two part challenge

1) not counting your own country, what country do you support in sport and why?

2) not counting teams from your own country, what foreign team do you follow the most and why?

Rugby league is the only sport i really follow so after Autralia the best nation at league is definitely New Zeland. New Zealand provide a very large part of the rugby league player pool and are the main competitor in every aspect of the game. Some of my favourite players at the Bulldogs were produced by New Zealand and almost every team in the NRL or Super league have at least one high quality player who calls New Zealand home.

The Warriors have always been a favourite competitor for me as every time they play my chosen team it is a tough contest. The Warriors have a fairly open style of football that usually entertains. despite their poor performance over the 2004 season they have the abiity to set the feild alight with a high class backline, some of my worst memories come from games against the warriors when the dogs have been up by around 12 points with ten minutes to go and suddenly three minutes later were down by 6 and are really on the back foot. Its at times like these you know you a about to have another 10 or 12 points scored on you. I also follow the Kiwi international side as a secondary side. In most cases they pick players on form and generally havent got biases towards certain teams wheras the Australian selectors pick out of form players, players just back from extended injury and generally guys that just dont deserve to be there.

I must say when i read Dougs post early today i was thinking if it was in this i would make it NZ and the Warriors as they are Dougs teams.

What a shock the 1st up picked those 2. lol

1)I support the dutch in all there sporting endeavours for two reasons. Firstly, they are so grumpy and i love grumpy folk. i think they are cuddly! they also well known for there curly handlebar moustaches which is a big plus for me as i am unable to grow one which frustrates me greatly!!

2)So the number one foreign team i support is the Dutch Curling team which is lead aptly by Frans Kubermuun. I love watch him flick the puck down the ice and grumpily bark orders at his underlings Jak Huber and Hans Minelite while they busily brush the ice in front of the puck with there mini brooms. These three proliferate sporting excellence in a team sport. I have a poster of them on my wall and there best of videos 1 through 7. I support this country because of there excellence in there chosen national sport and there pride.

1) I Support the Irish, because I can trace some of my relatives back Ireland as well as Scotland and England. Love the irish International Soccer team, its who I backed during the world cup in 2002 and who I will be backing in 2006 again. I also am a fan of the their Union team, except when they are playing against australia

2) not counting teams from your own country, what foreign team do you follow the most and why?

Newcastle United FC in the English Premier League, been a proud follower of the toon since 1997. They were the first team i saw play in the premier league and i was like yep i'll go for them, because they had a familiar name. Another reason why i got into Newcastle was the Alan Shearer factor, the way that man can sniff out a goal is amazing, his feats make this Henry fella look like he is in kindergarten

Henry is the best player ever!!

Just for something to do:

In other sports, I jump from nation to nation. I support England in the League, South Africa in cricket, and the French in Union.

For a side I support that is from outside Australia, it would be Leeds in the soccer and the Leigh Centurions in the ESL. I've loved Leeds forever, so the recent form has been painful to say the least. Leigh are just perennial underdogs.

it was out of chris columbo and pj for immunity.

and i will give immunity to....................

pj.


(now don't say i am biased, i said to myself they will not suck up to me) (p.s. go newcastle in the EPL)

I wasnt sucking up anyway. New Zealand are the only real force in league (my opinion) with Australia though England are on the improve and should be better in my opinion.

Screwed! How can you not give immunity to the lads of the Dutch Curling team???

England just came 1st in the Tri Nations rouind robin

and NZ came last with no wins was it?

A severe lack of interest in this years internationals means i had no idea that England had nmanaged that feat. I havent even seen an international game advertised at all. I havent got a hell of a lot of time on my hands right now to search for these fixtures if the NRL isnt prepared to advertise them i wont bother watching them. After the Bulldogs took out the premiership this year i was quite happy to let rugby league for season 2004 end on that high note. Over the last few years England have gotten smoked royally by both Australia and New Zealand. The largest part of the New Zealand side has always been the Warriors. With the Warriors form this season the side was always going to struggle to put together a side of the quality they usually do. I still think that New Zealand is the second best nation in the world for producing footballers just by sheer number of players exported. Englands standard may be lifting and that has showed this year (though admittedly i had no idea at all of whats going on in this years internationals). If England can make the winning habit more consistent then ill lift my opinion of them as a rugby league playing nation.

In my opinion i think you need to look deeper than just international football. Every club in the NRL would have some kiwis in their squad while the only English player who has really made a big mark in the NRL is Morley. The only other english player who has had any games in the NRL over the last couple of season's (in my limited knowledge) is Chris Thorman who is now back at Huddersfeild. Feel free to correct me if im wrong on this, there are probably another few english guys playing in the NRL i just havent heard of any of them setting the world on fire. My main point is that England will pay big money for players on their last legs or players who arent huge stars who will lift the standard of their Super league sides while Australia or New Zealand dont really need substandard Brits to boister their ranks and that to me proves their is a deficiency in the level of the English game.

Compared in population sizes England has a much larger base from which they could build their game from and by comparison should be able to export more quality players than they do. International football showcases at best 25 of the outstanding players of one nation and cant be taken as the true gauge of the countries standard at league. When we see English players starting in the NRL in every team then ill respect the quality of their game. Exchange rates mean high quality english players just dont have the financial motivation to travel to a place where they wont seem as outstanding nor have the same impact as they do at home.

It was actually great britain that came top of the table.. not england