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Sport24 Plonkers and Stars
03/07/2008 10:47 - (SA)
Cape Town - It's the end of another month, so after much debate, and head scratching, the Sport24 team have announced their Stars, Plonkers and Pictures for the month of June 2008.
Every month the Sport24 editorial team will announce nominations for a sportsperson or team (people who stole the limelight that month), a plonker (a team or person who has not covered themselves in glory) and a sports photo of the month (the one that makes you go "Ahhh"). Readers are then asked to vote for the person, team and picture that best deserves the award...
So without further ado, then, the June nominations are...
STARS:
Narrowing down the nominations for the June star of the month proved tricky with several candidates returning performances worthy of recognition.
Leading the way was Hugh Bladen - the voice of SA rugby for a staggering 150 Tests. "Blades" brought up the milestone in the second Test against Wales in Pretoria. Love him or hate him, he's been a familiar voice since the Boks emerged from isolation.
John Mametsa celebrated his 100th Currie Cup match by scoring a hat-trick for the Blue Bulls against the Lions in the opening round of the 2008 season. The flyer has been an un-sung hero for the Loftus-based side on countless occasions.
Some inspired performances on the ATP Tour in 2008 saw Kevin Anderson qualify for the men's singles draw at Wimbledon thanks to an improved ranking which saw him burst into the Top 100. The tournament itself didn't prove a success as he was bundled out in the first round.
Dale Steyn swept the boards at the Mutual & Federal SA Cricket Awards. The Proteas and Titans speedster won all four awards for which he was nominated including the prestigious SA Cricketer of the Year. He was also named Test Cricketer of the Year, SA Players' Player of the Year and the Fans' Cricketer of the Year.
From a moral stand point a nomination is extended to the Blue Bulls Company for sticking to their guns and winning their court case - with costs - against Springbok lock Bakkies Botha who sought an early release from his contract in order to secure a lucrative move to French club Toulon.
PLONKERS:
And in the not so serious plonker category... Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest plonker of them all?
Ricky Januarie missed out on selection for the Boks' opening Test of the year against Wales in Bloemfontein after a midweek braai with friends got out of hand. The incident was handled internally and the scrumhalf accepted his punishment and was back at his post the following week.
Following Tiger Woods's remarkable US Open victory on a clearly injured knee, Retief Goosen suggested the world No 1 was "faking" the injury and had it been serious enough "he'd have withdrawn". Tiger responded the following day by announcing he'd been booked for an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction of his left knee and would be out of action for 12 months.
A permanent feature in our monthly Plonker nominations has been new Bafana coach Joel Santana. The Brazilian successor to Carlos Alberto Parreira has to date failed to live up to expectations as Bafana continue to go from bad to worse after a loss away and a home draw against minnows Sierra Leone in the 2010 Afcon qualifiers.
Mass confusion over the name given to Chester Williams's team which defended the IRB Nations Cup in Romania. It seems they started out the tournament as the Emerging Boks but after the Currie Cup unions refused to release their players, they ended up lifting the title in the guise of the Emerging South Africa team, Bottom draw, Saru
Photos
In a bid to deservedly salute the photographers doing the hard graft on the sidelines. Sport24 have put together a gallery of the "Best of the Best" pictures of the month of June. They're guaranteed to leave you speechless.
Best of the Best pictures
Reader voting
Readers monthly votes will decide the 12 finalists in each category, and it is from those 12 finalists that Sport24 will decide their Star, Plonker and Picture of the Year in December.
To cast your vote, either by SMS or e-mail, head to the Sport24 awards page - Cast your vote.
- Sport24
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