Dear Mrs Rinehart,
How good were the Socceroos! It was fantastic to watch them against Japan in their World Cup qualifier this week. Real fighting spirit.
Anyway, forget the blokes. While that was all happening, FIFA, that's the mob that runs world football, decided that Asia should have five places, not three, at the next Women's World Cup.
This means Australia can't miss out unless something goes disastrously wrong in the next three years - like the W-League collapses or half the girls retire and get jobs that actually pay enough money for them to eat.
Did you know most of the men get paid more in a week than a women's player gets in a year?
Well, have I got a deal for you. You know your fellow billionaires Clive Palmer and Nathan Tinkler like to deposit their spare...
Sport
Dear National Hockey League,
I am writing this letter to express concern over your well-being and to offer a few suggestions. I feel that you are driving a good product into the ground and doing a horrible job with your public relations. Very few people seem to care about the NHL, and even fewer follow it consistently. Many elements of your game should be extremely appealing to a lot of people in today’s society, but for many reasons it isn’t.
First off, let’s address something that you probably can’t control or change anytime soon. Being able to play hockey is, for all intensive purposes, more of a privilege for children rather than an option. You don’t have to look very long at your local sporting goods store to see that hockey equipment is insanely expensive. If you have...
2,483
Dear Commissioner Barnier,
As Presidents of the three main associations in the field of gambling, we would like to jointly call for your vigilance on several points of the Action Plan on Online Gambling recently adopted by the European Commission.
Our associations’ members together create more than 750,000 jobs through direct and indirect employment in the European Union. Holding exclusive rights, authorisations or licenses in all countries of the European Union, our members offer gambling products, both off- and online, only in those jurisdictions where they are specifically authorised to do so by the respective competent national or regional government.
Our associations’ members work for the public interest by both promoting a responsible conduct of business and being strongly...
2,646
Dear Mayor,
I am writing to express concern at the reported decision to exclude Shooting Events from the forthcoming London 2012 Olympic Ticket giveaway for London schoolchildren – the Ticketshare scheme – as reported in the London Evening Standard. I understand that you believe that including these sports would be at odds with your efforts to reduce gun and knife crime, which we wholeheartedly support and endorse.
However, the decision to exclude the target and shotgun sports from Ticketshare must be reconsidered:
It will be very disappointing for the athletes preparing to compete in Shooting sports at London 2012, by creating an association between those athletes and the criminals who illegally use firearms.
It compounds the decision already made to leave no legacy for shooting...
2,422
Dear Mr. Srinivasan,
The tragedy in this saga is the fact that the sport that you were meant to champion and steward has been the greatest victim of your hubris.
We realise that money can buy many things like votes and support from local, regional and even international cricketing boards. However, what you have never understood is that it cannot buy you the one thing you covet most – respect.
Granted money also buys you the illusion of power, and make no mistake that it is nothing more than an illusion, because it is based entirely on surrounding yourself with spineless sycophants who will march to your tune.
You see, it is only your money that these people respect, and not you. If this type of power is all you seek, then I feel sorry that you will never know what it feels like to...
2,393
Dear Mr Mbalula,
A belated congratulations on your appointment. As a sports-mad South African, I hope the transformation of sport and the creation of an “Active and Winning Nation” truly is your goal.
But please note, by transformation, I don’t mean haranguing rugby and cricket about quotas or the number of black players in the squads – which appears to have been the sole “transformation strategy” of your predecessors. By true, grassroots transformation, I don’t mean focusing at the senior national level, but concentrating resources, time and money at school, club and community level.
By committing resources to developing structures, leagues and competitions that identify, nurture and develop talent among our young, we will provide every boy or girl with an opportunity to...
2,392
Dear USA Cycling,
I read with some concern and distress in Velonews today that my beloved mountain bike racing categories — Beginner, Sport, Expert, Semi-Pro, and Pro (I had to check on the naming of the last two since they’re not exactly in my list of personally-relevant labels at this time) — are being replaced with new category names: Cat 3, 2, 1, and Pro.
I would like to strongly urge you to reconsider this decision. I have many compelling reasons why.
I Really like the name “Sport.” I have been a “Sport” category racer ever since my third mountain bike race. And it’s all I can ever aspire to. And I like being a Sport. It sounds…sporty. Like, you know, I’m no longer a beginner, but I’m also not particularly expert. I’m here to race for the sport of it.
I’m scared of what...
2,284
Dear Mr. Sutcliffe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Sport)
I am a devoted AFC Bournemouth fan of over 20 years and have followed the clubs plight very closely over the past few seasons. I know you are aware of who we are as you have been on ministerial duty looking at a new community initiative at our club not so long ago.
As fans of the club, we all realise that it has had it's fair share of off-field challenges over the years and for this, have been punished accordingly via our 10 point deduction 2007/2008 season, which resulted in relegation in to League.2, and more recently 2008/2009 season we were issued with a 17 point penalty which had it not been for our superb management team in the 2nd half of the season, would have almost certainly cost us our league status. We...
2,157
Dear Unborn Grandson,
If you are reading this now, two things must have happened. Apparently, a) I have lived like I died, drunkenly paddling a canoe in the buff down the Chicago River, and b) President Malia Ann Obama has outlawed the sport of football in our once-proud United States of America. Luckily for you, I predicted that such travesties would happen — mostly because canuding through the poisonous sludge that is the Chicago River while belligerently intoxicated can have adverse effects on your health — but also because the sport of football was pretty damn dangerous. What follows is all the important knowledge you will ever need to know in order to preserve the memory and history of the sport of football and ensure that you never ever fall prey to the allure of its...
2,506
To Mr. Roger Goodell,
Sir, I am writing to you today, in this open letter, to remind you that you have but a single job: to maintain the integrity of the National Football League and the game of football in general.
See, I feel the need to write this letter, because you have taken actions in the recent, and not so recent, past that both set a precedent for infractions of league rules and laws of all levels of jurisdiction, and that leave many of us scratching our heads as to whether the concept of justice has ever managed to take hold within the confines of your brain.
We've seen you lay down the law -- whether or not there was a law broken. We've also watched you cave under public pressure, whether you want to admit it or not.
When the New Orleans Saints' coaching staff were...
2,432