Whatever happened to the spirit of cricket, golliwogs, and why it took 90 minutes to get served at an Eastbourne restaurant

THERE is something about cricket and rugby which sets them apart from other sports. Players are expected to compete according to the spirit of the game even in the heat of the battle.
However, as the financial stakes get higher, it seems sportsmanship is dwindling with a win at all costs mentality.
In rugby, if a player oversteps the line with a referee, the team is frogmarched back a further 10 metres.
And in cricket, if a player catches a bounce ball he acknowledges it, just as you are expected to walk if you have clearly snicked the ball to the wicketkeeper.
In football, it's now anarchy on the field of play where all respect for opponents and referees have disappeared. Professionally, it's an ugly game played by obscenely-paid, foul-mouthed prima donnas.
It is disappointing to see an Ashes series dominated by television reviews, and not featuring honest, sportsmanship. Stuart Broad should have walked when he clearly edged the ball during the first Test at Trent Bridge, just as Aussie skipper Michael Clarke should have accepted the contentious LBW decision with grace and dignity.
It was hard to accept Broad's team-mates and even ex-professionals justifying the England player's defiance at the crease by insisting a player should wait for the umpire's decision. That's gamesmanship and not the spirit of cricket which sets the sport apart. Maybe, regrettably, that is the way professional cricket is going.
Is sportsmanship relevant in this day and age? Absolutely. Should win at all costs matter? Definitely not.

Fair play to Andy Murray last weekend. There was plenty of grace and dignity about his performance in beating Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Murray wasn't spectacular but business-like against an opponent reeling from his five-set semi-final 48 hours earlier. Yet you couldn't help but be moved by how much victory meant to the Scot and his family. It was immense.
Stop all betting for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, with the British Lions shoe-ins for the team award.

Talk about sportsmanship, but did you notice after Andy had embraced his mother in the players' box after his victory, Novak Djokovic's parents offered their congratulations to Judy?
As BBC commentator, Andrew Castle, said at the time - pure class. And that is sportsmanship.
Fair play to Andy too afterwards in his Monday round of press calls and rebuffing Holly Willoughby's question whether he would be getting engaged to long-standing girlfriend, Kim Sears.
"I’m trying to think what your next challenge will be. You’ve had the US Open, the Olympics, now Wimbledon, could it be popping the question?," asked Willoughby.
Wily Andy was having none of it. "I only met you like ten minutes ago so I wouldn’t be telling you first," he said. Genius!

Front page story in the Eastbourne Herald this week is about a tourist shop at Beachy Head which is selling a golliwog-style doll. www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/is-sale-of-golliwog-style-doll-beyond-the-pale-1-5277012
It's a good story for the newspaper and a talking point. But I get so exasperated by these so-called guardians of society's morals who become professional moaners.
Are these the same people who call up the BBC to complain about swearing on Centre Court at Wimbledon - come on guys, get a life.
I don't have a problem with golliwog-style dolls.
I had one when I grew up and didn't figure the connotation as a racist one. I collected the Robinson's Jam tokens too.
My colleague, Annemarie Field, put it neatly in her column www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/columnists/golly-what-a-fuss-over-a-doll-1-5276927 when she wrote:
"Are we going to end up banning more of our childhood favourites? After all Pinocchio told lies, Cinderella stayed up till midnight at parties, Sleeping Beauty got to sleep forever, Aladdin was a thief, Snow White lived with seven men and Goldilocks broke into a house.
Perhaps the PC brigade will start calling for Bugs Bunny to be banned in case it upsets children with buckteeth."

I love the Belgian Café in Eastbourne. It is one of my favourite eating haunts in the town serving gorgeous food, but this week I had the worst service ever.
On a lovely summer's evening, it took one hour and 25 minutes to get our meal served, other customers were complaining, and the toilets were a disgrace.
Worse, while sat outside overlooking the seafront, the table was consumed by cigarette smoke from neighbouring tables - a major pet hate.
The waitress apologised when I paid the bill, pointing out how they were chronically under-staffed, but why were they not prepared?
It's high season in Eastbourne, we're finally experiencing gorgeous weather, so the seafront eateries should be cashing in after what has been a difficult start to the year.
I wonder if any of those grumbling customers will return?