Ben Giles is an English Rugby League journo who writes for Code 13 Rugby League.
Now, I’ve got no truck with Ben, however, he has written about how Code 13 went about doing their nominations for the “Golden Boot” awards, and I can’t let it slide, I have to say something.
For years, even before the Andrew Farrell debacle, I’ve said the Golden Boot is the most ridiculous award in the game. Why there is this need to consult the English press on who are the best Rugby League players in the world is beyond me.
For a country who’s local competition has lived on imports for a decade just to stay afloat, who have not won anything of any relevance in 30+ years and who, on the Rugby League pecking order, rank below the likes of Tonga, Samoa and PNG on the “Whats actually important in this game” scale, I don’t see any reason why so many Rugby League writers in England get a vote.
Anyway, with that said, you have to give http://www.code13rugbyleague.com/ some credit here. Unlike the many nameless, faceless people that vote, they actually put their balls on the line, said who they voted for and gave reasons why they voted for them.
Great.
Still, as I said, I have to say something….
Below is the team they voted for. You can read the reasons why they voted for these players by going here: Blog: Code13 looks at rugby league’s World XIII elite.
Go and read it, then come back…
You back? Good.
What the hell were they doing nominating Sam Thaiday as a prop! Thaiday isn’t a prop, he is a second rower. He’s never been named at prop in any club game I can think of, let alone a rep game, let alone for Australia!
In the blog they suggested that Dave Shillington got a start because of the Australian voters, but dude, you selected Sam Thaiday as a prop, and in doing so burnt you vote on who the prop should have been!
I could nominate Joel Monaghans Dog as the best prop in the world, it doesn’t mean for some magical reason everyone will now nominate Joel Monaghans dog! (See what I did there)
The other thing I don’t understand is, why in the forwards did they find a place for only one Kiwi in Jeremy Smith? The Kiwi’s forwards are the best in the world, not by a little bit, but by about thirty seven miles. That no Kiwi’s were selected in the forwards in the awards was a joke, that English players were in there at all was a bigger joke and that anyone could nominate a full Australian back as the best forwards in an award like this is the biggest joke of all!
Still, there were other interesting points name in Ben Giles blog post.
I was glad to see that he thought the selection of Manu Vatuvei after his boiled egg performance in the Four Nations was ridiculous. He took into account more of his international football than just the four nations when doing his write up, and even then, thought it was nutty he was even considered.
I was deeply concerned that there was talk about Welsh players being a consideration in their nominations. I mean, serious, Wales would get beat by your standard park football team in Australia or New Zealand. Do we need to pretend that a game involving Wales if of any quality? I don’t think so.
I felt that for the most part, the Four Nations was bloody terrible this year. There were only two games of any quality, the last two played between Australia and New Zealand, and for the first match up in those fixtures New Zealand didn’t get out of the gate.
England were again pathetic. A complete mess, completely irrelevant. Papua New Guinea were under strength because of political bullshit, but lets face it, for a semi professional side they did as well as you could expect them too.
The best international game I saw in 2010 outside of the Four Nations Final was Samoa vs Tonga at Parramatta Stadium. After that, I thought the international season was a big pile of crap to be totally honest.
Still, its interesting to see when a “Golden Boot” voter is going with their votes. Now….to find an Australian or a Kiwi that actually votes in this stupid award…
