The oldest international rugby venue in the world, Lansdowne Road, and its brand new 51,700 all-seater Aviva Stadium opened its doors to the world on Saturday 31 July 2010. Here is my virtual tour as I sat in awe of this wonderful new stadium. One wonders what historic moments in rugby and football (soccer) will … Read more
As hundreds of millions of us sit down to a feast of football, who will stand out as a real champion of football? Who will light up the World Cup with a smile (remember Pele’s smile) instead of a raging roar of aggression? Or maybe a dance (Peter Crouch’s Robot Dance or the 42 year … Read more
Brian Davis felt his moment had finally arrived when he made a 17 foot putt birdie on the 18th green to tie with America’s Jim Furyk and force a play-off at The Heritage Classic in Southern Carolina. Davis, a 36 year old Londoner, had never won a tournament on the American PGA golf tour. He … Read more
I came across this lovely article by Ethan Armstrong about swapping shirts after an intense battle. He was amazed by the ritual and thought it so special that he wrote about in on his blog. Never may we lose this tradition. I have another question for you: Why do some players now, when asked to … Read more
I had a great chat with Eamonn Holmes and was delighted to hear his story about how the Real Madrid fans gave Liverpool’s Steve Gerard a standing ovation as he left the field. Liverpool have this tradition too. So too do Munster rugby & Queens Park Rangers FC (see story in the book). Now I’m … Read more
I mentioned during my BBC Nottingham interview, that local hero Brian Clough and arguably, the most successful football manager in Europe, never allowed any of his players to challenge the referee’s decisions. I was delighted to hear that he used to ask the Nottingham Forest fans to resist using foul language by showing them his … Read more
Hats off to 19 year old Irishman, Rory McIlroy who won the Dubai Desert Classic golf on Sunday. Having seen his four shot lead shrink to a one shot lead going into the last hole, I’m sure his nerves were jangling. Having hit a perfect drive off the tee, he goofed his second shot into … Read more
I was totally engaged by RTE’s Ryan Tubridy’s warmth and George Hamilton’s lovely sportsmanship stories, and I have to say, delighted by the response from listeners who sent in some new stories about sportsmanship. To listen to the Irish Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below: [audio:rte-radio-1-chat.mp3] Or if you prefer click the link below … Read more
A BBC Radio interviewer asked the late Cissy Charlton (mother of Bobby and Jack) about the 1966 England v Portugal World Cup semi final (which England won 2-1), she said: “22 good sports men. They played football as you like to see it played. And the crowd was good. They were a really good crowd. The English … Read more