All-Stars game needs a revamp

After about five minutes of Friday’s All-Star game in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City, the crowd stopped cheering scores.

Realising the affair had as much bite as a hen, their apathy grew and the hum of conversation increased on the sidelines.

Few if anyone pretended this was going to be anything more than an exhibition match coming on a trip rewarding the best players for their efforts of the last two years. Some of them were keen to put on a show; others treated it with the same level of indifference it has been by most footballers and hurlers in recent years.