Why England have the edge over South Africa as sport's all-rounders

Three sports stand out for anyone with a British background - football, cricket and rugby union. So as a staunch South African supporter I wondered who might be the main contenders for a collective Tri-Sport Trophy across these three sports.

New Zealand's All Blacks are up there with the best contenders (i.e the Springboks) when it comes to rugby union, but they fall flat on their faces in football and are just about as bad when it comes to their cricketers, the Black Caps.

Australian football is not too bad. The Socceroos are pretty canny, and nobody can doubt the Aussies cricketing pedigree. When it comes to rugby union, the Aussies cannot really claim to have an illustrious past. Yes, the last 50 years have seen the Wallabies take two rugby World Cup trophies, but at the end of the day, they are not the ABs or the Springboks.

India. Yes, India were strongly influenced by English culture during their colonial times, but it seems cricket is their only claim to fame. Football and rugby union teams from India are somewhat lower down the world rankings.

South Africa has a great shot at walking away with the Tri-Sport Trophy. Springbok rugby is tops, the South Africans are the rugby World Cup holders and they are also No. 1 in the IRB world rankings. Their cricket squad are not too shabby either, and along with England and Australian are an original Test playing nation.

The Protea's are ranked No. 1 on the ICC's ODI leaderboard and they could be Test cricket's No. 1 by the end of the year. So far, so good. Now, the Bafana-Bafana, the South African football squad.

As FIFA 2010 hosts, the South Africans might shine brighter than they actually are. South African football is the biggest sport in South Africa, but unfortunately is about on a par with the Aussies, i.e nothing great. That, however, does put South Africa up their on the leaderboard and they probably just pip Australia.

England have all the cards. They are the home of all these sports and have the history to kick all contenders into touch. Although their current form in al three may be dubious right now, they are balanced.

They have a great rugby side, although not of Springbok quality. They have a long history in cricket, and although they are not in the same league as the Aussies, Indians or South Africans currently, they have at times been the front-runners. Football in England is stronger than all these contenders. So my Tri-Sport leaderboard (with points out of 10) could look like this:-

                          Rugby    Cricket   Football

England                 8       &n bsp;      7       &n bsp;     10
South Africa          10       & nbsp;      9       &n bsp;      4
Australia                8       &n bsp;      9       &n bsp;      4
New Zealand      &n bsp;    9       &n bsp;      4       &n bsp;      2
India                     0       &n bsp;      9       &n bsp;      2

This Tri-Sport challenge has England in pole position, South Africa in second and the Australians in third. (New Zealand and India don't have the same multi-disciplinary talent). If South Africa pick up their football around the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it might be interesting to revist this table, as South Africa could just pip England (considering they're likely to pass the Aussies in cricket in 2008).