Over the years, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I am not Andy Murray’s number one fan.

Even though he has steered away from it in recent times (probably on the advice of his marketing and PR people), I can’t entirely dismiss the fact that earlier in his career he positioned himself as an anti-English Scotsman.

But whatever my opinion is of Murray on a personal level, it would be totally wrong not to pay tribute to his fantastic achievement in winning Wimbledon last Sunday.

For any tennis player, that has to be the holy grail of the sport, probably more than the other grand slam tournaments, or even working your way up to number one in the rankings.

Wimbledon, due to tradition and history more than anything else, remains the ultimate tennis prize, and Murray became the first British person to claim it since 1936.

One of Murray’s most endearing qualities is that he has achieved what he has through sheer hard work and commitment. He was never one of those supremely talented kids who only had to walk onto the court to win.

In fact, he didn’t win his first grand slam until last year’s US Open, by which time he was already in his mid-20s, a ripe old age in a sport where champions can often be as young as 17 or 18.

But what he may have lacked in out-and-out natural skill, he has more than made up for with his determination to be the best he possibly can – which is entirely admirable and which has now paid off in spectacular fashion.

Let’s not pretend that this particular triumph will suddenly make him the most popular sportsman in Britain, because there will always be a large number of English people who refuse to forgive and forget.

But even those who aren’t his fans, like myself, should certainly be able to offer him the respect and admiration he deserves for pulling off such a brilliant and convincing victory on the very biggest of stages.

(Tiny side-note: If Scotland vote for independence in their referendum does that mean we go back to not having had a British winner of Wimbledon since 1936? Just a thought…)

Match-fixing masterminds

As a naturally competitive person, I don’t like cheats in any shape or form. They make my skin crawl and my teeth itch – especially when they infiltrate the world of sport.

However, I would suggest that if you do insist on lowering yourself to the level of playing a game dishonestly, then the very least you could do is be a bit subtle about it.

Unlike the two Nigerian football teams that were in the news last week.

Going into their final round of league matches, the wonderfully named Police Machine FC and Plateau United Feeders were level on points and battling it out for play-off qualification.

On that basis you would expect both teams to tear into their respective opponents from the off in a bid to win by as large a margin as possible. Which they duly did.

However, what you probably wouldn’t have expected is for Police Machine FC to win their game 67-0 while Plateau United Feeders won their game 79-0.

But it gets better. Police Machine FC scored 61 of their goals in the second half while Plateau United Feeders scored 72 of theirs in the last 45 minutes. Not likely to raise any suspicion there then.

According to eyewitness, both games involved utterly comical refereeing, incidents of club officials acting as ball boys after each goal and instances of goalkeepers practically throwing the ball into their own nets.

As you would expect, the Nigerian FA acted immediately and launched a full-scale investigation into the two freaky results that took place in what is effectively the sixth tier of the country’s league pyramid.

Both the winning teams, their opponents, the officials and everybody else remotely connected with the matches have been suspended. One of the clubs has since been entirely disbanded by its owner.

Personally, I would have loved to see the looks on the faces of the Police Machine FC players when they came off at the end of their match. Having realised they needed to step up a gear at half time they did just that, scoring a goal every 44 seconds.

But then to find out their rivals had only gone and scored a goal every 37.5 seconds in their second half. Priceless.

I appreciate that match-fixing at any level of football is a serious offence and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

But when you have clowns like these displaying all the criminal skill of a bowl of porridge, you’ve just got to laugh.

Blinded by greed

Some players just don’t know what loyalty is.

Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke was a bit of a revelation last season, scoring 23 goals in all competitions and playing a crucial role in helping his team avoid relegation. In the process he became a bit of a hero with the Villa faithful, as you would expect.

So how does this ‘hero’ repay the club that took a £7 million (€8m) gamble on him and the fans who now adore him? By putting in a transfer request.

Obviously the player, who is still only 22, has let one season of success go to his head and now thinks he is bigger and better than Aston Villa. And I’m sure his agent has been whispering in his ear about how much more he could earn at one of the very top clubs.

What he may have lacked in out-and-out natural skill, he has more than made up for with his determination to be the best he possibly can

Villa responded by pointing out that he still has three years of his contract left – but I’m sure that is more to do with ensuring they get a better price than forcing him to stay.

If and when a proper offer comes in they will undoubtedly cash in on a player who could yet turn out to be a one-season wonder.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect players to spend all their careers at one club any more.

Those days have long gone.

And sometimes it is the club itself that will want to cash in on a player when they need the cash.

I just believe Benteke owed Villa at least one more full season out of respect, if nothing else.

Maybe I am just being old fashioned…

Taking the p...

Tour de France rider Mark Cavendish had a rather unpleasant experience last week when he had urine thrown on him from the crowd during one of the stages of the race.

Officials are linking the unexpected dousing to an incident the previous day when Cavendish and another rider collided.

Although the race judges blamed the other rider, the wider public opinion was that Cavendish was to blame, and that may have led a disgruntled fan to do his dirty deed.

Either that or it was Lance Armstrong returning one of his samples…

Getting off lightly

Juventus striker Carlos Tevez has had his 250 hours of community service rescinded and replaced with a £3,000 (€3,473) fine since he has left Manchester and moved to Italy.

Is it just me that finds that a little bit unfair?

The argument of Tevez’s lawyers was that as the player was sold by Manchester City, he is not personally responsible for his inability to fulfil the sentence, dished out for a string of motoring offences. I understand that.

But converting 250 hours of community service – which would have been a genuine hardship for the player and no doubt a rather humbling experience – into a £3,000 fine seems slightly disproportionate.

He earns that amount of money in a few hours. In fact, he could probably find it down the back of his new designer Italian sofa.

Surely it would have been more appropriate for Tevez to be made to donate a decent sum to those charities or organisations he was going to be doing the community service for?

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade