A giant amongst men, my tribute to Jonah Lomu

In this day and age there are great sportsmen & women. From David Beckham, not only what he has achieved on the pitch, but he has become a fashion icon & humanitarian raising millions for children around the world. On the women side Jess Ennis-Hill what she has also won in her sport after overcoming early injuries and last year regaining the World Championships and only giving birth and raising a child with training on top she must be forged from the same steel her home is famous for. 

But with them two mentioned and all the other sports personalities around the globe, there is but a true giant in the game and he is Jonah Lomu. Standing at 6ft 5in this Auckland born Māori, must of put fear not just to opposing half backs, but the whole team when coming against him. 

He broke records early on in his rugby career as he was the youngest player to represent his school Wesley College, while playing for the team there he was told by his coach that he should start getting use to been this. As not to long after that he was the youngest All Back at 19 years old and with only two international caps he was set loose on to the World stage at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. He may not have helped New Zealand win in the final as that was South Africa's time. But with his running game, my earliest memory of him is ripping though the English defence. It reminded me of a David Attenborough nature programme where a pride of lionesses are jumping on top of a stampeding wilder beast and the lions are just getting shrugged off, that is such the power, strength & speed of the guy.

It was at the end of 1995 when Jonah was first diagnosed with Nephrotic syndrome he was on dialysis due to the deterioration in his kidney function. He had a Kidney Transplant in 2004.

Jonah scored tries against every major test playing nation in World Rugby except South Africa (12 matches) and Wales (3 matches), he now jointly still holds the record  of 15 tries in World Cup tournaments, which was equalled by South African Bryan Habana at this years World Cup in England. I have to say I am saddened by his passing, but I do think that his shadow will last long over the Rugby world who will mourn this Māori warrior who gave everything into all that he loved & who loved his greatness, Rest in peace big guy. 

Real World Football

I've just watched a non league football match that will live long into the memory, for anyone who watched it & was there. That was Salford City first FA Cup 1st round match against Notts County & founder member to the Football League also The Worlds Oldest League club. They had the likes of 38 year old keeper & Northern Ireland Legend Roy Carroll, ex Leeds & Manchester United Alan Smith & joint top scorer in last seasons FA Cup with 5 goals Jon Stead. Salford on the other hand had a Gas Man in defence in Chris Lynch, this tough defender on match days has hardly any sleep, as after the matches he has a quick shower then pops off to work filling gas bottles. Paul Scholes on of the owners has quoted in saying “This lad would tackle a transit van.”

Others in the team are Physio's in the Manchester Hospitals, Students and footballers go to job fitness instructors. As I watched this match it was hard to see who were the professional team, as Salford City pressed a high tempo match for around 90% of the match. Most of the Manchester side had been working that day & they made sure Notts County time there was going to be tough. Even owner Gary Neville ordered the pitches width be scaled down, they had a game plan and they stuck to it by the letter.

Over time clubs from the football leagues are going to fear coming to places like Moor Lane as non league team are becoming more organised and long may it continue.

Helland Road

2001 seems a long time ago, this was the year Leeds made it to the UEFA Champions League. Since then this once mighty club has free falled its way down to it lowest position to League One. 

After a promotion back into the championship & Ken Bates selling up, we thought the dark days at Elland Road was behind us when Mr Massimo Cellino took over from GFH. But people need to remember the first thing he did when he acquired the West Yorkshire club was to sack Brian McDermott after a heavy defeat, only to reinstate him a few weeks later. Since the arrival of the infamous Italian, we have gone though 5 managers since April 2014. Cellino isn't called "The Coach Eater" in his native country for nothing. 

We should of seen the writing on the wall with this, but as fans we have been blinded with the hope of securing promotion back to the promise land, The Premiership. It's looking more unlikely that this once mighty club will ever get to play on the biggest stage in football anytime soon, especially under the stewardship of Cellino.

Now we have Steve Evens as the head coach and this guy may have done well for Boston United, Crawley Town & Rotherham United with getting these clubs promoted but even he comes with a dubious past with a suspended sentence for tax evasion. Only time will tell if he will be the man for the job, or will he just be the 6th manager on the roundabout of destruction for my club Leeds United, only time will tell?