Compiled by MARY HANNIGAN
IRB may be cutting off their nose
THERE’S A lively dispute rumbling between News Limited, Rupert Murdoch’s Australian publishing company, and the International Rugby Board over coverage of this autumn’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Unhappy with media accreditation terms for the event, News Limited, which is owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation, has announced it will boycott the event, and although its papers will cover it from outside venues, its print and online coverage would be significantly reduced.The accreditation terms restrict newspaper websites to running just 90-second videos of highlights, videos that must be taken down after 48 hours and cannot be viewed by overseas readers.
These terms, News Limited argued, are too restrictive and, said editorial director Campbell Reid, “could set a dangerous precedent that could damage the ability of newspapers to cover future sporting events”.
“It is about freedom of speech and our ability to make decisions on what is news,’’ he said, accusing the IRB of effectively trying to censor the media.
The decision, if carried through, would be a major blow to World Cup sponsors: News Limited papers account for almost three-quarters of daily circulation in Australia.
The IRB insists they have simply reached a “stalemate” on the issue with the company. A spokesman said more discussions are planned and they still hope “to find a workable way forward”.
New Zealand’s media companies have also been battling the IRB, having been asked to agree to the same terms. “It’s a far from an ideal situation and the viewpoint of News Limited is entirely understandable,” said Trevor McKewen, managing editor of sport at Fairfax Media, but he was hopeful an agreement would be reached largely because of the “goodwill” of New Zealand media companies who are reluctant to boycott a event hosted by the country.
It’s not the first dispute between the Australian media and a sports body. Conflicts involving cricket and Australian Rules resulted in a parliamentary inquiry that led to a code of conduct enshrining the right of papers and photographers to cover sporting events.
The increasing use of online video by newspapers is, though, the latest sticking point, with no balance yet struck between bodies selling the rights to their sports to online broadcasters and the right of news organisations to cover events of national interest, often played in venues built with taxpayers’ money.
The underwriting burden on the New Zealand government and rugby union for the World Cup is estimated at NZ$39 million (€22m), and the chief hope for easing that burden is an influx of Australians should they reach the latter stages. Without “wall to wall” coverage, though, the fear is that it won’t be so easy to trigger such enthusiasm.
Bachelor Henson full of beans
GAVIN HENSON'S decision to accept Channel 5's invitation to be the star of The Bachelorhas left those who have defended the Welsh international from accusations that he's not quite focused on his rugby career with their heads in their hands.
“For years I’ve defended Henson from the at times spiteful and certainly finicky Welsh media who don’t like him for reasons that have nothing to do with his prowess on the field,” wrote the none-too-happy columnist “Pearlman” in the South Wales Argus.
“And what does he do? Goes and signs on for possibly the tackiest reality TV show imaginable. He’s not just a glutton for hair gel and fake tan, he’s seemingly also a glutton for punishment, courting controversy in a World Cup year.”
Currently without a club, after being released by Toulon last month, Henson is, nonetheless, in Wales’ preliminary World Cup squad. Before reporting for duty on June 30th, though, he’s hoping to find the woman of his dreams in the 10-part series where 25 beauties will compete for his affections.
“I’ve always been dedicated to my rugby and continue to train hard, but as the season draws to an end I can focus on meeting the right girl,” he said.
"It can be hard in my situation to meet women and The Bachelorwill give me the unique opportunity to go on some incredible dates and spend quality time getting to know amazing women from all over the UK."
By now Pearlman was close to tears. “How is anyone supposed to take his efforts to make the Wales side seriously when he’ll be off filming this brain-cell crushing nonsense?
“He might as well have gone on a road trip throughout the Principality arming his critics with sticks to beat him with.”
With any luck, though, by the end of the summer Henson will no longer be “unattached” – he’ll have found a club and true love.
Playing for some seriously high stakes
TRUE, THERE’S the small matter of the US Open this weekend, but in the wider scheme of things that contest pales to insignificance next to the Debt Limit Open, as CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller has dubbed it.
While 156 players made it in to the field for the US Open, just four qualified for the DLO: President Barack Obama, Vice-president Joe Biden and Republicans John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
The quartet will square up today, weather permitting, at an as yet undisclosed location, although one of the three courses at Andrews Air Force Base is favourite to stage the mother of all 18 holes.
While Boehner insisted “Saturday is about golf – and I hope it’s just about golf”, there’s a suspicion the looming August 2nd deadline for a deal to be reached on raising the US’s $14.3 trillion debt limit might just pop up in the conversation. There’s a good chance, for example, that Biden will mention it just as Boehner attempts to tap in a tiddler.
What form the contest will take no one knows for sure. In a spirit of bipartisanship it could be a fourball or foursome, with both teams featuring a Democrat and a Republican. But, judging by the mood in Washington these days, it’s more likely to be D v R, or a survival-of-the-fittest, blood- and-thunder type singles affair.
If that’s the case, then the odds are on Biden going home in the Debt Limit green jacket, as the vice-president plays off 6.3, giving him a ranking of 29 in Golf Digest’s “Top 150 Washington golfers”. Boehner has an impressive handicap too – eight – but the President and Kasich prefer not to talk it.
The President, who took up golf as a teenager in Hawaii, is a lowly 108th on that Golf Digest list.
When asked to divulge his boss’ handicap, White House spokesman Jay Carney smiled and said: “That’s classified.” It’s generally put at 17, though the President conceded a while back that “I’m not very good”.
But he stopped short of Lyndon B Johnson’s much-quoted confession: “I don’t have a handicap – I’m all handicap.”
LBJ was one of 15 of the last 18 presidents to play golf: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter were the only leaders who reckoned life was way too short for the game.
Dwight Eisenhower was often criticised for playing too much while in office, but that didn’t stop him having a putting green installed close to the Oval Office.
Obama, too, is under constant fire from the right for spending too much time on the course (once a week, when the weather allows). They contrast his shiftlessness with the work ethic of, say, George W Bush, who, according to Knoller, spent 1,020 of his 2,848-ish days as President chillin’ away from the White House (487 at Camp David, 490 at his Texas ranch and 43 at his parents’ summer home in Maine).
Practice, though, hasn’t made perfect for the 44th President (or Forty-Fooooooooooore, as his detractors have called him). By the sounds of it, Boehner has offered to give him a headstart.
“It’ll just cost you a trillion dollars per stroke,” he added, perhaps hopeful that by the end of the round he’ll have secured the trillions of dollars of spending cuts he’s demanding in return for some golfing big-heartedness.
Not everyone, it should be said, is enthused about the Debt Limit Open. The left are incensed the President is spending a golfing afternoon in the company of “union-busting” Kasich; the Tea Party are upset any Republican would fraternise with a Muslim Communist from Kenya who’s hell-bent on destroying America and all it stands for – and worse, has a Harvard law degree.
Meanwhile, 35-ish miles north, the US Open will be in full swing, so to speak. The American contenders will be focused on their tournament, rather than the DLO, but it’s safe to assume the bulk of them will be rooting for Team Boehner/Kasich.
Just before the 2004 US election, when George W was being challenged by John Kerry, Golf Digest surveyed 34 professionals and asked who they’d be supporting.
Of the 26 who revealed their intentions, the results were a bit clear: Bush 26, Kerry 0.
“I’m voting for Bush,” said Bob Tway. “I don’t think you will find anybody on this tour voting for Kerry.”
Not entirely true. David Duval and John Daly have been known to swing Dem in their time, making them stand out on tour like a throbbing thumb.
The same tour that once starred Tom Lehman, he who described Bill Clinton as “that draft-dodging baby-killer”.
The Final Straw
Trojan work on behalf of Neymar proves costly for unsuspecting fans
SHOULD he leave Santos for Europe in the next few weeks, 19-year-old Brazilian Neymar will be one of the summer’s most expensive transfers, maybe even the costliest of the lot.
Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City have been linked with the player who made his debut for Brazil after last summer’s World Cup and has scored three times in five appearances.
There is a €45 million buy-out clause in Neymar’s Santos contract, but so far that figure hasn’t been offered. Madrid are said to be willing to bid close to €40 million.
He’s had his disciplinary problems in Brazilian football, but Neymar is regarded as one of the most exciting talents to emerge from South America in recent years. His agent, Alex Ribeiro, even compared him with the Argentinian wonder.
“Neymar is like Messi,” he said, “a player unlike any other.”
Well, okay.
Alas, Neymar’s popularity has resulted in a few problems for computer users around the world. Spanish computer security company Panda reported that these poor souls were tricked in to clicking on a file which they were promised was a video containing indelicate images of the player with his ex-girlfriend.
There were no such images, however. Instead the clickers ended up with computers infected with a malicious code (Trojan) designed to steal passwords for online banking services.
“You should always be suspicious of any messages with unusually intriguing subjects,” said Panda technical director Luis Corrons.
Indeed.
