48 hours: Taranaki heroes deserve honour

Receiving the freedom of the city is the latest thing in Britain these days, and it might not be long until it arrives in a town near you.

First there was Ashes hero Freddie Flintoff receiving the keys to Preston and then at the weekend England skipper Michael Vaughan was given the freedom of Sheffield, a rather dubious-sounding privilege but apparently an honour all the same.

The idea seems to be that once a freeman, you can walk through the cobbled streets in full 15th century battle regalia, drink for free at any alehouse, and choose your women using the well-known pick-up line: "Eeny-meenie-miney-mo".

Why it hasn't gained a foothold over here is anyone's guess, but Justin Marshall must be just a little miffed that he wasn't ever offered the keys to Mataura and similarly Daryl Tuffey after missing out on the freedom of Milton. (Just think, complementary milkshakes wherever he went.)

This morning's edition of 48 Hours nominates some possible candidates from the past weekend's sporting events at home and abroad.

For starters then, we'd like to suggest Taranaki forwards Chris Masoe and Paul Tito are given the keys to New Plymouth forthwith, following their barn-storming performances during Ferdinand's upset demolition of Auckland on Saturday.

The Naki might have struggled in their earlier games, but they always seem to lift when the Show Ponies come to town. It was no different on this occasion, apart from the margin of the win.

Another worthy nomination from the weekend is New Zealand cricket skipper Stephen Fleming, who yesterday added another feather to his cap when he led Nottinghamshire to their first county championship in 18 years.

Fleming, after returning to England at the end of the Zimbabwe tour, secured the silverware with a match to play after steering his side to a 214-win over Kent, further highlighting an already impressive captaincy record.

The problem with Fleming is not so much whether to give him the keys but which ones to give him. He hardly stays in the same spot for a week these days, so it might be best to just offer him a master-set and see what happens.

Anyway, if it was the keys to Nottingham he wanted, he'd only have to borrow Sir Richard Hadlee's set.

But all this talk of freedom and keys makes you wonder whether the reverse should sometimes apply, whether it wouldn't also be good idea to consider locking the poorly performed out of their home towns, maybe for a set number of years.

That would mean, going by the weekend's performance, the entire Auckland forward pack becoming refugees until 2017 and the Southland forwards being banned from Invercargill - if they can be found.

They certainly didn't turn up at Wellington at the weekend.

Poor old David Hill probably won't even bother heading back to Hamilton after his goal-kicking woes in the Ranfurly Shield challenge on Saturday night, a lapse that let Canterbury off the hook and probably cost his side the log.

In the tightest of challenges, Hill struck just two successful kicks from five attempts and underlined his waywardness when he missed a handy shot late in the game, when Waikato were pushing for the lead.

His problems were highlighted by a brilliant goal-kicking effort from Canterbury's Ben Blair, who struck a couple of sharply angled penalties to keep his side's nose in front and the shield in the South Island.

If you had to give someone the freedom of Christchurch, he'd be a deserving case.