Compiled by PHILIP REID

Tandy faces uncertain future

IT'LL BE interesting to see what sporting future Ryan Tandy has, after being found guilty in an Australian court during the week of match-fixing.

The 30-year-old prop – who played for Ireland in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup – escaped jail after the judge found him guilty of manipulating the first scoring play of a match Down Under in August of 2010.

He was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and fined Aus$4,000 (€2,874).

With his Australian Rugby League career as good as over – with the NRL confirming it will impose life bans on anyone convicted of match fixing – and despite his intention to appeal his conviction, Tandy, who previously played for Hull Kingston Rovers in the UK Super League, could yet return to play in Britain as he is eligible for an Irish passport that could avert any work permit issues in Britain.

Cannon fires shot for Irish golf

STANDING ON the “black” tee on the 18th hole of The Old Head, Kinsale, the other day, barely a matter of feet from the cliff’s edge, a feeling akin to vertigo – one last felt atop a rollercoaster ride in Thorpe Park – was unavoidable. What better place to be, though? And the spectacular setting provided the only therapeutic remedy necessary.

The occasion was the unveiling of David Cannon’s quite majestic book, Golf Courses: Great Britain and Ireland (published by Rizzoli) – with the launch itself taking place in Ballinacurra House, once the hideaway of musician Michael Jackson on his visits here – and this latest photographic tome embellishes a reputation as the golfing world’s pre-eminent snapper.

The choice of The Old Head as the launching pad for the book – with guests coming from as far afield as Dubai and the top golfing magazines in the United States – was a bit of a fillip for Irish golf, it being chosen as the location ahead of any number of willing takers in Britain.

And, in what was a real labour of love for the Gettys Images photographer, Cannon confided the chapter on Ireland was probably his favourite in the whole book which is a limited edition (of 3,000 copies).

Cannon spent much of his time touring the highways and byways of Britain and Ireland in a camper van – shooting from pre-dawn to post-dusk to capture the myriad of light cast on the courses – and is described in one of the forewords by Nick Faldo as “a golfaholic, genuinely passionate about his subject matter” with the result the book “is rather more than a work of art.”

Cullen's medal brighter than All Star

NO ONE has a divine right to an All-Star award – be it in football or hurling or camogie – but you’ve got to wonder about how meaningful the scheme is any longer when the likes of Bryan Cullen can be omitted from even the nominations.

Captain of Dublin’s Sam Maguire winning team, Cullen might not have the footballing flamboyance of the Gooch or the charisma and flair of the Brogans, Bernard or Alan, but he has qualities that are appreciated on Hill 16 and on the sideline, with a work ethic, commitment to fitness and an ability to assume whatever role a manager requires of him.

And he really can’t find a place in the season’s top nine half forwards? As the credit card ad goes, the man is priceless.

But, then, you figure, the All-Ireland medal received as part of a team is worth more than any individual accolade such as an All-Star.

Ball moving slowly in attempt to tackle racism

IT’S ALMOST a full year since a report on racism, ethnic discrimination and the exclusion of migrants and minorities in sport was issued by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. It was headlined “No Level Playing Field” and was presented to delegates at a “Fair Play” congress in Prague, in the Czech Republic, at the end of October 2010 where it stressed the need to make sport more inclusive.

The report found that, across the European Union, minorities and migrants were under-represented at playing and official levels. As Morten Kjaerum, director of the FRA put it, “Sports events provide the ideal platform for fostering inclusion, diversity and mutual respect while combating racism, discrimination and exclusion.”

No one in their right minds could argue with those sentiments, yet it would seem the ball is rolling very slowly in some areas – and not least in the higher levels of Uefa, as it took European soccer’s governing body 34 days to announce they would investigate racist chanting against England players Ashley Young and Theo Walcott by Bulgarian supporters in Sofia last month.

Racism in sport has existed for a long time. We all know of Jesse Owens’ travails in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where he at least had the last laugh. But it has even occurred in Formula One racing, with Lewis Hamilton a victim of a campaign in Spain where participants were encouraged to burst his tyres on an interactive game.

Elsewhere? In South Africa, where it is argued the international sporting sanctions had more impact than any economic sanctions imposed during the apartheid era. In the US, where there were separate negro baseball leagues before those charged with running America’s national pastime saw, or were forced to see, the light.

In the US, no one changed the face of racism like the baseball player Jackie Robinson. He made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and he became the man who opened the door for blacks to play in the big-time leagues. As Sports Illustrated’s Bill Nack wrote of him: “Robinson was the target of racial epithets and flying cleats, of hate letters and death threats, of pitchers throwing at his head and legs, and catchers spitting on his shoes.” He answered insults and violence and injustice with silence, but earned the respect firstly, of his own team-mates, and then, of the opposition. In time, that silence was replaced by a capacity to argue against racism.

Inspired by Robinson, the integration of organised baseball in the US preceded the civil rights movement and helped make later reforms politically feasible by giving white Americans black heroes with whom to identify.

Yet there is still a need for conferences and anti-racism promotions in Europe and around the globe. Here in Ireland, there have been progressive initiatives in particular from the FAI and the GAA in attempting to integrate the influx. Perhaps the most successful has been SARI, Sport Against Racism in Ireland. Set up in 1997, it does exactly what the EU congress in Prague last year implored other countries to do. Only last month, some 50 teams – from Ireland and with players from 40 countries represented – took part in a soccer fest in the Phoenix Park which was proof of how well the concept can work.

Yet, even with initiatives such as the much-heralded “Give Racism the Red Card” promoted by the professional football unions around the world, the evidence from the Bulgaria-England match, and the slow reaction from Uefa, would indicate it is a problem that still needs to be tackled.

Irish boxing packs a punch

WE MIGHT have been suspicious about the legitimacy of what would unfold at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku given all the allegations of bribery and judging misdemeanours that grabbed too many of the headlines in advance, but the evidence would indicate boxing could provide some of the very best sporting moments from next year’s Olympics in London.

With three Irish boxers – John Joe Nevin (right), Darren O’Neill and Michael Conlon – guaranteed places in London 2012 after their efforts in Azerbaijan and the prospect of as many again earning their eligibility in next year’s Europeans, it already looks like boxing (what’s changed?) will represent Ireland’s best chances of recouping medals, of whatever hue, next year.

Going back to John McNally’s silver medal at the Helsinki games in 1952, the haul from Irish boxers through the years – most recently from Kenny Egan, Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes in Beijing – has been one where they’ve punched very much above their weight for a small nation.

The proactive approach of the IABA and the Irish Sports Council in ensuring the country’s top amateur boxers take an elongated route into the professional ranks must be admired. The high performance management team includes sports psychologists, strength and conditioning trainers, nutritionists, physiotherapists and medical support and the proof the formula is working has been evident at international tournaments since Beijing. From an Irish perspective, the biggest disappointment from Baku was the failure of Joe Ward to book an early place in the Olympics. But there is an old adage you learn more from your failures than your successes and, hopefully, this is true in Ward’s case.

Apart from the Irish involvement, the boxing programme in London promises to be one of quality with fighters like Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko and Cuban super-heavyweight Erislandy Savon (a nephew of Felix Savon) sure to provide a hint of boxing’s future.