You have to hand it to the Poms, when they decide to throw all logic and reason out the window, they go all out!
Every year an anonymous English Rugby League magazine with a small circulation in pockets of northern England takes it upon themselves to have out a “Golden Boot” award. This award is supposed to be given to the best player in the world. Unfortunately an award is only as accurate as the people voting on it…
When you get a bunch of English Rugby League “journalists” in a room and get them talking about the game, it doesn’t take long to realise that most of them are just cheerleaders for their own club. Their lives are spent spitting out PR lines fed to them by clubs and players. They have no critical thinking ability at all.
That is how we get these nominees for the 2013 golden boot award:
Jonathan Thuston
Cooper Cronk
Cameron Smith
Sonny Bill Williams
Sam Burgess
Danny Brough
My readers are not like those that would buy some pommy rag that tries to bullshit them. My readers are smart! Right now my readers are laughing at Danny Bough’t inclusion, they are embarrassed for Sonny Bill Williams, and most importantly, they are wondering where the hell Greg Inglis is!
Now the birdcage liner that put this list out doesn’t care about people that watch the game. They don’t live in reality. Hell, last year they said Kevin Sinfield was the best player in the entire world. Reality does not come into their calculations.
The criteria for this award changes to suit what ever outcome they want for this award. Some years it only takes in club football. Other years it only takes in international football. What they decide to use for this award will only be revealed once they have picked the winner, which believe me, that has already happened!
I have no doubt they want to give this English award to Englishman Sam Burgess. They will do everything they can to hand him this false accolade.
Danny Brough played for Scotland, but he is actually English too. They might make a case for him if they can.
Sonny Bill Williams would be the “Anyone but an Aussie” selection. Anyone that watched his performance on the biggest stage against the world best players in the World Cup final would normally put a red line through his name. Not the Poms though!
That isn’t even taking into account that Jonathan Thurston had a so-so season, Cooper Cronk was pretty good but probably played his last year as the incumbent for Queensland and Australia in the face of Daly Cherry-Evans….and that just leaves Cameron Smith, who has had a very good season but probably not his best season.
To have a list like this and to leave out Greg Inglis is simply ridiculous. I also think that to leave out Issac Luke, who has easily been New Zealand’s best player in 2013, shows how stupid the people are that put these awards together.
I don’t know why anyone would buy a magazine on any subject when that magazine year after year proves that it doesn’t actually know a great deal about the subject matter it writes about. I’d save my money.
That is what you should do to.
I will be naming my King Of Rugby League Award winners in the coming days. The King Of Rugby League awards, which does not need a group of people to work out the winner of, runs through from the very first game of the year to the last game. It takes in performances at every level and how the best players in the game performed when it really mattered.
Feel free to look through my list of award winners and try to argue against any of them. I will tell you think, the King Of Rugby League awards are a million miles ahead of that stupid “golden boot” backslapping event they hold in northern England.
I think your passion for league is brilliant. I also believe you’re probably correct about certain players who should be in rather than who should be out. I think some of your comments are condescending and dismissive. This is a shame given that there are too many people who say they like League but are not prepared to prove it or defend it. I’m pretty sure there are not just northern English journos on the Golden Boot panel though I do agree the criteria is often sketchy and shifting. In- fighting is a real disease in our sport and we have enough enemies out there to sink several fleets. Your piece and the assumptions a lot of it is based upon will only help those looking for fault to bag our sport with. I have never read or heard anyone in yawnion bag their sport the way we do and that’s something that needs to change if we want move on to the world stage and market place, parochial is just and only that.
If you are looking for a cheerleader, you have come to the wrong place.
I have built up a following because people know that I will call bullshit when I see it. I will not simply push out a PR line that some suit in an office wants to get out there. I will judge every situation on its merit and I will gladly kick the crap out of the game when I feel it needs it.
Sorry you feel that way ! Bye
RLWorld: There have been 22 awards of the Golden Boot.
18 awarded to Australian/NZ players including Meninga, Lewis, Fittler, Johns, Marshall and Slater.
GLFreak ; “They have no critical thinking ability at all”.
………………advantage RLWorld
Boom!
Give me a fucking break! These silly pricks named Kevin Sinfield the best player in the world. There’s no coming back from that.
Once your credibility is gone…it’s gone. This isn’t a fight, I’m not pushing a cause. I’m just being honest about the way this “award” is perceived.
It has zero credibility. That’s not my fault! It has nothing to do with me.