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
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
It’s more than a game. When the Australian captain Ricky Ponting spoke after suffering a crushing Ashes defeat to a packed house at the Oval in London (and a worldwide TV audience) last Sunday, he did his team, his country, the game of cricket and sport in general, justice. Despite his massive disappointment and probable … Read more
Nicole Cochran, a young outstanding middle distance runner from Bellarmine Prep was running in the 3,200-meter race in the Washington Class 4A State Girls Track & Field Championship Meet at Pasco. Cochran won the event in 10:36, beating Shadle Park’s Andrea Nelson by 3 seconds. Thirty minutes later, race officials disqualified Cochran, ruling that the … Read more
I was personally thrilled to see the Lions win the third and final test match with the Springboks. And mathematically ……….. score more points than the Springboks over the three test matches – sorry Springbok fans – I can’t resist the stats. Fantastic series and congrats to the Springboks on winning it overall. In fact, … Read more
I’m in Joburg wondering how the Lions will do on Saturday in the third and final test. I caught the Emerging Springboks game in Capetown and witnessed one of the finest conversions ever kicked in the dying moments to give the youngish Springboks a draw. Then I witnessed another killer kick in the Second Test … 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
I went to the wonderful 74,500 seater Millennium Stadium in Cardiff last Saturday to watch the Irish rugby team take on the 6 Nations champions, Wales. Both sides were going for glory. Before the kick-off I witnessed a fantastic moment of sportsmanship. But before that we had a beautiful rendition of Bread Of Heaven (with … Read more
As rugby is very much on my mind with the 6 Nations in full motion and, Ireland looking for their first Grand Slam since 1948, a magical moment of sportsmanship was revealed only two weeks ago from a a match that was played over 30 years ago. I was in Cork visiting Marian Ormond the widow of Dennis to whom … Read more