qualified him? Don’t get me wrong

John has been the top England rod in the last two world events; he finished third in last year’s national; he finished top English rod in the last European river championships that he fished. Imagine that we were now talking about the world of golf instead of trout fishing. It would be impossible to leave out the top placed English golfer in the last two world ranking events; imagine that golfer also taking third place in the definitive national in which all of the top competition golfers participate. There would be pages and pages of outpourings in the national press. Nick Faldo or Colin Montgomery would call their solicitors in!!!Angling is different though! Anglers generally are a quiet group. In the eighties and nineties, English anglers and English angling teams regularly topped competitions throughout Europe and the World, yet how often did they get more than a passing mention in sporting pages, or on the sports programmes on television? There were a couple of brief mentions of World Champions on Sports Personality of the Year – but rarely were the anglers, if ever) invited to appear on the show. Back to John Horsey. Nineteenth individual position in last year’s Worlds was as I have said, not John’s best England performance, but surely the man deserves another chance. John was captain of the team, whilst John Lindsey was manager. Has John Horsey been made the scapegoat? Possibly so – especially when you get to see that John Lindsey has been given a place as an angler in the European team. If this were football, then the England manager would be the first to get the “chop” – not a place in the “B” team; and the captain would be picking up the pieces with the new manager. It is no secret in the world of trout fishing that there exists a great rivalry between John and Chris Ogborne, who after being responsible for the running and financial side of last year’s event, has reverted to being team manager AND captain of the team this year. I hope that it is not a personality thing, as I have fished with both men a great deal and both have a lot to offer the sport of fly-fishing.I am all for new faces to be brought in, but I think that last year, when we hosted the event, we should have thought seriously about selection. In these pages last year I expressed concern as to the selection process – one that didn’t allow for “wild card” anglers, or picking of someone who was showing great “up-to-date form”. One would expect the captain to have some sort of say into the team selection – but no! As a result the England team that we had, was one that was not “up to it” come the event. These are not my views, merely ones that were being echoed all round the country.How is it that Simon Gawesworth has been selected as a reserve for this year’s team? He came in 68th individual last year. His performance surely cannot have re-qualified him? Don’t get me wrong – I have fished with Simon many times, and have a high regard for him (I am hoping to have some casting tips passed on from him one of these days), but knowing him reasonably well, I would imagine that he will be slightly embarrassed by the situation!I read recently that the selection process is all firmly set out so that if it needs to be scrutinised, it will stand the test. If this is so, then I would love to see minutes of the meeting in which the team was selected. Was the team selection unanimous? Was John given a reason for being excluded? I am sure that this story will run…and run… I will keep you informed!Tight lines,

Marin Cottis