Woodward aims for 2012

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 16 Feb 2007, 10:48

Two more British sports are ready to fall into line with strict new funding criteria as the race for Olympic medals in London 2012 gathers pace.

Both boxing and basketball have previously had funding withheld because of issues with how they were being run.

But now Sir Clive Woodward will work with the Amateur Boxing Association on its new performance management group.

And Woodward's former Rugby Football Union colleague Chris Spice is part of a new body overseeing basketball.

The appointments are part of a funding revolution sweeping British sport ahead of the Beijing and London Olympics.

With the pressure on to deliver medals, UK Sport - the body responsible for handing out National Lottery funds - has set each sport's governing body strict performance targets.

Woodward, the British Olympic Association's director of elite performance, will work with the ABA for at least one day a month - and may also take up a similar role with the British Judo Association

A couple of questions, How is Woodward working 1 whole day a month with the boxing people going to benefit the sport?
And how much is this consultency going to cost ?
We have 1 ruling body for amatuer boxing in the UK, so why is there a problem with finding the right people to run the sport here, its not as if they've got to work with lots of different ruling bodies.

THEBUTCH · Post by **THEBUTCH** » 16 Feb 2007, 11:55

Beats the hell out of me. But there is real pressure to perform at the premier international championships to ensure funding keeps coming, so at a high level the guy may be able to offer something those unassociated wouldn't realise.

Domestically I think the game is actually run fairly well, but with plenty of room for improvement.

Twinkle Toes · Post by **Twinkle Toes** » 16 Feb 2007, 12:39

At least one day a month!

I read this yesterday, and wondered what you guys would think of that - Sounds farcical to me :)

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 16 Feb 2007, 12:41

Why doesn't Woodward just stick to rugby?

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 16 Feb 2007, 13:41

steve689 wrote:Why doesn't Woodward just stick to rugby?

Woodward was and is a top class rugby man, but we had him down here trying to get into football through Southampton FC, and he seemed to try and bring new ideas into the club, his title was Performance Director . Unfortunatly i think he tryed running before he could walk, and fell out with alot at the club, and the players didn't respect him as a football coach.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 16 Feb 2007, 15:59

That's what i was thinking mate, first he tried is hand in Football and now Boxing. He seems keen to be a jack of all trades - master of one.

TheRiverCityHippy · Post by **TheRiverCityHippy** » 16 Feb 2007, 19:44

this is a `jobs for the boys` consultancy type racket.
a sporting quango of sorts.
it`s just an excuse to give a knight of the realm and his rugby union mate a cushy little job probably paid out of lottery funds.
what can anyone achieve putting in one day a month?

states · Post by **states** » 16 Feb 2007, 19:55

Woodward is not being appointed to do one days work every month though. He is now the B.O.A.'s performance director, a role that doesn't require technical brilliance from him. He's now in charge of a multitude of sports, and his role is to make sure that things are being run correctly. I don't think he's expected to show up and teach kids how to box. He's in a management role, where he is meant to put in place a structure that enables the athletes to to as well as they possibly can. I think it can be a positive thing.

Obviously, Woodward didn't go down too well in football. But he was never going to, I don't think: he was installed as a coach, and football's mentality is still very much 'show us your medals'. As an overall performance director, I think Woodward could be good for amateur boxing: If he sees the right work being done, he'll fight tooth and nail to see that the talented kids get the right support. It's not like he's going to be stepping in teaching kids how to throw a hook off the jab.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 17 Feb 2007, 11:12

Clive Woodward = most overated coach of all time.

He HAD the best bunch of England players who all peaked at the right time. Now, Andy Robinson did some bad things (great from a Welsh perspective

) but most of his problems were due to retirements etc (and aging) of the key players.

Look what happend when Woodward took over the Lions - absolute disaster. Some "confidence" players (i.e. Henson) have never recovered from the treatment of Woodward. He refused to pick form (either form on tour or form accross the season) and look what happend. Biggest injury list I can remember and the most one sided test series practically in history. Tom Shanklin was THE form centre going into the Lions and one of the few Lions who came from their with an enhanced reputation - who did SCW pick... Will Greenwood good in his hey day, but injury prone and way past his best.

I'm not saying this just as a Welshman cause we Slammed that year and looked good doing so, but there were Scottish and Irish players who were extremely unlucky not to tour and his whole approach was wrong... way to big a squad I think Gareth Cooper played one game all tour.

We'll all remember the World cup, but also remember the amount of failed grand slams, the 1999 world cup (yes, Woodwards team) and the performance under his reign post RWC 2003.

Great that he won the world cup, but anything else with that squad would have been disaster and it was only an Extra time drop goal that did it.