Hitesh B Patel: The Captain Of Shirley Park Golf Club

 

Sunday 24th March at 03:15, was the moment that Shirley Park Golf Club officially welcomed their 100th Captain, Hitesh B Patel.

It was a memorable occasion as former Captain Bill Rookes putted out his last stoke as the 2022-23 Skipper, and handed over the reigns to the 68-year old, who landed his drive from the first tee and onto the fairway.

A great father, a good husband, and now a proud Captain, there is no doubt that 2024-25 is going to be some ride.

HB became a member in September 2000, and has made hundreds of friends along the way, as well as racking up the cabinet with tonnes of silverware.

He has made all sorts of donations from the club to different charities and schools, including St Giles, which is a school in Croydon for students with physical and learning disabilities.

All friends and family of HB came to embrace this special occasion, and to congratulate him on this historic feat.

For those who aren't familiar with the place, Shirley Park Golf Club is a private golf club, available to a small number of people.

As always, it is always a great privilege for anyone to be Captain on a golf club, and I'm sure that HB will make a great leader.

There will be a lot of challenges coming up in the year ahead i'e the Captain's Lunch, and the Captain's away day, but he is the sort of person who will cherish organizing those events.

HB and his family faced difficult end to 2023, due to his beloved mother, who sadly passed away in December 2023.

She was a strong minded woman, who wanted us to keep going and make the most out of life, which is what we are attempting to do.

And with HB now being Captain, perhaps this could lead to even greater things in life for the family?

Amongst his many interests such as being a big supporter of Crystal Palace, golf still remains one of his most passionate interests, which he will never stop talking about.

It even drives his wife mad lol!

But we all know that he is a humble guy that always likes to help people and make new friends, and we love him just the way he is.

Blame Boehly! Not Pochettino

Five points from five games is simply not good enough, but is Mauricio Pochettino really at fault?

"Give me time," "They (the owners) are disappointed, they arrived at the club and are so excited to build a project."Of course they feel disappointed but at the same time they need to support the plan."

Todd Boehly has £291.65m this summer on the likes of Nicholas Jackson and Robert Sanchez, but results are not going their way, as the Blues have one victory in the first five games.

But you sort of feel that Chelsea is pushing the panic button a little too early again this season as they did with Tuchel at the start of 2022-23, and there is a fear that the same may happen to Pochettino, if results don't start going his way.

However, even though this is Chelsea's worst start ever start the season, it's not all doom and gloom.

Robert Sanchez has conceded six goals in six games, with two clean sheets, which means they are maybe starting to become a little solid at the back.

The real concern is scoring goals.

Chelsea signed Nicholas Jackson, who likes to run in behind defenders, But if you look at the history of Chelsea strikers i.e. Didier Drogba and Diego Costa, they strike fear in the opposition's defenders, because of their all-round attributes as a striker.

Also, if the Blues were looking at a young striker with huge potential, why didn't they try to sign another top-quality striker, to keep Jackson on his toes, and to make him aware that he has to perform week in and week out, or there is somebody to replace him.

Armando Broja is a good player, but is he a Drogba or Costa? I don't think so.

I know Pochettino is a manager who likes to play possession-based football, but you need a striker, who has the all-around package like Harry Kane or Earling Haaland, who can provide assists as well as be lethal in front of goal.

If Chelsea had a striker of that level, then some of those defeats and draws may have turned into victories.

What is Todd Boehly's Aim?

According to Foothebal.com, Boehly’s aim is to ensure Chelsea has the best young players who would make Chelsea one of the top teams in the world after fulfilling their potential.

But to do that, you need to give a manager time, to develop a relationship with the players, and that is why axing Pochettino from the club, would be a harsh thing to do at this stage of the season.

It's like asking a builder to build you a five or six-bedroom house with an on-suite. You can't get it done in one month, it's got to be a long-term project, and if Bohely wants to make Chelsea flourish again, he either needs to stick with the long-term plan of Pochettino, or go down the same ruthless route as Abramovich, which is to keep sacking managers after a winless streak of games.

At the moment, it feels unclear to the fans as to what the future of Chelsea Football Club will look like, due to the problems both on and off the pitch.

And that was clear after Todd Boehly had sacked Thomas Tucchel, who had the 6th-best win percentage behind Guus Hiddink, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Maurizio Sarri, John Tait Robertson, and Carlo Ancelotti.

The League Cup game on Wednesday night against an in-form Brighton & Hove Alboin followed by the West London Derby and Burnley, are three crucial games in which the Blues must win not just to save Pochettino's job, but to gain back some confidence in the toughest test against Arsenal on 21st October.

If I were Todd Boehly, I would wait until December after we have played Fulham, Burnley, Arsenal, Brentford, Spurs, and Manchester City, and see if Pochettino can get 12 out of 18 points in those six games if he does that, he stays, if he doesn't, then sack him.

Given the fact that his record against City and Arsenal isn't that great. you would expect those two fixtures and possibly DeZerbi's Seagulls to be the most difficult, but this is the Premier League, so anything can happen.

Can Pochetino repay the faith that the club has on him, and get them back to winning ways?

 

 

England's Euro 2020 Report

From Fourth place at the World Cup, Third place in the Nations League to runners-up at the Euros. Despite coming so close to vanquishing the ghost of '66, Gareth Southgate's Three Lions have brought pride back to the Nation.  

In the past, ex-England managers have crumbled under pressure, particularly when it comes to major tournaments.  Some of them have also been a little passive in terms of facing the media after being knocked out of either a World Cup or European Championship, but not Gareth Southgate.

A true and honest man who is willing to accept and rectify mistakes, but also some who isn't scared of making the odd harsh decisions such as waiting until extra time to bring on Jack Grealish. Rashford's penalty miss was unacceptable for a player of his caliber, but this will surely be a huge experience for the likes of 19-year old Bukayo Saka and 21-year old Jadon Sancho. The racist taunts from fans were totally out of order. After all, these players are humans, not robots. They are bound to make mistakes at this age, hopefully, they'll learn from it.   

England's player of the tournament has to be Jordan Pickford. Raheem Sterling also had his best performance in an England shirt, but Pickford was the one for me who kept the Lions in the hunt. His performance in the last-16 stage against Germany was heroic, making two crucial saves to deny victory for the Germans at Wembley. Also, the fact that Southgate's men went through the entire tournament conceding just two goals, shows how solid the Stones and Maguire partnership was throughout the tournament. 

As for the penalty decisions, letting a 19-year old take the fifth and vital penalty against the giant of a man in Gianluigi Donnarumma is a little risky as you don't know what he is feeling inside, especially the impact it may have on his career, should he miss. Somebody like Jack Grealish or Sterling may have been a slightly better choice.    

When England had Italy on the rope in the first half,  This is where they failed to drive home the advantage, partiçulary after scoring in only the second minute of the game. Had Southgate's men really pushed the Xcelerator and gone for that second goal, things may have been different in terms of the outcome of the match.  But England slightly caved from that moment in and allowed the Italians a foothold in the game, just like they did in that World Cup semi-final against Croatia. Perhaps a bit of ruthlessness in the attacking third may have been the difference between lifting the trophy and collecting a Runners-up medal.

It was obvious that Mancini's side wanted to take it all the way to a shootout. Had England sussed that out, they should have looked to finish it in 90minutes or extra time, which is another reason why the decision to hold back Grealish until the extra time was somewhat bizarre as the Italians started to dominate in midfield and England were finding it hard to keep the ball. Grealish is someone who likes to dribble with the ball and break up play by winning fouls. and had he came on with half an hour of normal time to go, England could have gone and attempted for victory in normal time.  

Looking ahead to Qatar 2022, it would be interesting to see what the squad would have learned from this experience. Depending on what happens in the next season and a half, it will most likely be the same squad with perhaps one or two new faces. Given that the tournament is almost halfway through the 2022-23 season, Southgate should still have a wide array of players to choose from. Can they go one step further and bring home the World Cup after 56 years?     

Feature Image: From Flickr By Online muhabir from https://euro2020kupasi.com/

 

India's Warriors Triumph Down Under

No Kohli, no Jadeja,no Ashwin, no Shami and no Bumrah. From being skittled out for just 60 in Adelaide, who would of thought Ravi Shastri's India would once again triumph down under in Austrailia. After being completely outplayed in Adelaide as well as losing both their captain who was on paternity leave and then one of their premier fast bowlers in Mohammed Shami, a lot of people were expecting a long and diffcult tour for the Indians. However, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane had other ideas. 

The small man from Maharashtra made a strong statment in the Melbourne Test with a brillint innings of 112 which gave a strong statement to the Australians that although King Kohli was no longer there, his team was not going to go down like a house of cards, they were there to fight and win. 

Then in the third Test, Jadeja was struck on the thumb via a vicious bouncer from left-arm pacer Mitchel Starc. Followed by the racist taunts being from to drunk spectators in the Sydney crowd who were targeting both Bumrah and fellow paceman Mohammed Siraj who was apparently being called a 'brown dog'. Not to mention Paine's despicable act of removing Keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's batting guard. 

For a touring team to go down under, face all those incidents and still win a second successive series, says a lot about their character. Paticularly when an injured Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin battled through the last hour and a half on the final day of the Sydney Test. With many of the senior players being in and then out of the series, this gave an opportunity to see some new faces in the Indian side. Shubman Gill, what a talent this young kid is. For someone from the Sub-continent to make from the their test debut in Australia and score 259 runs on those fast, bouncey pitches is a remarkable and brave effort, particularly against the likes of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins, who were all bowling above 90mph. His innings of 91 was the catalyst for setting up the run chase. 

Chasing a target of 328 on a pitch that was uneven in terms of bounce was not going to be easy, particularly when India lost Rohit Sharma early but the innings in which Pujara plsayed allowed Gill to play a counter attacking innings. the best of his shots was the big upper-cut over third man. If he hit it straight down third man's throat, I can imagine that he would get a lot of stick from the fans and media, but the fact that the ball flew over the boundary for six, sent a strong statement to the Australians saying look, if you want to bounce us out, bounce us out, we're not afraid of you, we're going for the target. For someone to play an innings like that in only his third Test, speaks a lot about Gill's talent and mmore importantly his character. 

Let's also not forget the little Indian superstar Rishabh Pant. Another youg keeper-batsman who plays without fear. Pant has been brutally criticised in the past for giving his wicket away by playing reckless shots across the line, but the two innings he played at Sydney and the Gabba showed everyone the talent he has and the belief that he can turn a draw into a win, particularly if he stays at the crease for a couple of hours. The way he plays, reminds me about a certain Virender Sehwag in his prime, particularly with his flamboyant stroke play and fearless attitude as a cricketer. 

Another crucial turning point the Test match was the sixth wicket partnership of 123 off 216 balls between Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur. without those 115 runs, India would not have come close to parity with Australia on first innings runs. The hosts were leading the tourists by a minor 33 runs at that stage of the match. On previous tours to Australia, the lower order has just been blown away by the pace and bounce, but the way Thukur and Sundar counter attacked the Aussie bowlers was just enthralling to watch as they although they were scoring fairly quickly, the shots they played were traditional cricketing shots and not slogging across the line.

India's next assignment is a five-match Test Series against England, where should they win that series by two matches, they automatically qualify for this year's Test Championship Final in June. England in fact were the last team to win a Test series on Indian soil back in 2012/13, where Alistair Cook's side defeated MS Dhoni's side by 2-1. Joe Root's side have recently won the first of two Test against Sri Lanka, they are favourites to take that series 2-0, but Will Kohli's India win another series on home soil?

Australia in The Naughty Books Again

During the third Test of their home series agian India, Austrailia Test captain Tim Paine was caught on camera removing India Keeper batsman Rishabh Pants batting guard. It wasn't just Paine who was in the naughty books but the crowed at the Sydney Cricket Ground were cuaght racially abusing Indian pace bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj was allgedly calle a 'brown doog' and a 'big monkey by a group of spectators whilst he was feilding near the boundary. The Indian team reported the incedent to the umpires who then removed that section of the crowd who were involoved in the racists chant. Meanwhile Veteran off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was quick to point out that this was not the first time that he had heard such nasty chants from the Austrailia crowed.

"I would like to point out something, this is my fourth tour to Australia and Sydney especially here, we have had these type of experiences in the past as well. I think one or two times players have reacted to this in the past and they have gotten into trouble, it is not because of the player, it is because of the way the crowd has been reacting. The fans have been quite nasty, but this is one occasion where they have gone one step ahead, it is a case of racial abuse, we lodged an official complaint yesterday and we brought it to the notice of the umpires," Ashwin said. "It is definitely not acceptable in this day and age, we have evolved as a society and this roots to the upbringing, this should be dealt with an iron first, by iron fist I mean the way we deal with it."

We all know that sledging is part of Australia's DNA when it comes to playing cricket, but there have been some incidents, where the players have also stepped over the line, for exmaple, during the 2013-14 series, former Austraian captain Michael Clarke got quite aggresive with seamer James Anderson aksing him to 'get ready for a f'cking broken arm.' Which sounds like a threat rather then a sledge. Sledging is a verbal conversation between two players from either team use to immitate each other as a way of getting lose concentration. But as always, there is always a boundary.,which should not be crossed. Especially if it involves racism or beomes personal. So, why does it always happen in Australlia? All we want to see is a good game of competitive cricket between two teams and it should not be ruined by instances like the this. Racisn is not tollerated in any sport and Cricket Austrailia should know that. Sometimes you wish people who go to watck cricket in stadiums should think about how they behave rather than just drinking too much and then behave like idiots, this is setting a bad example in proffessional elite sport. I think that all cricket stadiums around the world, especially Sydney should have cameras in the crowd to keep an eye on their behaviour as this issue has been going on for years. This is ruining tthe game. It's time for change. Feature Image: India gamers allege abuse by followers on day 4 at SCG vs Australia; six spectators eliminated by Tanveer Sheikh.

They're Back!

How we have all missed the vibrant atmosphere of football fans turning up at stadiums to watch their team put on a show with the ball. After six months of playing behind closed doors, the 'beautiful game' is slowly but surely getting back to the norm.    

Football Crowd- St James' Park

Although we have had an exciting finish to the 2019-20 season and an extraordinary start to the 2020-21 season, it has not been the same without the roars and screams from thousands of spectators in the stands. We may not have full stadiums at the present moment, but due to the pandemic, elite sport has been missing its key motto, which is the fans appearing in their stadiums and/or venues. 

There is no doubt that players want to perform to their best of their ability week in and week out, and therefore having spectators cheering and shouting out their names gives them that extra boost of motivation, which may have been lost during the past nine months or so. 

Let's not forget the work that the government and especially the NHS has done to make this possible becuase at one stage, this may have been the end of sport for quite some time, probably for a couple of years at least. 

The return of the fans is also a boost to the clubs in terms of their reputation, they want to earn money and make success and a part of how they do it is allowing their fans the opportunity of coming to see the team play. This is particularly important for the lower tier clubs i.e League One and League Two as they want to achieve more success by winning matches to get promoted to the next tier of English football.  If there are no fans attending the games, the smaller clubs will eventually start to run out of business and shut down. 

Although we are on the verge of getting a vaccine to help up defeat the virus, having the fans back is a huge boost for most clubs around the country. Yes, there are certain areas in which have strict lockdown measures, but the 'beautiful game' is slowly returning to its prime.  

There's a saying that 'football is never the same without the fans', and that's the reality.    

Feature Image: "Football Crowd - St James' Park" by Steenbergs is licensed under CC BY 2.0

   

   

VAR "RIDICULOUS!!'

Those of you who are into football will know that VAR is  driving everyone nuts. First Crystal Palace, Burnley and then Tottenham. All three of these clubs were the first to be robbed by controversial decisions made by VAR this season.

Joel Ward, who was the first culprit to be dumbfounded by VAR on the third weekend of the 2020-21 Premier League season. During Palace's game away at Everton, Lucas Digne fired a shot at goal but the ball hit Ward's arm and was controversially given as a penalty, even though Ward's arm was in a natural position. The same happened with Eric Dier and Tottenham in their home game against Newcastle. Andy Carrol's header struck the England defender'a arm in what look to be a natural position when he was trying to  block the Newcastle centre forward's header attempt at goal. Chris Wood and Burnley were denied a penalty against Southampton, which many people including Sean Dysche were expecting to be given these days even though it was a bit on the soft side.

Why on earth did the FA listen to FIFA? As we know that the Premier League is the best League in the world, VAR is making a complete mockery out of the handball rule and becuase of this, defenders are now attempting to block shots with their arms behind their back. I  think the FA have seriously fallen in love with FIFA and its stupidity. Some people, especially FIFA have forgotten the basic rule of FIFA, where if a player deliberately intervenes with the ball with their arm or hand whilst it is still in play, it should then be given as handball and not the other way round.  Can someone put some sense into these people! Also, when you slide tackle a player, your arm must be raised in order to avoid injury, this is a natural position.

Having a silly rule such as this means that defenders cannot do their job properly. which is to help  the goalkeeper out by blocking shots on goal from the opposing team. 

Another issue on the handball rule, which Liverpool's Joe Gomez cleverly pointed out post the 1-1 draw with rivals City, is the fact that when the referee goes over to the VAR monitor, they watch it in slow motion, but everybody knows that the gaming is not played in slow motion, so how can you identify a handball decision by slowing the incident down?

This is where FIFA and VAR need to be more clear about how they implement the handball rule in professional football.  

Another issue regarding VAR is the offside rule. The rule states that if any part of the player's body is beyond the line of the opposition team's defence when the ball is being passed to them, it is given as  offside. But with that said, you cannot score a goal with your hand, as was the case for Patrick Bamford. Leeds United were controversially denied a goal against Crystal Palace for offside. As Bamford was trying to signal to Ayling where to pass the ball, VAR saw that his arm was beyond the line of Crystal Palace's defenders in the lead up to the goal, so it was ruled out for offside. However, you cannot score with your arm, so this proves that there is no logic whatsoever in this new offside rule. 

FIFA really need to get to the issue of fixing VAR becuase at the moment, it is taking the mockery out of the game. We all know that refereeing in football is one of the toughest jobs in sport, but that does not mean it should be defamed by incorrect use of technology. Fans want to see football being played the right way, but at the moment, the use VAR is proving to be a hurdle in the way of this happening.