| Buderus returns after RFL quash ban • Australian hooker had been handed one-match suspension• Jones-Buchanan could also make return for RhinosDanny Buderus will be free to play when the Super League champions Leeds aim to reach their fourth consecutive Grand Final after the Rugby Football League's appeals panel quashed a suspension imposed by the disciplinary committee for the second time in a week.The Australian hooker had been banned for one match after being found guilty of a spear tackle in the Rhinos' 27-26 win at Wigan in the first round of the play-offs last Sunday night. But the appeals panel agreed to lift the ban having been shown the incident from a different angle, just as they had in rescinding a one-match suspension imposed on the Hull forward Lee Radford last Wednesday night.To add to the confusion, they refused Buderus's appeal against the guilty verdict and his £300 fine. But the latter will be a small price to pay for him or Leeds, who have already lost the England internationals Jamie Peacock and Danny McGuire to serious knee ligament injuries, but could yet be boosted by the return of Jamie Jones-Buchanan for their qualifying semi-final on Saturday week at home to one of the winners of this weekend's elimination semis.Paul Deacon has been omitted from Wigan's squad for the first of those games against Hull KR, apparently confirming initial fears that the recurrence of a groin problem he suffered against Leeds will rule him out for the rest of the season.Leeds RhinosSuper LeagueRugby leagueAndy Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mahaffey Theater looks for its lead ST. PETERSBURG — The chance to manage Mahaffey Theater has caught the eye of a St. Petersburg millionaire music producer and another local performing arts venue. feeds.bizjournals.com |
The award-winning column: Said & Done Man of the weekPeter Storrie – refusing to discuss the £87k he was paid by Portsmouth's administrators for five months' consultancy: "I don't talk to the press any more, I've finished with all that." Last time Storrie did discuss his income – March, when administrators made 85 staff redundant. Storrie said he was "sick and tired" of claims he was overpaid as the debt hit £135m, with his 2009 package (£600k basic, £500k bonus, plus £3,000 for a win) "very reasonable". Storrie's wife told critics to back off: "The only thing Peter is guilty of is trying to be a hero. We've been living a nightmare."Socialist workerNew last week from Jack Warner: inaugurates a new academy in Jamaica paid for by a Fifa grant. Jack says Fifa are devoted to wealth redistribution for disadvantaged nations as part of a commitment to "equity and equality" in football. Fifa's grant to the centre: £250k. Amount paid in "bribes and kickbacks" to Fifa executives and contacts by Fifa's collapsed marketing agency up to 2001: £66m. Family news£16k: amount Fifa will donate to former Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, left unable to walk after being shot at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. Sepp told Obilale, who owes over £100k in medical bills: "I wish you a lot of courage". (£170k: Bonuses paid by Sepp to all 208 Fifa associations in June ahead of next year's Fifa elections. "Call it a gift!" said Sepp. "We are a united and happy football family!")Plus: award of the weekFormer Fifa vice-president Viacheslav Koloskov, in Asunción to lobby Fifa executive Nicolás Leoz for Russia's 2018 bid. Leoz presented Koloskov with an award for "services to football and its principles". (Principles: 2000 – Leoz named in court as taking £85k in bribes; 2002 – Koloskov given an unauthorised £65k payment from Sepp to cover "personal expenses". Sepp: "I reject all allegations of corruption.")Meanwhile: last week's transparency round-up• $81m: Public funds allocated to stadium refurbishment in Jack Warner's Trinidad for last month's Fifa U17 Women's World Cup. An inquiry has now been launched to "determine where the $81m went". Minister Anil Roberts said it would be "forensic": "We have a report which shows the money was misappropriated. We will solve this problem."• £44k: Amount Nigeria's Football Federation continue to owe the country's referees. Referee spokesman Ahmed Maude said a threat of a strike had focused minds. "They have still not told us when they will pay the monies, but they will." (£520k: amount allegedly "misspent" by former NFF officials on trips to the World Cup. The investigation continues; they deny wrongdoing).• £418k: Amount Ghana's FA spent on expenses for a match against Benin last year according to pressure group CFS, who have welcomed a government inquiry. "Transparency is key... These sums cannot go unaccounted for in a country whose citizens go through hell day in day out to get portable drinking water".• 3: Number of senior Zambia FA officials who resigned last week accusing FA head Kalusha Bwalya of a "serious lack of transparency". Bwalya said he would punish those trying to "undermine me". "Enough is enough. Now I will crack the whip!"TextbookThursday: Milan Mandaric, Leicester, tells the press to back off Paulo Sousa: "We can't turn things upside down now, for goodness sake. We can't turn around now and say Paulo needs to go. Now is the time for us to show how strong we are together, how united we are behind our manager and give him a chance. It is a difficult time but it is time to be united and not to listen to speculation in the media. It is as simple as that."Friday: Sacks him.Number crunching• £142m: The new annual Premier League "solidarity payment" split between Football League clubs – proving "Premier League clubs take their responsibility for all levels of the game very seriously."• £133m: Man City's wage bill. HotseatStability news: Real Mallorca say they sacked president Josep Pons because of allegations he sexually harassed a member of staff while he was Spain's ambassador to Austria. "I am innocent, and deeply unhappy," says Pons. Number of Real presidents in the last two years: 8.Taste and decencyDiversity news: Ecuadorian officials say they'll appeal after a court re-instated women's club Deportivo Guipúzcoa. The league banned them in July 2009 after two players kissed during a game. "That act," said the league's legal spokesman "defied morality and good habits".And finallyLarissa Riquelme says her new role in Mexican TV show "The Triumph of Love" with veteran midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco is "thrilling". Blanco will play a fireman, with Riquelme as his lover. Blanco: "This is a big test as an actor." Producer Salvador Mejia: "Honestly? I don't expect them to be able to act. They're just the cherries on my cake."FifaDavid Hillsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Stephen Jones willing and able to bridge Wales' generation gap On the eve of his 75th Heineken Cup match the fly-half is as hungry as ever for Scarlets and his countryEven now Stephen Jones clutches his head in embarrassment at the memory of the day he almost signed for Leicester. It was 2004 and the Tigers were so keen to impress their Welsh guest that they had assigned two of their leading players, Geordan Murphy and Lewis Moody, to act as his social minders. They duly took their potential new team-mate to a nice restaurant before embarking on a prolonged refuelling session which ended with Jones barely aware what country he was in. At 8am next morning, with his chaperones enjoying a lie-in on their day off, Jones stumbled out of bed to meet the Leicester hierarchy. He still cannot recall a word anyone said.Fast forward to this weekend and a clear-eyed, motivated Jones, in the colours of his beloved Scarlets, are due back in the midlands for a Heineken Cup encounter fizzing with possibilities. It says everything about the enduring commitment of Wales's fly-half that Leicester would like to rewind history even more than he does. After 91 caps and 815 points for Wales, Jones long ago passed the tipping point which separates good-time boyo from top-class professional operator. Few players in the British Isles have proved a greater number of people wrong during their careers.Maturity strikes us all eventually but, in Jones's case, there remain some who still view him as a Carmarthen-reared cuckoo in the pantheon of all-time Welsh No10 legends such as Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathan Davies. History may determine otherwise; the modest 32-year-old's lasting achievement, aside from his six Lions Test appearances, has been to demystify the jersey and prove that quality playmakers are not necessarily defined by a twinkling sidestep. How strange it must be to donate your body and soul to your country for 12 years and still hear people debating your worth.On the eve of his 75th Heineken match, perhaps as a result, there is not a hint of bombast about the Scarlets' understated pimpernel. "I cringe to look back at the player I was," he says softly, deep in the bowels of the new Parc y Scarlets complex which has superseded evocative old Stradey Park as the oval-ball shrine of Llanelli and west Wales. "I look at old matches and think: 'Why was I doing that?' It was a case of ignorance is bliss. You thought: 'This is what we do, it's good enough'. We couldn't fathom why Wales couldn't compete against certain teams. It's only when people open your eyes that you see what's needed."In Jones's case it was a combination of Steve Hansen, Scott Johnson and Andrew Hore who persuaded him that, culturally, things had to change. In the bad old days Jones might sink five or six pints on a Friday night after a game, enjoy another good evening on Saturday and report innocently back to work on the Monday. "It was completely different but that was the norm then. I don't miss it but it was bloody good fun. Even in the early days of professionalism it was still amateur in so many senses. Everybody had a good crack, didn't they?"Eventually the penny dropped that world-class sporting excellence is not bred in the Dog and Dragon. His Leicester experience also played its part. "I didn't dip into my pocket much I remember that … the club were brilliant and very professional and I probably wasn't. You try and disguise it [the next morning] but you've got no chance of disguising some things."Eventually he signed for Montferrand, spending two horizon-broadening years in the Massif Central where Richard Cockerill, now the Tigers' head coach, acted as his tour guide on his first visit. He returned home more confident and open-minded, better equipped to enthuse others. "What I hammer home to the youngsters is how lucky they are: we've got fantastic facilities and the training pitch is like a bowling green. There are no excuses. Being a rugby player is a great life but it's up to you what you want to make of it."Which is where Jones's talent truly lies. These days few in Wales prepare more assiduously for games, nor negotiate the tactical minefield with surer instincts. "For me the game has to be learned. You have to bring a new dimension to your game every year." Leicester, accordingly, will find the enterprising Scarlets tricky to read. "Within 3-4 video clips you can see exactly what a lot of sides are trying to do," says Nigel Davies, the Scarlets' head coach. "We've decided to be different." That kind of multilayered, reactive game is only possible if you have a conductor of Jones's quality.The time has also come for the Scarlets and the national team to kick on. Wales are set to announce their autumn Test squad on Monday and even Jones, their reliable linchpin, knows the next six weeks will be crucial. "It's no coincidence the last two teams to win the World Cup – South Africa and England – were the dominant side a year out. If Wales want to feature in the World Cup I believe we've got to perform now. It's momentum, isn't it? Yes, we've got confidence in the way we train but international rugby is about winning." Last week's spectacular four-try victory over Perpignan, in which Jones scored 28 points including his 50th try for his local side, has already given the new-look Scarlets fresh hope following a lengthy spell of financial uncertainty. "As a region we're in the best place we've been for a couple of years. This weekend is a great test for us. It'll tell us exactly where we're at."There remains the small matter of Leicester's tendency to edge big games between the sides, not least the semi-finals of 2002 and 2007. With local emotions still swirling in the wake of Gavin Quinnell's serious eye injury, victory for the Scarlets would mean a lot. Jones still reckons Welsh stand-offs are only ever one game away from a public kicking but long ago realised where his priorities really lie: "As long as they say 'He's an honest guy who represented his region with passion' I'll be happy with that." How does he think his predecessor Phil Bennett would fare in the professional game? "Well, he is 61 now," he replies, chortling to himself. Like every good Welsh fly-half, Jones can sidestep beautifully when he wants to.ScarletsHeineken CupLeicesterWales rugby union teamRugby unionRobert Kitsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Federer wins Stockholm Open, ties Sampras with 64 ATP titles Roger Federer beat Germany's Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3 to win the Stockholm Open on Sunday, matching Pete Sampras' record of 64 career titles. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |