Chris Rattue: King of soccer just keeps on winning

Alex Ferguson. Cartoon / Rod Emmerson

Sir Alex Ferguson has another Premier League title in the bag barring a weird catastrophe, leaving us to marvel at how the 69-year-old manager of Manchester United keeps coming up with the goods year after year after year (plus some).

He has steered United to a record-breaking 19th English premier soccer title, his 12th with the club in 25 years, and will also square off against mighty Barcelona for the Champions League crown, having won two previously.

Since Ferguson claimed his first English title in 1993, Manchester United have won the league at a rate of twice every three seasons. This is beyond remarkable in such a high-stakes game, as is their record this season of dropping only two points at home.

Ferguson reinvented Manchester United from within, building his own team initially, and he now deals just as shrewdly - or ruthlessly - in the transfer market, essential for any big club with title ambitions in the mega-money era.

Ferguson danced for joy after the victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford this week, a result that virtually assured United of the title.

For anyone wanting to understand the real Ferguson, I recommend The Boss - The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson, the 2002 biography by Michael Crick. Just as Ferguson is the king of football, this book is sports reading royalty.

Crick's researchers interviewed more than 250 people and among those said to have been the most revealing was Ferguson's brother.

The writer bypasses any alliance with his subjects, which adds a rare credibility. This is far removed from this country's sports biography efforts, which are invariably little more than extended interviews, hurriedly cobbled together under the guidance of a publisher's sure-win formula.

Crick's book is a measured masterpiece of research that is more than happy to deal with Ferguson's less appealing traits and episodes.

I'll avoid spoiling the plot, except to say that a passage which has remained firmly in the mind involves the minor revelation that Ferguson is an inveterate singer, capable of bursting into song in company or alone, and is also, as an ex-player describes, a "teaser and practical joker". There is a cheeky side to this man with a stern public exterior.

Crick's conclusion: deep down, Ferguson is a naturally contented man. It goes without saying that many other qualities have made him perhaps the greatest club coach in sports history. They include ruthlessness.

What was visible on Monday morning, as Ferguson jumped for joy, was a man who, after decades at the very top of a pressure-filled game, still thrills to his job. The bad news for the other Premier League clubs is that he will be back next season - and who's to say he won't go beyond that? In 2002, Crick predicted Ferguson could go on until his 70s.

On the subject of wonderful sports books, I was recently steered towards Veeck - as in Wreck, the biography of the madcap American baseball club owner Bill Veeck.

This is an oldie but an exceptional goodie, a rollicking read.

CROUCH, TOUCH ...

Roving Herald rugby correspondent Peter Bills believes interminable scrums could wreck the World Cup, and that the scrum should return to being a contest for the ball. But I'll beg to differ.

Yes, scrum delays can blight the day-to-day business of Super 15 rugby. But at the highest level, these battles of the behemoths are as central to rugby as the dogged innings should be to test cricket and the line of scrimmage is to American football.

The team feeding the ball should have the right to win it. But there is still significance to scrums beyond the unwritten rule that the team putting the ball in always wins possession these days. Both teams can try to gain vital advantages by twisting the scrum certain ways, or pushing it back. This is not just a contest about possession.

Rest assured that the All Blacks and other leading sides are more than mindful of scrum significance, and this is why mobile front rowers such as John Afoa and Wyatt Crockett have had their test credentials questioned.

Titanic scrum battles are a big part of test rugby, at least to my mind. They take up some time, but that's rugby, and there is still plenty of opportunity for attacking football. Collapsed scrums are part of the deal.

The World Cup will be a disaster if the kick-fest of 2007 returns, but beyond that, traditional trench warfare should be a big part of the quest to win the Webb Ellis. Rugby is not all about running rugby.

... PAUSE, ENGAGE!

In saying that ... the crouch, touch, pause, engage business is ridiculous ... or cringe inducing more like, as referees do their schoolmaster act with the big boys. I can't think of any other sport where players are repeatedly guided, not only in how to scrummage but also towards not breaking the rules. "LEAVE IT ALONE, SEVEN, LEAVE IT ALONE SEVEN, SEVEEEEEEEEEEEN..." Okay, so you want scrum guidance. What about breathe, crouch, twitch, snort, touch, clench, pause, breathe, wiggle, grimace, blink, yell, ENGAAAAAAAAGE. By the way, what is the touch bit supposed to achieve.

GETTING A GRIP

There is such a long injury list involving New Zealand's top players that it's tempting to suggest the time has come for American football-style protection to be considered.

As the Blues and Hurricanes struggled to hold the ball last Friday - the Hurricanes twice dropped it over the tryline - another American football concept came to mind. What if rugby was played with a smaller ball?

There is so much heavy contact in rugby that it has become difficult to retain possession, especially when there is dew or rain about.

Players continually challenge defensive lines, hurtling on to flat passes. Unlike league, rugby ball runners are not protected by the one-on-one stripping rule and they have trickier situations to deal with once they are confronted. Some games have so much spilled possession they are virtually unwatchable.

A smaller ball (perhaps with "ultra grip technology" as an American football advertisement proclaims) would be easier to protect, grab and pass. Lineout throwing would be easier, meaning fewer stoppages for crooked throws. Long, extravagant cross-field throws might come into play. More players would be capable of performing SBW-style offloads.

Kicking might be tougher, but who cares about that?

I'm dead serious here. At least it would make for an interesting trial.