By Guy Hand
July 5th 2009 @ 6:49am
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Vixens do their bit in bid for home semi
Melbourne Vixens have done their bit – now they need Adelaide Thunderbirds to do them a favour to secure a home trans-Tasman netball championship semi-final.
The Vixens scored a percentage-boosting 41-goal win over bottom-placed Central Pulse in their final ANZ Championship fixture at Hisense Arena on Saturday to keep their hopes of hosting the major semi-final [...]
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![1993 was a good time to be an Australian in Britain, especially if you were the sort of Aussie who likes sport. Which, really, is the only sort of Aussie who ends up in Britain.
The Wallabies had just backed up the Rugby World Cup win with a successful tour of Ireland and Wales, marred only [...] Matthew Horan: How I missed cricket’s Ball of the Century](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/how-i-missed-cricket-shane-warne-th.jpg)
![Love him or hate him, you certainly couldn’t ignore him. Wendell Sailor, flamboyant and polarising, announced his retirement today and a move into a new role as an ambassador for the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Over a distinguished career (that wasn’t without its moments), Sailor electrified both league and union fans with his powerful surges on [...] The Roar: Big Dell hangs up his famous white boots](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/oh-unlucky-men-wendell-sailor-th.jpg)
![Brett Lee has been back in the news in the last week, and depending on which paper or website you were looking at, he’s either crucial to Australia’s future campaigns or he may never play again.
In many ways, he’s the forgotten piece of the ever-growing puzzle that is the Australian fast-bowling attack.
There are a few [...] Brett McKay: The curious case of Brett Lee](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/brett-lee-ab-th.jpg)
![Sporting celebrity hero worship is a funny thing. So many of us do it, yet it is something we often chastise. And few athletes typify this dichotomy like Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong, currently competing in Australia at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, is one of the truly elite sporting stars at present; one of those very [...] Adrian Musolino: World sport needs more Lance Armstrongs](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lance-armstrong.jpg)
![There is a strange symmetry between environmentalists and rugby league fans at the moment with both groups pinning their hopes and dreams for the future on some meetings being held by their respective world leaders.
Leeds hasn’t seen a makeshift tent city spring up filled with rugby league fans demanding action and binding agreements, but [...] Steve Kaless: Countdown to league’s Copenhagen](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/financial-meltdown-gallop-th.jpg)
![On Saturday night, the Wallabies play England and the All Blacks play Wales, two intriguing Tests that have their origins back in the 1900s when New Zealand (1905), South Afrrica (1906) and Australia (1908) made their first tours of what was then, and even now unfortunately, called the Home Unions.
I say ‘unfortunately’ because this title [...] Spiro Zavos: It’s Game On for NH v SH rugby bragging rights](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/gold-olympic-world-rugby-james-oconnor-th.jpg)
![Question marks over stadiums, aside from the politics of the bidding process, were for many the biggest impediment to Australia potentially hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Well it certainly is for Adelaide with the city given the blunt declaration from the FFA: build a new stadium or forget being part of the World [...] Adrian Musolino: Our World Cup bid lacking a united vision](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/our-world-cup-bid-frank-lowry-th.jpg)
![This Saturday night, top flight rugby league is being played in Western Australia again, which gives the people of Perth the chance to show the NRL whether or not their state is ready for a team again.
Only a handful of NRL games have been played in Perth since the Reds were disbanded following the [...] Gabriel Knowles: Should the NRL give the Wild West another chance?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/david-gallop-th.jpg)
![Many long time fans of the European game will remember Ruud Hesp as the Barcelona custodian during the Louis van Gaal era in the late 1990s, when the Dutchmen teamed-up to win back-to-back La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey.
Hesp also featured in the Dutch national squad in a couple of major championships, at [...] Tony Tannous: Ruud reality: Verbeek needs to scatter his square lines](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ruud-reality-pim-verbook-th.jpg)
![If you’re still recovering from unwrapping presents and singing Christmas carols, fear not. There is an escape from the boredom of the season: five great documentaries that not only entertain but also enlighten us about what makes sport so great.
1. Once in a Lifetime (2006)
Narrated by actor Matt Dillon and featuring a groovy 70s [...] Adrian Musolino: The Greatest Sports Documentaries](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/m-ali.jpg)
![It is an age-old question and one I pondered with a friend while reflecting on that night in November 2005 and the impact a penalty shoot out had on the development of the game in this country. One thing’s for sure had we lost that shoot out, there would have been a far greater amount [...] Adrian Musolino: Should penalties decide football matches?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/should-penalties-decide-socceroos-th.jpg)
![There’s no ‘I’ in team. At least that’s what coaches say, and most of the time they are correct. But on rare occasions in the world game a sensational talent comes along who single-handedly scores victories for his side.
This to me is what makes a one-man team, not a player who has a [...] Benjamin Conkey: The most dominant players in the history of club football](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/steven-gerrard-dominant-players-th.jpg)



