¡A Load of Ball!

11/12/03 - Football's Ugly Sister

With all the euphoria that has swept the country following England's recent 'world cup' triumph, one could almost be forgiven for taking rugby seriously as a genuine rival to football in Britain's sporting hierarchy. However, connoisseurs of ball and team sports will have been unmoved by the recent surge in popularity of the 'oval aberration'.

We've all met them... sporting pristine England rugby tops and enthusing about Johnny's kicking, they constitute Wilkinson's least welcome conversions. All over the country hordes of people have suddenly 'found rugby', but you can rest assured that these same 'supporters' were only recently unwrapping the latest Chelski shirt and lauding Veron's passing. Try asking one to name a rugby club. The reaction should tell you that the concept of club rugby has never crossed their mind. And forget any ideas that they might be able to name England's World Cup Final winning line-up as every man, woman and child surely could in 1966.

No, these bandwagon passengers care little for the who, what, where and why they rejoice. Only that many other people are celebrating and they don't want to miss out. Most have never known an England defeat.

So what is rugby, and where has it suddenly come from, I hear you ask?

Like all sports, rugby was invented in England and it had its roots in the huge village 'football' games popularised in the middle ages. Thanks to the Industrial Revolution and parliamentary bills such as the 1871 Bank Holiday Act and the 1874 Factory Act people found they had more leisure time to devote to sports and games. Consequently, team sports became popular pastimes and people set about drawing up sets of rules. The Football Association had been founded in 1863 and codified the game for the first time, but different versions were still being practised around the country - most notably in the public schools.

Legend has it that at the Rugby school, one renowned cheat and scoundrel by the name of William Wordsworth-Wallace (probably a Scot) 'picked up the ball and ran'. Inexplicably, his transgression went un-penalised and the Webb-Williams form of cheating became popular among aspirant footballers who were inept at manipulating the ball with their feet. Soon, the game of rugby grew as a viable alternative for frustrated footballers, although exactly when and why they chose to replace the ball with an egg-shaped object remains a mystery.

For years, football and rugby have co-existed, with rugby periodically emerging from the shadows only to sink back into obscurity as an interesting footnote in sporting history. And each time rugby makes a resurgence, the old debate is reopened, with football purists questioning the validity of the breakaway sport and rugby apologists attempting to defend its existence.

The pro-football arguments are eloquently outlined by a Mr Bill Finch in an article in the Independent newspaper (p21, 24/11/03) shortly after England's rugby World Cup victory.

He points out that "football is essentially a game of skill, rugby a game of power" and that anyone can play rugby, "even the fat kids who are useless at sport". Another of his criticisms is that, in rugby, "the principal strategy for gaining ground is kicking the ball out of play" and he asks "where's the poetry, the élan, in a pushover try?" Where indeed? One more fault with rugby concerns the illogical scoring system which permits the team scoring more tries to lose on points. "The equivalent in football" says Bill, "would be scoring three goals but losing because the other team took more corners". It is also a little strange for one player to regularly score all his team's points in a 15-a-side game, and be revered for his ability to hoof a ball into an unguarded goal.

Finally, football supporters feel aggrieved that this Rugby World Cup win is being compared to 1966. Rugby is not yet a world sport. There are, and have only ever been a handful of teams who can compete with England at rugby, whereas there are no easy games left in European football. Indeed, any one of the top 40 international football teams is capable of beating any other on a given day. Even in 1966 there were more teams challenging for the trophy than there currently are in rugby.

26/11/02 - Loan Rangers

The advent of the new transfer system and the current climate of financial fragility in football mean that loan moves will increasingly replace permanent deals as the solution for clubs looking to add to their squads. Although the loaning of a player from one Premiership club to another has always been forbidden, it has been common practice on the continent to lend reserve players to clubs in the same division.

There are some obvious advantages to this practice as it allows reserve players to get a regular game and keep themselves in the public eye, which is beneficial to the lending club, whilst the borrowing club gains use of a player it could not afford to buy. Young players are given opportunities to develop and gain experience that would otherwise be denied them in the reserves at a big club. Recent examples include Andrea Pirlo and Matteo Brighi who made their names whilst on loan from Milan and Juventus respectively.

However, the system occasionally throws up some bizarre situations and conflicts of interest, such as during the gripping finale to the French 'Championnat' last season. Our roving reporter Phil O'Soficall investigates.

The fight for the 2001/02 French title was quite simply one of the best finishes to a league season anywhere in the world ever. It was fated to go right down to the wire with the top two meeting on the final day in a dramatic, nerve-wracking, winner-takes-all shootout between Olympique Lyonnais and RC Lens. But the plot was a lot thicker than that, the final weeks of the season having been characterised by the headline-making activities of Lyon players popping up in unexpected places.

The season had kicked off nine months earlier with Lyon announcing the signings of Juninho (a midfielder) and Pegguy Luyindula (a striker) who had been brought in to replace the want-away Vikash Dhorasoo and Tony Vairelles - two players who had become very unpopular after declaring their desire to leave the club. Neither received many offers and the pair were eventually forced to accept loan deals from Bordeaux and Bastia respectively. Another Lyonnais, Serge Blanc, was farmed out to Montpellier for the campaign.

By the turn of the year, it became clear that there were only two real contenders for the title, with Racing Club de Lens the club racing ahead and Lyon maintaining a respectful distance. Understandably, more than a few eyebrows were raised when Lyon decided that the fourth player to go out on loan would be central midfielder-cum-defender Jacek Bak... to Lens! The philosophy behind this move remains unclear, but needless to say, it is rather unusual to strengthen your direct title rivals in such a way. Especially as Lyon weren't exactly overflowing in the central midfield department.

We pick up the story with six games left to play and six points separating the top two as Lens travel down to face a tricky tie at Bordeaux. This pits two Lyon players, Jacek Bak and Vikash Dhorasoo, against one another, and the result is a 2-1 victory for Bordeaux in which Dhorasoo plays a major role. One nil to the Lyon loans policy.

Three weeks later, Lens are away at Bastia where they come up against a Tony Vairelles in fine fettle. The 'Golden Mullet' plays out of his skin and inspires the Corsicans to a magnificent 3-1 victory in which he scores the killer third goal. Two nil to the Lyon loans policy.

Then, on the penultimate weekend, Lyon are to get a taste of their own medicine when they too come up against Bordeaux and Dhorasoo. Injuries and the early sending-off of the inept Marc Vivien Foé mean that the Lyonnais are soon left with no central midfielders at all, as they had recently made Bak's deal with Lens permanent. Supporters will not have appreciated the superb, all-round display by Dhorasoo against their club but Lyon escaped with an undeserved 1-0 victory thanks to a generous linesman ruling out Pauleta's 'goal'. Two one to the Lyon loans policy.

And thus we arrive at the final weekend of the season, with Lens taking a two point lead to the Stade de Gerland. A city stands still... those without tickets gather in front of a giant screen on the main square... Lyon supporters set off the fire alarm in the Lens team hotel at 2:AM... and Jacek's Bak.

Finally, after all the build-up, it's time for the action and Lyon come racing out of the blocks and into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Govou ('8) and Violeau ('15) but any celebrations are premature as Lens fight back with a goal from... Jacek Bak. Have Lyon's transfer dealings finally come Bak to haunt them in their hour of need? For 40 minutes the tension is unbearable, then, in yet another twist, Bak is replaced by Coridon. Are Lyon still controlling him in some way? No-body knows, but Lens capitulate in the minutes after the substitution and Pierre Laigle seals the win and the championship with a goal in the 52nd minute.

Olympique Lyonnais are crowned champions of France for the first time in their history, sparking off wild celebrations all over town, and possibly in small parts of Bordeaux, Bastia and Montpellier. Dhorasoo and Vairelles are now back in favour at Gerland, but could Lyon have won the title with them? Or do I mean without them?