IT HAS been a week dominated by the utterly predictable. It astonishes me that people are surprised by the reluctance of the England footballers to acknowledge them while training at Hurworth. What else can we expect from such blinkered buffoons?

Then there has been the extraordinary amount of repetitive waffle surrounding the chancellor's five tests. Of far greater interest are the five Tests coming up against South Africa.

To deal with the footballers first, it is a disgrace that they have so little regard for the public who help to keep them in the lap of luxury. But that is the price we pay for not discouraging our children from hero-worshipping the sort of people who are easily persuaded that they are gods.

How frightening was this week's list of TV programmes attracting the biggest audience of children aged four to 11? If it wasn't scary enough that EastEnders came top, then the fact that four World Cup matches featured in the top ten should have sounded a dire warning.

We have created a dangerous obsession when parents are persuaded to travel many miles to catch a glimpse of an England training session through binoculars from a distance of 200 yards. Bird-watchers, who do similar things, are dismissed as "twitchers."

If our children are to grow up into well-rounded human beings it is surely time to counter this obsession by pointing out that over-paid footballers are anything but well-rounded.

It would also help the players regain a proper sense of values if a maximum wage were imposed. No doubt some daft European law would outlaw it, but I fail to see why anyone should be paid more than £1,000 a week for kicking a ball around. If they didn't like it, let them go out into the market place and find out what their other skills (if any) are worth.

AS for the five Tests against South Africa, they are some time away because the height of summer is to be taken up by a one-day extravaganza.

This is a pity as the Tests should provide a good quality of cricket between two well-matched sides, which was clearly not the case in the two games against Zimbabwe.

I don't go along with all this stuff about Alec Stewart answering his critics by scoring 68 at Riverside. No-one is criticising Stewart for wanting to continue to play Test cricket, it's the selectors who are deservedly copping the flak for their lack of foresight.

The Zimbabwe games would have been ideal for bringing on the next generation of Test cricketers, and I don't even think Nasser Hussain should have played, especially as he's in lousy form.

Nor should Richard Johnson, despite his six wickets. He's 28, has dodgy knees and is unlikely to have any more of a Test future than Ed Giddins, who took five for 15 against Zimbabwe at Lord's three years ago.

On the evidence so far, it is pointless having ECB Academy director Rod Marsh on the selection panel if he can't persuade the others to fast-track his lads in a series like this.

Thank goodness the Riverside's Test debut got into a third day as the refunds for Saturday's sell-out crowd would have exceeded £400,000.

Did no-one point this out to Hussain before he enforced the follow-on? It might have gone against the usual grain, but it would have made sense for England to bat again in the hope that Michael Vaughan could start to regain the form which will be needed against South Africa. It would also have prolonged a historic occasion, which would have been no bad thing.

THE passing at the age of 63 of a fat Welshman with greasy hair slicked over his balding head has gone largely unlamented. But as the first world professional darts champion, and something of a character, Leighton Rees was a popular figure on our television screens 30 years ago.

Darts first appeared on national television in 1972 in Yorkshire TV's Indoor League, in which presenter Fred Trueman always signed off with the words: "Ah'll sithee."

Rees starred on the programme and went on to win the first Embassy World Professional Championship at Nottingham in 1978. He paved the way for the likes of Jocky Wilson and Eric Bristow to become household names before the warring factions ended darts' heyday as a TV sport.

WITH Twenty20 cricket getting underway tonight I can't help wondering if it will be much different from baseball. And could it become the new obsession to the same degree as in the States?

Apparently The Simpsons was interrupted last week for a news flash, which brought an earth-shattering revelation about Chicago Bulls star Sammy Sosa, who enjoys Beckham-like status. His bat had split open as he attempted a home run and was discovered to have a wedge of cork inside. Corked bats are illegal, but Sosa claimed he used one for practice and had picked it up accidentally. A likely story!

Published: 13/06/2003