UFO Info Week-End

We instantly became ardent fans attending many matches from our home in Berwick upon Tweed a round trip of

We instantly became ardent fans, attending many matches from our home in Berwick upon Tweed, a round trip of 130 miles.
I find the instant removal of a successful team and ever-growing army of fans so difficult to accept. After attending only one match we were bitten by the bug and found it an excellent family- orientated spectator sport. Sir: I am writing to express my family’s disgust at the recent demise of the Gateshead Thunder Rugby League team and the way in which the loyal and growing fan base in the North East has been treated. My family and I had no previous experience of rugby league. How many similar visits did she make to watch Wales, or the 1999 Five Nations’ Champions, Scotland? Of course, had the Minister for English Sport and Fox-Hunting done so, she would have had to sit through some exciting back play and even tries, so perhaps it is best she stayed away

PETER FRASER
Gray’s Inn, London WC1. Sir: Perhaps once Kate Hoey has finished bragging (sports letters, 10 November) about her five matches, one training session, and after-match meetings with Clive Woodward’s England rugby team, she will ponder the following question. There is a good game struggling to free itself, and that game is Rugby League: the prison guards are those in the Union fold blindly prejudiced in favour of the so-called “competitive restart”; Union laws are straitjacketing the game.
JOHN HULLYRoyston, Herts.

Do away with the ruck and the maul and institute offside laws that clear the ruck and give the side in possession a chance of making the gain line before the defence does. It is staring Union people in the face, but they decry and despise it

It is called the play-the-ball. Sir: Jack Rowell (9 November) is exactly right. The answer to the problems of Rugby Union as a spectator sport – stultifying boredom, endless stoppages, baffling penalties and disgraceful personal assaults – has been around for many years. Don’t allow players to call a mark (it’s a soft option), and force kicks to always bounce into touch (it’s much harder to achieve).
I somehow think the Rugby Union crowd would baulk at this, because it would make the game easy to understand and entertaining A bit like Rugby League infact So there’s the answer Switch codes!PAUL MARSHALLEnfield, Middlesex. Then reduce the value of drop goals and penalties (it forces running rugby).

The metronomic consistency of kicking in the recent World Cup cured my insomnia. But in answer to his question: yes, there is an alternative, “a release to the stranglehold”. First, clean up rucks and mauls to open up the game and reduce technical offences. It is true, success in Rugby Union does rely heavily on cynicism to exploit the many technical rules, which are enforced with varying consistency by whistle-happy officials That done, up comes the “kicking nerd” (great name). You never know, you may beat us at something.
LES BURKEMelbourne, Australia.

Sir: In reply to John Caird’s letter “Boot Bores” (10 November). We won every game we played and were the best team in the tournament Our players deserved the title. Perhaps you should spend less time knocking us and concentrate more on supporting your own players. Sir: Most of your papers have complained about how boring the Rugby Union World Cup final was or criticised Australia’s style of play. To be honest, every Australian I saw in Cardiff was wearing a smile and celebrating a wonderful victory Australia played the game as it should be, hard and fair.

“I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent after flying in from Japan, and I didn’t get a lot of sleep,” Woods said. “When I started to wake up I started to play a lot better.”This is the third year in a row that Woods has competed in the Grand Slam at Poipu Bay, in 1997 as the Masters champion, in 1998 as first alternate when Mark O’Meara won both the Open and the Masters, and this year as US PGA champion.”This course sets up well for me,” the world No 1 said.PGA Grand Slam of Golf matchplay tournament (Hawaii): T Woods (US) bt P Lawrie (GB) 4 & 2; D Love (US) bt J M Olazabal (Sp) 6 & 5.Final: T Woods bt D Love 3 and 2 Third place: J M Olazabal (Sp) bt P Lawrie (Gbr) ret.. “Today, I could feel Payne was right there with me on every shot.”Woods struggled through a ragged front nine in his match with Lawrie, missing short putts on holes two, five, six and seven, and looking the worse for wear after flying all night from Japan to reach Kauai. After competing in the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he then played an exhibition match in Japan on Monday.