The sporting world according to Morgan Jones

There is no rest once the domestic season is done and dusted with the focus quickly turning to the World Cup in South Africa. “For me the favourites are definitely Spain, who won the European Championships two years ago playing some terrific stuff. “If Fernando Torres and David Villa are fit then they will trouble defences while Xavi pulls the strings in midfield. “Brazil will come close to Spain, but I think the dark horse to watch out for is Argentina. It seems strange to speak of them as the underdog as they’ve always been one of the best teams in the world. But they’ve had controversial management in Maradona, and that’s why I’d class them as a dark horse this time round – but we’ll see. They have one of the best players in the world and they’re always going to be dangerous with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who’s a wizard with the ball.

“It’s not just an exciting time for football at the moment. S4C has just undergone a transformation, and now exists as an entirely Welsh language channel. This is as a result of digital switchover, which is now complete in Wales, and means that viewers will get a much better quality service and a host of new programmes, in addition to their old favourites.”

For more information about S4C Digital and Sgorio visit www.s4c.co.uk

Playing the blame game
It’s always fun observing the righteous anger of society when sportsmen misbehave and, with that in mind, the past few months have been great. Tiger Woods, John Terry, Ashley Cole - outstanding scandals. And the press and public inquisitions have been hilarious, what with all that collective hyperventilating and screaming for retribution. (“She’s a witch, she’s a witch. Burn her!” Monty Python did a fine job of predicting a 2010 sporting press conference.) Sadly, Andy Powell got tangled in one of the winter’s moral lashings when he drove a golf buggy to an M4 service station while “unfit through drink”. Whether that, or any of the other sporting misdemeanours, was “stupid”, “reckless”, “pathetic” or the “typical behaviour of a spoilt sports star” is not what interests me because, frankly, it’s not surprising: sportsmen make mistakes like any other person. Some regular non-celebrities have affairs, drive while drunk, tell lies and do “sordid” and “scandalous” things too. Hard to believe, but true. Of course, they are not “role models” so the difference is obviously massive. Hmmm. I’ve rambled on this page previously about the daft amount of responsibility we give to celebrities. It’s a genius way of creating a scapegoat, if you ask me: Mr Celebrity did something bad, so if our kids do too it’s because Mr Celebrity set a bad example. Inspired. Just don’t ask Mr and Mrs Crap Parents where they were when Little Impressionable was turning bad. My feeling is that people don’t really believe themselves when they say, “Mr Celebrity set a bad example and that’s a risk to our kids”. That’s just become an easy thing to say. Personally, I subscribe to the opinion that society is obsessed with being outraged and a good witch burning is excellent entertainment, made all the better when the person involved is richer and more successful.

Savage Remarks
Robbie Savage told us he wants to make a name for himself in the media. It seems he is succeeding and not only because of his insightful comments and on-air arguments with that poor bloke from BBC Radio Derby. Behind the scenes, Savage’s ability to get into ludicrous situations has survived the trip to the press box. First, he was smacked in the face by a stray clearance while commentating at the Aston Villa-West Ham game. And then he turned up in a woman’s coat for Villa-Manchester United after misjudging the weather. Savage confirmed he is a size 10…

Riath Al-Samarrai’s bad behaviour is all down to his huge salary