Go Lions!

When Bobby met Pele

This iconic image is a personal favourite. It was taken after Brazil had beaten England 1-0 in the group stage match of the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico, a match which contained that amazing Banks save, Moore's 'perfect' tackle on Jairzinho, Astle's miss and Jairzinho's cracker.  The photo evokes the respect and friendship between these two footballing greats. Here are the brief highlights including Moore's thoughts about what has been described as one of the best World Cup matches.

I bring up this photo as I've recently read that Pele's shirt from this match is currently owned by the Saracens chairman Nigel Wray and 'displayed' in his online museum. The shirt had been framed and hung in a Brazilian bar for 20 years, gathering dust and cigarette stains until Wray bought it and cleaned it up. Also in his 6,000 item strong collection are an autograph book from the 1936 Berlin Olympics containing the signature of Jesse Owens opposite that of Joseph Goebbels, the bat used by WG Grace in his last innings in 1914, a megaphone used by a starter at the 1908 London Olympics and a Springbok rugby top from South Africa's tour of the UK in 1906-07. He's published a book about his collection with the proceeds going to the Saracens Sport Foundation.

Sporting memorabilia is a buoyant market. George Best's European Cup winner's medal sold for £156,000 at auction. Fast forward sixty years - what price for Wayne Rooney's Euro 2012 winners medal? I can but dream...

Euro 2012 Preview

Spain are rightly a best-priced 14/5 to win the final on Sunday 1st July in Kiev. They are the World and European champions, fantastic to watch with some of the world's finest players but they face a tough opening match against the Italians who beat La Roja when they played last August. Spain have also lost recently to England (1-0) and Portugal (4-0), the injured Villa and Puyol will be sorely missed, and watching Chelsea defeat Barcelona in the Champions League with an all hands to the pump, backs to the wall, hit them on the break strategy will give confidence to their opponents. Granted Spain and Barca are two different teams but they play the same passing game, dominating possession. History is against them as no country has successfully defended the trophy, nor won three international tournaments in a row. Fatigue must play a part as three quarters of the squad play for Barca, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Atletico Madrid who all made it through to the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals. For these reasons I won't be tipping Spain to win the tournament, seeing them possibly being dumped out by the injury-ridden underdogs England or the talented French.

Talking of France, they are now undefeated in 20 matches, winning 14 and defeating England, Brazil and Germany in the process. Top form indeed but have they got the temperament and wouldn't it be poetic justice if they were to face Eire in the knock out stages and possibly stare karma in the face for the infamous Henry handball that dumped the Irish out of the last World Cup finals play off?

The expectation for England to do well has been dampened just a little by injuries but they may just surprise us if Roy Hodgson has enough time to organise the team into one that is hard to beat though not scintillating to watch. Think Greece in 2004.

My tip is for the winner to come from the group of death containing Germany, Holland, Portugal and Denmark with the final being contested by the Germans and the Dutch.  The Golden Boot winner may therefore be Van Persie or Gomez. Or for an outside bet, Fernando Torres. The kick off is this Friday at 5 pm on a sofa near you.

The need for speed

"The reason I do it is because if you do it wrong, it will kill you.

If you think it's too dangerous then go home and cut your lawn and leave us to it."

Guy Martin.

Guy Martin fireball 2010

The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) practice week has started, with the first race being held on Saturday 2nd June.

It is a race like no other, run on closed public roads and first held in 1907 at a time when road racing was banned on the mainland and the speed limit was 20 mph.  Average speeds are now over 130 mph, with some riders topping 200 mph. Members of the public can ride the mountain section of the course on 'Mad Sunday'.

My 1977 copy of The Oxford Companion to Sports and Games reveals that:

'The Snaefell Mountain Course over which the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races are run starts at the town of Douglas on the south-east coast, taking on a wide sweep to the west and north to enter the town of  Ramsey on the north-east coast and thence return to the starting point, each lap measuring 37 3/4 miles (60.6 km) and taking in over 200 bends while climbing from sea level to an altitude of over 1,300 ft (396 m). This circuit is the epitome of the natural road course, all the roads used being ordinary public highways closed for the racing and practice sessions. It is generally accepted as the most arduous and demanding (of motor-racing circuits).'

John McGuiness holds the lap record of 17 minutes, 12.30 seconds and also the race record (6 laps) in 1 hours 46 minutes and 7.16 seconds. His average speeds for these records are 131 and 127 mph.

 

From Monday 28th May you can watch the action from the comfort, and safety of your sofa, on ITV4.

Countdown

  

• 21 days to Euro 2012 in Poland and The Ukraine
• 31 days to Wimbledon
  
• 62 days to the Open Championship at Royal Lytham
• 71 days to the London Olympic Games

The football and rugby seasons are drawing to a close. The finals of the Champions League, Championship, Leagues 1 and 2 Play Offs, Heineken Cup and Aviva Premiership all being played out this and next weekend. But when one door closes another opens and so we have an exiting summer of sport to look forward to.

The first test match against the West Indies has started and there are the One Day Internationals against Australia and the test match series against South Africa to come. England's number one test ranking will be put to the test.

The BaBas play England, Ireland and Wales. These teams then head off for tough tests against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia respectively.

You can get 13/1 for England to win Euro 2012, Andy Murray 15/2 to win Wimbledon, Lee Westwood 14/1 to win The Open and Dai Green 9/4 to win the 400 m hurdles. A £10 accumulator bet would return £58,012.

Or, slightly less speculatively, Spain at 5/2, Djokovic at 13/8, McIlroy at 9/1 and Bolt to win the 100m at 4/7 would return £1,433.

Do you feel lucky?

Little Maestro

"Sport is war minus the shooting": George Orwell.

But for the man who could be your Little Brother - Lionel Messi, football is all about the shooting.

In the last four seasons he has scored 38, 47, 53 and now 68 times so far with three games remaining. He's surpassed Gerd Muller's '72-'73 vintage of 67 goals for Bayern Munich and Pele's 66 for Santos in '57-'58. Way ahead of our own Dixie Dean's 63 for Everton in '27-'28 of whom Bill Shankly said "He belongs to company of the supremely great, like Beethoven, Shakespeare and Rembrandt. This Young Master's achievement puts him in the same category, aged just 24. Watch all 68 here:

Messi's goalscoring average for the Argentine national team is worse than his Barcelona average - 1 in 3, compared to 1 in 2 so he's not up there with Ferenc Puskas who almost scored a goal in each international game, or Muller who slightly bettered that. As for all time goalscoring greatness, will anyone emulate Pele's 1281 goals in 1363 matches? Charlton Athletic will win the Premier Leauge before that happens!

100 days to go...

...until July 27th when the Queen will declare the Olympic games open. The first medal competed for will be in the 10m air pistol shooting, though Britain's realistic hope of a first medal will be in the men's cycling road race with Sports Personality of the Year - Mark Cavendish. Here are some Olympic facts to get you in the mood.
 

• 26 Olympic sports will be competed over 17 days
• 20 Paralympic sports will be contested over 11 days
• 14,700 athletes will be competing (10,500 in the Olympics and 4,200 in the Paralympics)
• 3 out of 4 people in the world watched at least some of the last Games
• 302 gold medals will be won
• 205 countries will be involved
• 120,000 people will pass through Stratford Regional train station every morning of the Olympics