There was plenty going on in the sporting world this week but a couple events in the mother country caught the eye of The Area News sports journalist Ben Jaffrey and Michael ‘Speedy’ Stratton.
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In this week’s At The Bar, the pair discuss the World Club Series and the FA Cup.
Ben: We’re – metaphorically – travelling to England this week, mate. You’re my correspondent for the World Club Challenge. Safe to say it was a disappointing week for the Aussie sides?
Speedy: It was a shockaroo, that’s what I reckon.
Ben: Well, both the Broncos and the Sharks were red hot favourites.
Speedy: I think Broncos led 12-0 at one stage but Warrington never gave in and rolled over the top of them.
Ben: A game goes for 80 minutes and you have to be switched on the whole time.
Speedy: Exactly, and as far as the Sharks go – they were missing a few players but you can’t be using that as an excuse.
Ben: You can’t – they were just beaten by the better side in Wigan.
Speedy: But while it’s no good for the NRL teams, it’s probably one of the best things to happen in the world of international rugby league.
Ben: No doubt, we’ve been all over them in the last couple of years.
Speedy: I wonder if the Queen will knight them?
Ben: Is the Queen a rugby league fan?
Speedy: She knows a bit about polo and the game with the stick and the round wooden ball.
Ben: Croquet?
Speedy: Yeah, croquet but she’ll probably know about rugby league now. It was the shot in the arm international rugby league needs.
Ben: Now, I want to talk about the FA Cup, too. Do you follow it?
Speedy: I do, I’m a Tottenham Hotspur fanatic.
Ben: Well, one of the stories of the competition was a bloke by the name of Wayne Shaw from non-league side Sutton United.
Speedy: What’d he do? Win a game for them?
Ben: Not quite. He’s the reserve goalkeeper and, as you do, while the match against Arsenal was going, he nicked off to the canteen and grabbed himself a meat pie to eat on the sideline.
Speedy: He sounds more like a reserve to the reserve goalkeeper.
Ben: These stories are the ones I love reading about in this sort of competition. We have the FFA Cup over here but how good would it be for all sports to have a similar competition?
Speedy: It’s terrific, it’s happened a few times over there in the FA Cup. I can just picture the Hillston Swans knocking over Collingwood.
Ben: Everyone would love an upset like that.
Speedy: That’s not an upset. If Hillston beat Essendon, now that’s an upset.