Adam Wakefield

Well well well. As much as we wanted to believe SA Rugby about the Southern Kings’ chances of making it into the expanded Super 15, there was always a little voice in the back of our minds, referred to as Cynical Sam (as mentioned to me by a friend), who knew otherwise. The Southern Kings […]

From the mid 1970s to the end of the 1980s the world was still in a Cold War, the final embers of the Vietnam War were extinguished (but not forgotten), apartheid was still in force and the Berlin Wall was still very much a barrier to entry. But within this seemingly politicised gloom, several individuals […]

Deserts are an ever-changing landscape. From one day to the next the dunes shift from place to place, rolling over the landscape made asunder with the assistance of the wind. The only constant is the sun and as an Arabic proverb states “all sunshine makes a desert”. Cricket’s great desert over the last decade and […]

Since winning the women’s 800m final at the Athletics World Championships, Caster Semenya has been asked to or has (the IAAF doesn’t seem to have a clue) taken a gender test. Does something smell not quite kosher? Being only 18, Semenya has a bright future ahead of her if the IAAF’s bungling of the situation […]

The BCCI’s recent refusal to become a signatory of the Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) code opened a proverbial can of worms in relation to the invasive nature of testing. More specifically, athletes are aggrieved that they have to notify Wada, or the body that represents them that signed the Wada code, of their whereabouts for […]

It recently emerged that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has refused to adopt the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code. An integral part of this position is the BCCI’s support of its top players, who are claiming that the Wada code violates their privacy amongst other reasons. The BCCI has also said […]

The rugby world was recently rocked by a turn of events that screams of realism, the art of carrying a bigger stick than the other guy. The Springboks, the current world champions (which we love bragging about to the consternation of our Kiwi cousins) have always been a team that has bucketloads of potential but […]

Seneca, the stoic Roman philosopher, said “it is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness”. He makes a fine point. Great men only emerge once they have endured trial and tribulation, exposing the barest shivers of their true character, which will either rise with the occasion or collapse under the weight of […]

Rugby is acknowledged as one of South Africa’s “big three” when it comes to discussing professional sports. The game, plus football and cricket, forms the triangle of opportunity where a person can make a decent living, if not more. If you had to draw up a list of ingredients necessary for a game of rugby […]

In a surprising twist to the story that happens every year during the transfer window, not all is well at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid, flush with fresh and expensively shipped-in talent, have a simmering team crisis on their hands … and the season hasn’t even started yet. With the arrival of Ronaldo to the […]

By Adam Wakefield The old adage states “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. David Morgan, the ICC president, recently said that Test cricket could or would undergo serious changes by the time the clock strikes 12 and 2010 becomes 2011. This statement emerged from the background of what has now become a cliché in […]