Ryan Giggs' Twenty United Years, Part 2

In Part One of our special feature on United stalwart Ryan Giggs’ Red Devils’ tenure, we examined the football landscape when Giggs made his Man U bow twenty years ago. More telling perhaps is a birds-eye view of how the world was at that time.

In those twenty years - 7305 days - he’s seen a lot:

Two weeks before that substitute’s turn against Everton, US-led troops invaded Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. The first Gulf War was over in 100 hours as President George Bush chose to ignore advice from several senior advisors; the Welshman then saw history repeat twelve years later. Since that first war, Giggs has outstayed three US Presidents: Bush, Bill Clinton and Bush Jr. The Prime Minister of England was also a newbie – John Major, who had ended eleven years of Thatcherdom in the same month Giggs turned professional, November 1990. Wales’ favourite son has seen off four British PMs and five Australian.

Even more astonishingly the USSR was still a viable (barely) entity when Giggs’ debut came. Only five-and-a-bit months later in August, the country broke up after a failed military coup. The Ukraine and Belarus were first out the Union’s door; even United’s recent European Super Cup opponents changed their name from Zenit Leningrad to Zenit St Petersburg as their home city reverted to its original name after seventy-odd years of communist rule.

Perhaps the incident with the most staying power from March 1991 followed the cosmic ripples emanating from Giggs’ debut; it occurred the following day in Los Angeles as LAPD officers were filmed beating black motorist Rodney King which caused communal uproar and several high-profile damages claims. Magic Johnson also made the headlines for admitting in November that he was HIV positive. If you wanted to play FIFA or Football Manager, you’d have to do it on the state-of-the-art Super Nintendo Entertainment System. And the all time clue to let you know how far back in time we’ve traveled: Mike Tyson, the man for whom the Tyson Zone is named, was arrested for the first time, charged with raping a Miss America contestant.

Other debutants that year included TV’s Home Improvement, movies Silence of the Lambs and Thelma and Louise; the music world rocked to Pearl Jam’s Ten, U2’s Achtung Baby, Metallica’s eponymous release and the last of Michael Jackson’s truly great albums, Dangerous. The world mourned the passing of Michael Landon, Gene Roddenberry, Stan Getz, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Frank Capra, Freddie Mercury, Doctor Seuss and Miles Davis.

Real Madrid starlet Sergio Canales was born only six weeks before Giggs first turned out for the Red Devils and it’s an amusing thought that he was wearing (admittedly awful 1991-style) United kits before Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda were born – shortly after Germany’s 1990 World Cup win. He’s been a professional for over twenty years, seen five FIFA World Cups in that time and not played at any of them, perhaps the greatest injustice he’s ever been dealt Eleven of his first-team comrades this year were three years of age or less.

Ryan Giggs has outlasted all but Sir Alex during his time at United. His success and longevity due mostly to his special blend of skill, pace, resistance to injury and focused evolution. As his pace has declined he’s moved from the flanks into the centre of the park and has, for the past three-plus seasons, defined the role of “midfield schemer”. More than anything else, you get the feeling Giggs feels privileged to be playing football this late in his career, especially for a club that means so much to him.

Congratulations, Ryan Giggs. United, and football, are glad that you’re going around for season twenty-one next term. We hope also that there’s a twenty-second.

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Ryan Giggs: Twenty United Years

During their 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Wednesday, Ryan Giggs achieved the incredible feat of playing for Manchester United for twenty years. And when he appeared to a generous ovation from the substitute's bench, Giggs equalled footballing immortal Bobby Charlton's United appearances record with 606. Think about that: twenty years! 133 teammates, ranging from the very best (Eric Cantona) to the utterly ineffective (David Healy). Forty -eight times he's been on the podium as a trophy winner or runner-up. That's just silly - and a convincing case could be made that he's football's all-time winningest player.

On a personal note, he's been my favourite player ever since that first season where United finished sixth in the old First Division. I'd only recently decided to follow football and the first game televised after that decision was a United fixture - I wish I could remember the game, but for the life of me I can't - so I followed Man U. Mark Hughes, Bryan Robson and Denis Irwin were the stars of that era but, in my first early teenage rebellion, I decided my favourite player was a young guy who showed flashes down the left, the most prominent a back-heel to Hughes just outside the box which led to a "Sparky" score. It was Giggs. 

It can't have been his debut as United lost that 2 - 0 to Everton, but it was one of his earliest appearances for the club. For the entire twenty years I've followed soccer, Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson have accompanied me.

After some thoroughly unexhaustive but very fun research, that season 1990-91 can show just how different football is today and the changes in leagues that Giggs' career has endured and outlasted.

In that first season United won the European Cup Winners' Cup, a trophy since replaced by the Champions' League. First Division clubs included Crystal Palace (who finished third in their highest league position ever), now non-league Luton and the now defunct Wimbledon finished one spot below United in seventh. Now-Premiership clubs Fulham, Wigan, Stoke and Birmingham City sat in the lower reaches of Division 3, a league won by Cambridge City. The largest raise in club stature since that time, however, belongs rather unsurprisingly to Blackpool who finished the season fifth in Division 4. Wimbledon notwithstanding, Luton's demise is the greatest fall.

Notable debutants included Giggs, Watford's David James, Liverpool's Steve McManaman, Forest's Roy Keane, Palace's Gareth Southgate and another man to make the United flanks his own, Andrei Kanchelskis. Retirements included former United man Norman Whiteside and Liverpool stalwart Alan Hansen. The football world mourned (?) the passing of Robin Friday when the greatest non-league footballer ever died of a heart attack at 38. Liverpool were re-admitted to European competition after the Heysel Disaster and in remarkable symmetry, only eight days prior to Giggs' debut, Kenny Dalglish resigned as the Scousers' manager. That he is at the helm of the Merseysiders and opposes Sir Alex Ferguson seems very apt.

Stay tuned, as part two of our series on Ryan Giggs' twentieth year in the Manchester United first team will be published in coming days.

Image courtesy: http://www.whoateallthepies.com

Steven Davies coming out a badge of courage

Steven Davies' decision to come out of the closet in a recent interview with the English newspaper The Daily Telegraph is perhaps the most important sports story of the year so far. It may even retain that title throughout 2011. Hopefully it will help to dispel an aura of homophobia that surrounds sports like low cloud. The first openly gay international cricketer, Davies should be congratulated for his courage. Given the machismo of sport - and sadly, much of society - which looks down on homosexuality, his decision can't have been an easy one and may earn him unwarranted abuse from bigoted fans. It should also draw him plaudits for honesty and strength.

The list of openly gay professional athletes is not a long one. In Australia, the first openly gay big-name professional sportsman was Ian Roberts of South Sydney, Manly and North Queensland who revealed his sexual preference in 1995. Since then, the Australian list has been a slim one: our most visible "out" athletes now include Roberts, beach volleyballer Natalie Cook and 2008 Olympic gold medallist Matthew Mitcham, one of only eleven openly gay male athletes - of nearly eleven thousand males - at those games.

Many - most - sports have a lot to learn when it comes to dealing with bigotry. The horror stories still remain of Justin Fashanu, whose career and then life were shattered by coming out in 1990. His former manager, Brian Clough, with whom Fashanu butted heads at Nottingham Forest over football and lifestyle differences, has admitted that his treatment of football's only openly gay player was his greatest regret. Fashanu, who took his own life after a controversy in America in 1998, is remembered by The Justin Campaign (http://www.thejustincampaign.com/), formed to oppose homophobia in football and thus aiming to prevent any possible repeat occurrences. Fashanu' story probably dwells heavily and understandably in the minds of closeted homosexual footballers.

Sepp "Bellend" Blatter recently underlined the need for organisations such as The Justin Campaign and offended many with his recent suggestions that gay men "refrain" from sexual activities during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. That gaffe came from the head of one of the most powerful organisations on Earth, albeit a head with a large and misshapen mouth from repeated attempts at swallowing his own foot.

In America, the story isn't much different. Former NBA Centre John Amaechi wrote in his autobiography that his coach in Utah, Jerry Sloan, suspected his sexual preference and bullied him for it. Amaechi, like Fashanu and Davies, stands alone as the only gay player to come out from his sport's top level.

Homosexuality has been wrongly perceived, in male environments especially, as a threat or as a disease. Both perceptions are majorly flawed but the stigma attached to being gay refuses to go away. Davies' example should be lauded as another step forward, small but significant, against bigotry in sport. Like all battles, this war will be made up of one skirmish after another: for every Steve Davies there will be a Tim Hardaway. Victimisation has no place in sport or life, whether it be against race, colour, religion or sexuality. It is not only the actions of people like Davies, Amaechi & Mitcham who will change the way homosexuality is viewed, but the actions of society at large.

What League Cup win means for Birmingham City

After their 2-1 League Cup defeat of heavily favoured Arsenal, it is fit and proper for Birmingham City to celebrate. Behind the opportunism of Obafemi Martins, the calamity of Wojcieh Szczesny & Laurent Koscielny and the Scots' management nous of Alex McLeish, the Blues have won their first silverware since the old Division Two (now League 1) title in 1995. In all probability this is the biggest win in club history and the first time the side have won the League Cup since 1963.

McLeish must take the much of the credit, just as Wenger cannot be totally absolved of blame. City last year finished ninth in the Premiership on re-entering the division after a year in the Championship. This was their highest league position for over forty years as veterans such as Barry Ferguson and Lee Bowyer combined with a breakout season from Joe Hart to vault the Brummies into the top half. When Hart returned to parent club Manchester City, McLeish replaced him with the able Ben Foster to maintain a defence now reputed for stinginess. By combining several senior Premiership players with the cream of the Championship - chiefly centre-back England aspirants Roger Johnson and Scott Dann - and classy loan signees Aliaksandr Hleb, David Bentley and Obafemi Martins, the rednut Scot has built a squad with both the strength to operate in Birmingham's long-held defensive posture, but also the outrageous talent needed to generate those moments of magic requried to upset the big boys. In theory, anyway. The Blues haven't done so this season and are only two points above the relegation zone and far from safety. Foster, though good enough to be England's second choice isn't of the same blue chip quality as Hart and has played well, but not in the same "I'm in the zone all year" fashion that earned Hart his current, deserved rep.

And if McLeish takes - quite correctly - the credit for masterminding this triumph, then he should also take a portion of the blame for the Brummie plight. The team has spent considerable, but not award-winning, sums in introducing reputed class to surround an uncompromising spine; an exercise which could not be judged as a complete success. Even so, this title ensures McLeish receives a passing grade for this season and also for no other reason than he seems like he's trying to make positive changes. During both summer and winter transfer windows, McLeish confirmed a plethora of new bodies were asked to relocate to St Andrews but were unwilling to journey to England's infamously grim second city. Though this triumph - like Tottenham's in 2007 - may provide a springboard for a more positive last third of the season, the victory could also distract them and further complicate avoiding the drop. The workmanlike approach favoured by several City players makes this an unlikely option but still possible.

Though it was injury, youth and inexperience which cost Arsenal this title - Szczesny is 20 and it's Koscielny's first year with the Gunners - Arsene Wenger now may be willing to consider the possibility that his constant refusal to reinforce a notably shaky backline could be a flawed policy. Walcott's pace and Fabregas' needle-threading aside, Szczesny is a debatable second-stringer - albeit one with enormous potential - who has played well in recent outings and although Koscielny cost a reported €8.45 million and came off his best performance of the year against Barcelona, several Emirates cognoscenti don't view him as either an adequate or long-term centre-back candidate. The problem between the two was a simple, (probable) one-time communication dysfunction which allowed Martins his "easiest goal". Though Wenger wasn't on the pitch and selected a team capable of defeating City, he was selecting from the best players he had available: no Mark Schwarzer or Gary Cahill - two players linked heavily with a move to North London during summer - among them.

For City, the results are curious. Entry into next year's Europa League and a trophy to end the drought that's plagued the club for long stretches of it's existence are wonderful results for the season but are not necessarily first priorities. Individually it's a great achievement, but one which would be tarnished should the club finish the year in the drop zone. Craig Gardner's season has been one of quality and lucky underpants and the man whose name must always be prefixed with "Giant Serbian striker", Giant Serbian striker Nikola Zigic, has since New Year found the net more regularly than in his disastrous first half-year in the midlands.

With the midseason arrival of Martins, the club has reasons for optimism beyond European jaunts next year but the path home isn't horrible: their next seven matches should be considered "winnable", coming against WBA, Everton, Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn and Sunderland before two big four clubs. Then follow Wolves, Newcastle and Fulham before finishing the year at Tottenham. There are several clubs with much harder runs home and the bounce hopefully provided by their Cup win should see them through. Although local rivals Wolves have picked up recently, as have West Ham, Wigan's terminal slide into the Championship coupled with West Brom's seeming inability to stay in the Premiership for more than one season at a time should mean that one relegation spot is available and an unwary Brum may yet fill it.

Clive Lloyd: Mr World Cup

by Balanced Sports Columnist Ben Roberts

Into its tenth edition and with 36 years of existence, the thought of the Cricket World Cup still provides no great historic or nostalgic pull on the heart of a cricket fan. Despite the tournament still struggling to forge an identity in our hearts, it has acted as a canvas for some tremendous individual performances.

Tournaments in all sports often have players rise up and define their careers by them. Think of Rugby player Jonny Wilkinson reaching heights of fame in the 2003 Rugby World Cup and Diego Maradona making the 1986 Football World Cup his own. But cricket, with such a focus on individual analysis, calls for even greater influence then a starring tournament in its search for the World Cup's best.

To combine influence, leadership, as well as personal success is a feat that some have done in individual tournaments, but likely only West Indian Sir Clive Lloyd produced this consistently.

The bespectacled West Indian was an early limited over cricket champion finishing his middle order batting career with an average of 40 and a strike rate of over 80. He led West Indian cricket into the era of dominance but In 1975 they were far from this, still to be drubbed 5-1 by the Australians in the 1975-76 test series. Lloyd would later identify that the brutality of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson drove them to greater heights.

The first two Cricket World Cups staged were won by Lloyd’s West Indian teams. The 1975 tournament at the time was regarded as somewhat of a novelty, and the West Indian win has only been fully recognised for its significance in hindsight. So trivial at the time that Ian Chappell stated his belief publicly that these one-day 'tests' were just a warm up to the Ashes in 1975, and so misunderstood that Sunil Gavaskar seemingly batted for a draw in one match.

Tony Cozier later wrote that the West Indians were considered the inaugural tournament's favourites given their all-round strength, fielding ability and experience from many players coming out of the county scene where limited over matches were already a fixture. The West Indians had an unbeaten run through the tournament, and outside of geographical hosts England probably had the most home support with a large expatriate community calling Britain home. Lloyd himself dominated the winning final against Australia with 102 off 85 balls (his only ever ODI century) and a miserly bowling performance.

Again in 1979 Lloyd led his side to an unbeaten tournament (though this time one match was abandoned due to weather). Reliant upon the growing status of later champion batsmen Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes and Vivian Richards, Lloyd’s personal contribution was less pronounced with the bat (a top score of 73 not out against NZ) but he still led his side admirably.

Leadership of West Indian teams is regularly undervalued when compared against leadership of other nations. The West Indies we must remember are a conglomerate of different nations and different cultures. They are a group of players thrown together who don't necessarily speak a consistent language (at the very least they have different dialects) and all have differing cultural backgrounds. A successful leader will walk a fine line in their interaction with the team as they try to be fair and justified in their treatment of all.

The West Indian dominance of the tournament finally ended at the 1983 tournament. A seed was perhaps sewn in their opening match when they lost to India. This would be the only blemish for Lloyd's team as they from then on proceeded undefeated to make the final of the tournament for the third successive occasion, even defeating India in the return group match.

They again faced the Indian team led by the charismatic all-rounder Kapil Dev. With what was now considered the most damaging bowling attack in the world the West Indies managed to dismiss India for a lowly 184, but could not overhaul this small target themselves being bowled out for 140. Coming toward the end of his international career, Lloyd did not pass 50 in his final World Cup.

In raising Lloyd as the most influential has required an ignorance of greater individual performances by great players such as Sachin Tendulker, Glenn McGrath and Wasim Akram. However, none ever led their side to a World Cup victory; and the victories that Akram and McGrath both played in, while contributing in a large way, still relied upon great team efforts. In Tendulker's case, now in his last tournament, despite a phenomenal World Cup record he is yet to win and at most can only finish with one victory.

Also ignored are the captaincy feats of Kapil Dev in 1983, Allan Border in 1987, Imran Khan in 1992 and Arjuna Ranatunga in 1996 who led teams that were certainly not tournament favourites to victory. But none have led teams sustaining this success in subsequent tournaments.

Probably the only player who does go near the feats of Lloyd is Ricky Ponting. Ponting is in his 5^th World Cup currently and has three tournament wins and a runner-up from his other four. He has led Australia to two of the victories, losing no matches in either tournament and produced some of his great limited over performances on its highest stage.

Ponting of course was blessed with a great, if not the greatest, team in the history of the limited over game. Should Ponting, in 2011, lead a weaker team than at least three other competitors to victory and provide value with the bat, he may have cause to take the mantle from Lloyd.

Lloyd also later went on to have influence off the field at World Cups as well as in his role as a match referee. He was a pioneer of the format and a ruthless competitor. But he was and remains highly respected as the leader of these great West Indian teams that set the benchmark of performance in the formative years of cricket's World Cup.

The frolics of St Pauli

Perhaps the weirdest story to hit football news wires this week occurred when nonconformist Bundesliga club St Pauli called up their 30-year old press officer for a match against Hannover. The club, long regarded as German football's coloured ewe, were forced to select Hauke Bruckner to cover their lack of fit defenders. Bruckner has a footballing pedigree, having played ten second division games eight years ago and has turned out for their Under-23's squad, will probably debut on the substitutes' bench for this weekend's Hannover fixture.

The "alternative" Hamburg club, who have this season made headlines for what can only be described as comedy gold. Although going through a losing stretch which saw them win only twice in three months, they sit fourteenth in the Bundesliga table, six points away from relegation amidst a season with a script that reads like a Carry On film. Last month midfielder Matthias Lehmann - no relation to Goalkeeper Crazy Jens - admitted to feigning being headbutted by a Gladbach opponent, which caused Brazilian midfielder Camargo to be shown a red card. He further endeared himself to Gladbach supporters by saying "Why would I ignore a golden opportunity like that when we're down 1 - 0?".

After a recent win against Koln, their goalkeeper and former Koln player Thomas Kessler said he'd be celebrating: "I'm off to pick up a few cold Astra beers from a petrol station"; this comes after a recent Bundesliga edict that lap & pole dancers should no longer be entertained in corporate boxes. Entertained? Sorry, that should read "entertainment": the club has had at least one corporate box in which dancers would strip after a St Pauli score. German authorities are also attempting to convince St Pauli to change their logo from their traditional "Jolly Rouge" emblem: a skull and crossbones on a red background.

The fans of the club have been suitably outraged by the mooted changes. St Pauli have long been regarded a working-class club and their rivalry with Hamburg is among the most passionate (read: violent) in world football. Some fans object to the league trying to run their club. Others can't fathom the lack of respect shown to St Pauli traditions. A certain percentage just like strippers.

NBA trade deadline shenanigans

Good grief, what have we here? The single most apocalyptic trade deadline perhaps in NBA history as over the past two days thirteen trades were consummated - yes, thirteen - including seven All-stars, three members of Team USA, the third pick in last year's college draft, last year's Most Improved Player, probably the best Point Guard on the planet and the second pick in the 2009 draft. In total, so far confirmed hirty-eight players and fifteen-plus draft picks have changed teams, a figure The Sporting News' Sean Deveney tweeted that about 10% of NBA players have or are calling realtors. More surprising than anything though was the minutes-to-midnight deal which sent Boston Celtics starting Center Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City for swing Forward Jeff Green.

You can find a list of the deals here.

It's not too long a bow to draw to suggest that the NBA's balance of power has not just shifted eastwards but earthquaked that way by this week's shenanigans. By securing a young tweener in Green, the Celtics gave away possibly their greatest playoff asset - size - in releasing Perkins. Perkins, whose NBA Finals knee injury last year torched Celtics' chances of taking out the NBA championship, has in playoff series past whupped Orlando's Dwight Howard, his now replacement Shaquille O'Neal and Laker Andrew Bynum. Popular punditry has him as Dwight Howard's biggest fear due to his combination of defense-first mentality, strong widebody and fearlessness.

Perkins - with a scowl like no other - finds himself in Oklahoma, where he'll start (when healthy) alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in a squad formerly labelled a "donut" team. They've lacked an enforcer and rim defender, the two things that Perk does best. The Thunder, had to give up an asset - and were disclined to pay Free Agent-to-be Green - have acquired perhaps the piece which turns them from Playoff team to Potential contender.

The Eastern Conference - though giving up talent in depth in Harris, Wallace, Favors, Perkins, Gallinari & Felton - actually acquired the high-end abilities, with three of the four best players shifting addresses into their conference. Anthony will combine with Amar'e Stoudemire to form a very potent offensive New York Knicks team; their cross-town rival Nets used most of the package they had offered for Anthony to sign the best point guard in the league, Deron Williams, who'd apparently malcontented his way out of Utah.

The clubs not considered contending for the title were also active as sleeper deals - trades which could bring immense benefit without garnering the same uproar - improved all of the Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets. The Blazers' acquisition of former All-star Gerald Wallace to combine with LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum and the shell of Brandon Roy's knees forms a potent small-ball rotation, further reinforcing notions that no matter how chaotic their back office, their impressive list of assets allow them to remain difference-makers. The Rockets, in signing 7'3 uberbust Hasheem Thabeet and last Spring's playoff hero, Phoenix's Goran Dragic, rebooted by ridding themselves of a potential headache in Aaron Brookes. As bait, despite being last year's Most Improved Player, Brooks played terribly this season backing up the more defensive-minded Kyle Lowry but could be, with Polish Hammer Marcin Gortat, the first step in the Suns' post-Steve Nash era. Nash remains with the team but voices suggest he's likely to be moved before the Suns being their next campaign.

In seasons past, deadline day has been an irrelevancy, notable for who didn't move rather than who did. This year, with the NBA lockout looming, the league has put together perhaps the best season since 1997 and has topped it off with the Best. Trade. Deadline. Ever. As they face an offseason of doubt, the league has certainly done its part to put itself to the forefront of the imagination. All that remains is for him to facilitate an Owners/Players deal which equally dissatisfies all parties.

The English Game: Lancashire & Northamptonshire

by Ben Roberts

Lancashire

The Australian test team have been defeated in three of the four past Ashes series due in no small part to two modern day Lancashire heroes. Andrew Flintoff proved his strength in England’s 2005 and 2009 victories. His charismatic presence with bat and ball, and indeed in the field in 2009, lifted the English regularly in both northern summers. James Anderson, somewhat dismissed by opponents in his earlier career, provided Australian cricketers, and cricket watchers alike with a lesson in swing bowling during the recent series in Australia.

Lancashire has had two periods of sustained success in the championship, at the turn of 20^th century and the golden era of the 1920′s and 1930′s. The most recent success came with sharing the 1950 championship with Surrey although they did win division 2 in 2005 to regain promotion. Lancashire have been the most successful limited overs team of all counties, despite not being able to win the T20 championship as yet.

Lancashire have always been another strong provider of personnel to English cricket. Batsmen of the quality of Cyril Washbrook and Eddie Paynter were champions for both club and country during the Lancashire glory years of the 1920s and 1930s, Paynter finishing his career with a test batting average of over 59. In an earlier part of this era, the Tyldesley brothers, Ernest and Johnny, forged cricket careers that led them both to represent their country and remain to this day the highest and second highest run scorers for Lancashire.

Brian Statham holds the record for the most wickets in the county’s history, 1,816, and too represented England, forming a lethal bowling combination with Yorkshireman Fred Trueman during the 1950s. There is a great deal of irony in this bowling partnership as Lancashire versus Yorkshire, the ‘Red Rose’ versus the ‘White Rose’, potentially has been the greatest rivalry in cricket history. That you should elect to refer to a match in terms of a 15^th century war speaks of the desperation to perform.

During the golden era, Australian test cricketer EA “Ted” McDonald was part of the Lancashire team. McDonald’s 198 wickets in a single season is still the record haul for a Lancashire bowler. Forgotten Australian cricketer Stuart Law played for the county from 2002 until 2008, and captained the county also. Andrew Symonds is another modern Australian cricketer to have worn the ‘Red Rose’, but Australians, and indeed numerous other international players, have a greater affinity with Lancashire cricket outside of the county.

The Lancashire League is famed for its competitiveness and highly remunerated professional positions. A combination of both qualities, along with quotas on international players in county teams, led to a consistently strong flow of high quality cricketers making their way to Lancashire from early times. The league was very often the first port of call for emigrating internationals before being recruited by a county. Australian and West Indian cricketers have always been a favourite recruiting target of the Lancashire clubs.

Northamptonshire

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Northamptonshire was a home to a group of Australian cricketers playing under the banner of being good enough for any test team in the world, except of course Australia. We may lament, ‘Oh for Australia to have that ‘problem’ now’. Matthew Hayden, who captained Northants prior to becoming a regular test team member, Phillip Jacques and Martin Love all played for a period at the club. The most successful Australian at this time however was clearly Michael Hussey.

Hussey during his time at Northants remained an enigma of first-class cricket, with huge run scoring feats for both the county and Western Australia not being enough for many years for him to gain national selection. Hussey holds the record for the highest individual score for the county (and indeed the second highest score); as well he holds the record for the most runs for Northants in a championship season.

Northants have also seen great Australian bowlers turn out for them. In the 1950s George Tribe followed the well worn path of Lancashire League cricket to become a champion for Northants, holding a number of records to this day. In the late 1980s and prior to Australia’s revival as a cricket team, Dennis Lillee was sounded out to make a comeback. After playing for Tasmania during the 1987-88 Australian summer, Lillee signed on for Northants for the 1988 English summer. Injury truncated Lillee’s stint at Northants to 8 matches, and his comeback attempt went no further.

But what of Northamptonshire as a county club. They have never won the County Championship, having come second four times. They share this ignominy with Gloucestershire and Somerset. Up until the Second World War they were one of the county championships perennial strugglers. From May 1935 until May 1939 the county recorded no victory in the County Championship. In a somewhat mirrored history to Somerset, Northants embarked on a post war recruiting drive.

Frank Tyson probably the most noted from those recruited. The express paceman served both Northants and England well, and for both it was a great loss when he emigrated to Australia in the prime of his career. The county has been criticised for the high number of international imports (primarily South African) that they have recruited over the years. Many South African cricketers took advantage during the apartheid ban of the Northant welcome. Alan Lamb, also later of the England test team, was the most successful with over 20,000 runs for the county.

Fevola's issues will haunt his future

Even though he's been cleared of wrongdoing in his most recent infraction, Brendan Fevola had tried to walk too fine a line for too long without falling off. And unsurprisingly, for someone so regularly affected by intoxicants, he didn't fall but reel from the straight and narrow to find himself now without a club for 2011 and perhaps approaching the AFL scrapheap for good.

As we said in January, he's far too talented to be thrown for good to the wolves of fortune, but at present he's so fractured that there remains too few recognisable pieces to allow his management to being the process of rebuilding. So often one cannot make lasting change until they hit rock bottom. For a man with as apparently little to his life as Fevola, he probably can't get any lower. There's little coincidence that his longest trouble-free period was during the time he abstained from alcohol during his then-wife's pregnancy and a similar decision would seem to be the first step in rehabilitating both his career and his life. Former NBA star and Original Dream Team member Chris Mullin forswore drinking after his second year in the leage after running into problems once too often and turned an potential also-ran career into a one possibly destined for the Hall of Fame. The troubled forward should take heed.

Where next, though? The VFL would melt down should one of the second-tier clubs manage to land Fev; the chances of his succeeding in the WAFL or SANFL is unlikely - a bagful of goals perhaps not worth the headache. The NFL, perhaps? Australia's greatest-ever NFL player, Darren Bennett recently said that the North American league would have no interest in such a wild chile as Fevola - it only bears imagining what Fevola would do in a party city like New York or San Francisco if his celebratory style was too much for Brisbane to handle. As is always the case with him, it's not his talent questioned but his application. Unable to cope with the solitary lifestyle in Queensland, fears exist that he would self-destruct, supernova-style, if allowed free reign and a salary in excess of seven figures. With a lockout looming in the NFL as well, any chances of him securing a career as a punter are unlikely.

A few years ago there was the much-publicised case of Carlton's Lawrence Angwin and Karl Norman turning up to training still affected by disco biscuits from the night before. Popular opinion had one, the other or both suffering from either ADD or ADHD. All the signs point to Fevola suffering the same condition - be it very difficult to diagnose from such a great distance and without personal interaction. His lifestyle will no doubt change - it will have to - as match payments turn from five-figure to low four-figure sums at best. With his alleged gambling debts, Fev his not backed himself into a corner but walked either willingly or been unable to control his direction of travel.

We can only hope for Brendan Fevola's sake that his AFL career is not over - there's every chance that Kevin Sheedy will be his saviour at Greater Western Sydney - but his tale is ending as Carlton expected. His days of clowning now won't be met with resignation but with sadness.