INTERVIEW P4

TRAVEL P13

21 - 27 May 2013 Issue: 464

GET HUNGRYHungry Kids of Hungary hit London

X marks the spotFIVE copper coins and a nearly 70-year-old map with an “X” might lead to a discovery that could rewrite Australia’s history.

Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, currently Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, plans an expedition in July that has stirred up the archaeological community.

The scientist wants to revisit the location where five coins were found in the Northern Territory in 1944 that have proven to be 1000 years old, opening up the possibility that seafarers from distant countries might have landed in Australia much earlier than what is currently believed.

Back in 1944 during World War II, after Japanese bombers had attacked Darwin two years earlier, the Wessel Islands – an uninhabited group of islands off Australia’s north coast – had become a strategic position to help protect the mainland.

Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg was stationed on one of the islands to man a radar station and spent his spare time fishing on the idyllic beaches.

While sitting in the sand with his fishing-rod, he discovered a handful of coins in the sand.

...continued on p2

BUSSED UPThe characters crossing North America

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n Crime fighters in Australia have revealed concerns about synthetic drugs as it emerged 23.8 tonnes of illicit sports and recreational substances were seized last year by customs.

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THE Australian Crime Commission has warned of a dangerous new front in the war on drugs as it revealed a record 23.8 tonnes of illicit substances, worth $5 billion, were seized by customs staff last year in Australia.

The haul included the highest number of seizures for performance enhancing drugs in a decade – adding further weight to the ACC’s bombshell February report which alleged widespread use of drugs in professional sport.

Performance enhancing drug seizures rose 56.9 per cent to 8726 in 2011/12, with 6126 involving steroids and 2600 involving hormones.

Other seizures included a single 11 tonne cache of hypophosphorus acid, a chemical used to make methylamphetamine, a record 785.5 kilograms of cocaine, 256kg of heroin, 347kg of amphetamines and 17kg of cannabis.

There were 93,000 drug-related arrests in 2011/12 – the highest for a decade – and 809 clandestine drug laboratories discovered.

But while the seizure of sports and recreational drugs was welcomed, senior crime fighters also revealed concerns about the increasing popularity of new, synthetic

NEW FRONT IN WAR ON DRUGS

21 - 27 May 20132 | News

substances mimicking ecstasy, cannabis and amphetamines.

The so-called `drug analogues’ are being invented at a rate of one per week in China, India and other countries, according to a recent European Union study cited in the ACC report.

The speed at which these exotic party drugs are being made – including cannabinoids called Voodoo and ecstasy-type drugs `miaow miaow’ and `plant food’ – is making it difficult for authorities to keep up.

The ACC report said the drugs have been selling for as little as $15 a capsule in Australia.

“I argue that no market is as dynamic as the drug analogues and novel substances market which is changing the illicit drugs landscape as we know it,” ACC CEO John Lawler said.

Drug analogue seizures in Australia fell from almost 300kg in 2010/11 to just 50kg in 2011/12, with the ACC report citing “technical difficulties” in identifying some of the substances.

“As a result, monitoring and reporting on national trends of these drugs is limited,” the report said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus said the seizures had dented organised criminals’ bid to profit from Australia’s relative wealth.

But he admitted it’s unclear how many drugs slipped through the net and conceded the war on drugs will never be won.

“The relative height of the Australian dollar, the relative wealth of this country means we are a target,” Mr Negus said.

“Will we ever get to the point where we’ve got no drugs coming into this country? I suggest not. But we have to do our very best that’s our objective.”

Justice Minister Jason Clare welcomed the seizures and revealed he was offered heroin almost daily as a student.

“As a young bloke catching the train to university I remember almost every day on the way home being asked if I wanted to buy heroin,” he said.

“Friends I went to school with became heroin addicts, people I knew through school ended up going to jail.”

Mr Clare blamed drugs for Sydney’s recent spate of shootings which number 222 since March 2011, according to NSW state opposition figures.- AAP

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1000 year-old coins could rewrite Australian history

He didn’t have a clue where they could come from but pocketed them anyway and later placed them in a tin.

In 1979 he rediscovered his “treasure” and decided to send the coins to a museum to get them identified.

The coins proved to be 1000 years old.Still not fully realising what

treasure he held in his hands, he marked an old colleague’s map with an “X” to remember where he had found them.

The discovery was apparently forgotten again until anthropologist McIntosh got the ball rolling a few months ago.

The coins raise many important questions:

How did 1000-year-old coins end up on a remote beach on an island off the northern coast of Australia?

Did explorers from distant lands arrive on Australian shores way before the James Cook declared it “terra nullius” and claimed it for the British throne in 1770?

We do know already that Captain Cook wasn’t the first white seafarer to step on Australia’s shores.

In 1606 a Dutch explorer named Willem Janszoon reached the Cape York peninsula in Queensland, closely followed a few years late by another Dutch seafarer Dirk Hartog.

And the Spaniard Luiz Vaez de Torres discovered the strait between Papua New Guinea and Australia, which was later named Torres Strait in his honour.

However, none of these explorers recognised that they had discovered the famed southern continent, the “terra australis incognita”, which was depicted as a counterweight to the known land masses of the northern hemisphere on many world maps of the day.

McIntosh and his team of Australian and American historians, archaeologists, geomorphologists and Aboriginal

rangers say that the five coins date back to the 900s to 1300s.

They are African coins from the former Kilwa sultanate, now a World Heritage ruin on an island off Tanzania.

Kilwa once was a flourishing trade port with links to India in the 13th to 16th century.

The trade with gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian stone ware, Persian ceramics and Chinese porcelain made the city one of the most influential towns in East Africa at the time.

The copper coins were the first coins ever produced in sub-Saharan Africa and according to McIntosh have only twice been found outside Africa: once in Oman and Isenberg’s find in 1944.

The old coins might not be of monetary value, but for archaeologists they are priceless, says McIntosh.

Archaeologists have long suspected that there may have been early maritime trading routes that linked East Africa, Arabia, India and the Spice Islands even 1,000 years ago.

Or the coins could’ve washed ashore after a shipwreck.

When Isenberg discovered the copper coins he also found four coins that originated from the Dutch East India Company – with one dating back to 1690 raising memories of those early Dutch seafarers that stepped on Australian shores well before Cook.

McIntosh wants to answer some of these mysteries during his planned expedition to the Wessel Islands in July.

And it’s not only about revisiting the beach that was marked with an “X” on Isenberg’s map.

He will also be looking for a secret cave Aboriginal legends talk about.

This cave is supposed to be close to the beach where Isenberg once found the coins and is said to be filled with doubloons and weaponry of an ancient era.

Should McIntosh and his team find what they are looking for, the find might not only be priceless treasure, but relics that could rewrite Australian history. - AAP

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YOU often hear about the traditional English girl being described as an “English rose”. I never really

shorts in spring?n In a misguided attempt to embrace the sentiment of spring, our sleuth discovers why bare legs in May are still a London fashion faux pas.

understood the term… Was it a comment on their delicacy? Or their thorns? Why are they not called a daffodil, which is a far happier kind of flower?

It only takes the end of winter to answer the mystery of the “English rose”. Like that most romantic of flowers, the English girl is a creature

that wilts during the winter months. The vibrancy is gone, hidden under a mass of coats and scarfs. It all ends on that first day of spring when the English rose sheds off its outer layers and blossoms once again, brought back to life by the re-emergence of the sun.

The past week has seen the dreaded

winter break, and the English rose return to the streets of London. How do I immerse myself in their culture though, being an Australian bloke? I pondered long and hard, until the inspiration finally came. What better way than to do the same thing that millions of women across the UK were doing: I would get my legs out for the first time in months.

You know it is finally spring because the English rose dust off their unused dresses and short-shorts, exposing pasty and hidden legs to the world in triumph. I had always appreciated this time of year (for purely aesthetic reasons), but I had always wondered why it seemed like overnight all women simultaneously decided that wearing pants was

optional.I hit the streets of Soho in the

smallest pair of shorts I could find, as my strapless sun dress was unfortunately in the wash. I finally understood: getting my legs out in the first days of spring was like sticking it to winter, showing the cold it could never truly win.

The feeling was short lived. I had forgotten that London’s weather was temperamental, and like so many English girls across London I found myself walking around the city on an overcast and chilly day, baring my legs (and my soul) to the world.

I feel your pain, ladies. From now on, I’m taking a spare pair of tracksuit pants everywhere I go.

SUBCULTURE SLEUTH

> pAUL BLEAKLEY

21 - 27 May 20134 | News

character’s movements at any moment during the performance.

As one example, one of Fahie’s tasks involves working with the French baritone and title role star Laurent Naouri. In one scene, the famously corpulent Falstaff falls into a sofa. Fahie has directed Naouri on how best to cleanly and elegantly raise his character’s significant weight from the fluffy cushions.

Fahie is now in demand for movement direction all over the world and has recently worked at La Scala in Milan on Benjamin Britten’s Benjamin Grimes.

But it is at Glyndebourne’s lush landscape near the town of Lewes, one hour outside London, that Fahie currently calls her professional home.

Verdi’s Falstaff, which premiered in 1893, was the last opera the Italian master would write. It is a social comedy and takes inspiration mainly from the ale-swilling, lewd and mirthful Falstaff of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays. In Verdi’s opera, Falstaff woos two women in order to capture their husbands’ fortunes. When the deceived women find out, however, comic vengeance ensues.

Think of John Tucker Must Die written by an Italian octogenarian over 100 years ago.

This production of Falstaff sets the action in the winter of 1946 Britain. “It’s austerity Britain,” Fahie explains. “People don’t have very much money but they present themselves very well.”

And with Fahie’s help, Glyndebourne’s Falstaff cast will be presenting themselves as well as possible.

Glyndebourne Festival runs from 18 May to 25 Aug. To book visit www.glyndebourne.com.

for full details...

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AUSTrALIAN Sarah Fahie is the first person to admit that her road to acclaim as an opera choreographer and movement director happened in “quite a wiggledy waggledy kind of way”.

Fahie’s work will soon be on display again when she directs the revival of richard Jones’ 2009 opera production of Verdi’s Falstaff, which opened at Glyndebourne on 19 May. This will be Fahie’s fourth time working for the world-renowned opera company, indicating the success of the former Victorian who has now called the UK home for almost 20 years.

From an arts student in Melbourne destined for academia – albeit one with a passion for theatre - Fahie left Australia for the United Kingdom and began studying contemporary dance on scholarship.

“To my shock and horror I got in,” says Fahie, recalling with laughter the moment she was accepted into the London Contemporary Dance School.

Fahie had always known that dance would play an important role in her life.

“I wanted to make things that involved people,” Fahie told Australian Times.

“The medium wasn’t that important.”Fahie has since hung up her dancing

shoes to move behind the scenes. While Fahie is revival director of this year’s Falstaff, she has well and truly established herself as a sought-after opera choreographer and movement director. It is a job title that requires a little explanation; opera is too often associated with XL size singers bellowing melodically from a stage.

But Fahie’s conception of her work is illuminating.

“For me, opera is theatre in its relation to music,” says Fahie.

As much as the sound of the singer’s voice, Fahie explains, the physical movement of singers across the stage is connected to the desire and intention of the person playing the character. When an opera has scores of performers, it is clear how busy a movement director’s life can be.

“Lots of operas have dances in them,” says Fahie. And while an opera choreographer will give particular attention to the dances written explicitly within an opera, a movement director can work on each

mover and shaker n WILL FITZGIBBON chats with opera choreographer and director Sarah Fahie.

Falstaff Glyndebourne Festival 2009. Photo Alastair Muir.

Falstaff Glyndebourne Festival 2009. Photo Alastair Muir.

AS a staunch New South Welshmen, I’m going to go right ahead and say it. Not much good comes out of Queensland. And anything that does has been stolen from NSW anyway. Greg Inglis anyone?

Like most things, there is the notable exception. In this case it’s Hungry Kids of Hungary.

Forming in Brisbane in 2007 as the brainchild of drummer ryan Strathie, Hungry Kids of Hungary started life as an international collaboration with former band mate Kane Mazlin who was living in London at the time.

The two would often send back and forward musical demos in the hope of striking a chord.

“ryan and I formed a solid musical bond in our old band.” Mazlin tells Australian Times.

“We shared a love for the pop classics so I think it was always on the cards that we’d play together again.”

After Mazlin returned to Australia, Strathie called upon his friends Ben Dalton and Dean McGrath to complete what he imagined to be a classic four piece line up, with Mazlin as the front man and singer. It came as a surprise to all when Dean McGrath revealed his talents for lyrics and melody. Suddenly a new direction – a band with two leaders – was born.

Mazlin said this transition felt natural. “I was personally stoked that

another singer/songwriter was going to be in the mix.

“I never really wanted to be a front man. I love the collective type vibe.”

With two writers throwing ideas into the mix, there’s always the chance it could cause division amongst fans for a preferred style, or a lack of consistency within the band’s sound. However, with trial and error, the Hungry Kids have worked this out seamlessly.

“I think we have become a more cohesive unit in terms of writing,” says Mazlin.

“It started off quite eclectic which was maybe part of the charm, and gradually we have even started sounding more like each other vocally!”

For Hungry Kids of Hungary the trip from the garage to fame was quicker than most. With the help of Triple J Unearthed, the Hungry Kids seemed to rocket from formation in 2007, to radio play and national tour spots in 2008.

“Being picked up by Triple J radio meant we could start to tour and actually play to an audience,” remembers Mazlin.

“One tour led to another, and we

Image by Ricky Sullivan

From out of the shadowsn INTERVIEW | On the back of a successful second album, Hungry Kids of Hungary are once again sharing their sound with London and the UK. GEORGE KATRALIS chats to vocalist Kane Mazlin.

became more confident as a band.”Despite their early and quick foray

into the world of rock ‘n’ roll, and a two year span between 2008-2010 which saw them release three EPs and embark on some extensive touring, the boys didn’t rush to release a debut album until they felt it was time.

“We toured a fair bit over the first EPs, so when it came to releasing an album we were well and truly ready,” says Mazlin.

2010 saw the boys release their debut album Escapades with a cavalcade of new material, including the songs ‘Scattered Diamonds’, ‘Wristwatch’ and my personal favourite ‘Coming Around’.

The success of Escapades led to a busy few years of touring – showing off their sound around the world before jumping into a second album.

“We were pretty burnt out after the first album cycle finished,” says Mazlin.

“Some of us had kept full-time jobs throughout. We had a bunch of songs that we liked but we decided to relax, write more, do some travelling and explore other projects.”

By the time they were ready for a second album in 2012, so to was legendary Australian producer Wayne Connolly, who came on board to record You’re A Shadow.

“Even after the first exchange of emails we knew he was the man for us,” says Mazlin.

“He is so chilled and has one great idea after another. We went in with the intention to make a more cohesive record this time round and I think we achieved that.”

You’re A Shadow matches anything they have done before, but literally cranks it up a notch. It gives their music the raw rock edge their first album lacked.

Tracks like ‘Sharp Shooter’ and ‘Twin Cities’ meet in the middle with a tighter and more mature sound than before. It trades in their poppy debut for a more crafted sound reminiscent of Shins-esq sensibilities mixed with Beach Boys era vocals, all the while hiding a driving heavy back beat of dirty rock beneath the surface.

To see a band evolve in this day and age when many choose to stay complacent is a wonderful thing. Hungry Kids of Hungary are definitely a band on the rise, with their best still well and truly in front of them.

Hungry Kids of Hungary are playing at Water Rats in London on Tuesday 21 May.

Dave Warner’s Twitter whinge @matt_ed_johnsonMoral of the story: don’t do what Davey Warner don’t does on Twitter, folks. #lifelessons. @RitaPanahiUnder consideration by Cricket Australia: 1. Warner was hacked 2. He was sleep tweeting 3. He was concussed. @matt_ed_johnsonWarner should hope that come Ashes time, he can find a way to sustain an attack on the crease like he does on Twitter. #warnerfarce. @MikeColman_If Dave Warner does his job half as well as Crash Craddock does his, the Ashes are in the bag. @rustyjackoI will respond to the critics of my Dave Warner post in the words of the great man himself: “Haters still have no life. Haha whinge whinge”. @MKPS0011For those asking, I’m pretty sure Dave Warner wasn’t hacked this morning. Not even a hacker would butcher spelling & grammar that badly. @MoneyballcricDave Warner has a serious attitude problem to go with a serious lack of runs. Aussies far better off with Cowan/Rogers for #Ashes.

Image: courtesy Bilbao BBK Live - see page 6

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fKarnivool (By Sandra Ciampone)

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By Alex Bruce-Smith

The Set List Guy. Set List Guy has figured out how to maximise your enjoyment. How? By printing out the festival’s set list and consulting it every 20 minutes.

Is there an overlap of two acts that he absolutely has to see? Never fear - Set List Guy will work out the precise moment you must leave the first act and head to the second, while factoring in time for shoving through crowds. See? Fun to be had by all!

My advice - unless there is someone you are just desperate to see, leave Set List Guy to his schedule and just go with the flow.

The New Best Friend. You will likely find your New Best Friend dancing next to you in the mosh pit. This person will have probably have little regard for personal boundaries, but that’s okay. This moment in time is so amazing that it’s nice to share it by hugging someone – depending on your level of inebriation and the other person’s level of attractiveness/hygiene.

Cue attempting to get on each other’s shoulders, taking fifteen identical photos together and having a badly timed deep and meaningful (like, right during your favourite song).

New Best Friends can make for an amazing day, but judge it wrong and they could easily become the Creepy Stranger.

The Creepy Stranger. You can’t quite remember when this person joined your group, but you’re pretty sure you weren’t involved. You think this person is a friend of a friend. Hours later you all realise that nobody has any idea who this person is, because everyone thought the same thing.

The Creepy Stranger will constantly suggest new, fun things for all of you to do, with a manic glint in his eye. All of these things revolve around the procurement of more alcohol and/or drugs. He will never, ever voluntarily leave your group, because he has

The Five People You Will Meet At Every Festival

nowhere better to be. All together now - on three, run away.

The Person Who Forgot Everything. You’re going to a camping festival, so a sensible person might think you need appropriate supplies.

Not this person. The Person Who Forgot Everything will literally forget every single thing that you possibly need while camping for a number of days. This includes things like: batteries, toothpaste, clean underwear, a torch, a jumper, extra supplies of snacks and alcohol, and quite possibly a tent. Someone else will bring that, right?

The Person Who Forgot Everything will, however, have brought the following: ten outfits for a three day festival, ray Bans, brand new Hunter wellies, a hair straightener, two mobile phones, and their favourite pillow from home. When it comes to things they will actually need, they will scab off you.

The Living in the Past Guy. How silly of you. You actually decided to buy a ticket to this festival? Honestly, you shouldn’t have bothered. It was so much better ten years ago/when this band were still together/before it became really popular.

The Living in the Past Guy will have no problem telling you all about how much the festival sucks now, and how good it used to be. You know, despite the fact that he also bought a ticket to the same event. This person will do nothing except kill your buzz. Avoid at all costs.

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Image courtesy of ExIt Festival

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BBK Live FIB File / Francois Ollivier

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Travel | 13AustralianTimes.co.uk

*

*Trips for 18yo and over

I had done it. I’d finished my last ever

semester of uni, and

better yet, I’d done it having lots

of fun and doing very little study on exchange in Canada. What better way to avoid going back to reality and, even worse, becoming a real adult, than to spend eleven weeks travelling around Canada, the US and Mexico.

I sat down and planned the top 20 or so places I wanted to visit over a geographical area of almost 20 million square kilometres. Next was trying to work out the best way to get to them all.

Amtrak and its Canadian sister, Viarail, seemed the best option – until I saw their route maps, and their prices. Not only would a 45 day rail pass with 18 sectors not get me to all the places on my list, it would also knock a fair chunk out of my savings. Instead, I opted for a 60 day, unlimited travel Greyhound Discovery Pass, all for the bargain price of $630. A damn good bargain it seemed – around $10 a day for intercity travel. Not once did it occur to me it may be this cheap for a reason.

For the traveller well versed in Greyhound Australia, which caters mainly to backpackers looking to travel around Australia on a tight budget, Greyhound USA/Canada is not even

Characters across American Traversing the US and Canada by bus can be an eye-opening way to travel, in more ways than one. Our Great Travel Writer competition winner for April, ALICE RERDEN, shares her story.

in the same ballpark. The demographic consisted mainly of people who use garbage bags instead of suitcases to transport their belongings, and were not always the sharpest tools in the shed. Combine this with 20+ year old coaches, long distances, stinking toilets and non-reclining seats, and you end up with a journey that can only be described as an experience like no other.

From the Canadian bloke who spoke almost non-stop during a 32 hour bus ride from Toronto to Winnipeg, and who believed that Canadians didn’t need passports to travel to the Caribbean, to the homeless man who groped me in a Houston McDonalds, I met a vast melange of characters on my 33 or so bus journeys.

The company wasn’t all bad though. There was the bus driver who made people move from the front row and insisted I sit there because he wanted a pretty face at the front to talk to. Not to mention one of the most interesting people I met on the journey from Memphis to Baton rouge.

She was a rather large African-American lady heading to a family reunion. People sometimes stereotype Americans as ignorant, particularly those who may not be able to afford to explore the world and experience different cultures as easily as others. This lady had never left the US and on first glance seemed to fit the typical Deep South stereotype. On conversation she revealed herself to be extremely well-informed, knowledgeable and engaging, telling me all about how much she loved Australian tennis player, Sam Stosur (this was before she’d won the US Open as well) and questioning me about Australia, the different animals there, and telling me how much she would love to visit one day. Looks certainly can be deceiving.

When I stepped off the bus in LA after 9 weeks travelling on Greyhound buses I was not sad to see the back of them. But, after zig-zagging back and forth across two countries, five provinces, 25 states, and enduring nine nights buses and only one missed connection, you do develop a certain bond with this form of transport, your travelling companions and the drivers

As the first winner of our Great Travel Writer competition, we’ll be sending Alice Rerden a £250 travel voucher from our good friends at Topdeck. We are sure she’ll find their buses a lot more comfortable.If you have a great travel yarn to spin, go to www.australiantimes.co.uk/travel to find out how to submit your story for publication and you could win too!

Travel Writer Winner

who get you from one stop to the next. Would I do it again? Never. Was

it one of the best experiences of my life? Most definitely.

Image by Alice Rerden

Image by Alice Rerden

Be the next great travel writer

21 - 27 May 201314 | Professional Life

Dollar Review

Note: The above exchange rates are based on “interbank” rates. If you want to transfer money to or from Australia then please register/login on our website, or call us on 0808 141 2335 for a live dealing rate. Make use of a Rate Notifier to send you alert when the Australian exchange rate reaches levels you are looking for.

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By Anton van TeylingenTHE Australian dollar entered this week after hitting an 11 month low against the US dollar and five month low against sterling on Friday.

The Aussie slipped below parity with the US dollar last week for the first since June last year. By Friday the USD was fetching AUD 1.028.

Major contributing factors around the drop can be related to a negative outlook following the reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to cut interest rates as well as falling commodity prices. This combined with the

increase in demand for the US dollar and saw the currency drop sharply into what could be its annual low.

The cuts were not all bad news as economists noted that with the weakened Aussie brought some welcomed relief to industries such as exports and tourism that see growth in times of a weaker currency.

The Aussie opened slightly stronger

on Monday morning with anticipation ahead of two important data releases. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute will be releasing figures for consumer confidence for May along with Chinese manufacturing PMI data. These results will be the focus point for any Aussie movement in the week to come.

Sport | 15AustralianTimes.co.uk

“At this stage, we’re holding,” said Mattiske. “The commission is in discussions now assessing the current position, and we’ll make a decision on how we move forward in relation to the sports betting space.”

By Will Denton

THE RUBDOWN

Can the London Australia men’s representative team defend their title in June at the International Cup tournament?

...continued from p16

round 8

...continued from p16

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IT was the round where the AFL dished up the very best, worst, sublime and ridiculous it could possibly muster. Surely it was no coincidence it fell on the same weekend as Eurovision – as the parallels were a bit spooky. Honestly, there was so much magic on display across the board, most critics and punters just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Probably the most magical of all was way back on Friday night when a couple of significant moments happened.

One – two ‘super athletes’ met face to face for the first time in Nic Naitanui and Majak Daw. It was sort of like trying to work out who

would win out of a fight between Batman and Superman. Apparently there were a few voicemails from Don King on the AFL answering machine.

Two – with the jury leaning towards the Nic Nat and the Eagles doing their best not to win, one last chance saw the footy being pumped inside 50. Though Nic Nat was grabbing a quick pie in row EE, he launched himself over the fence and from about 20 deep took a spectacular grab. The siren went, he slotted the winning goal, the joint erupted and he ran back to finish off his pie.

The other mob from the West, Freo, also did a bit of Copperfield work when they did plenty right to lose the game but managed to come away with a draw with reigning premiers in Sydney. This game resembled romania’s Eurovision entry – spectacular and intense, genuine skill, questionable genders and a couple of total head scratching moments.

Down in Melbourne, the unbeaten

Cats rocked up to the MCG well chuffed with how they were going, and were looking to easily dispatch of the undermanned Magpies. Well, things didn’t quite go the way most experts thought with the Pies running away with a sensational victory. It means that nobody is undefeated anymore and the streets of Melbourne were spared a riot this week.

The Dogs show against resembled that of Ireland’s performance, as it couldn’t possibly have got any worse. They are at rock bottom now, and some serious questions are being asked if they are a real football team at all.

What about the Dees? Well I reckon even Bonnie Tyler would’ve had a better crack than some of their defenders. Tigers were made to look half decent. Finally, Brisbane! Where you been?!

Essendon were red hot to get back on track but Vossy’s troops rallied to fight out a great win and show some form that has eluded them since the preseason. For this reason, they get the douze points.

THE Monaco F1 Grand Prix this weekend looms as a career-saver for Australia’s Mark Webber.

Webber is the defending champion in Monte Carlo, a round he also won in his 2010 breakout season.

The 36-year-old is under pressure to win soon to have any chance of retaining his red Bull seat next year and extending his contract.

red Bull boss Christian Horner has not ruled out signing the veteran to partner Sebastian Vettel for 2014, but will have no option but to let him go if Webber cannot produce his best form soon.

Webber is known for his qualifying pace and a spot on the front row of the grid on Sunday would put him in a prime position to snare the 10th grand prix win of his career.

Both Lotus driver Kimi raikkonen and Torro rosso’s rapidly-improving Australian Daniel ricciardo have

Huge pressure for Webber at Monacobeen linked to red Bull next year.

Horner was cagey about Webber’s prospects with the championship team, saying that the Monaco GP presents both pressure to perform and the chance to prove he is still competitive.

“It’s probably both,” Horner told Sky Sports News.

“At the end of the day there is pressure to perform, but that exists for all the drivers.

“Monaco is a circuit that Mark in particular enjoys and excels at so hopefully he can have a very strong run there.”

But Horner said no decisions would be made on a second driver at least before the midway point of the season.

And he said Webber was still in the mix for a seat.

“We’re only five races in and just a quarter of the season through this championship,” he said.

“Our decisions regarding drivers will be made in the summer and Mark (will be considered) if he’s delivering and motivated and has the desire to continue.”

He said that Webber would be looked at “very, very closely” as a driver the team knew well and who had achieved good results for them.

“But no decisions will be made about drivers until later in the summer.”

Webber was on track for victory in this year’s Malaysian GP before he was unexpectedly jumped from behind by Vettel who disobeyed team orders to remain behind the Australian and accept second place.

Nevertheless, the incident has been forgotten by the team, which is now focused on helping the championship-leading German take out his fourth straight world title.

By Robert Grant

Waterhouse Nrl deal ‘dead’: reportshad failed to reach an agreement,” said the NrL’s general manager for strategy.

Earlier this year, Waterhouse outbid

Tabcorp to become the preferred bidder for the betting sponsor role.

It’s reported the combined worth of his deal with the Nine Network plus the mooted NrL deal would have been $50 million over five years.

WITH a record 185 teams competing in tag rugby early summer competitions across London and reading, there is plenty in store for keen taggers to get their tag rugby fix.

Besides the weekly evening competitions that take place on Monday – Thursday evenings, there is a number of one day tournaments set to take place in June.

Try Tag rugby have teamed up with rugby rocks to put on the rugby rocks richmond Tag rugby Festival on Sunday 2 June. In 2012 rugby rocks attracted over 170 sports teams with over 2,500 participants in rugby 10s, rugby 7s, Netball, Tag rugby and Touch rugby. rugby rocks are anticipating around 200 plus teams will take part at this year’s event in richmond.

The rugby rocks richmond Tag rugby Festival was last year won by the all conquering Chargers. This festival is a must for taggers who want to test themselves against some of the best teams in London as well as playing in a fun, friendly and party atmosphere that rugby rocks offers. The richmond tag rugby teams also won’t want to lose on their home turf!

registration for teams and individuals for the rugby rocks richmond Tag rugby Festival closes on Monday 27 May.

one day wonders

Just six days later on Saturday 8 June, the highly popular Try Tag rugby International Cup will be taking place at Twyford Avenue Sports ground in Acton. At the last International Cup tournament held in November 2012 at the same venue in Acton, 21 teams participated across three divisions (record team numbers) providing spectacular Tag rugby across the tournament. This International Cup promises to be even bigger and better.

The International Cup tournament is a chance to represent your nation with the London Australia representative team being represented in the Mixed A grade, Men’s and Mixed social divisions. Other nations represented include England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Wales and the Barbarians. Can the Aussies defend their men’s title from last year and claim some silverware in the other divisions?

registration for individuals or groups of individuals for the Try Tag rugby International Cup tournament closes on Friday 25 May.

If you would like to register for the Rugby Rock’s Richmond Tag Rugby Festival or the Try Tag Rugby International Cup tournament, go to www.trytagrugby.com or email info@trytagrugby.com for more details.

Gilly? Ok, it’s all well and good that you should be able to prove it’s not you, but there will always be some suspicion from some quarters.

How does a team move forward in regards to the use of social media? Perhaps not allowing players from using it at all is the solution? But there lies the question: how do you police it?

I know here in the UK it has been suggested that soccer players will have social media bans put into their contracts to avoid these type of incidents. Everyone is entitled to use social media,

but sports professionals appear to have a particular habit of using it to air their frustrations in public.

The real question that has to be asked by sport as a whole is: can you really ban a player from using it?

With all the events that have come out of the IPL recently, this is just another matter that needs to be dealt with quickly and perhaps harshly. Players are employees after all and they need to think about the consequences their comments may have for the organisation paying their wage, just like the rest of us.

By Andy Collett

Can sports stars be banned from social media?

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

should Warner shut the tweet up?

...continued on p15

...continued on p15

Waterhouse Nrl deal ‘dead’: reports

SOCIAL MEDIA, we all have access to it; the majority of us use it on a daily basis. So what should happen when someone misuses it for a personal attack?

David Warner has fallen foul of the dreaded foot-in-tweet disease that has infected sport. And it’s not the first time he has been a little vocal in the public domain.

The Aussie batsman launched into an expletive ridden Twitter tirade on Friday. Warner was responding News Ltd scribes robert Craddock and Malcolm Conn after they criticised the IPL in which he is currently playing.

Cricket Australia has charged the Test player for breaching its code relating to “unbecoming behaviour”. He is set to face a hearing on Wednesday.

For all its good points, social media is not the place to make any comments of this nature, especially from someone in the public eye.

On the flip side though, when a journalist writes an article launching a scathing attack on someone in the limelight, does that make them any less guilty? I’m sure most people would take offence to it, so surely they are entitled to defend themselves in some capacity?

Adam Gilchrist made a very interesting statement when he was recently interviewed during an IPL game. He stated that he is not on Twitter and yet there is a guy posing as him with thousands of followers. What happens if that guy then makes comments that are deemed to be from

BOOKMAKEr Tom Waterhouse’s bid to become the NrL sports betting sponsor is reportedly dead in the water, with both parties walking away from negotiations.

The NrL’s Shane Mattiske has told the ABC’s Four Corners - in a program aired on Monday night - the league had been negotiating with Waterhouse since early this year.

“At our (Australian rugby League) Commission meeting on April 19, we reported that we

n Adding fuel to the Wallabies selection fire, coach Robbie Deans says Quade Cooper needs to be less tackle-shy and share playmaking duties because his attacking game has become predictable.

P15EcHOS OF EUROVISION

THE RUBDOWN

RED BULL GIVES YOU WINS: But Mark Webber needs to show it to have any hope of retaining his seat with the top team. (AAP Image/Darren McNamara)

BREAKING POINT Can Webber save career at monaco? | P15

DEANS DEFENDS COOPER OMISSIONBy Jim Morton and Sam Lienert in Brisbane

rOBBIE DEANS launched a staunch defence of his controversial decision to overlook the mercurial five-eighth for his 25-man Test squad to face the Lions and also blamed Cooper’s game for the form dip of Wallabies and Queensland centre Ben Tapuai.

Despite a strong end to 2012 and fine start to 2013, Tapuai was also omitted from Australia’s initial squad for the three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions and the coach attributed part of the reason to Cooper’s shortcomings.

Deans rated his preferred No.10 choice James O’Connor’s game as better suited to the intensity of the upcoming Test battle with the experienced Lions stars, despite just one Test start there.

In a veiled criticism of the reds’ current backline attack, he claimed Cooper, renowned as the code’s biggest enigma, had become predictable as he too often off-loaded under pressure.

“He just needs to adjust the balance of his game a little bit,” Deans told Brisbane Triple M radio. “He needs to be a bit more prepared to take contact and the people around him will thrive more so.

“The balance in (O’Connor’s) game suits us better.

“I think Benny Taps is evidence of Quade not quite getting that balance right. He’s not thriving outside him.

“He’s got to be prepared to allow others to do some of the playmaking as well as himself because it’s a more effective way.

“You only have to look at the number of turnovers that have come off Quade as evidence.

“Anything that is predictable, the

opposition can close on and produce pressure.

“It’s not that he’s no good - he’s very good, hence why I’ve selected him in the past.”

Deans’ comments come after a bevy of former Wallabies coaches and backline greats nominated Cooper as the best playmaker to confront the Lions, while reds coach Ewen McKenzie hit out at criticism of his defensive positioning at fullback.

Since his first season as Test coach, Deans has chosen Cooper

regularly for 38 Tests but many believe the 25-year-old’s claims of a “toxic” Wallabies environment last September played the biggest factor in his omission.

Deans denied a personality clash between the pair and stressed Cooper could still play a key role in the blockbuster series.

Tapuai has been benched for the reds’ past two matches, but still has far more rugby under his belt this season than direct-running centres Pat McCabe and rob Horne.

In a squad which boasts plenty

of Test experience across all other positions, O’Connor has started just six Super Rugby games at five-eighth for the Melbourne rebels, winning one, on top of his one Test at No.10 against Wales in 2011.

While he would love the added playmaking responsibility himself, O’Connor did go into bat for Cooper on Monday.

“I think Quade’s been playing really well, he’s been playing quite consistently for the reds and I think his game’s definitely improved,” the rebels star said in Melbourne.