been wanting to discuss. After watching the Barcelona Open I felt it was time to address it. Men behaving badly in sport. This has become the norm across multiple sporting codes. As kids, sport taught us respect, discipline, sportsmanship, and many other great values which are handy in the big bad world. However, these qualities are almost always discarded and disregarded when athletes turn professional. Footballers (soccer players to my American readers) are the first to get criticised for their poor behaviour on the field. From faking injuries, exaggerated dives to the downright disrespect for referees, footballers are often portrayed in a negative light by the sporting world and deservedly so. But there are other sporting codes whose athletes display actions just as vile if not worse but these are treated like isolated incidents. Let’s talk Golf. Golf is a beautiful game, but despite what those who run it want you to ...

  The fight (if we are to call it that) between Cassper Nyovest and NaakMusiq was one of the most talked about events of Saturday night. This says a lot if you consider how much sport is on TV on any given weekend. Two musicians (with highly suspect boxing skills) had people excited to watch them land throw punches in the ring. The main card will not go down as one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport, but the event itself ticked a major box.   Not only were non-boxing people excited about the bout - it really doesn’t feel right to call it that, but hey – the likes of SuperSport and Sun City bought into the event, and they know a thing or two about boxing. This confirms what most sport journalists, fans and athletes already knew: sports administrators such as Boxing SA are not doing nearly enough for the various codes. Cassper’s event showed that there is huge hunger for boxing in this country, even if the skill level is more suited to a drunk alterc...

Pollen Ndlanya and I playing some bad golf. Some fans might not know just how crucial Manning Rangers was to the career Pollen 'Trompies' Ndlanya later enjoyed. Old school supporters will remember Ndlanya, his goals and the fact that the striker is a member of a rather exclusive club. He boasts caps for Bafana Bafana and has also represented Kaizer Chiefs as well as Orlando Pirates - winning league titles with both Soweto Giants - something not many have and will achieve. Ndlanya initially struggled at Chiefs and as a result AmaKhosi loaned him out to Manning Rangers, a move his calls a blessing in disguise. POLLEN - GOING TO RANGERS ON LOAN Ndlanya believes a brace against Chiefs was his ticket back to the club.                                             POLLEN - SCORING AGAINST CHIEFS The rest, as they say is history.

South Africa’s struggle in front of goal at the Africa Cup of Nations was once again highlighted by the team's showing in the group stages of the 2019 edition. Against the Ivory Coast and Morocco, Bafana Bafana failed to register a shot on target (Caf website says Bafana had two shots on target against Ivory Coast, other sites say zero) and lost both matches 1-0. It’s not hard to see that South African football has regressed since the 90s but the striking department in particular seems to have suffered the most. A sad reality really, considering that the country once produced some of the most lethal forwards around. Apart from the 90s and early 2000s, Bafana Bafana have not had a great record in front of goal at Afcon tournaments. In 1998 when South Africa finished second behind Egypt, Benni McCarthy was the joint top scorer alongside Hossam Hasan, finding the net seven times, including four goals against Namibia. McCarthy still holds the recor...

Tiger Woods and Liverpool might have more than just the colour red in common. After enduring dark times, the two celebrated big wins this season. Woods won the Masters, adding to his majors tally, which had been stagnant since 2008 and Liverpool - champions of the FA League Cup in 2012 - lifted the Uefa Champions League trophy to end a seven-year wait for silverware. But this is not the first time these two giant sports brands have accomplished this feat in the same year. In 2005 Woods won the Masters and Liverpool completed one of the most memorable come-backs of the Champions League final. I know this because as a sports betting man, I am frequently searching for such patterns. An attempt to travel back to the future, if you will. So when Tiger Woods earned his fifth Green Jacket at Augusta on April 14, I thought a trip down memory lane was in order. In 2005 when Woods won the Masters, the following also happened: Liverpool were crowned champions ...

Safa (South African Football Association) are patting themselves on the back, after announcing that Banyana Banyana’s 23 players will earn R20K each for qualifying for the Fifa Women’s World Cup (June 7 - July  7). But, once you learn that the association will be pocketing a minimum of R11-Million for Banyana’s appearance at the show-piece, one starts to feel that the national women’s team is being robbed. Last week Safa president Danny Jordaan went on record, saying the players would be receiving R200K each for getting to the world cup. LISTEN:  DANNY JORDAAN PROMISES BANYANA PLAYERS R200K EACH So what changed in last six days? Safa acting CEO Russel Paul, who chose his words carefully - I suspect not wanting to say Jordaan got it completely wrong or just carried away - says he doesn’t know how the confusion came about. LISTEN:  SAFA ACTING CEO RUSSEL PAUL NO R200K EACH Confusion or not, the reality is, while Banyana have earne...