And added to your list of similes you neglected to mention the super league war of 1997. How vivid in my mind even to this day, the scant regard for the fan base of rugby league, as News corporation forced its greedy hand of control into NRL Football.

A year when rugby league lost sight of the real meaning of the game and its sports centred focus, resulting in the modern day absurdity that to witness an honest game of league, one turns now to school boys league for honesty and integrity so missing with professional league.

"... New car, caviar, four star daydream think I'll buy me a football team ..."

Mijjl

And further:-

Year come 84, Swans knocking at AFL door, pink helicopter land SCG, the rest it all history.

Mr Pilger makes some excellent points.

Much of today's sport is no longer worth watching. My own game, cricket, is now available in so many different flavours and colours, they have collectively drained the lustre from the game itself. Even Test cricket, that standout bastion of quirky individuality ("you mean, you play five days and still might not get a result?"), now suffers badly from i) overexposure and ii) a corrupting overload/underload of cash for the stars.

So props to Mr Pilger for reminding us how far the corruption has spread.

If only...

If only he had stopped before gilding the lily with just one too many of his "we're so oppressed" stories.

I swear, he has a mangy old rucksack somewhere, full of dog-eared bits of paper that people have given him, describing this massive injustice, or that cabal of capitalist evil-doers, in which he rummages around for a story to provide that necessary "Brand Pilger"colour.

"When the public water supply of Bolivia’s second city, Cochabamba, was sold off to a foreign consortium, rainwater was included. The clouds became the property of multinationals"

Oh dear. What utter codswallop.

Cochabamba is the fourth largest city in Bolivia, after Santa Cruz, El Alto and La Paz. (Latest Census, 2001) Not a good start.

The privatization of the water supply went to a consortium that included 20% local companies.

Rainwater was not included in the sell-off, so the clouds never became anyone's property.

The closest this ever came to reality was in a New Yorker article, where the author claimed:

"Bechtel came to Cochabamba and, as the local peasants put it, tried to 'lease the rain'.”

Incidentally, before Cochabamba's water was privatized, the local government used a tiered pricing structure, where the more you used, the lower the unit cost. So the poorest pay the highest price. Go figure.

There's a heap more to the story. But as the BBC puts it:

"The victory over the multinational has not led to a new order - for many it has just preserved an old order few were happy with in the first place"

I find it absurd when a country's national team is made up of players bought from other countries. How on earth can anyone claim their country won ?

The Qantas Wallabies.

http://www.rugby.com.au/qantas_wallabies/qantas_wallabies_landing,21788.html

Pericles, I never knew you were a fellow cricket brethren. I share your pain.