I GAVE up playing pennant tennis this season on the grounds that my opponents in my over-50s division were often 20 years younger. I might have to review that decision in light of the oldies’ success in this year’s Australian Open. The standout, of course, was 35-year-old Roger Federer defeating his long-time rival Rafael Nadal…
WE ALL know that hitting a little white ball around the golf course ruins a nice walk, but now there’s scientific evidence that it’s good for you. A regular game of golf can typically burn off 500 calories over 18 holes to improve help prevent and treat chronic diseases such as heart attacks, stroke, diabetes,…
THE AUSSIES are having a tough time in sport lately. The Rio Olympics have just finished with Australia crashing to 10th in the medal table while traditional rivals Great Britain enjoyed a record medal haul to finish 2nd in the table. The same weekend, the Wallabies were thrashed 42-8 on home soil by world rugby…
THERE’S not much to admire about the Olympics these days what with drug cheats and host countries diving into debt with unfinished stadia. But there is one bright spot. The Olympics offers a great opportunity to be jingoistic. It’s the ultimate sporting nationalism. And there’s nothing better for a Pom living in Australia for the…
THERE’S a certain vicarious pleasure in playing a round of golf with a man who gets a hole in one. It would be more pleasurable if it were me, of course, but the fact that a playing partner can do it means there is hope yet for my humble game. As a relative newcomer to…
FORMER England cricket captain Michael Atherton once famously described the game of cricket as “a game of skill and gentlemanly conduct where everyone hates the Australians equally”. The next Ashes series between England and Australia starts towards the end of 2017 but already the MCC lawmakers at the home of cricket at Lords are looking…
WE’RE thinking of signposting the path from the lower tennis courts to the clubhouse as ‘Orthopaedic Walk’. It’s the walk when the topic of conversation is the aches and pains of our aging bodies. Thanks to the wonders of medical science, there are new knees, new hips and new shoulders in abundance as we make…
NOW that an Australian is coaching the England cricket team, I can look forward to the Ashes series starting in July in the UK. As a Pom Down Under for more than a quarter of a century, I have always supported English sporting teams against the rampant Aussies. It’s cost me a few bob as…
Booming Marvellous 