One of the downsides of growing up in South Africa is that over time a lot of your good mates move to other countries. I have always struggled but failed to find a positive angle to this although there are plenty of negatives ranging from the fact that you likely only see them once every say 5 years to that it gets harder and harder to get a school together for Friday night poker. {readmorelink}Read more{/readmorelink}

This past weekend though I made something of a breakthrough.

It was about 30 minutes before kickoff of the Waratahs v Brumbies game and despite the general impression that Aussie derbies are dour affairs history showed that these sides had served up a good few points when playing in Sydney.

I was looking to structure my bets accordingly when my cell phone beeped and I saw a message from an international number. Turns out my good friend Ryan who had moved to Sydney nearly 2 years ago was at the ground with his son Dylan and he reported that there was light drizzle about and that the field would likely be slippery.

To a punter who is looking to profit from an attractive game of rugby information like this on the weather is like gold dust and I wisely decided against my original bets.

It was indeed a scrappy low scoring affair with the ball hard to hold onto and conditions underfoot less than ideal and the sms from Ryan no doubt saved me money which given I had a poor weekend at least lessoned the damage done.

Clearly having a connection in Sydney is not a bad thing and I will have to get in touch with my mate in Perth to do likewise when the Force play at home.

So then while it may be small when weighed up against the host of things I miss about Ryan at least I have at long last found something positive about his move.

Just a note to any other mates thinking of packing their bags and departing our shores, please consult with me on your destination as having 2 contacts in Sydney would be overkill  however I do have openings available in Brisbane, Wellington and Auckland to name a few.

Also I do not bet on American sports so please stick to our SANZAR partners when making your final call.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 29th of April 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za