Where to for quality Rugby journalism???

[Braveheart81]

Under Burkey's Law, Campo is well and truly entitled to act like a dickhead whenever he likes.

 

[p.Tah]

Campo is going to have fit when he finds out Channel 10 may have a female as part of their rugby team next year.

 

[Richo]

That would be refreshing.

NBA basketball is well-served by the commentary of Cheryl Miller (a better player than her more famous brother Reggie). Her lack of male genitalia, it turns out, does not stop her from providing insightful comment.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The second best bit of this storm in a Coffee cup is the nostalgic comments below the article like:

"I can understand where Campo is coming from and of course Growden is a very hard act to follow !"

"I just assumed it was part of Fairfax's cost cutting. I do miss Greg's wit though."

I have opined in the Quade Tells It Like it Is Thread, that World Rugby was blessed that Twitter wasn't around in the mid 80's, otherwise we would have not seen Campo make 101 Test Caps. This provides the evidence to support that assertion.

 

[The Red Baron]

That would be refreshing.

NBA basketball is well-served by the commentary of Cheryl Miller (a better player than her more famous brother Reggie). Her lack of male genitalia, it turns out, does not stop her from providing insightful comment.

Slightly off topic, but Reggie Miller played for the Pacers, didn't he? He could nail a basket from anywhere, so Cheryl must have been a damn good player.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Under Burkey's Law, Campo is well and truly entitled to act like a dickhead whenever he likes.

Because he's been a dickhead at the highest level?

 

[Schadenfreude]

Is the problem with Robinson that she's insightful and intelligent? There aren't many better rugby writers about these days. Eales and Mackenzie, but they also have an angle.

 

[Richo]

Slightly off topic, but Reggie Miller played for the Pacers, didn't he? He could nail a basket from anywhere, so Cheryl must have been a damn good player.

Yes, and yes. She's regarded as the best female player of all time. Growing up, she kicked his butt all over the place.

A great anecdote: Reggie, in high school, had one of his best games -- scored 50+ points. On the car ride home, he was talking trash to his sister and dad about how good he was, etc. They started laughing and he asked what his sister scored. She had 110 points.

Edit: the numbers might be off, but you get the gist.

 

[Jethro Tah]

Not so much quality "journalism". But a great database for all things rugby, every major league, up to date ect. http://www.espnscrum.com/

ESPN is Growden's new employer so you can be sure the quality of journalism will lift. He will do web posts and TV spots. The Australian breaks the news here.

Growden will team up on ESPN TV with Matt Burke and Duncan McRae. It would be a sight if Ronan O'Gara got a TV gig covering the Lions tour for Sky UK and happened to bump into McRae doing sideline comments on the Tahs v Lions game next year .

 

[en_force_er]

Not that it's been asked for but I feel like giving my two cents on this particularly interesting situation.

My opinion on Campo:
The blokes a dinosaur in every non-literal sense of the word.

He's a "why can't rugby can't be EXACTLY like it used to?" type of bloke that I personally despise and are sadly hugely over represented in our game. It's one thing to look to the past to benefit the future but it's another entirely to whine and whine to the detriment of the present day.

Campo displayed how much of a dinosaur he was outside of rugby when he tweeted a sexist remark without even realising it. This is the worst kind of sexism in my opinion, the kind that slips out in a brain fart. It's terrible to see because it's hard to nail down, easy for the source to defend, and worst of all it's a reflection of a society with subconscious opinions that are not changing as quickly as we would like to pretend.

My opinion on G.Robinson:
I've been pretty shocked to see people come out in defence of Georgia Robinson's journalistic quality. I even remember reading a post on this forum where a user referred to her as insightful.

Her SMH work to date has been pretty unnoteable, writing fluff pieces and general happenings (suspensions, injuries, etc.). Nothing particularly insightful, thought provoking, or fun (Growden seemed to be death riding rugby, but his rumours/titbits column was always amusing).

Now this isn't to say she isn't a great intellect or even a great journalist with great insight into rugby, but as of now she's doing the job Rugby Heaven/SMH want her to do. So lets not pretend she's something that she's not.

This is not to say women can't be good rugby writers, in fact the best rugby article I've ever read was a profile piece written by Jacqueline Maley for SMH of all things. Ironically to this whole situation I don't think she even has a rugby background (though for the purpose of saving face, I'm not 100% sure).

Read it here: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/australia-rugby/code-of-honour-20121105-28sto.html

 

[Inside Shoulder]

This isn't entirely on point - but its reported by a journalist and I dont think it deserves a thread of its own. It is the greatest put down of the 13 man game I have seen for a good while:

Former NRL CEO David Moffett gives advice to David Smith: "I wish him all the very best of luck, because I think he's going to need it. John Grant can sit there and talk about innovation and all that bullshit. But there's no amount of innovation that can prepare you for the unknown of rugby league. It thrives on the Hopoates of this world." Memo, John Grant: Tell Smith about Hopoate. Someone has to!

Read more:http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-files/landy-still-leading-the-pack-at-82-20121130-2amln.html#ixzz2DkWQhmaW

 

[wamberal]

Georgina Robinson's stuff in today's Hurled is several levels better than anything Growfat wrote, ever.

 

[hawktrain]

Robinson hasn't written anything overly analytical, just mainly reporting on what happened rather than giving too much of her opinion, and I quite like it. She's definitely a lot more tolerable than Growden. Here's hoping she does what he never did, and that's mention club rugby for positive reasons.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Does Georgina listen to the Radio?

 

[p.Tah]

Can someone tell me if this article actually tells us anything? Titled:

How Michael Hawker convinced Australian rugby's turkeys to vote for Christmas

How? What? Absolute rubbish article.
https://sslcam.news.com.au/cam/auth...te-for-christmas/story-e6frg7o6-1226578252048

 

[The Red Baron]

That was a nothing article. If Bret Harris wanted to leave his readers confused as to what he was actually talking about, job done.

Poorly written and purely speculative.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Tim Horan, predictably, setting the bar high in season 2013:

"The battle I'm looking forward to tonight is Liam Gill verse Michael Hooper."

Obviously expecting Gill to spout poetry at Hooper, Muhammed Ali style.
.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Horan's trumped himself:

"He's not happy, Ashley Cooper. I'm pretty sure he's on the ground." - as the camera zooms in on him, prostrate, as the medicos work on him.
.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Horan's on fire:

"What it does for the Waratahs. They've got two first receivers who can play fly-half."

 

[The Red Baron]

Horan is an absolute shocker. Clarke knows no-one except the 'big names'. Cannon has had one too many head knocks. Marto is a fool. Kearns = Marto. Kafe isn't too bad.

God we need new commentators.