SUDDENLY everyone's a rugby fan.

After watching England win the World Cup tomorrow morning, converts intoxicated more by the euphoria of the occasion than by the contents of the empty cans on their living room floors will throng the touchlines at Shildon v Wensleydale and Yarm v Chester-le-Street.

Well, perhaps not. On the one occasion I watched Wensleydale they had an 18st fly half who bore as much resemblance to Jonny Wilkinson as Audley Harrison does to Audrey Hepburn.

But we should rejoice that the art of coarse rugby is not yet extinct. Boys will be inspired by the well-muscled super-athletes on display in Sydney, but when they realise they have neither the ability nor the dedication to reach that level, most will look elsewhere.

This is a pity as they would benefit hugely from the camaraderie of good, old-fashioned coarse rugby, in which talent and commitment are dirty words and lumbering forwards tell the fly half: "None of this poncy running about, kick it off the park."

The Rugby Football Union are apparently geared up for an influx of youngsters, with clubs being encouraged to stage "Come And Try It" days. This initiative might produce the next Jonny Wilkinson, but equally important is to persuade a healthy percentage to ignore their lack of talent and stay on to enjoy the social benefits of playing in the third or fourth team before going on to coach the next generation, or referee, or help run the club.

This is rugby's big chance. Interest in the game has been on the wane for some time and a survey a couple of years ago revealed that, after Jonny, the best-known rugby personality in this country was Annie Underwood, mother of Rory and Tony.

I'm sure she won't mind being overtaken by Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and even Ben Cohen, who could become just about as famous as his uncle George.

Those of us of a certain age have no trouble at all in starting Banks, Cohen, Wilson and going on to name the rest of the last England team to win a World Cup. Hopefully today's youngsters, 37 years hence, will remember Lewsey, Cohen, Greenwood . . . and rugby will not have bowed totally to the great god of football.

IT can't be much fun being chief executive of the Football Association. Adam Crozier had to take a lot of stick over the Wembley fiasco and finally quit. Now his successor, Mark Palios, has to suffer the embarrassment of the disciplinary shambles.

He didn't help when he observed that the potential to do damage was greater in a drink-driver, like James Beattie, than in someone who lobs a plastic bottle back into the crowd, as Alan Smith did. Yet it was Smith who was banished from the England squad to be replaced by Beattie.

Smith had been taken in for questioning and released on police bail for doing something which, I suspect, 90 per cent of us would have done in the same situation. Trivial though it might seem, however, coming on top of his already appalling disciplinary record it is pertinent to ask whether Smith should be considered for England duty at all.

Quite rightly, the England coach wants the whole disciplinary process speeding up, citing the delay in the Rio Ferdinand drugs case as unacceptable.

After Wembley and the dithering over whether to bid for the Olympics, not to mention things like the Soham murder trial, you'd think Sven would have realised that nothing happens quickly in this country.

Which brings me back to the aforementioned Adam Crozier, who in his new role with the Royal Mail somehow found £1m to donate to the Olympic bid this week in the hope that it would help people to forget the postal strike.

I imagine most of us would rather see a penny knocked off the price of stamps, especially when we see the London bid's logo being unveiled accompanied by five men abseiling down the Tate Modern Gallery.

Such nonsense leaves me as convinced as ever that the bid is doomed to failure.

HOW ludicrous that Leeds are not allowed to appoint Eddie Gray as their permanent manager because he hasn't got the required qualifications. I don't suppose Brian Clough bothered much with coaching certificates, or Don Revie.

It is said that, despite all the other stars in the great Leeds team of the late 1960s, Gray was always the first name on Revie's team sheet.

He has been a loyal servant to the club and managed them before in difficult times. He should be allowed to do so again, if he's prepared to do it

Published: 21/11/2003