Shout! Issue 1 - Welcome To Shout

Hello and welcome to the first official posting of Shout. We will be publishing this feature on the first Friday of every month from now on. Shout is the opportunity for SportTrades to share opinions on sporting debates from the past month and promote opportunities available at our partners.

At 5pm this evening in Cape Town, the draw for the 2010 World Cup takes place. England has found themselves seeded, so will be drawn from Pot 1. The remaining teams are distributed amongst the other 3 Pots by geographical location. The theory being that each group will contain teams from at least 3 continents. Good so far, simple, what could possibly go wrong? The draw will take hours, to milk as much from sponsorship as possible, and undoubtedly FIFA will find their route to incompetence, which makes for the entertainment. As a Sports Media and Marketing company, I would love to be able to give my clients so much uninterrupted coverage, and understand the lengthy process by FIFA is to accommodate the competitions pay masters. As a sports fan, I find that the organisation that wishes to bring 3G technology into matches, using pots and balls to determine groups in the ‘Greatest show on Earth’ slightly ironic.

We test drove SHOUT after the France vs. Ireland game and covered our opinions on technology. The introduction of technology is inevitable, but we are not convinced. Team sports can be divided into two groups’ momentum and segment. Segment being a game that has natural breaks where plays are restarted in pre determined positions or at the point of breakdown, for example American Football. Technology will not alter the rhythm of these games. Football is within the momentum group. It has irregular natural breaks and the introductions of technology will only slow the game and make it sterile. The vast amount of money at stake is one of the reasons sited for the introduction of technology. Life is a gamble, bonuses in other walks of life are sometimes giving to the people who least deserve it. Why should sport be different, it’s one of its appeals.

Can we rely on Human instinct and senses to officiate sporting occasions? I think we can, look at the recent ATP Tournament in the O2 Centre. When players used their challenges to dispute a call they were more than often wrong. I don’t know if there are any official statistics on this, but it must be very high in favour of the officials. Other sports such as Rugby League can on occasions and with technology, not confirm beyond reasonable doubt that a try has been scored.

A brief moment for the curse of Gillette. Thank goodness for Roger Federer, he only lost in a semi- final, what a close shave.

We move on to the Autumn Internationals. Ireland showed us they were the strongest team from the Northern Hemisphere over the tests. They surely must be installed as favourites for the Six Nations, starting in February. Andy Robinsons Scotland hit the highs with a fantastic win over Australia only to return to square one. Wales and France put in solid performances throughout and will challenge Ireland to the Six Nations crown.

England, what happened? Yes, injuries in key positions were crucial. Games against Australia and New Zealand are difficult without your preferred selection, an uphill struggle. We can never count upon Argentina as a nailed on victory and I’m sure we didn’t set the team up in that frame of mind. We, however, should always have a performance that shows grit, determination and pride no matter where the players are ranked in selection. I, like Martin Johnson - without doubt, want England to win every game, and his hand was forced into changes. This was an ideal opportunity to trial youth along side more experienced players. An opportunity missed, as they spent time sat on the bench. The spotlight has fallen on the amount of games our players are involved in, compared to those in the Celtic League. Central contracts prevent this being even more.

Top Celtic League sides very rarely play their strongest side in that competition until later stages. Concentrating on their provincial team’s progress through European Tournaments. An advantage? Well yes, but England should have a pool of players big enough to cope with this commitment. Should we change the Celtic League format rather than the English or French model to level the playing field, I believe so.

Let us just rip up the European Cups framework, start again and make it in unison throughout. The Premier European Competition should only select teams from the top 3 Leagues. Guinness Premiership, Top 14 and the Celtic League, including the 2 Italian teams now entering. Top 6 clubs from each league, then 2 further teams chosen from a greater try per game ratio qualify. Then split the teams into four groups of 5 with 8 matches each and the top 2 in each group going through to the Quarter final. The secondary competition also selected from the remaining teams within the three leagues but development teams included to make the numbers up to 24. A level playing field, possibly, some countries within the Celtic league may not have representatives in the premier European competition. So surely the best development of Rugby Union is for each country to have a strong National League to provide teams for exciting European competitions.

SportTrades are proud to announce our partnership with Hull Wasps Basketball club. We will be looking for sponsors in a number of areas of the club, to help them club develop and to increase involvement within the community. We continue to search for partners to promote Women’s Football with Polly Courtney at Girls in Football doing fantastic work. If you are interested in any opportunities in helping secure grassroots sport and beyond please contact us.

Shout will be back in January, however until then I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Rob McAvoy