Sport

Top sports headlines in South Africa for 2011

The end of the year is quickly creeping up on us and as we contend with our daily grind and daily news we are confronted with a sudden bout of nostalgia. This time of the year is as popular for nostalgia as it is for Turkey dinners and Christmas pudding. There’s something about the festive season that makes people want to reminisce and think about the past. Past loves, past lives and past events.

As we saunter down memory lane we think about the top sports stories that dominated headlines this year. You would think that the Indians winning the Cricket World Cup earlier this year would feature, but you would be wrong. Maybe you thought that the All Blacks win in the Rugby World Cup would crack a nod, but once again you would be mistaken! According to online sports news reads, these are the top ten online South African sports articles:

1. Ref robbed Boks – UK scribes (sport24| 2011-10-10 | 08:13)
Two rugby writers representing a renowned broadsheet in neutral England have strongly attacked referee Bryce Lawrence. (Not too many surprises here!)

2. Cheerleader booted out of IPL (sport24 | 2011-05-10 | 08:01)
Sexy and sultry ‘Maritzburg bombshell got booted out of the IPL after she made several revelations about the fun and flirting in the IPL on her blog. Once she was identified as the blogger, she was booted! Many disappointed men in South Africa – clearly!

3. Chaos in SA dressing room (sport 24 | 2011-03-14 | 07:33)
The Proteas’ celebrations after narrowly beating India in the group stages of the World Cup, were a little bit too boisterous and over the top. 

4. Petition to have Bryce banned (sport 24 | 2011-10-10 | 13:22)
A petition on Facebook was started to have referee Bryce Lawrence banned from the game. Within just 15 days the petition gained more than 20 000 followers. Goodbye Bryce. The rugby loving public has spoken!

5. Smit: Lawrence didn’t listen (sport 24 | 2011-10-09 | 22:23)
Smit’s pleas to referee Lawrence clearly fell on deaf ears as Lawrence continued to be liberal in his interpretation of the break-down rule. A fact that played into the hands of the wallabies and their eventual man-of-the-match David Pocock. With another ref in charge he may have been sin-binned for his play rather than being given accolades. 

6. Bok murder was no accident (sport 24 | 2011-11-14 | 09:01)
Solly Tyibilika’s death was no accident according to several reports. The sad loss of the former Springbok flank came as a shock to many South Africans.

7. Watson, Bryce was out of line (sport 24 | 2011-10-11 | 16:50)
South African referee’s manager André Watson was surprised by Bryce Lawrence’s performance in the quarter-finals. He was baffled by his handling of the breakdown areas. 

8. Doctor feared for Joost (sport 24 | 2011-05-13 | 07:27)
Joost’s physician and friend feared that something could be wrong with the former Bok captain. We were all shocked by the news of his motor neuron disease ourselves.

9. French in rage over Joubert (sport 24 | 2011-10-24 | 08:44)
The French public have laid the blame for their team’s loss to the All Blacks at the feet of the match referee, South African Craig Joubert. Seems no teams were thrilled with the refereeing. Is this something the IRB should look at?

10. Biff ditches SA for brunette (sport 24 | 2011-03-30 | 08:07)
Outgoing Protea’s captain Graeme Smith did not even come back to South Africa with the rest of his team-mates after bowing out of the Cricket World Cup. Instead he went to the Emerald Isle to court his lass.

It was certainly a very busy sport year with all codes appearing in the headlines. It’s just a bit strange that rugby and cricket dominated the headlines without doing very well in terms of results. It seems that even bad news makes for good news. Bryce Lawrence: thanks for the memories!