I'm A Sports Hooligan!

Well let's see... I'm a sports nut with not much time... 

But I think I will find the time for this!

WELCOME!!!

Just a small note to let you know, this blog is on hold for a while! There have been many developments in my life and my business, and this area has been voted as a business that I can put on hold for a while...

So...

I'll be back soon... Bigger and better!

Cheers

Waz

I'm a Sports Hooligan

G'day sports fans!

Here we are again at this great blog! Like I said a few days ago, I will be interviewing others around the traps to find our who they are and who their favourite teams are. I have quite a few people to go through and interview, so let's get it started...

The first interview that I am doing today, is my current manager. He's not only a great manager, but he is a really nice guy, and all round general nice person. He's Spanish and he comes from the great city of Valencia. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Alex!

Now Alex loves his football just like I do. But he's not as mad as me. He does, however, support his home town sporting teams. His beloved Valencia is his football club, and this is their crest.

Valencia are a Spanish football club based in Valencia. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish football and European football. - so says Wikipedia. Now I don't really have to ask el hombre about why he loves this team. It's his home town. Just like my Fremantle Dockers - you support the team you were born near. In his case - his support goes for Valencia. I will however ask him his other favourite sporting teams.

The next lovely person to be interviewed, is Marcus Rosati .I have interviewed Marcus before, for another blog I run. But he really isn't into sport that much, but since he's and Englishman, I will ask him what he likes...

Marcus actually doesn't watch that much sport!

Now I'll just touch base with what's happening around the traps in the world of sport!

Cricket

The Australian Cricket team came back from a hiding from Pakistan over the past couple of days to win convincingly in two different matches, one at the WACA and one over east at the SCG.

At the SCG, Warner sealed the series with a fantastic knock, reaching a century, then following up that task with one of the best catches of the season, then celebrating with his fans near the boundary. Australia's first innings of 353 was just too much for the Pakistani's to get to, and were bowled out for 267

India just lost out by 5 runs to the English in another ODI, and the run chase was just as spectacular.

England put in a good haul, with most batsmen putting in a good show esecially Roy, Bairstow and Stokes. India just couldn't match the effort, but Judhav almost made a tonne. Unfortunately for the Indians, Stokes was just as good with the ball, getting 3 wickets

In the 20/20 series, it's one a piece for Sri Lanka and South Africa, with the decider to come

In the Big Bash League, its down to the business end of the season, with the Hurricanes and the Thunder seeming to be out of it. The Scorchers, Heat & The Sixes are all on 10 points, Stars and Renegades on 8, and the Strikers are on the same amount of points as the final two.

The Scorchers being on top of the leaderboard, don't have any players in the top 10 of sixes or wickets, except for Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson. Chris Lynn for the Heat, has 26 sixes, and Sean Abbot of the Sixers has the most wickets with 16.

AFL

Jarrod Roughead, is the captain of the Hawthorn Hawks. And many people have always known that this was going to be the case, myself included. 

Talking about Captains - Nathan Fyfe wants David Mundy's job. And being a Fremantle Dockers fan since it's inception, and not having Pavlich, I'd say it's a good bet. I want the lad to be captain. Who else in the team is worth that? And whom else has a Brownlow?

 Some big names are saying that Jordan Lewis will be by far the best recruit. I'm not so sure, as Daniel Wells has left North Melbourne and Sam Mitchell has left the Hawks too

Women's AFLW is on the up, with the new add featuring Michelle Payne, Cathy Freeman and last years Womens' Player of the year, Moana Hope, all contributing to a fabulous ad.

The Young Guns. The youth players coming into the main game.. There are quite a few.

• Adelaide Crows - Jordan Galucci, Myles Poholke, Harrison Wigg
• Brisbane Lions - Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry, Corey Lyons
• Carlton Blues - Sam Petrevski-Seton, Tom Williamson, Zac Fisher
• Collingwood Magpies - Callum Brown, Josh Daicos
• Essendon Bombers - Andrew McGrath, Jordan Ridley
• Fremantle Dockers - Griffin Logue, Luke Ryan
• Geelong Cats - Tom Stewart, Brandan Parfitt, Quinton Narkle
• Gold Coast Suns - Ben Ainsworth, Jack Bowes, Will Brodie
• Greater Western Sydney Giants - Tim Taranto, Harry Perryman, Will Setterfield
• Hawthorn Hawks - Harry Morrison, Teia Miles
• Melbourne Demons - Dion Johnstone
• North Melbourne Kangaroos - Sam Durdin, Ed Vickers-Willis, Declan Watson, Josh Williams, Mitchell Hibberd, Braydon Preuss
• Port Adelaide Power - Sam Powell-Pepper, Willem Drew, Joe Atley
• Richmond Tigers - Jack Graham, Shai Bolton
• St Kilda Saints - Nathan Freeman, Ben Long
• Sydney Swans - Nic Newman, Oliver Florent, Will Hayward, Jack Maibaum
• West Coast Eagles - Willie Rioli, Josh Rotham, Luke Partington
• Western Bulldogs - Tim English, Patrick Lipinski

From my point of view, there's a lot of talent coming through, especially at North Melbourne and GWS.

TENNIS

With the Australia Open in full swing (no pun intended!), we're all a bit surprised not to see the world's number one player on the courts. For the first time in absolute ages (French Open 2004 in fact!), the top two seeds are not even in it! Djokovic and Murray are out! Novak in the first round! First time it's happened since Melbourne 2002!

So we're looking at a new winner - who would have thought!? I'm gonna have to say that Federer or Tsonga are the favourites, with of course, Rafael Nadal. I'm hoping that Nadal brings his A-game, and he meets Federer in the final

A nice thing to hear about is the letter the ball-girl that was hit by a ball last year sending a thankyou note to Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. A bit "Merci"... and a lovely gesture

MOTORSPORT

The Race of Champions has been on in Florida, with Sebastian Vettel once again coming out on top! However, new F1 Racer Pascal Wehrlein had a spill that would be gladly put on the "OH MY GOD" reel at the end of the year! The guy drove into a barrier and Felipe Massa and flipped the car

Supercross rider Ken Roczen had a major sausage (commentary call by the great Barry Sheen) as he came off his bike in the whoops and landed very very heavily in the second run of the day. He landed awfully. He won the first moto in Anaheim, and as the commentator said, he wasn't going to win the next. It looked like he totally lost control in mid air and bailed on the bike... whilst the bike bailed on him.

Apparently, someone has just completed the fastest ever run of the famous Nurburgring circuit in Germany, in a Porsche 918 Spider, and doing it in under 7 minutes on the 20.6 km track, 6 minutes and 57 seconds to be precise! WOW! After watching the clip, I've gotta say that the guy has balls of steel

The World Speedway Championships, Round 2 was in Poland, and Chris Holder swooped to get the win and take the overall lead. What a ride from the Aussie! Go my son!

In the WRC - Sebastien Ogier came up on top, even with the new rules and new cars. A typical day out for the Frenchman

FOOTBALL

Since it's the transfer period, there has been a slew of transfers, including Memphis Depay's move from Manchester United to Lyon. Jose Mourinho's newest culling has been lethal, and Morgan Schniederlin has also been shown the door. These two have only been in United colours for a year or two, and out they went.

He's even sacked the BALL BOY'S!!!

Liverpool seemingly signed Virgil Van Dyk... and moments later (or it seemed to be) he gets an injury! Meanwhile the Reds have a club legend return as a coach - Steven Gerrard!

At Chelsea - Diego Costa has been offered an absolute FORTUNE to go and play his game in China. And news that Carlos Tevez is being paid a Sheik's fortune to play there, and still not be the highest paid player, is making more and more major players go to the Chinese Super League. But his contract is to 2019...

Back to United and Goncalo Guedes is being tipped to come to Manchester United. Or is it Antoine Greizman? If it were Greizman, can you imagine what the wages would be like? Pogba, Mkhitharyan, Ibrahimovic, and Greizman? With Rooney as well? What an attack force!

And talking about Rooney, he is another target for the Chinese Super League, with a possible 1 million pound a game pay check, and Mou will not stand in his way. But, he has now put himself into United Legend status, being THE HIGHEST UNITED SCORER OF ALL TIME!

Jack Wilshire - is he going back to Arsenal or not?

Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic may be leaving for Everton as they look for a replacement for veteran Phil Jagielka. And Gerard Duelofue has been loaned out to AC Milan. Sometimes I wonder what some coaches are thinking. It's just funny that a lot of Barcelona youngsters and rejects get handed around a bit, then once they play a decent amount of games - their value sky rockets. WHY not HOLD ONTO the players and see what they can do FIRST???

Sergio Aguero, has been given permission to leave apparently, and it's all because of a wonderkid... Gabriel Jesus has been signed and seems to be the goods. Now Inter want to get their hands on the Sky Blue's hero. Whilst on the subject of Manchester City, it seems that even their coach doesn't like the team and their chances for the premiership!

Dimitri Payet... who wouldn't want him? Now that he didn't turn up for a game, he's pushing to go back to his native country of France, and line up for Marseille. One of the PL's favourite players, he's up and left!

A horrible clash of heads during the Hull City/Chelsea game has shown how dangerous the game can be. Gary Cahill and Ryan Mason both out for the count of the pitch after a horrific clash of heads, has the OHS guys going nuts. Mason has a fractured skull. No other news. Let's hope he's okay.

Arsene Wenger went and pushed an official on the weekend, and now regrets his actions... Funny that.

Chelsea and Manchester United want Gareth Bale! SURPRISE SURPRISE! Man Utd have always wanted Bale, and would probably be the club of choice for the Welshman. He's having a ball in Madrid though... especially when a certain Cristiano is not playing.

Busquets from Barcelona - his injury apparently is not as bad as it was feared. And Magic Man Messi - apparently his Argentinian team mate, Tevez, knows where he'll next ply his trade - probs at home!

Swedish sensation Alexander Isak, dubbed the 'New Zlatan' (I doubt it though!) has snubbed Real Madrid to play for Borussia Dortmund... Smart move!

Manchester City want an United old boy in Michael Keane... HA!

And finally, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that the England supporters should pay homage to their greatest ever player, Wayne Rooney - especially as Nike has make an anniversary shoe for his wonderful 250th strike - and what a strike it was!

So, that's it for this post...

Please come back and please share your comments below.

Cheers1

I'm a Sports Hooligan... How about you?

Hey there people. Welcome back to my blog. My sports infested, dripping with sweat and "odour eaters" scent, blog...

Okay - this time I'm going to tell you about my favourite teams. And why...

Firstly, my favourite team of all time is...

Yes, I'm a Manchester United supporter. I'm a Red Devil. I'm the red half of Manchester, a Manc. I've been a Manchester United supporter since I was a kid. I was influenced by Sir Alex Ferguson, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo. In my opinion, Sir Alex is THE best manager in the world, and will always will be, but is closely followed by their current manager, Jose Mourinho. I was watching the treble when it happened in '99. I was screaming at the tv, late at night, with my mates, at one of mates' house. His dad was a big Manchester United fan too. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put his foot out to win the Champions League, I remember going absolutely mental.

Well, let's get closer to home. In Australia, we have AFL - that's Australian Rules Football. If you haven't seen of heard of it before, go and check out this site

http://www.afl.com.au/ - and then you'll understand what all the fuss is about!

My favourite team in AFL is the mighty Fremantle Dockers!

The "Dockers" as they are affectionately called, are from my home town Fremantle, on the coast of Western Australia, Australia. They have been around for just over 15 years, and they have appeared in a Grand Final once, losing to the mighty Hawthorn Hawks by a large margin. We have won the minor premiership, but not the major - meaning - we won the regular season and not the finals. With AFL, you come first on the ladder at the end of the season, means you win the minor premiership. The top eight teams then go into the "Finals", to find out who is the team that has won the big major premiership. This game is the biggest game of any sort in Australia, usually played on the final Sunday in September, with over 100,000 fans and visitors coming to watch the match. AFL has a recruitment system a lot like the NFL draft, and the top players usually going to the lowest team of the previous year. Favourite players in my team are Matthew Pavlich (captain), Nat Fyfe (Player of the year 2014 and best and fairest of the league). Other players... well we won't get into that right now!

Now Australia (or Oz as I call it!) has it's own football league - or soccer as we call it. It's called the A-League. It's made up of ten teams spread across the country. And we have had our superstars play over in Europe too, just to let you know we can become the best, and play with the best.

Perth Glory FC started in 1996. And was THE team to beat in the early years of professional soccer in Australia, which had a league called the NSL (National Soccer League). We won the premiership a few times under East German national coach Bernd Stange. We first lost the Grand Final through penalties to a packed Subiaco Oval crowd of over 43,000 fans, to the Wollongong Wolves in 2000, but came back the next year, and lost again in the final to Sydney Olympic. But in 2003, we took the cup, in front of another packed house, and did it again the next year, in 2004, basing ourselves as the soccer powerhouse of Oz. That game was to be the last in the NSL, but in eight seasons Perth featured in the finals six times, played in four grand finals and won two championships, and was crowned premiers (top of the table after the regular season) three times. In the new A-League, Perth has been to one Grand Final since, only to have our hearts broken in the dying minutes of the game to Brisbane Roar. And we've had our fair share of superstars play for us, including the man they used to call "God" - Robbie Fowler.

One of my favourite sports of all time is motor racing, and F1 being the top of that, I support the Red Bull F1 Racing Team

I've been following motor racing, especially F1, since I was a little tacker. I used to stay up till the ungodly hours with my grandfather, Jim, who got me into watching this fantastic sport. My love of the sport started with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, when they used to drive for McLaren. Each one won the championship, and almost alternatively for years. Then, one of our own sons, Mark Webber, started driving for the Minardi Racing Team, and then he was transferred to the Red Bull Racing Team. On his maiden drive, he came fifth in Melbourne, the opener of the year in the F1 circuit. Now Mark has had some wins, and had some amazing crashes too (the flips being the ones I can't stop remembering, as well as the exact same thing he did in Le Mans). Now the batten has been passed to a local lad, who comes from Perth, Western Australia, Daniel Ricciardo. "Trippin' Balls" is a famous West Oz saying, and he said that on his maiden win in the Red Bull, and I bet all of his mates, as well as most of the West Aussie community knew exactly what he meant, and we love him for it. Go Daniel!

Another sport... hmmm... What's next?

Well... How could you not mention cricket? I'm Australian and the Australian Cricket Team are LEGENDS!

Every kid in Australia watches cricket at some stage of their life. And I used to love Alan Border. My dad had an uncanny resemblance to him as well. So I grew up on him (who now has the player of the year medal named after - the Alan Border Medal), and other big names like Bruce Reid, David Jones, Dennis Lillee, Rodney Marsh, Greg, Terry and Trevor Chappell, and later on Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Steve and Mark Waugh, and even more lately, Steve Smith and David Warner. 

Going to the grounds (in W.A. it is the WACA) and seeing these guys slog it out against the international greats of the game - Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, the little master Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Michael Holding, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards - was the day of days! We would make a total day of it, taking picnics, floppy hats, sunscreen, and sit up on the hill, waiting for our chance to grab the ball if it was sent for a six. Awesome. But one of the best things in Australia is the crowd - we're mad!

Basketball. Now this sport is pretty big in Australia and the U.S.A., and in both countries there are Australians. My team in the U.S.A. is the Chicago Bulls, plain and simply because of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Aussie Luc Longley.

I watched the "three-peat", and I still follow the Bulls when I can. Luc Longley is a superstar in Australia, and he comes from my hometown Fremantle. I used to go to school up the road from our great rivals John Curtin Senior High School, and I knew Luc's younger brother, Griff. But watching the Bulls take it to L.A. and Seattle over the years (especially with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton), it was breathtaking. And watching the dunk contests and jams... well... honestly. It was amazing

In Perth, we have the NBL, National Basketball League, and our own Perth Wildcats are the frontrunners of each season

The Wildcats have won 7 championships, including this years. And we have a very very strong roster and a great amount of servants over the years, including Matthew Knight, Nathan Jawal, James Ennis, Michael Ellis (who took us to a championship as a coach and a player) Andrew Vlahov, James "Alabama Slammer" Crawford, Ricky Grace and "the Black Pearl" Cal Bruton. We have even been called "the world's greatest sporting team", being in 29 consecutive finals appearances, with the 1990 Championship being our first one. Beat that!

Ok. That's about all I have time for today. My next blog will continue with my other fave teams, and I will interview others about their fave's too.

Until then - Catchya!

I'm a sports hooligan... How about you?

Hi, my name is Warren and I'm a sports hooligan.

Not in the REAL meaning of sports hooligan. I mean I don't go to sports activities and take the mickey out of the opposition. I don't go running around looking for the opposition just to beat them up, I don't go and troll or repeatedly spike people over and over just to get a reaction. No. I'm one of those scream at the referee whilst watching the tv with a tinnie in his hand hooligan. One of those "I could do better than that" types that hasn't picked up a ball or a club or a stick or a racquet in 5 or six years one. One of those hooligan types that yells provocative sayings and wears very flamboyant anti-opposition t-shirt ones. Y'know the ones! The ones that just love sport.

And here are my favourite sports:

Football - as in soccer/european football 

Footy - as in Aussie Rules Football (AFL) and that's because I'm Australian

F1 - yes as boring as it is to some, it's still the most expensive and glamorous sport out there

Skateboarding - Tony Hawk's fault

BMX - Nicole Kidman's fault, but before that, I loved getting "air" on my bmx (which wasn't even a true BMX, it was an MX), and who DIDN'T love doing that in their back yard or on their street

NFL - yes, I like NFL - which is called gridiron regularly by Aussies

V8 Supercars - big tanked up V8 cylinder monsters flying around a track

NASCAR - yep - as boring as it is sometimes

Cricket - I'm half Aussie half Anglo Indian - go figure

Hockey - I used to play when I was in school (and a bit after school) and I was damned good at it (nearly went national!)

And there are ones that I watch when there's a good rivalry or killer game on (like a derby):

Basketball - Thanks to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Luc Longley

Athletics - usually when the Olympics are on

Rugby Union - don't watch league, but Union - yes

Ice Hockey - for the fights

Cycling - when the Tour de France is on

Wrestling - you know the WWE (or is it the WWF?)

and there are a few weird ones...:

Basque Pelota - any sport that can kill people and still be called a sport is ok in my book (F1 for example)

Extreme Ironing - go and check this shit out...

The Wife Carrying Competition - this is another you should check out

Bossaball - only just got into this - it's going to be a cracking sport - watch out for this

Roller Derby - it's Rollerball - have you seen this movie? 

Cheerleading - ummm... yeah - for the amazing... flexibility?

Base Jumping - I keep dreaming about this one

and The Running of the Bulls

and Tomatina..

Well there you go. I probably have forgotten some of them. But this makes me an absolute sports nut in my own book. I mean, I'm even fascinated by the team colours and jerseys! I have a few Football ones, I have an AFL one, I have a few other ones (like some cricket and hockey ones) and I always wear them when I can. Ever heard of the guy that was asked to wear his best shirt to an event and he turned up with his favourite team jersey on? Yeah - well I'd do that.

I've stayed up all night just to see my favourite team in the world lose. I've been halfway across the world to see two teams that I don't support go to battle. I've bought a team t-shirt of a country's sport that I've never ever watched, and I've paid some reasonable money to go to a final of a sport that I didn't even like that much.

Y'see... growing up in Australia ('Straya for all youse Aussies out there!), it's like you're baptized in the almost tribal like aggregation. Be it the first time mum and dad or the grandparents take you to a game live. Even if you won't even remember it. I was taken to my first football game when I was 2, I think? It was an AFL game in Fremantle, Western Australia, where I'm from. I couldn't give a toss who was playing (but the ref did), but I had a ball with the local kids just running around for hours, only to fall asleep in the car on the way home (which was about 50 metres down the road if I remember)

I remember being taken to the Speedway by my dad (R.I.P. - I miss you dad) and watching the bikes and the cars go round and round and round. Just HOPING to God that there would be a crash or two... just like now. I pray that there's a whopping big crash - and not hoping that the driver are dismembered or have any harm to them - no - it's for the carnage. 

Ever been to a Demolition Derby?

NOW THAT'S A SPORT!

18 guys who are either stuntmen, training to be stuntmen or who are just plain crazy, drive around in bombs which have been juiced up (or souped up) going crazy-oh-bonkers in every which way, just to smash the absolute crap out of anyone else's car, just to be the last car driving, and hence the winner. That there is real survival of the fittest.

And I get the rage when I see something go the wrong way too. Especially against one of my favourite teams, and especially in a final or grand final. OMG! Don't get me started on this one!

Then there is the injuries and setbacks. Like when a player get's knocked out, but he's playing football or even cricket (it's happened!). And the injuries that marr a player's whole season at the wrong moment, like when he's the star player and the team are going to the finals (ala Wayne Rooney). It's the feeling you get. The feeling of "oh crap! He's down!" or "oh man! He's not going to be fit for the derby!" or even "fuckin' idiot shouldn't have gone on a safari two days before the big game - now he's out for the season...". Or the feeling you get when the OPPOSITION has that happen to them, and you almost get butterflies at the prospect of not facing that player in the next match, or for the title...

It's THAT feeling, that people get. And it's that feeling that makes me watch. I just can't help it. I suppose for the ladies, who DON'T watch sport, it's like finding that pair of shoes...

But this blog is for that. The sport of sport watching. I'll be on here whenever there's a great game or just after it, telling you what's going on, and what I am feeling. And I know there are hundreds, if not, thousand of people out there that feel the same way. And this blog is for you.

Next Post:

My favourite Teams