Ben's Column

<table width="100%" height="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="bottom"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""><tr><td background="../../graphics/180601_pages/pat.jpg"><img src="../../graphics/180601_pages/top.jpg" width="760" height="54" alt="MP for Exeter" usemap="#Map" border="0"></td></tr></table> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="38,21,223,37" href="../../biog/" alt="Biography" title="Biography" target="_parent"> </map> </td> </tr> <tr><td align="right" valign="top"> <table summary="" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="150" height="341" background="../../graphics/buttons/bottom.jpg" valign="top"> <table summary="" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/home.gif" alt="Home" width="150" height="34" border="0"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../exeter_labour/index/" target="_parent"><img name="Image6" border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/party.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Exeter Labour Party"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img name="Image7" border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/speeches.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Speeches"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../column/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/column.gif" width="150" height="24" alt="Ben's Column"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../faqs/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/faqs.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="FAQs"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/local.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Local Information"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/newsletter.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Newsletter"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/links.gif" width="150" height="23" border="0" alt="Links"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../contact/contact/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/contact.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Contact" border="0"></a> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">  <html> <head> <title>Welcome to Ben Bradshaws Website</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#cc0000" vlink="#cc0000" alink="#cc0000" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a name="top"></a></b></font> <table width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" summary=""> <tr> <td align="right"><a href="../../column/column/" target="_self"><img alt="Back" src="../../graphics/new_bio/back.gif" width="90" height="22" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="-3"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#CC0000">World Cup celebrations — 26 November 2003</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="-6"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As I cycled round Exeter on Saturday with a large flag of St George fluttering from the back of my bike one wag shouted: �We only ever win the world cup under Labour!�<br/> <br/> I have to admit I had not noticed that. But what I had noticed was the lack of celebration compared with, say, England�s relatively poor performance in the football world cup this year or our football world cup win in 1966 when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister.<br/> <br/> Last summer cars and windows were festooned with English flags. During the rugby world cup, even when our lads had won, there seemed little sign of public support.<br/> <br/> Perhaps that is because we feel differently about rugby. Maybe those people who feel passionate about it are different from passionate football fans. It seemed strange, particularly in Exeter, where we do better at rugby than at football, that there should have been so little exhibition of public emotion. If it has been France or Australia lifting the world cup the scenes, I suspect, in those countries would have been quite different. <br/> <br/> But English understatement is part of rugby�s charm. Most people had probably not heard of Jonny Wilkinson before this world cup. Compare that with the mega star status and earnings of David Beckham. He, at least, behaves impeccably. The same cannot be said about some of his footballer colleagues. <br/> <br/> The behaviour of our rugby team on and off the pitch puts our top footballers to shame. Rugby players and rugby clubs have not always had such a wholesome image. But the game must be doing something right that football is doing wrong.<br/> <br/> If rugby earns a boost from England�s victory in Australia it will be richly deserved. It was beautiful to watch, played with superb grace and expertise and the players are great role models for youngsters. <br/> <br/> The team are stars now, with massive earning capacity. I hope they handle it better than many footballers.<br/> </font></td> <tr> <td height="-7"><a href="#top"><img alt="Back to Top" src="../../graphics/180601_pages/back_top.gif" width="100" height="27" border="0"></a></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td> <td align="right" valign="bottom"><table width="100%" height="70" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td width="100%" height="70" align="left" valign="bottom"> <font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="/" target="_parent">Home</a> | <a href="../../exeter_labour/index/" target="_parent">Exeter Labour Party</a> | <a href="/" target="_parent">Speeches</a> | <a href="../../column/" target="_parent">Ben's Column</a> | <a href="../../faqs/" target="_parent">FAQs</a> | <a href="/" target="_parent">Local Information</a> | <a href="/" target="_parent">Newsletter</a> | <a href="/" target="_parent">Links</a> | <a href="../../contact/contact/" target="_parent">Contact</a></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br> </font> <font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">The contents of these pages must not be reproduced by any third parties for commercial gain. <a href="/" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a><br> </font> <font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ben Bradshaw © 2000-2008 Last updated 08/2007</font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">| Developed by Websight</font> </td> <td height="70" width="251" align="right" valign="bottom"><img src="../../graphics/180601_pages/ben_logo_new.jpg" alt="" width="251" height="61" border="0" align="right"></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>