Category: Japan

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Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win

Australia will be able to regain something of its former glory in international rugby only when it is coached by an Anglo-Saxon. The Wallabies, as the team is known, may go as far as the world cup final, but will not win until a coach who can understand the prevailing dominant Anglo culture within the team is guiding its fortunes.

Australia takes on New Zealand in a Blesisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube
Australia takes on New Zealand in a Bledisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube

Australia has won the rugby World Cup twice. In 1991, Bob Dwyer was the coach; in 1999, it was Rod MacQueen. Both white men, steeped in the same culture as the team.

But now, things have changed quite a bit. There are a fair number of non-whites in the team, predominantly from the Pacific Islands. This is partly because the game tends to come naturally to people from that part of the world and partly because the pool of youngsters from whom one can select possible players is getting smaller and smaller. Rugby is a game mostly played in private schools and is an expensive and physically demanding sport; thus, the numbers who take it up are small. Continue reading “Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win”

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The world has become the domain of liars

There’s a common element to much, if not most, of the news that flits across the TV screens: lies.

People attempt to add a touch of sophistry to lying, by trying to create classes of lies, but in the end it all adds up to the same thing: saying one thing when knowing that the opposite was correct.

One well-known example: the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, came to office promising a US$15 minimum wage for the country. He also promised to provide medical services for all and forgive at least a part of the billions in student debt.

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RWC commentators need to be lined up and shot

While many people have raised questions about the quality of refereeing at the ongoing Rugby World Cup, nobody, surprisingly has questioned the quality of commentary that is available. If one were to compare the two, the commentators would lose by a mile.

There is a strange kind of logic that has prevailed in management circles for quite a while now, namely that a person who is good in one sector of an industry would also be equally good in another. It is this kind of logic (?) that leads managers to appoint rank and file employees to positions of leadership. It flies in the face of logic to argue that someone who is good at following orders would be equally good as a leader, but that’s the conventional wisdom that has prevailed and will never go away.
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Time to rejoice: Serena Williams loses another Grand Slam final

Sunday morning brought glorious news. Serena Williams had been soundly beaten in the final of the US Open women’s final by an unknown Japanese player, Naomi Osaka.

What’s more Williams blew a fuse — as she has often done in the past — when she was penalised for code violations. This is the third time she has behaved in this ugly manner, but it is unlikely to be the last because she has been fined a pathetic sum yet again.

For an outburst in 2009, she was fined a pathetic $US10,500. In 2011, she was asked to pay $US2000. And this time, she was again fined a small amount by her earnings – US$24,000. To her, that is chump change.
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