SWANNY'S WORLD OF SPORT: A classy captain, a waste of money, arrogance before a fall, local clubs in denial

Kompany doesn’t play a lot thanks to a dodgy body, but he oozes class and quality when he is on the pitch.

WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY

The return of the GB Winter Olympics team from South Korea was treated as a celebratory homecoming by the increasingly ridiculous BBC.

Over £28 million of funding produced one gold and four bronze medals, and one of those third places was achieved by an American masquerading as British and another by Billy Morgan in the ‘Big Air’, basically an event for circus acrobats. That’s around £5.5 million of funding per medal, a grotesque misuse of money for elite sports out of reach of the vast majority of British citizens.

Meanwhile sports facilities which would be enjoyed by millions of youngsters fall into disrepair because councils can only find money for personal payrises and such like. Something’s very wrong.

ARROGANCE BEFORE A FALL

Scotland trimming England up at rugby union was something an arrogant English coach and an arrogant English team needed. If the loss of a Six Nations title is the price to pay for the management and squad re-focusing to concentrate on winning a second World Cup, it’s one worth paying. Owen Farrell showed more fight pre-match in the tunnel than on the pitch.

LOCAL CLUBS STILL IN DENIAL

Thanks for the very positive response to my article on football generally becoming an ugly game. Worryingly though, the only negative comments I received came from clubs who have had serious disciplinary issues this season. That hopeless level of denial suggests lessons won’t be learnt very quickly.