In a major win for the embattled code in Australia, Super Rugby is set to restart in Australia on July 3. Rugby Australia confirmed a revamped Super Rugby competition would feature the Queensland Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies and the return of the Western Force.

The competition will kick-off with a first-up State of Origin derby between the Reds and Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium. The Brumbies will clash with the Rebels, meaning the Western Force will have to wait another week, before returning from exile.

The rejigged competition format will see all the sides play each other twice, finishing with a September 19 Grand Final. All the sides will be on an even footing, starting on zero points once the competition kicks-off. Seven rounds of the original Super Rugby competition format were played in 2020, before the season was suspended.

In a further boost for the code, the Australian government announced that stadiums with a capacity of less than 40,000 will be able to sell a limited number of seats. Instead of cardboard cut-outs, the players will be greeted by crowds of no more than 10,000.

Where’s the Jockey Love?

Jockeys deserve more credit. These supermen in tiny tights are meticulously professional and remain the driving forces behind some of the biggest names in horse racing. Consider American jockey legend Calvin Borel. This year, Borel first won the Kentucky Derby with Mine That Bird, then, switched horses to a philly, and road Rachel Alexandria all the way to the Preakness title. Come on people, where’s the Jockey Love?

The horses always seem to get all the credit…One can rattle off several famous horse names like Mine That Bird, Secretariat, Seabiscuit and countless others. But many people, myself included, are at a loss when it comes to naming the Jockeys that ride these magnificent steeds to victory.

Why do the horses receive more fame? Doesn’t seem fair to me, it’s a partnership, they ride and the horse strides, it’s like Jordan and Pippen baby. Isn’t it? Not at all an expert on this topic, I put down my mint julep and decided to do some research. It seems that a typical jockey accounts for only around ten percent of the success of his horse. That means a shitty horse has no chance even if the best jockey in the world is riding it. So what is in that ten percent that separates the best from the rest?

Calvin Ayre’s home province CFL team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, have just lost the Grey Cup. The Roughriders were 9-point underdogs to the Montreal Alouettes and their fear-inspiring nickname going into the 97th Grey Cup. The Riders lost the championship 28-27 on a last second field goal.

Calvin must have been home schooled in Lashburn. The math classes in the Saskatchewan Public school systems seem a bit suspect, because the Roughriders clearly weren’t taught how to count to 12. They had 13 men on the field which drew a too-many men on the field penalty and gave the Montreal Alouettes a second chance at the game-winning field goal after the first one went wide right.

Losses like that leave fans drunk and belligerent. Probably much the same as when they win.

Fuck it. They covered the spread.

Those hydrants are a menace to drivers the world over

Once again our friends at Paddy Power have stolen a march on the competition by reacting quickly to those water-cooler interest stories.

This time the Irish bookmaker has drawn up a raft of odds on what will happen to golfer Tiger Woods following ‘Hydrantgate’, the mysterious car crash involving Woods and his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren.

Paddy Power have priced up odds on everything from what Tiger’s official medical record will show, to whether the police will charge him and what his marital status will be at the end of the year.

Yet another own goal for Poland

Not content with taking a wrecking ball to the betting industry in Poland President Lech Kaczynski is now looking to ruin Polish football clubs by attempting to enforce the termination of their lucrative sponsorship contracts with online gambling companies. God help those poor Poles. Read more.

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Titan Bet are looking to score in sports betting

There’s a new kid on the block in the UK online sports betting market and it goes by the name of Titan Bet.

Titan has primarily concerned itself with casino, poker and fixed-odds games but has now decided to expand its portfolio by taking on the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes in the sports betting market. Read more.

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Betting is set to hot up in South Africa

Victor Chandler has been granted a license to operate in South Africa. The decision will enable the Gibraltar-based sports bookmaker to cash in on the football fever that will sweep the nation next summer, when South Africa hosts the World Cup. Read more.

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Nah. You can barely see it…Smile.

Powerful men have always had mistresses since the dawn of time and chances are…they always will.

The media is embarrassing itself in the US and elsewhere else, by pretending that this is somehow shocking. From my perspective, the only shock is that nobody is offended that Tigers cute little model wife attacked him. With a FUCKING golf club.

Though she likely has a right to be upset, as I doubt this mistress thing was never part of their whole marriage/relationship deal…after all, its always the lies that cause the pain.…you have to wonder how she thought this wasn’t in the cards. I mean, he’s rich and powerful. Isn’t that why she married him to begin with?

Sportingbet saw its bottom line significantly increased due to a fifty- six percent increase in European sports net gaming revenues…Read more.

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(sigh) If only fantasy were reality, We’d all be GM’s with that on our arm.

Safe to say that pretty much every sports fan has or currently has or has at some point had their own fantasy sports team. And then of course, there are those who by fantasy standards, have been in the GM business for years…Some actually have extra grey hairs from the pressures of being a GM, it truly does get that intense. Many Sportsbooks but not all, incorporate fantasy leagues at some level in the products they provide, and those that don’t, should probably start. Fantasy leagues are only growing in popularity and as the popularity and the intensity of fantasy sport grows so grows the opportunity for Sportsbooks to increase revenue made from proposition wagers.

Fantasy team owners are always watching the sports ticker. They know all the days stats of all their players and the best owners and fantasy GMs know the day’s stats on every one else as well. As such, Sportsbooks that offer extensive proposition wagers on individual player’s stats are more likely to attract those fantasy cats. And it’s easy to see why. The fantasy GM not only knows all the statistics but he also knows tendencies, he knows weaknesses, he knows when he’s due for a big game, or when he’s due for a piss poor performance. The fantasy GM has all the tools to really enjoy proposition bets, and in win them in many cases. The knowledge of an individual player’s past performances against certain teams, certain defenses, playing injured, or on short rest, or on a back to back night, is all known the good fantasy GM. It is that exact knowledge that is required to make great proposition bets.

Fantasy GM’s know their players like the back of their hands. It’s funny shit listening to a fantasy GM rant and rave over a player that’s not performing up to snuff. It’s even funnier to bust his balls about it.

Gotta love the Mohawks. It’s clear the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake in Quebec are serious about their sovereignty by welcoming the Olympic torch, but not the RCMP.

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The first BodogBrand licensee, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, is located just outside Montreal Quebec and is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

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Bookies should paws for thought over Tiger-gate

When I used to play Sunday morning football my mate Wils and I used to make a point of stopping at the corner shop near the ground to buy a bottle of Lucozade and a packet of crisps – which of course is any self-respecting athlete’s pre-match meal of choice. Invariably, we would also grab a copy of the News Of The World, say “Who’s career are they destroying today?” and avidly hover up the lurid details, as well as our crisps, before losing 4-1 to the meat-cleaving hod-carriers of SW17.

In said rag, there would without fail be some celebrity being publicly humiliated as the result of some honeytrap or other, cunningly devised in the editorial offices of tabloid scribes who for some reason call themselves investigative journalists. Great lengths were gone to dupe Sven-Goran Eriksson into expressing an interest in managing Aston Villa when he should have been preparing England for the World Cup, while the model Sophie Anderton did little for her aspiring TV career when agreeing to a weekend of sex in the Bahamas for £15,000 while snorting cocaine in a hotel room with the same ‘Fake Sheikh’.

When I say the newspaper went to great lengths to catch these people off guard, all it actually took was a dark-skinned reporter, some sunglasses, a well-placed head towel, a dodgy accent and a hidden video camera to reveal these scoops.

A few hours before the 2009 EGR Awards I had the pleasure of spending some time with Mark Blandford, founder of Sporting Bet, and Chairman of the EGR Awards judges.  Over a cappuccino, Mark and I chatted about his role as Chairman of the judges, what the EGR Awards are all about, and why he has decided to step down as Chairman after three years of serving in this prestigious role.

RL: Can you tell me what it means to be Chairman of the judges? What is this role all about?

MB: Well, first of all, I was delighted to be asked by Pageant Media to be Chairman of the judges.  They are big suppliers to the industry in terms of the conferences and organizing events for the industry, and their awards are probably the most prestigious in the sense that they are genuine and fair awards judged impartially by a range of people within the industry.

RL: How do you choose the judges for this event?

There are now one billion egamers out there in cyberspace, according to EA bigwig John Riccitiello. And he can’t be wrong. It’s in the game.

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