CHELSEA WIN THE DOUBLE

Chelsea has managed to win the double when they clinched the FA Cup on Saturday.

A week earlier Chelsea wrapped up the premiership with a convincing 8 nil win against Wigan athletic at Stamford Bridge. The 41 thousand crowd witnessed a goal fest with Didier Drogba scoring a hatrick with resulting in him winning the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the 09/10 Premier League season. The team also set an impressive record by scoring the most ever goals scored in a Premier League season with scoring 103 goals. Chelsea didn’t have too much time so celebrate because a week later they had to front up at Wembley to take on Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final.

The FA Cup saw the top of the table Chelsea take on the bottom of the table Portsmouth. Everybody expected a repeat of Chelsea vs Wigan with the FA Cup being a goal fest and Chelsea running away with the victory.

This could have very well been the case with Chelsea hitting the wood work 5 times which included a terrible miss by Salomon Kalou in front of an open goal in the first half and Portsmouth’s goal keeper David James pulling off some great saves. Portsmouth defence held the forever attacking Chelsea and played a good pressing defence but at times played a bit deep and gave the likes of Drogba and Anelka too much room to take the ball into the box allowing them to turn their defender and have a shot on goal.

Portsmouth looked very dangerous on the counter attack especially when Dindane (Portsmouth’s man of the match) had the ball at his feet, time and time again he beat his defender but at times there wasn’t enough support players for him.

On the 56 minute mark Portsmouth won a penalty and looked certain to take the lead but Kevin-Prince Boateng pulled his shot to the left and Petr Cech managed to save the shot with his legs as he dove full stretch to his left. 3 minutes later Chelsea gained a freekick and Drogba stepped up and just as he has done time and time again for Chelsea he took it superbly hitting it slightly over the wall whilst dipping to the bottom right of the goal. Not even a full stretch James could pull this save off, as the ball hit the inside of the right post.

In the 87 minute Chelsea had the chance to put the game out of reach for Portsmouth as they won a penalty of their own. Frank Lampard stepped up and just has Boateng did he dragged it left but missed the goal completly.

The final whistle blew and Chelsea won 1 nil leaving a happy Fabio Capello and his side winning the double.

What is install for Portsmouth, who knows as they will be playing in the Championship next year and the club is £135million in debt, and the players who just played in the FA Cup will most certainly not be playing Portsmouth next season.

FREE MAN FOLAU

As of last night (Friday 30th of April) Israel Folau is a free agent. Folau had been given a deadline by the Brisbane Broncos to reply to the club’s contract extension by Friday the 30th of April and Folau didn’t wish to renew his Contract with the NRL club. This meaning that at the end of the 2010 season Israel Folau is off contract.

Israel Folau is attracting a lot of attention from other codes including AFL and Super 14 Rugby Union (soon to be Super 15). There are 2 clubs that are willing to splash out big money for the 21 year old to be in their colours over the next few years. Those clubs are the newest franchises in their code, being the Melbourne Rebels (Super 15 Rugby Union) and the Greater Western Sydney AFL Club.

Both of these clubs are willing to pay Israel Folau a WOPPING 1 MILLION DOLLARS A SEASON, and I can see why he didn’t want to renew his contract with the Brisbane Broncos.

Kevin Sheedy the Greater Western Sydney head Coach is putting forward a big push for Folau to follow former Brisbane Broncos team mate Karmichael Hunt (who left the broncos and signed with incoming AFL team Gold Coast) and make the switch to AFL. I personally think that Israel Folau will make a good career in AFL and he has the goods to succeed in the sport. We have already seen his jumping and marking skills on the Rugby League pitch when he raises well above the rest to catch the ball and 8 times out of 10 scores a try from him. Of course he may need to drop a few kilos and get more accustomed to running more metres than he would playing in the NRL, but that’s not hard to do when you have professional coaches and trainers.

No one quite knows as of yet what the 21 year old is planning on doing but it has caused some controversy in the Representative side of Rugby League. With the ANZAC Test to be played next Friday Night and State Of Origin just around the corner many believe that Israel Folau shouldn’t be allowed to play and shouldn’t be picked in either of those sides because it doesn’t seem that it is in his intentions to stay in the game for next season (otherwise he would of resigned with the Broncos).

I personally believe that he is a great player and should be able be picked in his respective position and should he leave the game then he has the chance to do so on a high note rather then just being ousted.

GILMORE TAKES OUT RITCHEST SURFING EVENT!

The ANZAC DAY long weekend saw Dee Why host the world’s richest women’s surf event, The Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic which is event number 4 of the ASP Women’s Pro Surfing Tour.

The Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic kicked off at Dee Why Beach on Wednesday the 21st of April and the final was held on Monday 26th of April which saw 3 time and reigning world champ Stephanie Gilmore take on fellow Australian and current world number 2 surfer Sally Fitzgibbons.

In a thrilling climax to event no.4 of the 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour, the world-class Dee Why point break delivered the ultimate finale, churning out high-scoring, quality waves and a massive 2000-plus crowd for the world’s top female surfers.

Gilmore came from behind to win, showing experience and patience in building 4-6ft (1.5-metre waves) at the host venue of Dee Why. Gilmore made a perfect start to the 35-minute decider, showing plenty of speed, power and flow to net a 7.00 before Fitzgibbons hit back to take the lead for the majority of the final.

With just under five minutes remaining and holding wave priority, Gilmore jagged a set wave, throwing out a mix of powerful, top-to-bottom manoeuvres with seamless transitions to take the win with a 7.20, to finish with a two-wave combined total of 14.20 (out of a possible 20) to Fitzgibbon’s 12.40 total and Gilmore claimed her third Beachley Classic title and took home a generous US$20,000.

Stephanie Gilmore has now won3 of the 4 events she has contested this year after taking victory on the Gold Coast in early March before winning at Bells Beach in the same month.

The 22 year old Stephanie Gilmore is well on track to win her 4th consecutive ASP Women’s World title if she keeps up this amazing form as she is sitting 700 point clear of her next rival which is her fellow Australian counterpart Sally Fitzgibbons.

MEMORABLE VICTORY FOR MICKELSON!

2010 US Masters Leaderboard
1 Phil Mickelson -16
2 Lee Westwood -13
3 Anthony Kim -12
T4 Tiger Woods -11
T4 K.J. Choi -11


US star Phil Mickelson won his third US Masters title and fourth major crown in dramatic fashion, while Tiger Woods could only ponder his mistakes and wonder what might have been.

Mickelson fired three birdies in four holes starting at the par-three 12th and hit an epic approach at 13, his view of the green blocked by a tree, on the way to a bogey-free five-under par 67 and a three-stroke victory over Lee Westwood.

The 39-year-old left-hander finished 72 holes on 16-under par 272 with Englishman Westwood settling for second, his best major finish, by a stroke over American Anthony Kim, with Woods and South Korean K.J. Choi fourth on 277.

This victory for Mickelson would be the most memorable not only for joining the 3 time winners list but also because this mighty victory was for his wife, mother and his family. His wife and his mother are both enduring breast cancer at the moment. Mickelson’s wife has been too unwell to get out to the Augusta course to watch hubby Phil and had opted to stay at their rented property not too far from the famous course. But she did make sure she was there to watch him play his final round (the most important one of all) and to seal the victory by 3 strokes by birdying the 18th hole.

Mickelson survived a late surge from youngster Anthony Kim who shot a final round of 7 under 65 to finish the tournament with a total of 12 under par. Mickelson also fought of pressure from fellow playing partner Lee Westwood who always made Phil was aware of his presence snapping at his toes.

TIGER TIME!

At 5:45am Sydney local time the US Masters will tee off. This Golf event is the biggest golfing major championship in the world and this year is set to be even bigger than it has ever been before. The reason is that TIGER WOODS is back on the golf course!

Tiger Woods has had a 5 month hiatus from the sport after his sex affair scandal broke out earlier this year. He hasn’t played in a tournament since November when he competed and WON the Australian Masters also knows as the JBWere Masters for sponsorship reasons.

Tiger Woods is the odds on favorite to win his 5th green jacket (this is the traditional Green blazer/jacket awarded to the winner of the championship) at Augusta National even though he hasn’t competed since November last year.

Will Tiger Woods win? Well that’s any bodies guess the bookies seem to think so and I think he can win it also but it comes down to a matter of whether or not he can. Tiger says that his head space is better than it ever has been because he has gone back to the basics and not taking golf for granted anymore which said he has done over the last few years due to him being so used to the world of winning all the time.

There will be about 12 golfers in the field who will compete for the Green Jacket and Tiger is definitely near the top of that group of 12. His only down fall is that he hasn’t competed and been in the atmosphere of golf competitions for 5 months now and the rustyness of his game will finally come out even considering he has been nonstop practicing for a couple of months it’s that tournament golf that he is lacking compared to the rest of the field.

Tiger Woods stated “that the more you practice the easier it is to play in a high pressured situation” and this is all that Tiger Woods has been doing for the past couple of months and that 1st round on Thursday morning at Augusta will be highly pressured for Tiger. He will have to deal with a record crowd and record galleries (people following him from hole to hole).

This year’s US Masters is set to hold the record for the most watched sporting event and NBC expect it to beat the amount of viewers who tuned in to watch the Barack Obama inauguration (which has a record for most watched TV broadcast for a single event).

Will Tiger win…. Tune in to find out, you can watch the US Master LIVE on ONE HD from 5:45am on Friday morning, Saturday morning, Sunday Morning and the final round on Monday morning.

RACE FOR THE PREMIERSHIP IS ON!

1. Manchester United : Played 31 – Points 69
2. Chelsea: Played 31 – Points 68
3. Arsenal : Played 31 – Points 67
4. Tottenham Hotspur: Played 30 – Points 55
5. Manchester City: Played 30 – Points 53
6. Liverpool: Played 31 – Points 51
7. Aston Villa: Played 30 – Points 51

The Premiership race in the English Premier League is well underway and every game from now on counts and will decide who takes out the title and which 4 teams will make up the top 4, therefore booking themselves a spot in next seasons European Champions League.

As you can see above Man United are sitting on top of the table with only 7 games to be played in the season. Chelsea are a point behind and Arsenal are 2 points behind, meaning that there is only 2 points separating the top 3 and with a winning giving your team a vital 3 points then neither one of those 3 teams can afford! If they do lose and one or two of the other teams win then they will leap frog you on the table and finishing on top of the premier league may well and truly be over.

That isn’t the only race going on at the top of the table there is also another race between 4th spot and 7th spot and this is to decide who will finish in 4th spot, clenching the last spot to qualify for the European Champions League.

Only 4 points separates 4 teams so you have to win all the games left and if you don’t you have to pray that the teams around you lose and at the least get a draw only giving them 1 point which may still keep you in the race for that vital 4th place and a ticket in EuropeanChampions League.

My tips on who will finish 1st is Manchester United.

My other tip as on who will take out 4th spot is, Tottenham Hotspur

WEEKEND OF NON-STOP SPORT!

Hey guys usually I talk to you about the big stories in which have arose throughout the world of Professional Sport but this time I thought I would enlighten you on my weekend of non-stop sport.

It all started on Friday night when I debuted for my new soccer club (Dural Logs) in a trail game against Pennant Hills soccer club. The match was played out at Pennant Hills Park at 7:30pm.

YES we got to play under lights, a few of the boys were looking forward to this one because playing at night sort of creates a buzz and it’s different to what we usually play. Our opposition was and other all age side and we played 25 minute quarters.

I wasn’t too sure as to what position I was going to play due to it being a new team and I have only been involved at training where we don’t play specific positions. I was extremely happy when I got told I was to start in my favoured position which is Left Midfield. I didn’t play too bad, a few of my touches were a bit off but that’s understandable with it being the first game I’ve played since August last year.

It was a very even game at half time with both sides having as many chances as the other. I got told I was to change positions and play in Centre Midfield, (which I have never played) I don’t really know how to play this position but went all right. We scored in this quarter (3rd quarter) it was a great goal by one of our best players! The score was 1 nil our way.

At the end of the 3rd quarter I asked if I could come off due to starting to get a couple of blisters underneath my feet, the game got a bit more physical in the last quarter and a few great saves by our new and naturally gifted keeper kept us in it and the game finished with us winning 1 nil.

Man was I a bit sore and tired and to think I had to back it up the next day with work in the morning and straight off to a cricket semi final.

On Friday morning I had received a phone call asking me to play up a couple of grades and play 3rd grade due to them being short and our team not playing because unfortunately we didn’t make the semi finals. I jumped at the chance because I was leading the wicket taking for the club and the bloke behind me played in the team I was going to play for and I wanted to extend my lead and take out the titled and also because I LOVE my Cricket!

The semi final is played over Saturday and Sunday. We (West Ryde Rovers) were playing the team who finished 1st (North Ryde RSL) in the regular season. They won the toss and sent us into bat and we only scored 127 runs. We then went into bowl, I got to open and bowled 9 overs straight without a rest. All of the bowlers were bowling nice and tight and we also got the best batter out for 0. The day finished and we had them 5 for 97. So they needed another 30 runs to win and we needed 5 wickets.

Sunday came along and most of us were pretty tight from the day before especially us bowlers. We needed quick wickets and we got one in the 4th over and we were back in the game. We were bowling really tight and fielding really well and not letting them get any runs. But unfortunately for us we were unable to take anymore wickets and they gradually got the runs they needed to win the match and send them into the grand final.

I’m sitting here and I’m pretty tired and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sore especially my legs with running on them Friday night, Saturday and following it all up again on Sunday.

TIME FOR KICK OFF!

2010 NRL PREMIERSHIP - WINNERS
Team Margin
PARRAMATTA EELS - $6.50
BULLDOGS - $7.00
MELBOURNE STORM - $7.50
ST GEORGE-ILLAWARRA - $8.00
GOLD COAST TITANS - $11.00
SOUTH SYDNEY - $12.00
WESTS TIGERS - $12.00
MANLY SEA EAGLES - $14.00
PENRITH PANTHERS - $17.00
NORTH QLD COWBOYS - $21.00
BRISBANE BRONCOS - $23.00
NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS - $31.00
SYDNEY ROOSTERS - $31.00
CANBERRA RAIDERS - $41.00
CRONULLA SHARKS - $41.00
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS - $41.00

It is Friday the 12 of March and the NRL season officially kicks off tonight with a blockbuster match between the Parramatta Eeels and St George-Illwarra Dragons. The Dragons have been itching to play the Eels since the Eels knocked them out in the early round of the finals last season, paving Parramatta’s road to making the 2009 Grandfinal. This match is to be played at Parramatta Stadium in front of a full house. Tonight’s other game will see Brisbane Broncos hosting North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium.

This year’s season is set to be as big as last season if not bigger. This season will be another close one with the premiership race bound to once again come down to the final rounds of the season in order to determine which teams will make up the top 8 and fight it out to make the 2010 Grandfinal.

I have included the betting odds courtesy of Centre bet to give you an insight of who are the favorites to take out the comp also resulting in giving you an insight of the teams who are most likely to make up the top 8.

I’m a very nervous person right now, being a Parramatta fan and looking at the odds I’m not too keen on my team being odds on favorites to take out the title this season. Yes they did have a marvelous end to the 2009 season except for the result in the Grandfinal where they narrowly got defeated by Melbourne Storm, but I don’t think they are going to be able to lift off from where they left off last season. And look at their trial games form they got thumped in all 3 of their trial games.

You have to go on form and the in form team is once again Melbourne Storm they are coming off winning last season’s Granfinal (2nd Grandfinal win in the last 4 seasons) and winning the World Club Challenge on the 28th Feburary for the 2nd time in the club’s history. They showed that last season even though they were missing some of their big stars from previous season they still had the goods to take out the Grandfinal and I think they can do it again this season.

I was also surprised to see the Brisbane Broncos paying $23. The Broncos are the competitions season professionals who are always a feature of the top 8. This year they will be fielding a younger side than usual with a fair few players from their Under 20s team and reserve team making their debut. These un-heard of players are sure to make a big impact on the game just as Ben Te’o and Jharal Yow Yeh did last season.

The Rabbitohs are going to be a team to look out for and they should feature in the top 8 and I think the West Tigers should also make the 8 if they play more consistently this season. Also watch out for the Broncos and the Cowboys

Bring on the 2010 NRL SEASON and GO PARRA!

CLARKE LEAVES TEAM FOR LARA

Vice Captain Michael Clarke has quit Australia's cricket tour of New Zealand and returned to Sydney following the fallout of the nude photo scandal involving his fiancée Lara Bingle.

Clarke boarded a plane from New Zealand last night arriving in Sydney this morning. The same morning that his team was due to play New Zealand in their 3rd ODI.

Clarke’s manager has confirmed to The Punch website that the Australian cricket team’s vice-captain left the New Zealand tour to support Bingle, who has been distraught over recent publicity around a nude photo of her appearing in a magazine.

I’m pretty sure that Lara is big enough and old enough to take care of her own little problems, she is 22 yrs old going on 23 later this year and I’m also sure that she has family around her for support and her new agent Max Markson.

This isn’t the only time Lara has interrupted Clarke’s cricket with her personal life, 2 other incidents of late which come to hand are those such has when the couple had a dispute in Australia’s change room at the SCG in the full view of the public and also last year Clarke wanted the team song to be sung early so that he could quickly get home to his precious fiancée.

This is the man who is supposed to be Australia’s next Captain and I’m starting to think if he is the right man for the job if his personal life keeps interfering with cricket. I’m a strong believer that you sort your personal matters out in your own spare time and don’t let it interfere with your work.

I would love to see if this same situation which has a very coincidental publicity stunt stink to it (occurring a week after Lara signed with new celebrity agent Max Markson) had occurred whilst the Ashes were on whether that was here in Australia or over in England. Would Clarke desert his team then and would the Coach Tim Nielsen and Captain Ricky Ponting let him go back home to help sort out nothing that he can even sort out firsthand…..

Clarke you should put your head down and front foot forward and get back to the blistering form you are in!

$ 1 MILLION NOW NOT ENOUGH FOR SONNY BILL

I was reading the other day about the Sonny Bill Williams Compensation saga and Phil's opion on the story and it agve me some insight on the matter.

The bulldogs yesterday came out and said that they want compensation payments if any other club in the NRL wants to sign Sonny Bill Williams who is under an NRL contract until 2013.

This figure was $1 million. The reason this has come about is because the New Zealand Warriors have shown an interest in the former international.

Sonny Bill Williams is off Contract with his French Rugby side Toulon in June and does not yet have a team to play for. A few others have been thrown around the table but it seems like no team wants him.

Sonny Bill’s dream is to play for the All Blacks but for him to do that he will have to play Super 14’s Rugby and preferably for a New Zealand team but none as of yet have given him an offer.

Today Todd Greenberg the Bulldogs CEO revised his payout figure, saying his club wanted $2.5 million to let Williams off his contract at Belmore in order to play elsewhere in the NRL. The reason for this was that he believes they should receive $1 million for each season.

I personally don’t think that he is worth that much. Yeah he is a great player and I understand where the figure comes from because Sonny Bill is still on a contract and why should the Bulldogs be out of pocket.

Sonny Bill should just stay with Rugby which was the reason why he worked out on the Bulldogs, the NRL and the loyal fans who loved him. He should just work hard at getting that All Blacks cap!

Lackluster crowds at the cricket

As you may have noticed the crowds at the latest ODI matches against the West Indies and Pakistan have diminished dramatically compared to previous seasons.
Is it the lack of competition shown by the touring sides which is causing the crowds to stay at home…

Or is it the fact that channel 9 shows the full game in the host city even though the match isn’t sold out! In Years gone by if the match wasn’t sold out then channel 9 would only show the 1st 50 overs so that if you wanted to watch the rest of the match then you would have to go out to the ground in order to see the conclusion of the game. This was the same with test matches and the domestic matches, they (channel 9) only used to show the test up until lunch or tea and that was it, meaning that people were more inclined to go out to the ground to watch the match!

Or is it that the 50 over version of the game is dying out and all that the public want to go and watch is the " Rock Star" version of cricket known as Twenty20.

I believe that the reason is a bit of a mix of the above, but i do strongly beleive that the first step in order to try and get more bums on seats at these cricket matches would have to start with Channel 9 going back to their old requirement of telecasting the cricket match in the host city (as mentioned above)