Wednesday 14 March 2012

Top 10: Things more disreputable than Wigan's team selection

Regular readers (welcome, both of you) may have noticed a Top 10 feature every month in venerable organ Forty20 magazine. Well it's written by us and we reserve the right to post interim Top 10s here that don't fit the publishing schedule of aforementioned monthly periodical. So here goes...


Faux-outrage was all the.. err.. rage after Wigan were beaten by Widnes last weekend. Not by the result itself, but the temerity of Wigan to select who they chose for their gameday 17 from their 29-man squad, a squad that was named well in advance of the season and therefore held no surprises. "Waah, waah" went the prevailing narrative, with added notions of bringing the game into disrepute and disrespecting their opponents.
Here are ten things that bring the game into disrepute more than naming a team from a known and published squad:

10. Players signing for rugby union clubs and saying they're going "for the challenge".

9. Fans bleating about referees rather than examining the deficiencies of their team.

8. The band at Headingley.

7. Margin Meter.

6. The Crusaders debacle.

5. Issac Luke's tackling technique.

4. Paying super-annuated Antipodean pensioners a king's ransom to facilitate their end-of-career jaunt round the fleshpots of Europe.

3. Declaring your intention to play international rugby for 'whoever wants me this month'.

2. A governing body that hangs one player out to dry when systematic doping is uncovered at one of it's member clubs.

1. Losing to Widnes.

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