WINNERS ...

LOCAL PASSIONS

Two scenes to consider: the recently completed State of Origin, in which NSW achieved a long-awaited series victory; the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where the old imperial gang could be witness to the flowering of a nation both new and familiar.

The victorious Blues, losers of eight-straight to Queensland, finally enjoyed rugby league’s fine margins breaking in their favour. The end of the streak served to highlight just how long it lasted, and underscored how deep Origin antagonism has become – indeed, it would be hard to find a more vicious international rivalry that Australia has than the one involving the two states across the Tweed.

Against the backdrop of the World Cup, it’s interesting to think that the most intense of sporting passions are still so local. At these Comm Games, a notable storyline will be host Scotland, competing as a separate entity from Britain, and considering its independence at referendum only two months later. While Australia will be caught up in its own side-game with England, the prospect of English-Scottish rivalry at points during the Games are even more enticing. It also gets us thinking: would Queensland, roughly the size of Costa Rica, love to send its own team to the Commonwealth Games?

BEAUTIFUL GAME

The World Cup wasn’t exactly being threatened by irrelevance, but in a hyper-connected modern football that offers world-class action every week, there’s a legitimate claim that the tournament matters less than it once did.

Brazil 2014, however, was a vibrant rebuke – the World Cup remains the planet-spanning sporting event most capable of bringing the largest and most varied groups of people together. After the rather dour negativity of four years ago, set to the droning of vuvuzelas, the on-field action at this Cup was consistently riveting.

Attacking play, punctuated by the top-end talents of Leo Messi, Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez, re-asserted itself, leading to a host of comeback wins and late escapes. The smaller nations, such as Costa Rica, proved as competitive as ever, dispatching the likes of Spain, England and Italy early. The Socceroos, engaged in something of an exercise in expectations management for this campaign, provided thrills that will hearten those working to advance the sport’s cause in Australia.

Even some of the more regrettable stuff – those too-decisive whistles, the near-inhumane heat in certain venues, Luis Suarez’s chomp reflex – contributed to the richness of the narrative.

In last month’s edition, we raised the idea that major sporting events could no longer rest on the laurels of great play. The point is a compelling one, and Brazil will continue to face questions into the future about its spending priorities and how public unrest was dealt with. But it has to be said: things seem a lot better, or at least less bad, when the play is good. Count on Brazil, purveyors of the most beautiful version of the beautiful game, to host a tournament so easy on the eye.

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LOSERS ...

CUTTING TIES

ASADA, the AFL, James Hird, Essendon and the Sharks will be occupying even more headlines again this month, as various court actions hit fans. There’s nothing pretty about anything going on, though whatever you think about the ethics of a football club turning into a shooting gallery, the crux of the ASADA allegations against the players would seem now to focus on precisely what substances were injected, and were they on the banned list. Or not. Let’s hope ASADA’s allegations are based on something more substantial than the shorthand exchanges of certain parties’ text messages. We shall see.

It’s clearly been a rotten time for players, and has led to calls from some representative quarters for major Australian professional sports to decouple themselves from the WADA system. But the organising player bodies should be careful what they wish for on that front. Football codes are quite happy to put their hands up for government funding when it suits, either through junior programs, stadium development or the like, but we’ll ignore that for now. The faults and glitches in the anti-doping world do not equal the threat to fair play and healthy sport if athletes are let off the leash. This saga has shown what certain clubs will do when strict regulations and testing already exist. Imagine what would be happening if they didn’t?