Compiled by PHILIP REID

Thorpe stuck in the shallow end

HE IS known invariably as "The Thorpedo" or, simply, "Thorpey" and, as a five-time Olympic gold medallist, Ian Thorpe's place as Australia's greatest ever swimmer and one of the best that ever plunged into a pool wearing Speedos is secure.

However, Thorpe’s comeback – aimed at claiming a place on the Australian team for the Olympic Games in London next year – is proving rather underwhelming.

Rather than spearing through the water like the torpedo of old, the 29-year-old’s comeback – having come out of a retirement sparked in 2006 by glandular fever – has been a succession of failures which served to put question marks over the wisdom of his decision to return.

The Swiss-based fashion aficionado – who numbers Armani among his sponsors – has raced without success in Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo in recent weeks and is planning another preparatory race in Italy next month as well as a couple of post-Christmas races in Europe ahead of seeking to qualify for the Australian team at their national trials in March.

Thorpe’s terminology to explain his lethargic comeback is interesting, comparing it to the difficulty of restarting an idle car after five years.

“It doesn’t matter how good the car is, it’s still going to be difficult,” he said.

Like many a sporting legend who has chosen to return to competition after a spell in retirement, Thorpe may be finding that things have moved on. Australian swimming now has a new kid on the block: James Magnusson, some nine years younger than Thorpe, won two gold medals in this year’s world swimming championships in Shanghai and is seen as a multi-medal winning prospect for London.

Dubs shouldn't feel blue over Leinster

THAT spat over the colour blue between the Dubs and Leinster – prompted by the Dublin County Board’s sideswipe at the rugby boys in the grand plan unfurled this week which revealed its noble ambition to become the dominant force in Gaelic Games – shouldn’t be taken too seriously, given there is a significant cross-over in the support base in the city between the two successful teams.

Maybe it was a bit arrogant of the Dublin County Board to assume rightful ownership of the use of blue jerseys (and there weren’t any similar mutterings from Laois, another Leinster county who happen to wear the same hue!), but you only had to look at the crowds in the Aviva Stadium for the international soccer match the other night to realise that a form of cross-colonisation exists in all sports: there were a large number of supporters at Lansdowne Road wearing Irish rugby jerseys, ironically enough with the sponsor’s logo – O2 – very prominent. What are rival mobile company 3, the FAI’s main sponsors, to do? Ban rugby jerseys, especially those bearing logos of commercial rivals, at soccer games? It doesn’t work that way.

What next? We’ll be having the Cork GAA Board complaining that Munster also wear red jerseys? I don’t think so. Cork GAA are too cute to get involved in anything as petty as that.

The Dublin County Board should spend less time sniping at the rugby people and copy some of the marketing innovations which have seen Leinster go from a small sporting franchise into an internationally recognised brand. There’s nothing wrong with copycatting.

How about Joxer goes to Wroclaw?

FORGET THE X Factor. Forget The All-Ireland Talent Showor Eurovisionor anything else. The real search for song writing and singing talent in the months ahead will be all about the search for the official song to accompany Trap's Army to Poland or the Ukraine next summer.

The John Murray Show on RTÉ radio has been quick off the mark with a hastily constructed song put together by Laois ballad group Na Fianna . . . but it sounded more like a tune-up to the real deal which will officially join the likes of Christy Moore’s Joxer Goes to Stuttgart, Horslips’ Put ‘Em Under Pressure and Liam Harrison’s Give It A Lash Jack which became part and parcel of previous Irish odysseys in major championships.

A history of violence on the field

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC images of the violence (those involved and those innocently witnessing it) that erupted at a club GAA match in Tyrone didn’t lie and left a sickening sensation in the gut of any right-minded sports lover. Violence in sport – on and off the field – is an old problem and, in fairness to governing bodies, both nationally and internationally, there is a commitment to eradicate such wanton acts. But how? It’s an age-old chestnut.

As the Tyrone County Board get on with the task of investigating the matter, using whatever still images and CCTV and video footage they can lay their hands on, it is hard to reason why such acts should occur at all; and especially so in a sport, between neighbouring clubs, where there is no professionalism or financial incentive.

As we know only too well, money is the root of all evil. And there is no money involved in a local GAA match, more tribal pride. Violence at and in sport has, unfortunately, been around for a long time. For a start, there are reports of fighting among spectators at Roman chariot races

In modern times, of course, there have been incidents at soccer matches around the globe, at American Football games, at Aussie Rules, basketball and, quite bizarrely, in water polo.

At the 1956 Olympics, officials had to stop a match involving Hungary and the Soviet Union due to the risk of fighting among rival fans.

Sport, by its very nature, encourages aggression by its participants. This is especially true of team sports, where the human body – through weights and gym work, dietary supplements etc – is effectively turned into a weapon to be used against other bodies.

The common trend in these instances of violence – whether between rival players or opposing fans – is that they invariably involve men.

The rather simplistic analysis would be to blame too much testosterone or, in case of violence between fans, such as the 1980 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Rangers, to cite alcohol as a factor. But there are more explanations.

Down through the years, three major theories (biological, psychological and social learning) have emerged to explain violent aggression in sports: the biological theory, espoused by Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz, sees aggression as a basic, inherent human characteristic where sport is seen as a socially acceptable way to discharge built-up aggression, effectively a safety valve.

In A Sociological Perspective of Sport published in 1988, Wilbert Leonard stated the psychological theory that aggression is caused by frustration and that it is situational: questionable calls by referees, heckling from spectators, taunts by coaches or players.

But it is the social learning theory that has received most pragmatic verification.

Leonard maintained that aggressive behaviour is learned through modelling and reinforced by rewards and punishments whereby young athletes take sports heroes as role models and imitate their behaviour. Parents, coaches and team-mates are also models who may demonstrate support for an aggressive style of play.

And, in their book The Determinants and Control of Violence in Sport by Peter Terry and John Jackson published in 1985, reinforcement for acts of violence (on the playing field) may come from three sources: (a) the athlete’s immediate reference group – coaches, team-mates, family, friends; (b) structure of the game and implementation of rules by officials and governing bodies; (c) attitudes of fans, media, courts and society.

It was argued by Terry and Jackson that reinforcement may take the form of rewards, such as praise, trophies, respect of friends and families but also that players who don’t display the desired degree of aggressiveness may receive negative reinforcement through criticism from parents and coaches, lack of playing time and harassment by team-mates, opponents or spectators.

It would seem, all of us involved in sport – at whatever level – have a lot to learn. As another author, Jon Hellstedt, pointed out in his book Kids, Parents and Sport: Some Questions and Answers published back in 1988, lip service is paid to sportsmanship and having fun, but rewards are reserved for winning.

Often, encouragement to pursue victory is accompanied by direct and indirect signals that aggressive behaviour is acceptable to achieve it.

These observations were made over 20 years ago and, to all intents and purposes, it remains the same to this day. Change, it would seem, comes slowly; if not at all. And what happened in Tyrone would raise the question: What’s to be done?

Woods back on course for sponsors

THE look on Tiger Woods’s face as he shook hands with old friend and new nemesis Steve Williams – bagman to Adam Scott – after the first round of matches in the President’s Cup on Thursday spoke stronger than any amount of words.

But things are definitely looking up for Woods off the course. Just over a month after landing a new deal with watchmakers Rolex, Woods has netted a sponsor to advertise on his golf bag. Fuse Science, a Florida-based company that develops energy-providing drops applied under the tongue to aid faster body absorption, will be on Tiger’s bag when he next reappears on the circuit at the Chevron World Challenge next month.

Woods once earned nearly €75 million annually from sponsorship deals that included blue-chip brands like Buick (who previously occupied the space on his bag), Accenture, communications giant ATT and Gatorade. After his sex scandal, most of Woods’s major corporate clients severed links with him, with only Nike and EA Sports standing by their man.