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Eddie, you need to ease off a bit..

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For those who may not be aware of such things, Eddie Butler used to be a rugby player, and now retired as such, he has been earning a living as a rugby journalist. He is also Welsh. Which of course means that he cannot stand the English. Or at least, the England rugby team. Which is not unusual. Let’s be honest, that puts him among a comfortable majority of the English-hating rugby following world for reasons - as an Englishman - I’ve never really got to grips with. Why do they love to hate us? History? By definition, that’s a long time ago. Why, if you ask a neutral in any game against England who would they want to win, would they say, ‘Anyone But England’? I don’t know. As an England supporter for more than forty-plus years I’ve always sort of recognised this. So how do I feel about it?  Well, truth be told, I don’t really think about it much at all. It’s not really my problem. I want England to win. Simple as that. If England aren’t playing at all, I’m not really that interested. I don’t really care who England play, if they win, I’m thrilled. If they lose, I’m gutted. Beyond that - well, so what?

Anyway, Eddie wrote a piece in The Guardian today and one gets the sense that he somehow lost the battle of pretended journalistic objectivity versus chippy bitterness :

“Rugby World Cup 2011: Defiance at heart of Martin Johnson’s strategy

The stubborn manager is determined to obliterate the whiff of scandal with the smell of success”

Powerful medicine. Ostensibly, it was a piece that sought to build on a media-generated ‘scandal’ concerning the on and off-duty behaviour of the England squad by offering the not-unreasonable proposition that the best counter that Martin Johnson could offer to the right-minded critics of the England squad would be to simply beat the French at their forthcoming encounter. So far, so not-so-original. But then comes the most weirdly non sequitur piece of sensationalist bollocks-speak concluding summary I’ve seen written in a mainstream newspaper:

“It is France now, as it was then. Find the way to beat them again. Smash them. And then smash Ireland or Wales. And then England are in the final. Do you smell that? That’s the stench of winning.

As long as it works. If the Johnson way fails, then the whole house of Twickenham, rotten, decaying, comes down too. Now that would be a smell.”

Eddie, whatever it is you’ve been drinking, stop now.

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