John Helm: Togo tragedy raises serious questions

Jan 13 2010 by Peter Barrow, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

AS ONE of the lucky ones last Saturday – I got to Derby versus Scunthorpe – my sporting programme has been less disrupted than most.

The snow is beyond a joke now, no longer a novelty, and with even the turkey leftovers long gone, and Christmas repeats now tedious, most folk are yearning to get the car out of the garage.

I’m old enough to remember the blizzards of 1947, when nothing moved for six weeks, and I’ve been in temperatures of minus 30 in Gothenburg, so maybe I’m more tolerant of this big freeze than others.

The only ones to benefit are the pools panel.

I’ll bet they wouldn’t have predicted Wycombe getting a draw at Leeds, or Scunthorpe winning 4-1 at Derby!

Gordon Banks, Roger Hunt and Co rub their hands when that white stuff comes tumbling out of the sky.

They get to stay in a plush London hotel, all expenses paid naturally, a few bottles of wine, gourmet food and a fat fee for telling us that Hull City versus Chelsea would have been an away win.

I wonder how long they pondered the outcome of Ossett Town versus Hucknall Town before coming up with a home win.

Yes, the Unibond Premier League game really was on the pools coupon, and the prediction was interesting to say the least as Ossett are next to bottom after winning just three out of 10 at home all season and Hucknall are 11 places ahead of them in the table.

THE final Test match of an absorbing series begins in Johannesburg tomorrow with England at least certain to draw the series with South Africa.

It may have its detractors but Test cricket is riveting when played as it has been at Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.

To go down to the last ball after five days of genuine attrition as two of these games did shows just how paper thin is the difference between the two teams.

Americans would never believe that five days of conflict could end in a sporting draw.

Yet the heroics of Bell, Collingwood, Onions – and don’t forget Panesar at Cardiff last summer – has shown just how much steel has been added to England since the days when we used to capitulate all too readily.

A series win over a team as talented as South Africa in it’s own backyard would be a significant achievement.