Sunday saw probably one of the most recognizable names in World Football pass yet another milestone. Yes, Ryan Giggs, Manchester United midfielder became the first English Player to play 900 games, for one club.

Now if you look at the English game in particular, who will find names that are synonymous with Legendary status, or even soon to be. But one can also look to other countries, and find players with similar records and I for one am in awe of their achievements.

Matthew Le Tissier (Southampton 540 Appearances), Paulo Maldini (AC Milan 900+), Francesco Totti (Roma 600+), Tony Adams (Arsenal 700+), Alesandro Del Piero (Juventus 680), Franco Baressi (AC Milan 700+), Guiseppe Bergomi (Internazionale 757), Billy McNeill (Celtic 800+), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo 950+), Jack Charlton (Leeds 600+), Jimmy Armfield (Blackpool 600+), Paul Scholes & Gary Neville (Manchester United 600+) and Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderes 541).

If you were a young and up and coming football player under the watchful eye of Sir Alex Ferguson, you would have dreamt of one day being mentioned in the same breath as all those great players before your time, in particular someone like Sir Bobby Charlton. Although he spent the most part of a glittering career at Manchester United, playing in total 758 games, he went on to manage then play at Preston North End and Waterford for just over 40 games in total.

Ryan Giggs started his playing career at United at the young age of 17. Now, over 20 years later, he has joined an elite club and one can now say that this is the stuff legends are made of. He made his 900^th appearance for United against Norwich at the weekend, also scoring the winning goal in extra time. United fans all over the world are indebted to him, not just for his service to the club, but to his vision, and for always staying as humble through the years. Below is a list of achievements:

Has won a record 12 top division English league titles as a player, and only Manchester

United player to have winner’s medals from all 12 Premier League title wins.

Most Premier League appearances for a player, with 588.

Most Premier League assists (accurate records are only available from 2002 onwards)

Only player to have played and scored in every Premier League campaign.

Only player to have scored in sixteen different Champions League tournaments. (Includes

eleven consecutive tournaments, 1996–97 to 2006–07; only Raúl has a better record with 14.)

Most goals by a British player in the Champions League/European Cup proper history, and 14th overall (not including preliminary rounds).

Most appearances by a Manchester United player.

Most starts by a Manchester United player, started in757 games.

First player to score 100 Premier League goals for Manchester United.

Second midfielder to have scored 100 goals in the Premier League for a single club (first being Matt LeTissier).

One of four Manchester United players to win two Champions League Medals (others are Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Wes Brown).

Oldest (37 years, 289 days) player to score in the Champions League, when he scored against Benfica on 14 September 2011.

One of two Manchester United Players to win at least 10 Top division medals (the other one is Paul Scholes.)

OBE for services to football: 2007

Honorary Master of Arts degree from Salford University for contributions to football and

charity work in developing countries: 2008

Freedom of the City of Salford: 7 January 2010.He is the 22nd person to receive the

Freedom of the City of Salford.

Look there is still a lot more to add. All I wanted to prove was that Giggs was probably the most influential player in his time at United. Bear in mind, United has had a long list of great players, Beckham, Ince, Robson, Best, Keane, Cantona, Charlton, Schmeicel, Irvin, Sjolksjear, and so the list can go on. He has cemented his place as one of the best players to ever play the modern game, a pure example of how good management can get you far in life.

REM

In terms of my previous post, in particular the topic, “How will this affect Plum?” I decided to hold that question for this post, and look, from my point of view what should be done in order for the Sharks to win away this weekend.

1 Line out ball…very important.

Bismarck probably had one of his worst games in a few years. Reminds me of when he jumped onto the scene, luckily he didn’t receive a Yellow or White card for any offence. Plumtree needs to rally his Hooker and really get this sorted. Strange that now that Smit is gone, the best Hooker is sitting in London….just an opinion.

2 Play smart rugby.

When we were growing up, our coaches used many different techniques to how coaches of today deal with certain situations. One thing I was taught that I will one day pass on to my son is that a clever rugby player runs around his opposite, not through or over him. Yes, nowadays the size of your average loosie is much more muscled then say twenty years ago, and we as South Africans should stop assuming that we can run over every opponent in our way.

3 Forwards were not grinding

And this joins number 2. Your General in the Back line should be able to dictate play. But he is unwilling to do so if his forwards ain’t doing their bit. Now we can see the huge impact Willem Alberts and Jean Deysel has, as well as Beast Mtwarira who loves the physicality of a game. But in the current crop we have, we possess a fair amount of grunt, and if they play and select their combinations cleverly, they should be able to do the right thing.

4 Michalak is decent, but McCleod is Natural:

The Froggie was seen lacking at scrumhalf, and even though he played there on numerous occasion for club and country, Freddie needs to be used at Flyhalf, but because Lambie won’t be moved, Plumtree is sitting with a huge problem.

5 Leave the backline unchanged:

The only position I would mess with is maybe putting Sithole in for Ludik, but Ludik did a decent job on the wing. Centre was very exciting, and I would seriously think about giving Paul Jordaan a run in the starting XV. Although Whitehead showed why the Sharks put so much faith in his signature, Jordaan also showed that selection shouldn’t be guaranteed and I would love to see Plum using him in the midfield soon.

Look, playing away, especially when you know that the crowds can be hostile, playing away is never easy but in the past we have shown that we can beat any team on their home ground. It is all up to the coaching staff to make sure that they remind the players what they are playing for, and surely with the Kings lurking in the back ground, one feels added pressure to their already overfull plate.

I do hope that we make a huge turn around, and that atleast this time my Superbru won’t suffer that much.

So week One of the Super XV has come and gone. And as per agreement, I will try and do a assessment of this week’s Yster and Dosie from the Shark camp. Firstly my thoughts on the game.

It is never easy starting your campaign away from home, especially against a team like the Bulls at Loftus. Going into the game, the Sharks would have been confident in their chances of winning at the Fortress. We have had a decent record there especially in recent times. The game was played at a high pace and you could still see the rust on some of these players, especially going into half time.

Truth be told, the Sharks had their discipline to blame. And you could see the huge contrast they had in comparison to the team that beat the Bulls at Loftus last year in the return fixture. They miss the big ball carrying Jean Deysel who was just an absolute menace in that game. They would have to regroup, and do so quickly if they want to win in Cape Town, no small feat, but doable.

So their line outs need working. I say start with McCloed this week, and maybe use Paul Jordaan with more time on the clock. It will be interesting to see how this loss effects the thinking of Plumtree.

Dosie:

Hats off to Keegan Daniel who receives this award. I really don’t know how the captain of a side concedes two quick penalties in a row. Not only this but his leadership was lacking big time. I always said that last year during the Currie Cup, he never got his players going. I know he can be so much better but Friday was just not going to happen. For me it feels like there is no one that dare take on the responsibility,so they just dump it all on him. Comes to show what John Smit, in term of leadership qualities bought to the table, even Stefan Terreblanche was decent as skipper.

In short Keegan needs to up his game….alot and quickly because they can easily drop him should he become complacent. There is loads of outstanding talent in the squad in that position.

Yster:

And this goes to JP Petersen. Now I was a bit surprised but he did fairly well on his switch to outside centre. A few darting runs, and a lekka offload to Mvovo was decent work, for a wing. With time, one feels that he can really add some more to his impressive arsenal of attack.

I am looking forward to his clash next week. He want to improve on his showing and maybe get more quality ball from his forwards.

The Sharks has to step up against the Stormers. They will be without Schalk, and I do wish him well. I will be at Newlands and will post details at a later stage.

In Cape Town, the Stormers are confident. The fans are optimistic, maybe their team can just do it again, maybe go the extra mile.

In Pretoria, the Bulls are confident. Yes they have lost a huge amount of experience at once, but they are clever lot, they bought their replacements early. Maybe they can surprise us.

Bloemfontein is always a place of optimism. They are the factory at which SA Rugby thrives on, so too the other unions, but we always wait to see what new player of huge potential they bring out.

The Lions, sitting in their cage no more. They defied the odds by winning the Currie Cup, and surely they have learnt that playing in these conditions is what makes champions.

Meanwhile, I am looking at this season from a totally different perspective. One always want their team to do well. I don’t see why people have to be cocky and over confident all the time. I want my team to obviously win this title, but more then that I really want them to only do one thing….OK two things:

1 Play to their Strengths:

The Sharks boast some formidable talent. They have a range of players that can cover a number of positions, they have game breaking players, they have it all at their disposal. How Plumtree decides to use this is unknown. In Bismarck they have a world class hooker, who can play as another fetcher. In Lambie they have the cool headed nature of a natural talented player and in JP Petersen they have the determination to succeed.

2 Play for the Jersey:

I have often remarked that when players lose that lust and passion, that they play crap. I believe that each and every one of those players in the team tonight should remember what it means to pull over that beautiful Black and White Jersey. They should remember the greats that have donned it, and play their hearts out, whether the opposition is the Rebels, Bulls or Stormers, it doesn’t matter.

I have been thinking about the selection of JP Petersen at Outside Centre for the opening clash. I do think it’s a good one. According to sources and the social media, JP was outstanding during the warm ups. Judging from how much energy and effort JP puts into his rugby, I think this move is one that will be positive. One also has to wonder whether Heyneke would select him in that position should the move pay off. Certainly his experience alone should count for something.

Another promising aspect of this year’s competition is the amount of young up and coming players that all unions has to introduce to their squads, after all, this is one long competition. I like the fact that Sithole and Jordaan decided to focus more on the XV man game and Jordaan should make a late cameo since he can cover a few positions. Whitehead is used ahead of Bosman and Joubert and this gives us an indication that Plumtree will gamble with his selections, which is a good thing since we all know he loves to stick to the tried and tested.

The Sharks can really improve on last year’s performance. They have a favourable draw, albeit their first two games are on the road. They also need to adapt to the rules of the game, and make sure of their 4 tries in a game, get those bonus points and score those marvellous tries you are capable off. I don’t like the Bulls, but I do respect what it stands for. They will be a good test for us, and should we come out the winners, this will surely lay a good platform for next week when we travel to Newlands.

Enjoy the games sports fans, the Blackberry group is buzzing with up to the minute updates. I do believe we have the best update facility in South Africa!!

PS: Next week I will be attending the game between the Stormers and Sharks at Newlands. I do know that many of our bloggers will be present. I will be somewhere…..getting fairly drunk but hopefully not too much. Hook ups is a must.

Till Later

REM

A few weeks ago, I did a post where I asked Bloggers to nominate their peers to write a column the Monday following, detailing their findings on the game. Instead of giving excuses and such, they should nominate a “SonPrins” and “SonPadda”

I have decided to just make the naming more simple, in other words you will nominate the player you think gave a match winning performance the title of “Yster”….and your nominee for player who played the kukkest as “Doosie”, but please don’t confuse the Doosie part with Wynand lokl.

I have counted the votes and here goes: We will have two bloggers per franchise:

Representing the Stormers will be:

Met Uysh

Hanjo

Lions:

Baylion

Inhlanzi

Free State:

Green Man

Dutch

Sharks:

Couch Critic

..and myself

Bulls:

Bullmaster

Darwinia

Other bloggers can feel free to do their own type. What I would like to see now is our supporters going bos….its nearly here. Let’s just hope it lives up to our expectations.

With the SA Conference opening tomorrow night, I do hope for a victory for my Sharks, hey who doesn’t. I see the Sport24 comments are full of crap once again, I can’t understand why these people can’t stick to decency, instead attacking other people’s mothers.

My Super Rugby Preview to come up.

REM

PS: You are entitled to name to post whatever you like

A few years ago, I took my cousin to Newlands and the surrounding areas. It was a weeks day, and standing in front of a very busy restaurant, a stone’s throw away from Newlands stadium stood quite a couple of Stormers players. The only one that was standing one side, not chatting but fiddling on TwitFace* was Flo Jo Louw.

The team had training gear on, and my cousin, all 4 years of him, recognized the kit, and amply replied, Stormers. I went to shake the hand of a player I greatly respect, a huge loss when he left. And I must say the oke was surprisingly friendly. I outright told him, I support the Sharks but I also support my fellow Saffa Unions. We had a chat, he autographed a rugby ball I bought for my cousin and told him to keep well. The grandson of Jan Pickard, was human after all!

To which I saw Schalk, Andries and Duanne. Greeted, and got signatures. Then I saw Ricky “MickyD” January. Now this fellow, from Hopefield, is married to my best friends niece. And my friend refuses to think big of him. So I went up to him, introduced myself and asked for a autograph to which he looked around and when he saw no team members nearby said, “Minute my broe march”(Which roughly translates to No man go away)

I saw him a couple of times again afterwards, and after he saw who I was with (my friend), he recognized me and asked whether there is something I want him to sign. I lost my respect for him that day, and no matter how nuggity he can be on the field, I will honestly knock his front teeth out….which leads me to this post…..

Talking about knocking people out, in 2009 Coenie Oosthuizen was allegedly involved in a Bar Brawl…come on, who of us has not been? Nothing came of the story, but now its been reported that the Free State Prop has been once again, involved in a bar brawl. I just wish when things like this happen, that I could be a fly on his beer glass, because I really want to know what someone like this would say to him…

“Psst…jyt n klein tottie” or

“Coenie jy skrum somma kak” or

“G’n wonder jy kannie Beast se plek vat inie Bokspan nie want jy syp meer bier as water”

I have never met the oke, but you can see that Devilish look he gets when he plays. I do hope that this incident bear no permanent mark on his name. He can still go places.

So the days are winding down to Friday. For those of you that don’t have access to DSTV on Friday morning, please do yourself a favour and contact Multichoice, give your Work address and if compatible, buy the DSTV Walka. That way you have access to the rugby, while at your desk.

Till Later

REM

*Twitface-you do the math

Before the Super Season, kicks off next week, the blogs is afloat with bloggers, trying their hand at some humour. This ain’t one of those attempts, but something got me thinking, since everyone is picking on the Bulls, their Pink, and everything that goes together with it, I was thinking, what would some of our rugby players be doing, had they not decided to start playing rugby??

But to make this setting feel real, I want you to imagine that these okes has never played the game at all:

Bloemfontein has produced some of the most exciting talent in South Africa. From Cricket captains to Rugby captains, to everything that resembles South Africa, the International Sporting arena and being competitive. He always knew that this would be a busy week. Farmer of the Year, Bismarck Du Plessis just drove from his plaas in Bloem to deliver 25 freshly slaughtered sheep for a huge wedding reception in Pretoria. Du Plessis, a colossusss of a man decides to meet up with a old buddy of his, Morne Steyn, who lived in Bloem until the busy city of Johannesburg called upon his talents as a Bank Manager. He has been living in the city for 8 years now, married a lovely girl who loves the Blue Bulls and Morne couldn’t be any better. Still being optimistic, he first has to go see his priest.

His pries goes by the name of Chilliboy Ralapele. He is a Xhosa/Zula/Afrikaans/Venda speaking priest, a genuine figure in the outskirts of Centurion. Chilli as he is known has a long list of followers, ranging from here until the land of the white cloud. His Deacon in the church, another huge man, Pierre Spies is a man of faith and a man living his life to the fullest. Just last week he visited Cape Town, in the hopes of finding a good Red Wine, for his friend’s wedding taking place this weekend. He met the owner of the farm, a Mister Schalk Burger, who’s knowledge of the finest wines can be seen when you see his huge collection on his farm, Staaldraad.

Schalk has been invited by the Deacon to visit them for the wedding, and was told to bring some mates with. Surgeon Jean and Car sales man Dewalt Duvenhage has known Schalk for a very long time. They decided to drive up to Pretoria, stopping over in Durban to visit a family friend whom he hasn’t seen in 10 years. John Smit, born in Pretoria, and living his life in Durban has been a motivational speaker for a long time in his life. He has met thousands of people in his line of work, but Schalk, having gone through a bad patch with his red wine (something to do with vrot druiwe) took to each other but it has been too long. Yet another mutual friend of theirs is someone, not all too familiar with the lime light, JP Pietersen has been a IT Technician for years, and fixes their PC problems on a regular basis.

She invited almost 400 guest to her wedding. She was a HE but in this new age South Africa, where gay marriages are legal, he will become the She, in just a few hours. The DJ (DJ Luke), the guest speaker (Oom Wymie), the cars (Courtesy of Van Heerden & Minnie Cars) and the best beautician in South Africa (D Catrikilis).

All that matter was that she eloped. She had problems with changing her name, but Wynand could no longer do…

This past weekend, Saturday to be precise, I saw something that made me irk..

Everyone knows about recent racist feud’s going on in the English Premier League. The two big incidents that took place was John Terry verbally abusing Anton Ferdinand, brother of Manchester United defender Rio. Terry was subsequently stripped (again) of the English Captaincy by the FA and this ultimately led to the resignation of Fabio Cappello.

The big one however was between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra at Anfield in October. Many say that Evra was making up the claims (since the player was involved in a similar case) years before at Chelsea. The FA found Suarez guilty and banned him for 8 matches. A bit harsh but I guess they were trying to make the point that racism doesn’t play any part in sport (any sport for that matter).

With the two bitter enemies locking horns again on Saturday, the main talking point was the inevitable return of Suarez at Old Trafford. What followed was a display of Poor Sportsmanship and a utter disgrace.

Suarez refused to shake the hand of Evra when the teams lined up and this lead to tempers flaring. At the half-time interval, the Police and Stewards had to be called in to keep the teams apart in the tunnel, something that made the tension even more.

After United secured the three points, Evra, rubbing it in the face of the Scousers celebrated in front of Suarez. This led to the ref intervening and pulling Evra away from Suarez.

Conclusion:

In sport, the handshake before or after the game is a sign of respect. I am sure that if the reverse happened that everyone would have called for the head of Evra. Yes at the end he rubbed it in, but so would I. He was under just as much strain and I am sure he wanted to win this clash more then anything.

It comes to show that Suarez is a royal prick. Following the comments of Sir Alex, who says that he should never wear the colours of the Scousers again (something that would never happen), I am set to agree with him. If you wanna behave like a Doosetjie, then fokkof.

Suarez has been full of controversy in his playing career and this puts the cherry on the cake for me. Racism and just failing to show respect to a fellow player is a disgrace and for a team with the sheer magnitude of Liverpool, they should impose strict measures to ensure that a meeting with the team from Manchester is dealt with in a more sufficient way.

Following McLook’s recent post about Legends and Greats, one comes to the conclusions that it is either unfair to say pick a team of the best Springboks ever. The possibilities are endless and you can probably pick three teams that would give any opposing side a decent run for their money, or you can make a decision on Pre Pro and Pro, finish.

So I am attempting something I have never done. I am going to pick “MY” best Springbok XV, pre professional and one that played from say 1995-2008. Reason why I am picking the year is that it would be unfair to put our newer exploits on a list when they themselves have not found their feet as yet. So here goes and bear with me.

Old School XV:

1 Boy Louw

2 Uli Schmidt

3 Mof Myburgh

4 Frik Du Preez

5 Moaner van Heerden

6 Jan Ellis

7 Rob Louw

8 Hennie Miller

9 Danie Craven

10 Naas Botha

11 Ray Mordt

12 Mannetjies Roux

13 Danie Gerber

14 Carel Du Plessis

15 HO De Villiers

Now the problem with that is that there is so many players that are left out, and deciding which one to play is even more difficult, so I will bend the rules here and pick yet another XV.

1 Jaap Bekker

2 Abie Malan

3 Chris Koch

4 Johan Claasen

5 Avril Malan

6 Theuns Stofberg

7 Piet Greyling

8 Morne Du Plessis

9 Dawie De Villiers

10 Bennie Osler

11 Syd Nomis

12 John Gainsford

13 Tjol Lategan

14 Gerrie Germishuys

15 Gysie Pienaar

Then again, you get the issue where even more names are left out. These two teams stand the test of time. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps, the loose trio of Jan Ellis, Rob Louw and Hennie Miller, the genuis of Danie Craven and Naas Botha. These two teams are all pre professional.

Now comes the big challenge. Fitting one team from 1995-2008 into one.

1 Os Du Randt

2 John Smit

3 Balie Swart

4 Mark Andrews

5 Victor Matfield

6 Schalk Burger

7 Andre Venter

8 Gary Teichman

9 Joost van der Westhuizen

10 Henry Honiball

11 Bryan Habana

12 Andre Snyman

13 Jaque Fourie

14 Breyton Paulse

15 Andre Joubert.

Once again, not a easy decision. Especially in some key areas. You can still find plenty of names. So once again I will break my own rule.

Team 2

1 Robbie Kempson

2 Bismarck Du Plessis

3 Guthro Steenkamp

4 Bakkies Botha

5 Krynauw Otto

6 Ruben Kruger

7 Juan Smith

8 Bobby Skinstadt

9 Fourie Du Preez

10 Butch James

11 Pieter Rossouw

12 Hennie le Roux

13 Jean De Villiers

14 Stefan Terreblanche

15 Percy Montgomery.

And once again, there is not space for enough. So I guess you get my point now. No matter how you put it, Springbok rugby is and will always have names to fill up a team sheet, whether it be post Pro, or in the Professional era.

We are a fickle lot as supporters. And I do think that the new coach, Mr Meyer, should try and incorporate the history of the Springboks to the team, because I think they have forgotten what the emblem stands for, what it means, not just to the players representing their country, but to the fans wearing it in their hearts.

Cheers

REM

Not of any particular concerns to some Saffas, but last night saw the resignation of Fabio Capello, Coach of England’s Football Team.

Now this may come as good news to some. Heck it should be great news.

Fabio has been an enigma at times. Why the “proud” and “mighty” English didn’t pick a local coach is beyond me. They may have the best league in the World, but not a lot of “local” coaches to lend a hand to the National cause. Considering how coaches from all countries come to England to try their hand at coaching, it is no surprise the position was given to an Italian.

If you look at their league you will see coaches from all nations. Sir Alex Ferguson (ManU), David Moyes(Everton), Paul Lambert (Norwich), Steve Kean (Blackburn), Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool), Alex McLeish(Aston Villa) leads the charge for Scotland. Tony Pulis (Stoke) and Mark Hughes (QPR) fills up the gap for Wales. Mick McCarthy (Wolves) and Owen Coyle (Bolton) represents Ireland, while Brendan Rogers (Swansea) and Martin O’ Neill (Sunderland) complete the Northern Ireland Connection.

There is also Arsene Wenger(Arsenal, France), Roberto Martinez (Wigan, Spain), Roberto Mancini(Man City, Italy), Martin Jol (Fulham, Netherlands) and Andre Villas Boas (Chelsea, Portugal)

Interestingly enough, as of time of post, the ENGLISH Premier League only has Harry Rednapp (Tottenham), Alan Pardew (Newcastle) and Roy Hodgson (WBA) as English born coaches. This makes the appointment of the coach that much more important, especially for the players who would want to forget about their horrid 2010 WC in South Africa.

The social networks are a buzz. Wayne Rooney stated that he liked Fabio, but would give Harry the nod. The same goes for Rio Ferdinand who insist that a local coach be bought in. I do agree, and I know so does Kitchener.

Kitch has long been an admirer of Rednapp. And I admire the fact that players speak so highly of him. He is a decent coach, and he should be the overwhelming favourite to take over the reigns from Fabio. His early departure doesn’t leave the new coach with a lot of time to prepare for Euro 2012. And if it is Harry, Tottenham will be very reluctant to let him go. Kinda reminds one of the Bulls not wanting Meyer to go.

But in my opinion Harry should be the correct choice. You never know, maybe he can someday bring them some decent silverware. And with this maybe Tottenham can one day become even better then they are now….since Mourinho wants to return to London…..