On The Sidelines

Did anyone see the advertisement in the personal column in this paper some weeks ago?

It simply said: "WANTED - Six young golfers aged between 16 and 17 who want to be the Major champion that Ireland has failed to produce in the last 50 years. Contact Eamon Kelly at Game Plan."

So far Kelly has had 30 responses from young hopefuls who wish to become the next Christy O'Connor.

Kelly, a business graduate of Trinity who recently worked with rugby coach Willie Anderson at London Irish, will select his participants on the basis of written responses to a series of questions.

He operates through a system called Game-Plan which, among many things, is used to enhance team and individual performances in sport. Kelly also works with businessmen.

The golfing "experiment" will take place at Powerscourt Golf Club and Academy. No fees will be charged to participants up to the time of their 18th birthday or three months after the date on which they have completed their full secondary education - whichever comes later. They will be expected to meet their own out-of-pocket expenses and no discussions on contracts or options on contracts will take place until a participant's own decision to turn professional has been made. We'll keep you informed of Kelly's attempt to produce a golfing champion.

Competitions at major sporting events in which a lucky spectator is given the opportunity to win a large sum of money in return for pulling off a single shot or score have become fairly common in recent years in the US. Indeed one was run at the recent American football match in Croke Park when a local supporter failed to convert a field goal which would have earned him $100,000.

However, the fan occasionally hits the jackpot, as Henry Michaels showed at a recent tennis tournament in New Jersey. Michaels, a regular player but no great shakes with a racquet, got the opportunity to win the money when his name was picked from thousands of applications. His task was to serve from behind the baseline, clear the net and, in one bounce, hit a 30 ins x 8 ins target.

After a week of practice, the 36year-old succeeded first time and plans to pay off his debts with his winnings.

Less fortunate was Brian DuBose of the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball team. He thought he had picked up a $1 million bonus for hitting a giant inflatable mit - an advertisement for the Wendy's hamburger chain - at the Cane County stadium in Michigan.

The home run which hit the mit was almost 450 feet long and DuBose reckoned as he jogged around the bases that he had hit the jackpot.

Alas, the hitter was one of the visiting team and the offer only extended to home players. So representatives of Wendy's had to try to let DuBose down lightly. Their approach? They presented him with a cheeseburger and a gift voucher for $500 during the following day's game.

Players AT the Bungaree Australian Rules football club were a little startled when, during a particularly nippy day's training, their player-coach Peter Schiltz instructed them to get their kit off before settling down to work.

Schiltz allowed his players to keep their boots and socks on but everything else had to go before the session, which involved a brief run and a 10-minute ball drill.

The players were, he admitted afterwards, startled by the request that they strip off. He said: "Something needed to be done to lift our spirits, (and) I actually had to tell them to get their gear back on."

Recent reports that the Iraqi football team were tortured after losing a World Cup qualifier were strongly denied by the country's government and one man who seems to believe the boys in Baghdad is Diego Maradona.

Out of retirement once again and with Ben Johnson helping him with his fitness work, Maradona is considering a request to play in a match which is being staged as a protest against the seven-year trade ban.

The player's agent, Sebastien Mendez, had talks with the Iraqis recently, and said his client was "ready to play for the Iraqi team against any selection put forward by the federation".

A charity fundraiser in Kentucky, meanwhile, will give boxing fans an opportunity to go three one-minute rounds of "fun sparring" with some of the biggest names in the fight game.

Evander Holyfield, Jose Torres and Ken Norton will be among the stars involved in the event which is due to take place in Louisville, Kentucky at the end of the Ali Cup International Invitational in the middle of next month.

Bizarrely, Muhammad Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's syndrome, will also be on hand to climb into the ring with those willing to bid over $50,000 for three minutes of his time.

"Not too many people have a chance to step up in the ring with Ali or Holyfield and walk away smiling," says Gary Toney of USA Boxing.

Sweden's bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics has been hit in recent months by a spate of bombings in Stockholm. A number of sporting venues, mainly tennis centres, have been targeted and the 1912 Olympic stadium was damaged by a blast last Friday morning in the most recent incident.

The eight attacks have alarmed the Swedish authorities who are not yet sure who is carrying out the campaign, but the intervention of IAAF chief Primo Nebiolo after last week's incident prompted the most damaging exchange so far.

Nebiolo, who strongly favours a rival bid by Rome, sent a letter to city officials offering sympathy that their bid was being hindered in this way. The Swedes, however, have never received any concrete proof that the bombings are linked to the bid and at least one, Olaf Stenhammar, strongly criticised Nebiolo for publicly making the link himself.

Local athletics chief and IOC member Arne Lungqvist, however, promptly apologised to Nebiolo for the comments by his countryman.

Nineteen years after he first hit the scene by winning the Canadian amateur championships, Kirk Stevens is back. He recently won the Canadian nationals and so qualifies to play in the world amateurs in November.

The 38-year-old, whose professional career was hit by his drug use, beat Charlie Brown (yes, that was really the guy's name) 6-4 in the final of the event and has already confirmed his intention to travel to Zimbabwe for the world championship.

"I can't say enough about the quality of the players or the event," he said afterwards. "It gives me a real thrill to compete in it and I hope I represent everyone well at the worlds."

Delighted as Stevens clearly was with his victory, the setting for the tournament was a long way from the good old days at the Crucible. Following the growing international trend of staging sporting events in public places to maximise exposure, the championships were held in a large atrium in the St John's Shopping Centre in New Brunswick.

This apparently worked well apart from the fact that the owners would not allow a large skylight to be blocked off. As a result the table was occasionally drenched in sunshine with things getting so bad at one point that one competitor had to play a shot while the referee held a large piece of cardboard over his head to provide shade.

While its generally acknowledged that Kenny Dalglish simply wanted to sell Les Ferdinand and that all that stuff about the Newcastle shareholders forcing the move was rubbish, the Press Association's football service gave an indication of the way things are going in the game on Wednesday.

When Newcastle made their latest signing the first version of the story to hit computer screens around Britain and Ireland read simply: "John Barnes has signed a two-year contract with Newcastle, the club's board has announced to the Stock Exchange".

The people of North Korea, ravaged by famine, heard a rare address from their leader, Kim Jong-il, this week.

The "Great Leader" avoided any mention of the appalling hardships being suffered by his people, preferring instead to concentrate on, wait for it, the nation's lack of success at basketball!

The gist of the speech was that the team should compensate for their lack of height by taking more shots from further out. Brilliant. Now, if only he'd allow Michael Jordan in to sort out the country's food production . . .

Please send any correspondence to On The Sidelines, Sports Dept, The Irish Times, 11-15 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail emalone@irish-times.ie