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Disgraced former Athletics SA (ASA) president Leonard Chuene bought a Mercedes Benz for R1 from the federation.
His lawyers reportedly said “the car was given to him as part of his remuneration package”. From their comment one has to assume they mean that Chuene was receiving a salary.
But ASA’s constitution states that “the President’s function shall be that of a non-executive President” (Section 3, 20.7). That effectively means that the president should NOT get a salary.
That explains why Chuene has always denied receiving a salary, and why one of his lackeys, shortly before they were booted out of ASA, said Chuene received an allowance and NOT a salary.
But now Chuene’s own lawyers say he got a remuneration package.
This just goes to show that Chuene should have been booted out years ago.
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It’s been 20 years since the release of Nelson Mandela, and South Africans today are celebrating that moment, the first step on the road to democracy.
But on the same day that Mandela walked free after 27 years in prison, on the other side of the planet, a single sports event stunned the world: the supposedly invincible “Iron” Mike Tyson was knocked out by unheralded James “Buster” Douglas.
Indirectly, that result had a significant impact on heavyweight boxing, which has since lost its status as a mainstream sport. The division was already in trouble when Tyson came to the fore in the mid-1980s, drowning in an alphabet quagmire before he unified the titles to become the first undisputed champion since Muhammad Ali nearly nine years before him (I don’t regard Larry Holmes as a true undisputed champion).
The electric Tyson captivated the boxing world and the public at large, partly for the way he demolished challengers in the ring and partly for his wild behaviour outside of it. He possessed a menacing charisma that helped to ensure he transcended the sport – pretty much like Ali did, although in a very different way.
His most notorious fight would come in 1997, when as a challenger, he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s right ear and spat it out in the ring.
Beating Tyson on February 11, 1990, earned Douglas the world heavyweight championship, but not the same status as Tyson. The mantle quickly passed to Holyfield before going to Riddick Bowe in 1992. Bowe threw the WBC belt away because he refused to face Lennox Lewis, the man who had beaten him as an amateur at the Olympics.
The world had to wait until the Holyfield versus Lewis series in 1999 to see a unified champion again, and it was Lewis who emerged triumphant. Although he held the unified belt, he didn’t possess the charisma of his more illustrious predecessors.
Since his retirement the heavyweight title has again slipped into a state of alphabetic boredom.
Boxing today does boast a fighter who has transcended the sport – in the form of welterweight Manny Pacquiao.
But the heavyweight class is boxing’s showcase division, and it desperately needs another Tyson.
South Africa’s cricket team need just a draw in the second Test at Kolkata’s legendary Eden Gardens to win the series and claim the No.1 ranking in world cricket.
They have played there twice in the past, with the honours shared. SA won by a mammoth 329 runs in 1996 but lost by eight wickets in 2004.
It’s hard to imagine that India will be as easy to roll over in this incredible stadium, but the fact is that they have a patchy record there. They have eight wins, eight losses and 27 draws.
Then again, the lost time they lost a Test there was back in 1999, to Pakistan.
A draw is all the Proteas need … mind you, that’s what England needed going into the final Wanderers Test last month. And we know what happened there.
Dale Steyn of South Africa appeals for lbw with Sachin Tendulkar of India on 0 during the day 3 of the 1st test between India and South Africa from Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground on February 08, 2010 in Nagpur, India. Photo by Duif du Toit / Gallo Images
Dale Steyn is one Test away from possibly joining Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis as the world’s fastest fast bowlers to claim 200 Test wickets.
His haul of 10 against India in Nagpur took his career tally to 195 scalps from just 37 Tests. By comparison, after 37 matches, Allan Donald had 169 wickets, Shaun Pollock 160 and Makhaya Ntini 123.
The quickest bowler on the planet to reach the 200 mark was a New Zealand-born Aussie called Clarrie Grimmett, who claimed his milestone against South Africa in Johannesburg way back in 1936 – in his 36th Test match.
But Grimmett was nowhere near the quickest bowler on the planet when it came to pace, practising the art of the legbreak googly. Clearly one heck of a bowler, Grimmett played only 37 Tests in all and ended with 216 wickets.
Lillee and Younis both achieved their 200th wickets in their 38th games. Behind them are Ian Botham and Stuart MacGill (remember the Aussie spinner who played second fiddle to Shane Warne?) on 41 matches.
Then Warne, Donald and Malcolm Marshall weigh in with 42 Tests.
Stastically speaking, Steyn will surpass Botham and MacGill. He has three matches to claim five wickets, and in his career to date, he has never taken fewer than eight wickets in a three-match spell – and those happened to be his first three Tests for South Africa against England in the summer of 2004/05.
And his odds of taking five in the second Test against India in Kolkata from Sunday to Thursday? In his last 10 matches he has taken fewer than five wickets on four occasions. Statistically, that means he has a 60% chance of joining Lillee and Younis (see the full list).
By the way, of South Africa’s 200-plus quick bowlers of the post-isolation era, Steyn is the least economical. Pollock leads that with a cost of 2.39 runs an over, followed by Jacques Kallis (2.81), Donald (2.83), Ntini (3.23) and then Steyn (3.54).
But who really cares when Steyn is taking wickets?
Jacques Kallis is South Africa’s most prolific batsman of the post-isolation era, with 10,813 career runs and an average of 55.16.
But the one milestone he has never reached is that elusive double century.
On 10 occasions he has scored 150 or better – his highest was an unbeaten 189 against Zimbabwe – but Mr Solid has simply been unable to convert any of those into 200.
So why has Kallis failed in this endeavour?
It’s not because he’s a poor batsman, nor is it because his scoring rate slows too much the higher his score gets (his 186 against New Zealand in 2007 came from 262 balls, with his last 86 runs coming off an impressive 96 deliveries).
Whatever the reason, it’s a feat he should have achieved.
Kallis ranks seventh in terms of most runs scored in a career, with Tendulkar topping the list with more than 13,000 runs. Then comes Brian Lara (11,953), Ricky Ponting (11,859) and Rahul Dravid (11,395). Of the top 10 career run-scorers, Kallis is the only one not to have reached 200 in an innings.
In fact, if you stretch the list to 20, the number of non-200s increases to three, with the addition of former England wicket-keeper Alec Stewart ( 8,463 runs and a top score of 190) and Australian bad boy Mark Waugh (8,029 and 153 not out).
When it comes to ability, Kallis ranks higher than both Stewart (career average of 39.54) and Waugh (41.81).
The statistics show that Kallis should be in the 200 club, and hopefully that means that he will get there one day.
Here’s a list of his top 10 Test knocks (in chronological order):
v New Zealand, Nov 2000 – 160 from 289 balls
v Zimbabwe, Sep 2001 – 157* from 272 balls
v Zimbabwe, Sep 2001 – 189* from 443 balls
v West Indies, Dec 2003 – 158 from 297 balls
v West Indies, Dec 2003 – 177 from 344 balls
v New Zealand, March 2004 – 150* from 312 balls
v England, Dec 2004 – 162 from 264 balls
v Pakistan, Oct 2007 – 155 from 249 balls
v New Zealand, Nov 2007 – 186 from 262 balls
v India, Feb 2010 – 173 from 351 balls
Golfer Tiger Woods is the world’s top-earning sportsman, according to Forbes.
He is said to have earned $64-million from endorsements last year, most of it before his sexcapades became public knowledge. Although he was dumped by a couple of sponsors after that, his income would have to drop substantially before he gets pipped.
The next highest earners were soccer star David Beckham ($18-million), tennis player Roger Federer ($16-million), Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt ($14-million) and then basketball stars LeBron James ($13-million) and Kobe Bryant ($12-million).
The richest team brand is English soccer club Manchester United, which has a value estimated at $270-million. They edged out the New York Yankees baseball team, apparently worth $266-million.
If there’s one person who must surely be happy with these stats, it’ll be Woods’s wife Elin. Should she get divorced, she could become the world’s richest sports-earner without having ever played sport.
At last, a welterweight fight to look forward to.
Sugar Shane Mosley will face Floyd Mayweather jnr on May 1 in a bout that will surely attract more world attention (outside the Philippines, that is) than Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on March 13.
Mosley-Mayweather has been talked about for a long while and it’s about time it got signed.
But I do wonder about the drug-testing requirements. Did Mayweather again insist on following the Wada rules, or not?
It’s an intriguing match-up although I reckon Mayweather has the edge (having said that, I’m not writing Mosley off). I don’t expect it to be an all-action thriller, but it’ll be scientific, perhaps like watching Stephen Hawking against Albert Einstein, if you know what I mean.
Global Brands Group, Fifa’s licensee, says it has ordered a probe into media reports that Chinese workers making Zakumi dolls for the World Cup were being exploited.
Their statement reads:
Global Brands Group (GBG) and FIFA are aware of recent media articles pertaining to the manufacturer of the Zakumi figurine …
As FIFA’s exclusive worldwide Master Licensee, GBG is taking the lead role in the review of this specific manufacturer of this figurine. Prior to these media reports, no specific issues had previously been raised with GBG regarding this particular facility. GBG has taken appropriate steps to contract Intertek (the world’s largest independent testing, inspection and certification organisation) to conduct an immediate ethical and social compliance audit and inspection of this facility. An important step in this process is to liaise directly with the parties concerned and ascertain all the key facts surrounding any claims. FIFA is being kept informed on the progress of the review.
From the outset, GBG has sought to only deal with the “best of the best” manufacturers and distributors worldwide to help produce and sell official licensed product for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. As often as possible first choice of production is South Africa, however, in cases where this is impossible international manufacturing partners are considered.
By virtue of GBG’s manufacturing and distribution license agreements and letters of undertaking from third party manufacturers, licensees and their respective third party manufacturers have committed to comply with the Code of Conduct of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) and the declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). These codes include, but are not limited to, the legal compliance of national laws and international working condition standards, the non-use of forced labour, non discrimination, freedom of association, prevailing industry wages, standard working hours, no child labour and safe and hygienic working conditions for all, etc.
“Global Brands Group takes these matters very seriously and we have therefore launched a review audit as a matter of priority. We wish to stress the fact that the Chinese manufacturer in question does not produce any of the other Zakumi plush toys, merchandise or products that are available in the market place. Global Brands Group has a variety of other manufacturers that handle these products and they are in no way linked to the same factory or industrial plant.,” says Paul Zacks, General Manager of Global Brands Group SA.
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Seventeen years after they first fought, Roy Jones jnr and Bernard Hopkins are to face off again.
In boxing terms they are both old men, although Hopkins appears to have aged better than Jones.
I can’t say it’s a fight I would pay money to watch, especially since I reckon the outcome is obvious – Hopkins to win, most probably inside the distance.
Poor Roy … he was excellent once, but those days are long gone (along with his chin).
