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Alex and Josh excitedly inform us that “David Probert is back for Scotland!”
Isn’t he, sort of, Welsh?
Is there any other sport or event where you can participate but not be a citizen of the country you are representing.
The more I know the less I understand.
Rugby union has some fairly lax eligibility rules, most international sides have players born elsewhere who qualify through residency. I don’t think citizenship is necessarily required although I’d imagine many do have it anyway.
Skye what’s her face representing us at the Olympics. Likewise South African golfer Rory Sabbatini for Slovakia and I think winning a medal at the Olympics and also Merlene Ottey at the backend of her career. There will be countless others as well.
Agree with both Richard and Worzel: the rules should be simplified. The country in which you were born should be the only country which you are eligible to represent.
If you were born in transit, then you should be eligible for the country in which your mother was born.
Hardly difficult, is it?
My apologies for digressing, incidentally; the Racing League is ****.
Yaaser, Gulliver and Sir Chauvelin in a lucky e.w 15 , the Racing league is the Racing highlight of the year
Don’t usually watch it (despite literally ruining my social life by refusing to arrange events that clash with free to air racing) but tuned in tonight as I’m home and there’s nowt else on. Struggling to work out who it’s aimed at. Assumed it’s a new audience but doesn’t seem to work. Good prize money attracting decent fields for relatively low rated horses is a definite positive and looks like they get fair attendance when the weather’s good. Who cares about the actual “league” though? As others have pointed out, even the geographical demarcations are fake. Only way it might work is if they had “celebrities” as team captains (don’t imagine that I think this would be a good thing). Nothing against them personally but who, apart from people already engaged with racing, has heard of any of these captains? Assume fees make it unrealistic to get people from beyond the racing family.
“I’m always more likely to watch a sport I hitherto had no interest in if they appoint a team captain from a sphere I’ve heard of. I had scant interest in the little known but growing sport of uphill ski-ing until they appointed Nigel Farage, my favourite right-wing populist, as team captain of The Gravity Defiers.”
Said no one ever.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I watched most of SSR’s coverage last night. RTV was showing Kempton but was also doing something called “Tipstar” to try to find a new racing pundit (which did not interest me at all), so I ended up watching SSR’s “The Racing League Is Brilliant” coverage instead.
Leona Mayor interviewed one of the creators of the competition. He said the public are really involved in the team aspect and he had heard how pubs have been running sweepstakes on it.
Of course, all of this went unchallenged by Ms Mayor. Where is the evidence the public even begins to care about the teams? I have not seen a single comment here or on other forums in support of the team aspect.
Perhaps it is fitting that the winning “team” has a lot of its horses trained in a different country. No one on the broadcast even commented on this absurdity.
Jamie Osborne seemed to get tetchier as the night went on. Although did say something interesting at one point: when he said the trainers he worked with on his team had been helpful and fully on board with the project but he knew not all the other team managers could say the same. If even the trainers are not enthusiastic about this project, why should anyone else care?
It looked to me as if it was a fairly sparse crowd at Southwell but of course SSR chose not to mention it.
“I’m always more likely to watch a sport I hitherto had no interest in if they appoint a team captain from a sphere I’ve heard of. I had scant interest in the little known but growing sport of uphill ski-ing until they appointed Nigel Farage, my favourite right-wing populist, as team captain of The Gravity Defiers.
Said no one ever.”
Describing Farage as a “celebrity” is a stretch. Even if he was, he’s hardly one that would be good for business. GNNews could tell you that.
25 years ago nobody was interested in ballroom dancing. Now millions watch it every Saturday. Never underestimate the lure of “celebrities”. Pick the right ones and you can create a market for anything these days, even the Racing League. It’s sadly the way of the world now.
“25 years ago nobody was interested in ballroom dancing. Now millions watch it every Saturday. Never underestimate the lure of “celebrities”. Pick the right ones and you can create a market for anything these days, even the Racing League. It’s sadly the way of the world now.”
Jermaine Jenas was a poor option
Chris Hughes may or may not have attracted a social event following but how many of the day outers take note of the horses and betting side of things compared to the drinking and photos
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
“Jermaine Jenas was a poor option”
Always a valid argument, regardless of the subject!
I wasn’t thinking of racegoers Nathan. Just TV audience. Almost all of us developed our passion for racing by viewing on telly initially so the more viewers the better. For many, that’ll be it. Hopefully some will be tempted to visit their local racecourse though. Recent absence of Chris Hughes on ITV is a bit of a concern as I think he is a genuine asset.
Racing doesn’t necessarily help itself. Plumpton is my local course; easy to get to, great close-up views of the horses, good value for money and a really fun day out. Often pretty decent racing too. I love it, to the extent that I’m considering annual membership this year. However, this photo of dour racegoers clearly having a right miserable time on a chilly day almost puts me off ever going again!
Perhaps a bit of professional PR help would work better than chucking money at gimmicks like the Racing League? That said, BHA probably isn’t the best to advise on PR….
I’ve never been to Plumpton but always like a Gary Moore trained juvenile hurdler if the price is right
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Love that photo
I can’t work out if they have all backed the beaten jolly
the bar has ran out of beer and wine
or Luke Harvey is walking past waving at themCharles Darwin to conquer the World
I have lost a lot of money following Gary at Plumpton. He has a good record. I just always pick the wrong ones!
At least it’s over for another year.
My summing up of its pros and cons…
Pros – Decent prize money
Cons – Everything else, but particularly the constant harping on by Alex and Josh on Sky that everything about it was wonderful and its just getting bigger and bigger and bigger etc etc. Very similar to its ******* cousin The Hundred and how we keep getting force fed how great that is.
Favourite thing about it – Realising that Heather Main and James Ferguson were on the Scottish team. Do you think someone just looked at their names and thought – that’ll do?“I’ve never been to Plumpton”
An omission I recommend rectifying some sunny day.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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