IF there ever is such a thing as reincarnation I definitely would not want to come back as a hairy-headed sheep.

In that case you would eternally have the wool pulled over your eyes rather than that sham trick only occasionally being done.

There were two examples this week of that snide grabbing of material to try to con onlookers.

The first was the trumpeting by this Government, this tribe of Con-Lib artists who no-one actually voted for to run the country – had announced some £150 million worth of money for the development and nurturing of sport in primary schools.

All well and good, all eminently laudable, all a load of shuttlecocks.

The new cash wasn’t exactly new really when you consider that the Hermaj’s government men, and women, had previously scrapped the School Sports Partnerships, which prior to their disbandment had forged strong community links between sport and school-children.

The funding of the SSPs nationally amounted to around £210 million, so even with my basic ‘O’-level maths I reckon that’s effectively a cut of around £60 million on the provision of sport to the nation’s children. And all that in the wake of an Olympic Games that showed Great Britain at its best on and off the track, field, water, ring, velodrome and road.

Wool-pulling incident number two is the great English Premier League storm brewing over Wigan player Callum McManaman and his tackle on Newcastle opponent Massadio Haidara.

Such has been the furore over the challenge which left the Magpies defender hospitalised, I’m surprised questions have not yet been asked in the House of Commons. The unsavoury incident generated almost as much heat as the announcement of former England ace Michael Owen’s announcement he was to retire at the end of this season.

The match referee Mark Halsey did not give a foul for the challenge by McManaman. And, as the FA’s review panel cannot retrospectively look at an incident which neither referee nor officials have acted on, then that’s it, they cannot take any further action.

If there is one action-demanding issue among the FA disciplinary programme it is this. Surely something that breaks the laws, in whatever game, yet is not seen by the officials can still be pursued.

Given that inability to further investigate the challenge, Newcastle officials boiled into utter outrage declaring the FA’s disciplinary measures as “unfit for purpose”.

As their understandable anger grew, so the slow-mo replays of the incident at Wigan’s ground and then the stills of the actual impact of the tackle were transmitted more regularly than a confused meerkats advertisement.

But here’s where I feel some sort of wool is being pulled over eyes by television, and in particular Sky Television, who can always multiply a molehill into something approaching Himalayan dimensions.

When you look at the tackle in real time, the ball pops up at knee height for McManaman to have a go at. He even nicks it first, but the ferocity of the challenge is that his boot goes crunching into the knee of the hapless Haidara.

But that’s not a foul and was rightly called by Halsey. McManaman’s tackle is impetuous and rudimentary, fierce and rash, but if, as the ball was deflected away, contact was then more comprehensively made with his opponent, that’s not a foul – it’s an accident.

No one likes to see any player in distress. No one would wish that sort of impact on a player.

But football is supposed to be a physical game – despite all the gathering efforts to emasculate it – and I do not believe that either Wigan player or referee, or his assistants, should be castigated for what was a reckless, but still not an illegal challenge.


Flights of angels

WITH the uncanny likeness of newly-installed Pope Francis to former Bullseye presenter Jim Bowen, speculation grew on Walmgate landings as to whether the pontiff’s human touch would stretch to him playing darts.

Now if Pope Franny was to enter the realm of Frimley Green or Ally Pally championship darts, then first off – he’s got the uniform.

All that celestial white, wow. And with the devil having the best music, he could come out on the Pope-mobile to It’s A Sin by the Pet Shop Boys (thanks Steve).

But what about the moniker? Well, you’ve had the power, now here’s The Glory (thanks Mark) could be one.

Or how about Who Dart In Heaven? My fave though has to be Simply The Blessed.

Smashing, super, smashing.