Bill Bridge: Fascination lies beyond these shores with Barcelona's European defence

Saturday offered the chance to see the giants of our world at play – and to assess the possibilities of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur joining them at the top table. In between came a brilliant rugby match, the perfect way to end the season, albeit at a relatively minor level compared to the Heineken Cup and such, which ended with a thrilling 24-23 scoreline

The football, too, had its moments of quality but they were few and far between, goals for Paul Scholes, right, and Gareth Bale, flashes of brilliance from Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Antonio Valencia among them, but the lingering thought was that this week's Champions League semi-finals, involving Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Lyon, will provide more entertaining football than was on show at Eastlands and White Hart Lane.

Who will win the title? Who cares? Can Barcelona retain the European Cup by playing the mesmerising football they produced against Arsenal and Real Madrid a fortnight ago and in demolishing Manchester United in last season's final? Anyone who loves the game cares about that.

Barcelona bring a silky precision to the game, in every position on the field, that few can match. Bayern have their moments but are vulnerable at the back; Inter, like Chelsea, are a creation of Jose Mourinho, obsessed as he is with power players above those with two-footed skills; Lyon are there to make up the numbers.

The perfect end to the season would be for Barcelona to retain the old trophy, Carlos Tevez to score the goal which condemns West Ham to relegation and the boy Clegg to finish in the top two.

AS timing goes it could hardly have been better: only hours after the latest shambles of a fixture list in the Six Nations' Championship the Rugby Football Union's one-eyed marketing department was trying to fool us again. Not surprisingly in view of the way England have performed over recent seasons, they have a few 10-year debenture seats available at Twickenham and their selling pitch would have been laughable had it not come in the immediate aftermath of a another kick in the privates for those who would watch the national team.

"The classic battles, the astonishing tries, the joyous victories; be there for every moment" purred the blurb, ignoring the fact that over the past two seasons England have turned in just one acceptable performance on their home ground – that against France

in last season's tournament. Nowhere does the advertisement mention the fact that England's kick-off times could be on Friday evening, Sunday afternoon or midnight on Saturday if that is what TV demands.

How they expect anyone living more than a few miles from Twickers to attend matches is beyond comprehension. Then again, maybe they do not.

Which brings us to the ludicrous decision, made by the Six Nations' committee, that England and Wales should

kick off at 7.45 on the evening of Friday, February 4 next season.

John Feehan, chief executive of the Six Nations' organisation, smugly commented that only "a small minority" of the committee opposed the decision. No surprise there; those good gentlemen will be found hotels, have their transport organised and, of course, have the best seats in the Millennium Stadium.

He might not have found such support had he bothered to ask those from Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland who would love to watch England and Wales play in Cardiff – provided they could get the tickets – but will find the logistics either prohibitively expensive or simply impossible unless they are to take a week's holiday.

The driving force behind the decision was, inevitably, television; viewing figures are much more important than the needs of the paying customer.

Perhaps we shall soon arrive at a situation where international rugby will not worry about crowds and just play their matches in front of cardboard cut-outs, content that the money from broadcasting rights will cover for the loss of revenue from tickets, merchandise and digestibles.

That way they will not need to insult our intelligence, such as it is, by advertising the availability of debenture seats under false pretences.

CONSIDERING the cost of building the place, it beggars belief that the Football Association cannot provide an acceptable playing surface at Wembley.

The constant relaying of the pitch – at a cost over 1.25m over the past three years – plus fees for specialist advice are indictments not only of the FA's business plan but also of the basic design of the stadium which is not conducive to the growing of grass.

Crunch time will come next spring, when the ground will stage the usual FA Cup matches and League play-offs but also the Champions League final.

By then the FA will be well down the campaigning road as they seek to play host to the 2018 World Cup and the eyes of the footballing planet will be on Wembley.

They will not want to see strips of grass being rolled out as the players take the field.

and another thing...

ANTIPATHY between those who play for and follow Yorkshire and Surrey has long been a part of cricketing lore, underpinned by the dominance of those wearing brown caps in the County Championship in the Fifties.

But that had nothing to do with the amazement at the arrival at The Oval of Brian Lara.

The great West Indian batsman was a one-off, a gem of a cricketer if a little wanting in the modesty department.

But the former international captain's appearance in one or two Twenty20 matches for Surrey will yield nothing more than novelty value.

He will do nothing for the club's hopes of rekindling a fast-fading flame.

Surrey are in dire straits and, for all the years of rancour, there will be few Yorkshiremen who will relish that situation.

The county game needs its giants to compete through producing their own stars, not importing has-beens, no matter how good they might once have been.