Tag Archives: asian-champions-league

Friday musing – Melbourne Cup, Cricket, West Sydney Wanderers…

Chris Barwin HillsWell the big three races of the Melbourne spring have been run and won by international horses. The Japanese took out the Caulfield Cup, the Irish the Cox Plate and now the Germans have the Melbourne Cup. If Adelaide had been owned by Italian interests you may have questioned who won the war! There has been a lot of discussion about the influx of international horses and whether there should be a quota placed on them, particularly for the Melbourne Cup. Bunkum I say. If the locals want to win these races they should adjust their breeding and training regimes and start to focus on middle distance and staying races and not just breeding and training for sprinter/milers. For too long getting a horse to produce early in it’s career has been the focus instead of looking to the future. I think we should keep bringing in the international horses as not only are they better than the locals, they add plenty to the discussions at this time of the year. With Slade Power running in the Darley Classic tomorrow, the pain for the locals may not be over and we may be beaten at our own game.

I remarked last week about the pitches that had been produced in the recent test series against Pakistan and that may have been disrespectful to the Pakistanis’ as each of their second innings were better than our first in each test. The Australian’s were completed outplayed and any pretensions they had for being number one in the world has taken a severe blow. To be number one you have to be able to win in all conditions, not just those that suit your best players. Some of the selections have to be questioned as well. Bringing Glenn Maxwell in and playing him as a number three seemed as strange as the puzzling decisions in dropping Alex Doolan and Steve O’Keefe after one test. I can understand the theory of playing to your strength, but clearly the pitch blunted even the best fast bowlers, let alone the likes of Mitchell Starc. The batsmen need to learn how to play spin and the spinners need to learn how to bowl in those conditions.

What an amazing performance by the West Sydney Wanderers in the Asian Champions League final. For a club that has only been in existence for just over two years, they have played in two grand finals and won the premier club competition in Asia. Admittedly the A-League has only been going for a short time, but for a start up club to have achieved that much in such a short space of time is unprecedented. I think it even out-strips the Melbourne Storm’s win in the 1999 NRL grand final. It must say something about Tony Popovic’s coaching and he must be high on the radar for the national team or something substantial overseas.

Have a great weekend!

Sportzfan Radio #201

What you missed on the show yesterday – the Panel having a robust discussion about jumps racing in light of last week’s Warrnambool carnival, the Professor reporting from the USA on the ‘Young Brands’ Kentucky Derby and the making of mint juleps. He passes on that Sportzfan Stan has called for the sacking of Michael Voss, the Brisbane Lions players, the Fremantle Dockers players and the rider of Dialled In. The Gelding defended jumps racing in the face of a full on onslaught from Nicole Chvastek and John O’Callaghan. He was also on the mat expaining his four selections from Saturday failing to salute. The ladies at the Tennis club won’t be happy. Mark Fiorenti discussed more mathematical possibilities in the Asian Champions League and Premier League. Paul Dalligan reviewed the Test match between Australia and New Zealand and believes Billy Slater is the best full back in the world..if not the best player. He also talks about the NRL round to date and says the Melbourne Storm’s win over the Broncos was great with so many players backing up after the Test match. Sean Callanan bats clean up on the show talking sports digital. He talks about several athletes who were caught out making comments about Osama Bin Laden and makes the point that athletes need to realise using twitter and other social medium forums are just like commenting to the media.

Sportzfan Radio #199.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!24 April 2011 199.2 – Mark Fiorenti also looks at the mathematical possibilities of Melbourne Victory and Sydney in making the knockout round of the Asians Champions League. He says Arsenal’s mediocre recent form with two draws seems to have finished its Premier League run. Sportzfan Stan believes Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger should be sacked. The Panel talk with Southern Football League CEO, Wayne Holdsworth about Jason Akermanis playing as a ‘gun for hire’ in local leagues and whether it is a good thing for football at grass roots level. Drugs in sport also raises its head again with Alberto Contador still cycling notwithstanding he has been found guilty of returning a positive test to clenbutrenol. He has lodged an appeal with the Courts of Arbitration for Sport and can ride pending the appeal. Sportzfan Stan says it is an outrage. Paul Dalligan comes on the show to talk rugby league and this week’s round of matches. He goes out on a limb and selects the Roosters to beat the Dragons 16-12. He discusses the off field trouble that Todd Carney and Anthony Watts have found themselves in and says it is a massive blow for the Roosters. Sean Callanan talks sports digital and Essendonfc will use a fan cam tomorrow to take a panoramic digital picture of the crowd at tomorrow’s Anzac Day game. He also discusses new teams strategies to draw in fans especially for the new 20/20 franchises, the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder. Don’t forget next week is the 200th Sportzfan Radio show.

Sportzfan Radio #198.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!17 April 2011 198.2 – The Gelding sends a cheerio to two new listeners who do the gardening whilst listening to Sportzfan Radio. Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and confesses to not having sent a second tweet as yet. He also discusses further departures at the Melbourne Victory, Asian Champions League and the mouth watering Champions League tie between Real Madrid and Barcelona. With six games to go, Mark doesn’t believe Arsenal can catch Manchester United in the Premier League. The Socceroos are back in the top twenty after their win against Germany. Paul Dalligan talks NRL and thanks channel 9 for broadcasting the Melbourne Storm game at Penrith this afternoon. The Panel discuss the NRL teams solidarity and foundations go out the window at this time of year when players and coaches announce their intentions on where they will be playing mid season. Paul doesn’t like the whole process.  He believes it has got to affect the onfield performance. The Gelding disagrees that is affects performance. Daniel is confused as to how Damian Martin from the Perth Wildcats was awarded the Player of the Month in the NBL. This leads to a discussion of what MVP actually means. Sean Callanan talks social media and coverage of sport on mobile phones. The NBA spike in numbers is coming from people following the league by mobile phone. It is one area that the AFL could lift in. One issue in Australia is the lack of or poor coverage on 3G network in stadiums.

Sportzfan Radio #197.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!10 April 2011 197.1 – Golf returns to the show with Mordiboy (aka Fatman Blues) talking the US Masters in Augusta and how well the Australian golfers are doing. Mordiboy had picked Lee Westwood to win, however he is too far back now. Daniel queries why the Gelding’s segment starts with the James Bond theme. The Professor says it is because Gelding is an ‘International Man of Mystery’. The Gelding reviews the days racing results at Caulfield and Randwick. After being ‘in form’ in recent weeks, he had a bad day and awards three S-Hit rides. He again advises Daniel that ‘You can’t eat odds’. Dr Leslie’s CSA comes along to clean up after the racing segment. Mark Fiorenti comes on to talk soccer and says although Melbourne Victory has a mathematical chance of making the next round of the Asian Champions League…it is unrealistic. Roy Keane has been linked to the Victory coaching position but Mark doubts his coaching credentials. The Gelding asks if the money would be better spent on a marquee player rather than a coach.

Sportzfan Radio #192.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!6 March 2011 192.2 – Mark Fiorenti talks with the Panel about the poor crowd attending the A League preliminary final.  The Professor asks if marquee matches should be played in population centres to draw a crowd and says it is incumbant on the organising body to look at this. Mark then looks at the Asian Champions League matches involving Melbourne Victory and Sydney.  He asks the Professor how frustrating it must be to be an Arsenal supporter. The Panel then talk with Australia’s first professional women’s world boxing champion Susie Ramadan.  She recently won the world IBF bantamweight title. Susie says she is a “Girly, Girl” but wanted something mentally challenging that got her fit so took up boxing. She fought 79 amateur fights and 20 times as a pro winning all of them and eight by KO. With women’s boxing starting to gain acceptance, she believes it won’t be long before we see a TV show like the Contender about women boxers. The Panel come back and examine the Ricky Nixon saga and ask why he hasn’t been suspended pending the outcome of the AFLPA investigation. This leads to a greater examination of the role of the player agent. There is also a discussion of Bernie Ecclestone’s suggestion to use artificial rain to liven up Grand Prix racing. All agree the sport is in trouble if it needs to resort to tricks. John suggests that the doctrine of ‘volenti non fit injuria‘ applies…we liked that! There is a further discussion of the AFL, AFLPA and player agents. Sean Callanan, batting clean up again, talks about the Mountain West Conference rating their twitter followers with a new program called Sports Digital Passion. It ranks the ‘fandom’ of the MWC twitterers. It is not true that Charlie Sheen is a member of the MWC. Sean also talks about ‘Social Media Executioners’. He has also made a bit of progress on getting Aaron Rodgers on Sportzfan Radio talking with some Packers officials, clearly a work in progress.