Fish O Mania Betting

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John Arne Riise this week joined Fulham – meaning there are now four sets of brothers linking up as team-mates in the top flight.

It can’t be easy having a brother in the same team as you at Premier League level, but it's infinitely preferable to having a sister.

I was always jealous of my big brother.

I remember I told my mother I was going to run away from home because she loved him more.

She said: "On your marks..."

She wanted me to be more like my brother, so I gave her a wedgie.

The Riises join the Toures, Da Silvas and Ameobis as brothers in arms and Hills are asking which siblings will make most appearances between them next season.

I think we can rule out the Ameobis – most Newcastle managers seem to – while of the identical Da Silva twins, Fabio is an identikit sub.

Of the Riise family, only half – John Arne – is likely to be a first-team regular.

That means the Toures are certainties, providing Yaya stays clear of injuries and Kolo stays clear of seconds.

The Toure brothers are unmissable at 5-6 to make most Premier League appearances for Manchester City FC... and about 1-3 to make most appearances in KFC.

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Fishing will do a lot for a man, but it sure as hell won’t make him any more truthful.

For instance, I’ve been fishing only once and the trout I caught was so huge I dislocated my shoulder just describing it.

I bring this up because today’s it’s Fishomania - the day fishing joins the Tour de France in stealing a couple of paragraphs of newspaper coverage from The Open and Luka Modric’s state of mind.

Andy May is 5-1 favourite with Hills to land the Fishomania first prize because he knows the waters at Cudmore near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, better than anyone – apart perhaps from the fish.

But I pass on a whisper for Liverpool challenger Alan Bruce at 10-1 with Corals.

The trouble is he’s a joiner by trade so, like all chippies, will probably turn up a day late.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is so scared of a betting scandal at next year’s London games they are to impose a blanket ban.

All 11,000 athletes, plus support staff, will be strictly banned from betting on blankets.

Also banned from betting on the Games will be ­accredited journalists and for me that’s a good thing – my Olympic motto is Stronger, Faster, Higher, Skinter.

It will also cover anybody who has access to insider information, which is no problem if you only back outsiders.

Fish "O" Mania Betting: Andy May can "plaice" his name in the Fish ...

The Olympics? The Open? The start of the Premiership season? Yes, all important sporting events but if it's fishing you're into, you'll know that Fish "O" Mania is the big one. Here's what Chicken Dinner make of it all.

If you are one of those people labouring under the impression that any event ending in "mania" is a safe bet to be interesting, this weekend offers an excellent opportunity to test your theory. On Saturday, Fish 'O' Mania brings together the cream of British angling in a televised, man-versus-murky-water battle.

The contestants have five hours in which to penetrate the implacable mind of our underwater forebears and trick them onto the hook with a variety of secret recipes. The catch will be weighed, a champion declared and man's dominion over the waters will be reaffirmed. Of one thing you may be sure: whoever wins, it won't be the fish.

What are the rules of the event?
 


From 5 April to 2 July, sixteen regional qualifiers were held all around the country, each featuring 130 anglers. The winner of each earned a place at this weekend's Fish 'O' Mania final. It will be a timed event lasting five hours, during which competitors aim to catch the highest aggregate weight of fish (quantity or length of fish is irrelevant).

In normal competitions, the weigh in is carried out at the end, but as this is a live television event, and to crank the drama to an intensity usually only experienced by anglers when they crack open their lunchbox, the catches are thrown on the scales every half an hour. This year's winner will scoop a £25,000 jackpot, enough to keep them in maggots for this life and the next.

Where is it held?



For the past eleven years, Fish 'O' Mania has been held at Hayfield Lakes in Doncaster, but in keeping with the fashion in sport for ever-fancier stadia, this year's match will take place just outside Stoke at the Cudmore Fishery. The sprawling 2,000 acre estate is home to the impressive Arena Lake, custom-made for televised events. Its owner and designer Cyril Brewster promises to make it 'an event to remember'.

Where can you watch it? 



Fish 'O' Mania will be broadcast from 12pm on Saturday 19 July, exclusively on Sky Sports 2. If five hours of staring at a lake on a television sounds a little intense, they will be screening a two-hour edited highlights show shortly after.

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