THERE was a time when you could be sure what you were getting from the World Cup: Brazil playing beautiful football, Italy kicking teams off the park, England losing penalty shootouts, Scotland going out in the first round and a small African nation being a bit sketchy about the rules.

Now it can mean just about anything.

In the last few months alone, it could mean a drunken Freddie Flintoff is struggling to climb into a pedalo in the West Indies, Chris Gayle is smashing the first Twenty20 international ton in South Africa or England are plunged into further crisis by Phil Vickery being banned for two games for tripping an American.

To put it simple, there are too many World Cups - and too many global sporting events these days.

The rise of television's importance in terms of finance and profile means that every sport wants its share of the cash pot and its time in the spotlight.

The upshot is that you can barely get out of bed in the morning without some global sporting event having kicked off while you were sleeping.

The media hype them all up to be must-see, making you feel like a sporting lightweight or, worse, unpatriotic, if you don't buy into them fully.

In the old days, if you watched the football World Cup and the Olympic Games you felt you'd done your bit as a global spectator.

Now it's close to being a full-time job.

At the moment we've got the Twenty20 World Cup going on in South Africa in which we're all required, at the very least, to have pencilled in England's games against Zimbabwe today and Australia tomorrow. Luckily, the game against the Aussies starts at 1pm so it should done and dusted by the time England meet South Africa in the rugby union World Cup at 8pm.

We've scarcely had time to hold a proper inquest into the performance of England's footballers against Russia last night.

Then there was the World Athletics Championships a couple of weeks ago of which any self-respecting sports fan needs to have a passing knowledge.

On top of that, football's European Champions League is about to start and Lewis Hamilton is close to winning the World Formula 1 title.

It's not easy being a sports fan. My advice is, pace yourself and, remember, it's a marathon not a sprint. At least next year there's only football's European Championships and the Olympic Games.

ANYONE who wants to see what local sport is all about should get themselves down to Edgworth Cricket Club on Saturday.

It is the last day of the season in the Bolton Association league when the home side will be going for a win which will clinch their first title for 19 years.

Out to stop them will be Atherton. They've got nothing but pride to play for, but they've won their last two games and they have promised to turn on their best form for the big occasion.

The extra spice that makes all sport special is provided by opening batsman Jamie Birch who played for Edgworth for 10 years before moving to Atherton two years ago.

If Edgworth slip up, Little Hulton and Walshaw are snapping at their heels to snatch the title at the death.

The action will be hard, fair and competitive and, no matter what, the two teams will join together for the celebations or commiserations in Edgworth's impressive new clubhouse after the game.

The Bolton Association title means something to these players because of the tradition and longevity of the league they play in which is the second oldest in the world.

All it needs now is the weather.

FOOTBALL supporter groups are protesting against the fact that only one Premiership match will kick off at the traditional 3pm on a Saturday afternoon on October 6.

Are they trying to spoil it for the rest of us?

It would be a nightmare if every game kicked off at that time.

How would football fans be able to watch three games at weekend on Sky and walk round the corner to watch another couple on the Asian/Egyptian/Martian channels that every self-respecting landlord now shows?

Saturday 3pm kick-offs were great when going to games was what real football fans did.

Now most proper fans have been alienated and eased out by their money-obsessed clubs who believed a few years ago that corporate fans were the way forward.

Well, Wembley is finding out what an embarrassment corporate fans are when they can't be bothered taking their seats after half-time.

Football can have its corporate cash and its prawn-sandwich brigade. Fans want to watch affordable football and that means kicking off at all different times right through the weekend.

And clubs are now paying for their ill-treatment of fans down the years by trying to entice them back with an insincere smile and a special offer, the most embarrassing of which is currently being made by Fulham who are telling fans that if they buy one ticket for Wigan away they'll get one free for the Carling Cup game against Bolton.

It's ironic that they are now making a BOGOF offer when they've been telling fans to bog off for years.

CHRISTINE Ohuruogu stated she was not a drugs cheat on BBC 1's Inside Sport on Monday night.

Former world class athlete turned television commentator Steve Cram keeps telling people to learn the facts before they make accusations that Ohuruogu's World Championships 400m gold medal might be tarnished.

What neither Cram nor Ohuruogu have given us are facts.

And hours of research on the internet will not furnish you with detailed reasons why she was not where she was supposed to be on the occasions of those infamous three missed drugs tests.

People in British athletics keep telling the public what to think without giving us any proof.

They give vague explanations like she has a busy lifestyle. Well, I'm sure Dwayne Chambers and Ben Johnson had busy lifestyles, too.

Regardless of what Cram tells me to think, I will not be able to erase my suspicions until I am told precise details including names, dates, times and places and it all makes sense.