And yet, as you all saw on Thursday night, there was Jones encouraging the mob to do exactly that. There are so many disgraces in the whole dreadful affair, but that one was right up there. Bravo to you, Swans chairman Richard Colless for calling Jones out on it at the time. But Jones’ continued presence on the SCG Trust corrupts its integrity. You heard me. Yes, he did it You miserable mongrels. You know who you are. You all said that Damian Farrell would never make much of an impact on the sporting world. Well, now look at him! This column has previously given extensive coverage of the annual Australian Marbles Championships at Brunswick Heads, and I can claim to have covered most of the champions over the years. So I can say with some authority the 53-year-old Mr Farrell, a local social worker and father of four, is the most worthy winner yet – sort of Steven Bradbury meets Roger Federer, with a bit of Merv Hughes thrown in. Desperately disappointed to have finished runner-up last year, when he knew he had the makings of a champion in him, for the past 12 months he pretty much exclusively carb-loaded, which gave his body precisely the ballast it needed to be absolutely rock-steady-Eddie, and it worked. He blew the opposition away through every round.

Yes, Tori, a 30-year-old local mother of several fine children, who had never played marbles before, gave him a bit of trouble in the final, and was certainly the local favourite to judge by the cheers coming from the half-dozens of onlookers. (A little unnerving, because they were mostly members of Mr Farrell’s own family.) But did our man blink? He did not! He finally blew Tori away too, to become the Australian Marbles Champion! And may he enjoy gazing at the tom bowler marble mounted on a circular piece of cedar for many years to come. Making a stand The admirable Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi made an interesting point this week about the horrors of greyhound racing, and backed it up with footage from race three at Gunnedah last Saturday week. Despite the fact that two dogs broke their legs in the race and so were killed for their trouble, the official footage of the race has their falls edited out. As the good senator says: “At least be honest about what your industry does to these poor animals.” Blue is my colour: Tim Cahill with Luna Moana, his adopted blue greyhound. Credit:James Brickwood

Precisely. In better news at least the government has actually changed the law so that those fine folk who adopt slow greyhounds that the industry spits out, now don’t have to have them muzzled in public. (Two of those fine folk, by the by, have been none other than my friend and yours, Danny Weidler, as well as our great Socceroo, Tim Cahill. Both report the hounds they’ve adopted are beautiful family pets.) The most active organisation for adopting out the slow hounds is Greyhound Rescue Australia who, as previously discussed in these pages now need to find new kennels as the ones they have near Camden need to close because of rezoning. At least Minister Rob Stokes’ Department of Planning has been active trying to help them, but there is nothing firm as yet. I will report back. Bring back Craig What are you doing ABC Sport? You’ve shut down Craig Hamilton from calling Knights games for ABC Newcastle? WHY? #FFS! Hamilton is the most highly regarded league caller south of the Tweed, he’s one of yours, he was wheeled down Hunter St in a pram, knows the Knights players and history backwards and forwards, has been doing it for 25 years, but he doesn’t make the cut as good enough? Somewhere, someone has pressed the wrong button. Please fix it. Rats have a day out

Bravo the Gold Rats Rugby Club, from Lismore’s Southern Cross Uni. Last weekend they celebrated their 50th anniversary since their foundation, drawing 200 past players from as far afield as Canada, Perth and the desperate wilds of Brisbane. Among the throng were Wallabies Richard Tombs and Justin Harrison. Wonderful tales were told, from the local bailed out of jail by the club president just in time for a game, to the player who missed the start of a grand final because he fell asleep in the car park. You get the drift. Meantime, on that same weekend, our Wallaroos – captained by Grace Hamilton, (who has a very proud aunt, let me tell you that for nothing) – played Japan in Newcastle. The night before, 102-Test Wallaby Stephen Larkham presented the jerseys, and then ran water during the match itself. I told you, the game she goes on! Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Team of the week Belinda Sharpe. First woman to officiate an NRL game when she was assistant referee at Thursday night’s Broncos v Bulldogs game. Roger Federer. Unlucky to lose the Wimbledon final in such fashion but, at the age of 37, he is redefining tennis’ twilight years.

Ben Stokes. When you talk about redemption stories, his tops the lot. From English bad boy to saviour of the nation in less than two years. Martin Guptill. The Kiwi opener faced both the first and last balls of the World Cup final. Ian Chappell. Revealed he is fighting cancer. I wish him well with his treatment, and take heart from my long-held suspicion you couldn’t kill him with a crowbar. Loading Northbridge Cricket Club. Celebrating a centenary with a gala dinner at the SCG on Saturday, August 3. Dinner will provide access to the members’ pavilion, dressing rooms and SCG museum, with Simon Katich the guest of honour.

Dylan Alcott. Made history at Wimbledon, winning the inaugural wheelchair quad singles title to hold all four grand slams at the same time. What they said Kane Williamson ahead of the World Cup final with Black Caps labelled as underdogs: “England rightly deserve to be favourites, but whatever dog we are, it’s just important that we focus on the cricket that we play; any team can beat any team, regardless of the breed of dog.” Someone had to say it, and it was the BBC commentator: “New Zealand might have lost the game, but cricket was definitely the winner on the day.” Fitzphile Paul Hinds @hinds1ghts: “Hi Peter, did you see the new Rugby World Cup rule . . . all Pommy tries will now be worth 6 but for everyone else still only 5 pts.”

Kiwi all-rounder Jimmy Neesham on Twitter: “Kids, don’t take up sport. Take up baking or something. Die at 60 really fat and happy.” Neesham, a little later, once he'd time to think about it: “That hurts. Hopefully there’s a day or two over the next decade where I don’t think about that last half hour.” Ben Stokes on his legacy, before the final: “I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who had a fight in the street. I want to do things on the field to be remembered for. If we win the World Cup, that becomes the first paragraph.” They did, and he was the star of the show. Chess grandmaster Igors Rausis on being caught with a phone in the toilet during a match: “I simply lost my mind yesterday. I confirmed the fact of using my phone during the game by written [statement]. What could I say more? ... At least what I committed yesterday is a good lesson, not for me —I played my last game of chess already.” Loading

Hayley Shaw, daughter of Steve Folkes, after it was announced that the former league player had CTE when he died: “It’s been a tough 18 months without him and hopefully something positive can come from it. That’s important to us and we’re ... passionate about making something from it. We don’t want to be alarming about it, but Dad had some problems ... ” Roger Federer, after perhaps the greatest Wimbledon final ever: “It was a great match, it was long, it had everything. Novak, congratulations, man, that was crazy.”