That was 2011...in sport

THE world of sport has had to deal with a lot of aspects in 2011.  We said goodbye to some stars at their prime and other legends who had made their mark.  There were shocks, sensational returns to form and superstars who had years to remember.  Sport has seen some vintage moments in 2011, though for some – they would rather forget it ever existed.

BACKSEAT: Nadal has had to watch Djokovic take over in tennis

     The tennis year has been dominated by Serbian, Novak Djokovic.  Djokovic had an incredible season, which saw him rise to the top of the ATP rankings and win three of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open).  He became only the sixth individual in history to win three Grand Slams in a single year, only losing six matches in his season.  He also took control of the ATP tour, winning six events.  Rafael Nadal had to play second fiddle this year, but he was beaten in two finals by Djokovic at the Grand Slams and took his traditional title at Roland Garros.  This meant that for the first time since 2002, Roger Federer went through a season without a Grand Slam title.  Despite this, the Swiss Master still showed flashes of his best with an epic semi-final success over Djokovic at the French Open and winning the season finale ATP finals in London.  Andy Murray’s ATP season was inconsistent, littered with several early exits.  However, he did win the Aegon Championships at Queen’s and strung together his best ever Grand Slam season.  Murray reached three semi-finals and was a gallant runner-up to Djokovic in Australia.  However, he needs to raise his game otherwise he will be left behind by the three masters of the men’s game.  In the ladies singles, there were four different Grand Slam winners.  Kim Clistjers took the honours in Australia, before injury wrecked her season.  China made its breakthrough in the major honours, when Na Li overcame Francesca Schiavone to win the French Open.  At Wimbledon, the relatively unknown Petra Kvitova got the better of a rejuvenated Maria Sharapova to become the first Czech since Jana Novotna in 1998 to win the main prize.  Sam Stosur continued the run of maiden winners, when she was too powerful for Serena Williams at the US Open in Flushing Meadows.  However, this year belonged to Novak Djokovic.  

     Rugby union’s greatest showpiece took place in New Zealand during the autumn and produced a fairytale story.  New Zealand had suffered a devastating year, with the earthquake in Christchurch and the River Pike mining tragedy.  However, despite not being the greatest All Blacks side to ever take part in a World Cup, they were able to produce what many haven’t; win the Webb Ellis Trophy.  They beat France in a close final 8-7, allowing inspirational captain Richie McCaw to lift the coveted prize, their first success since the inaugural tournament in 1987.  Defending champions South Africa disappointed, but were unlucky to bow out to Australia 11-9 in the quarter-finals.  The 2011 tournament was a mixed bag for the Home Nations.  Scotland bowed out at the group stages after failing to score tries in three of their four pool matches.  Ireland shook the tournament up with a shock and deserved win over Australia in the pool stages, but came up short in the quarter-finals against Wales, who were the story of the tournament.  Warren Gatland’s young side came so close to defeating South Africa on the opening weekend and played some fantastic rugby en route to a heartbreaking semi-final defeat at the hands of the improving French.  Wales cause was not helped by the controversial red card of Captain Sam Warburton.  England’s 2011 year was a disaster.  It started well with success in the RBS Six Nations.  Even that was tempered by losing a chance at the Grand Slam in Dublin on the final weekend.  At the world cup, off-field antics got in the way of their playing performances.  They laboured to wins over Argentina, Georgia and Scotland and eventually, it was old enemy France who got the better of England in convincing fashion in the last eight.  The fallout has continued since returning from Down Under, with The Times publishing media leaks of confidential reports, Martin Johnson quitting as team manager and Johnny Wilkinson announcing his retirement from international rugby.  So, it was a year to forget for English rugby, but one that New Zealand will hail a new golden generation.

CHANGE: Long Run won both the King George VI and Cheltenham Gold Cup

     There has been a changing of the guard in horse racing, as Long Run has taken jump racing to another level.  He won the delayed King George VI at Kempton in January and then held off Denman to succeed in a thrilling Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.  Sam Wahey-Cohen nearly completed a unique double in the John Smith’s Grand National.  The amateur jockey was pipped into second place by Jason Maguire’s ride, Ballabriggs.  It was another triumph for the McCain dynasty, with Donald McCain training the winning horse in humid conditions at Aintree.  His father Ginger was there to witness it, but it would turn out to be his last attendance at the National.  He sadly passed away from cancer in September, two days before his 81^st birthday.  On the flat, the 4-1 second favourite Pour Moi won the Epsom Derby in June whilst Frankel was named Horse of the Year after stretching an unbeaten run to nine, which included success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Royal Ascot.  The main storm in horse racing has come through an amended ruling on the whip system.  Leading jockeys included AP McCoy threatened to go on strike which brought the sport on a potential collision course with the authorities.  After some tough negotiating, the rules have been changed so jockeys can use the whip seven times in flat races and eight times over jumps.  Although the jockeys still weren’t delighted with the tweaks, they decided to agree reluctantly and carry on competing.  The year ended with Paul Nicholls announcement that Denman was to be retired after injury.  Despite a recent brilliant win at Newbury, his stablemate Kauto Star might also be bowing out soon after a year of fluctuating form.

SHOCK: Usain Bolt false starts in Daegu and is disqualified in 100m

     Daegu in South Korea was the setting for the IAAF World Athletics Championships during August and September.  With it came the biggest shock of the sporting year.  World record holder and defending champion Usain Bolt unbelievably false started in the final of the men’s 100m.  As he tore his vest off his torso, Bolt could only watch his training partner Yohan Blake collecting the gold medal.  In true Bolt fashion, he bounced back to win the 200m, and be part of the Jamaican team that broke a world record in the 4x100m relay.  It was a mixed championship for Great Britain, with the biggest success coming from Dai Greene, who won the men’s 400m hurdles and from Mo Farah.  Farah was pipped into second place by Ibrahim Jeilan in the 10,000m, but went one better in the 5,000m.  Pre-event favourites in the men’s triple jump and women’s heptathlon, Phillips Idowu and Jessica Ennis had to settle for silver, despite season bests and points records.  There was also a bronze for Andy Turner in the men’s 110m hurdles after Cuba’s Dayron Robles was disqualified for an infringement and Hannah England took a surprising and sensational silver medal in the women’s 1500m.  In all, the championships were a major success with London just a year away.  Next year’s Olympic host had more reason to celebrate when it was awarded the 2017 World Championships in November.

     By its high standards, football has had a quiet year, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened.  Manchester United made history by finally breaking Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles.  A 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers in May secured another Premiership title for Sir Alex Ferguson.  Their noisy neighbours, Manchester City currently lead the new title battle by two points and stunned United in October, with an amazing 6-1 derby victory at Old Trafford.  City also ended their long drought for silverware by beating Stoke City 1-0 at Wembley to win the FA Cup.  Birmingham City ended up as the surprising winners of the Carling Cup, with Obafemi Martins last minute winner meaning Arsenal went through another year without silverware.  Sadly, this wouldn’t have a happy ending, as Birmingham got relegated from the Premiership, along with Blackpool and West Ham United.  QPR and Norwich City returned to the top flight and a 4-2 success over Reading in the Championship play-off final meant Swansea City became the first Welsh club to reach the Premiership promise land.  Like Arsenal, Chelsea went trophy less, wasted £50million on Liverpool’s wantaway striker Fernando Torres and then sacked Carlo Ancelotti.  He has been replaced by Andre Vilas-Boas, who led FC Porto to Europa League glory in Dublin in May.  Arsenal sold Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona in the summer and it was the Catalan side who stole the football limelight.  They cantered to La Liga success again, won the FIFA World Club Championship in Japan recently and produced an exhibition masterclass at Wembley to beat Manchester United 3-1 in the UEFA Champions League final.  On the international scene, England qualified for Euro 2012 and went through the calendar year unbeaten.  The Republic of Ireland will also be at the major European party next summer.

TRAGIC: Simoncelli and Wheldon's deaths rocked motorsport

     MotoGP was meant to be saluting Casey Stoner for an incredible season, in which the Australian and his Repsol Honda team blitzed the opposition.  Stoner won 11 races and clinched the title in his homeland of Australia.  A week later, the sport was rocked by the tragic accident in Malaysia that robbed motorcycling of one of its brightest stars.  Marco Simoncelli crashed on the second lap and was struck by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.  He died an hour afterwards from his injuries and his death sent shockwaves through motorsport.  Simoncelli’s flair will be missed in the paddock in 2012 and it came just a week after a dreadful pile-up at the IndyCar season finale in Las Vegas.  The 15-car crash claimed the life of British driver Dan Wheldon, who was only competing in his third event of the season.  Wheldon had won the Indianapolis 500 in sensational fashion earlier in the year.  Las Vegas may have lost its race next season, but it won’t bring Dan back.  Dario Franchitti’s third successive championship was made academic.  In Formula One, Sebastian Vettel was in a class of his own, winning 11 races, taking a record breaking 15 pole positions in a season and winning a second world championship.  In a year full of vintage races and countless overtaking, Sebastian stormed to success with a third place finish in Suzuka, Japan in October meaning he became the youngest back-to-back champion.  Britain’s Jenson Button won three events, including a sensational last lap triumph from the back In Canada and he was the runner-up in the final positions.  Fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton had a troubled year, which included a high-profile split from his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and many on-track altercations with Felipe Massa.  However, he won in China, Germany and Abu Dhabi to remind everyone of his capabilities.  Sadly though, 2011 will be remembered for tragedy rather than records in motorsport.

     In other sport, British golfers came of age in 2011.  Luke Donald became the world and European no.1, whilst there was an emotional and popular success for Darren Clarke at The Open Championship.  Having thrown away the US Masters at Augusta in April, Rory McIlroy produced a breathtaking display to win the US Open in June.  It was his first major and certainly won’t be his last.  Following their winter success in the Ashes, England’s cricketers had a summer to remember, recording a whitewash summer over Sri Lanka and India and establishing themselves as the no.1 ranked test team.  However, their performance at the Cricket World Cup was less impressive, which included shock defeats to Ireland and Bangladesh in the pool stages.  India won the trophy, beating Sri Lanka in a one-sided final.  For once, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor was usurped in the PDC World Darts Championships, being knocked out in the quarter-finals.  Adrian Lewis won the tournament, beating Gary Anderson 7-5 in the final.  Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in February to take the honours in Superbowl XLV.  Australian Cadel Evans became the first Wallaby to win the Tour de France since the war, but the headlines were made by Mark Cavendish.  The Brit won the most overall stages and ended up winning the prestigious green jersey at the end.  Boxing has had better years, which saw David Haye lose his World Heavyweight title to Vladimir Klitcshko, then retire from the sport and Amir Khan recently lose his titles in controversial circumstances to Lamont Peterson.  Lastly, John Higgins bounced back from a match-fixing scandal to win his fourth World Snooker championship, defeating Judd Trump 18-15 in a thrilling final.

     Sport has had its moments of controversy and surprise, its moments of triumph and tragedy and its moments where you will remember where you were.  2012 includes the Olympics in London and the European Football Championships in Poland/Ukraine, so it promises just as much as 2011 ended up delivering.                 

Sports One - The rubbish version of Sky Sports!

By Simon Wright (Humour and Personal Piece)

MY LACK of use of video calling device Skype and Sean Lock’s hilarious stand-up at last week’s Channel 4 Comedy Gala got me thinking this week.  I'd have a laugh at sport and create a new sports channel that simply can’t compete with the might of Sky Sports, with some added tweaks.  Sport One is the latest innovation for addicted sports fans that simply can’t enough of sport, no matter how bad the quality is.  If we compare the events Sky Sports has to Sport One, let’s see what humour I can come up with, to see if there is any competition between the two.

SKY SPORTS LIVE TELEVISED RIGHTS

Football

Sky Sports has the broadcasting rights to 115 live games from the best league in the world, the Barclays Premier League.  All the matches, including the big head-to-heads (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool) are screened exclusively live on the channel and are in glorified HD.  Some of the games are also available in 3D.  Sky Sports also has live rights to Npower Football League action, La Liga, the Carling Cup, the UEFA Champions League and Euro 2012 qualifiers featuring England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Cricket

Sky Sports is the only place where cricket fans can see live coverage of all of England’s test summer matches at home, including encounters this summer with Sri Lanka and India.  Sky Sports also has the rights to the Cricket World Cup, the 20:20 cup and various other forms of the cricket game.

Rugby Union

A pioneer of rugby union coverage, Sky Sports is the only place to see live Heineken Cup rugby, the European rugby equivalent of the UEFA Champions League.  They also screen all of England’s home winter internationals, summer internationals and the prestigious Tri-Nations series involving the Southern Hemisphere sides.

Rugby League

Since 1996, Sky Sports is the home of top class rugby league, featuring the Super League, the tri-nations series between New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia + the Rugby League World Cup.

Golf

If you love your golf, Sky Sports is the place for it.  From 2011 onwards, Sky has three of the four golfing majors live, the US Masters, US Open and USPGA Championship, as well as various events from the European and American tours.

Tennis

Follow Andy Murray’s progress throughout the year with the key ATP Masters series events from Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Paris and Rome amongst others.  Also, the US Open is exclusively live.

Motor Racing

Is not a leading foray with Sky Sports, but they do have live rights to the Indy Racing League, which includes the prestigious Indianapolis 500 and live NASCAR.

SPORT ONE LIVE TELEVISED RIGHTS

Football

If you love your football and I mean love it more than drinking a cold pint of Carling, then Sport One is the place for you.  Sport One has live and exclusive coverage of the UK Pub League, featuring the leading pub teams from across the country.  They are with you every step of the way, with some 200 live matches screened in standard definition only from some of the filthiest pitches across the country.  It isn’t just pubs that get the live coverage deserved in football rights.  Sport One also has live and exclusive rights to the Ford Pub Cup, sponsored by the all-new Toyota POWERDRIVE!  The winner of this prestigious competition doesn’t get a place in Europe, as the team get to share a brand-new Toyota between them, which I have been assured will not carry any dodgy accelerator parts!  There is also live coverage of the Primary Schools Lunchtime League, the Periodista Liga (featuring the best journalists in Spain), the 7UP Cup with the final infront of three people on the racecourse in Northamptonshire and coverage of the 2012 0ver 40’s European Championship, with qualifiers featuring the best sides in Europe; Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino and Armenia!  Sport One offered to do a new football drama on a fictional football club, starring England legends, but the legends turned it down as they were worried it was going to be the real-life drama of Sky One’s Dream Team (which ran from 1997-2008).

Cricket

At Sports One, they don’t do live cricket, as it is simple too bearable to watch.  So, they show highlights packages every summer of the Umpire Associations Division, again featuring the best teams from England.  They can umpire the game, but can they play it?  The winner of the division at the end of a hard-fought season gets a lifetime supply of bananas from ASDA for their efforts!  There is live coverage however of the Six Balls Cup, as teams aim to make the most of playing cricket in just a single over; the quickest form of cricket around.  Sports One will also follow the England Builders Cricket Association, as they tour the world to play seven tests against Estonia and Georgia this winter!  Let’s see if that entire sleeping and regular coffee break pattern comes into any fruition here!

Golf

Sports One don’t cover golf, because simply they are more interested in sport that actually matters!

Motor Racing

The new concept of motor racing has arrived.  Created and supported by the Daily Express, it’s the Daily Express Counties Cup of Motorsport.  22 counties across England (ranging from Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, to Staffordshire and Lancashire) come up against one another, racing on some of the finest go-karting tracks and streets in the country.  The season finale on a gravel pit in the Channel Islands is a must see.  Other prestigious motorsport events are the Tesco Car Park 500, as 501 cars compete for 500 parking spaces, with the one left at the end being declared the winner!  Of course, let’s not forget the British Lawnmowing Championships, as Britain’s best lawnmowers take part in 20 events across the country to find out just who is; Britain’s Best Gardener!

Tennis

Andy Murray had to start somewhere and tennis is thriving at the moment, especially with Wimbledon around the corner.  Sports One will not be covering the SW19 championships, due to its crammed scheduling, so instead, it brings you the Fictional Lookalike Tennis tour, with the likes of Ian Beale, Scary Spice from the Spice Girls and Fabio Capello taking part.  They will do well to beat Mojo the Helper Monkey, who has been ranked no.1 for the past seven years.  Wonder if he got any inspiration from Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s dominance of the ATP tour!  Of course, in the Fictional Characters Tennis tour, there are four grand slams; the Butterfinger Open from Springfield, USA (Homer Simpson has won four years running!), the Traffic Jam Open held at Spaghetti Junction, Ice Cream Open, in the land of Ice Creams and the Sauce Open, held in the pleasant countryside of Emmerdale, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Horse Racing

Whilst the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Royal Ascot, The Epsom Derby and the Grand National take the highlights of the horse racing calendar, nothing can beat the football mascot national, which sees all 92 mascots taking part in a series of legendary jumps and chases across the UK.  From Towcester and Yarmouth, to Wolverhampton and Newcastle – which mascot will come out on top and win a lifetime seat on the board at their football club!

OTHER EVENTS

Other events to be screened on Sports One are;

The YouTube Amateur Rugby Union Premiership (The best secondary school rugby around)

The European Tag Rugby Cup, sponsored by Heinz (Winner gets a lifetime supply of Heinz Baked Beans).

The More Fun than Watching Paint Dry World Snooker Championship (The best painters in the world meet every year to see who is good enough at snooker and replace the Dulex dog as its main advertising campaigner.  (The Dulex dog is being knighted for his services to television broadcasting, and his owners have decided to retire him at the top.)

The University Wrestling Festival (Screw the League Tables, The best University students fight it out in the three-day wrestling event to see who really is The Best University in the UK)

The Water Pistol Championships (Target practice is of the essential, just what can you knock out of the hands of your competitors)

So, forget Sky Sports, because if you love your sports, it has to be Sports One.  The new channel is coming soon to Freeview, so you don’t have to miss out!  Enjoy the wild and wacky side of sport!

NOTE: Sports One is a fake sports channel and IS NOT A REAL LIFE channel!

Excellent England thrash the Aussies to retain the Ashes

GRIP: Andrew Strauss continues to hold the urn tightly

ENGLAND’s cricketers completed a historic Ashes series victory in Australia in the early hours of Friday morning.  Andrew Strauss’s side won the fifth and final test by an innings and 83 runs in Sydney, to complete a crushing 3-1 series triumph and a first win Down Under since 1986-87.

2005 Ashes winning Captain Michael Vaughan handed the Ashes over to Strauss, as England completed their utter domination of the entire series in special fashion.  “All credit to the guys again, they have been outstanding, we’re delighted with the victory and we are certainly going to enjoy this evening;” Strauss told Australia’s Channel 9 in the post-match interviews.

The Barmy Army packed into the Sydney cricket ground and with only three Australian wickets remaining, it was expected that England would finish them off fairly quickly, which they did.  Alistair Cook was voted man of the series for scoring 700+ runs, whilst James Anderson took the most wickets.  Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott built on their reputations and even the mercurial Kevin Pietersen chipped in with some priceless runs and the odd wicket, despite not looking at his best.  

DOWNCAST: Australia's cricketers hang their heads in shame

The Australian press have ripped into the team, calling it their worst ever XI.  Ricky Ponting has now become the first Australian captain to lose three Ashes series in history, a sobering statistic.  The Herald Sun newspaper was especially damming; “It was such slow, painful torture that you wondered whether this is what it must be like to be squeezed to death by a boa constrictor.”

Australian cricket is in crisis, as the side has slipped from invincible to easily beatable in a few short years.  The dominant days of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden now are only a distant memory.  Just four years ago, England were crushed 5-0 in Oz, how quickly can things change, this was such a convincing victory, it made Australia look like Bangladesh in terms to test cricket level! 

PERFECT: The best way to finish Paul Collingwood's test career

Whatever happens in the coming months in the test game, Paul Collingwood won’t be part of the arena again.  The middle-order batsman, who by his standards had a dismal series, announced his retirement from this form of the game the day before the series victory.  He will continue to represent England at 20:20 and one-day level.  This is a great way to finish his distinguished career.  He told Sky Sports; “I’ve been involved in some tough times in Australia before, so to go out on this note is really sweet.” 

The Aussies can try and salvage some pride by winning the upcoming one-day and 20:20 series, but for England, they have the main prize and in some fashion.  Summer challenges at home to India and Sri Lanka are bound to prove stiffer examinations.  England has a winning habit in cricket and will not want to lose it anytime soon.

2010: A year in sport

IT HAS been an extraordinary year in sport, which saw some pleasant surprises, favourites fall flat on their faces and intriguing battles that went down to the wire.

UNLUCKY: Andy Murray came so close, yet so far in the Australian Open

The year began with a hard luck story for Andy Murray.  The Scot performed brilliantly to reach the final of the Australian Open, including a quarter-final success over Rafael Nadal.  Sadly, it ended in heartache, as Roger Federer swept him aside in straight sets in the final.  For both, this was to be their highlight of 2010.  In rugby union, France overpowered the feeble competition from the Northern Hemisphere to win a poor Six Nations championship.  They sealed the Grand Slam with victory over inconsistent England in the final match of the championship in Paris.  The New Orleans Saints completed a famous win in the NFL, defeating huge favourites Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win Superbowl XLIV.  The Winter Olympics were held in the cold chill of Vancouver in Canada.  The games were overshadowed by poor weather, dismal organisation and the tragic death of a male Georgian competitor in the Luge competition on the eve of the event.  However, there was gold success for Britain, as Amy Williams showed she was the Queen of Speed.  She clinched gold in the women’s skeleton, Britain’s first solo gold in the Winter Olympics for over 40 years.  Manchester United beat Aston Villa 2-1 to win the first silverware of the football season.  They came from behind to lift the Carling Cup at Wembley, but that was Sir Alex Ferguson’s only taste of silverware in 2010 for the Red Devils.

SHOCK: Imperial Commander was the surprise winner of the Gold Cup

The F1 season began with an absolute stinker in Bahrain.  Fernando Alonso inherited victory on his Ferrari debut, after Sebastian Vettel encountered technical problems on his Red Bull.  Little did we know then of the later drama in the Grand Prix season.  It was dubbed the greatest horse racing showdown battle, but it never materialised at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.  Imperial Commander was the shock winner, taking full advantage of a shock fall for the pre-race favourite Kauto Star and the lack of fitness from his stablemate, Denman.  If Cheltenham upset the odds, Phil Micklelson’s victory by three shots in the US Masters at Augusta wasn’t so much of a surprise.  Tony McCoy may have guided Denman to runner-up in the Gold Cup, but he went one better at the Grand National, riding Don’t Push It to glory and finally, winning the world’s greatest steeplechase event at the 15^th attempt of asking.  This success helped him land the coveted title of 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.  In Jerez, Jorge Lorenzo passed countryman Dani Pedrosa on the last lap to win a thrilling Spanish MotoGP and set the tone for the motorcycling season to come.

GLORY: Chelsea lift the Barclays Premiership title in a double-winning year

As damaging allegations about former world champion John Higgins came to light, Australian Neil Robertson kept his nerve to win the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible.  Chelsea thrashed Wigan Athletic 8-0 on the final day of the Premiership season to clinch their third title in six years.  A week later, Carlo Ancelotti guided his side to a historic league/cup double, as Didier Drogba’s brilliant free-kick was good enough to defeat a brave and debt-ridden Portsmouth side 1-0 at Wembley in the FA Cup final.  There was more success for Australia on the streets of Monaco, as Mark Webber took the leadership of the Formula One world championship, leading home Sebastian Vettel to a Red Bull 1-2 in the principality.  A fortnight later, the two Red Bulls took each other off as Istanbul Park, handing Lewis Hamilton his first win of the season, as he won the Turkish Grand Prix for McLaren.  Blackpool joined Newcastle United and West Brom in the promise land of the Premiership.  The Tangerines sealed their shock promotion to the top flight, beating Cardiff City 3-2 in a pulsating Championship play-off final at Wembley.

CELEBRATION: Paul Collingwood lifts afloat the World 20:20 trophy

Argentine Diego Milito scored twice as Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the UEFA Champions League final in Madrid, the perfect going away present for departing manager Jose Mourinho, who was heading for Real Madrid.  There was agony for Fulham, as they were cruelly beaten in the inaugural final of the UEFA Europa League, 2-1 by Atletico Madrid.  Diego Forlan scored the winner in the dying stages of extra-time and it was to be Roy Hodgson’s final game in charge of the West London side.  He took over the Liverpool job, after Rafa Benitez was sacked.  Benitez turned up at Inter, but might be sacked again before the year is out.  In cricket, Paul Collingwood captained England to a surprise and fantastic victory in Cricket’s 20:20 World Cup.  6-1 shot with the bookies, Workforce won the Epsom Derby and Rafael Nadal claimed back the world no.1 spot after overcoming Robin Soderling in the final of the French Open at Roland Garros.  Italy’s Francesca Schiavone was the shock winner of the ladies singles in France. 

PAIN: Valentino Rossi is treated after his horror MotoGP crash

Valentino Rossi’s hopes of retaining his MotoGP title were shot, when he broke his leg in a serious practice accident for his home event in Mugello.  A week later, the greatest show on earth kicked off with the 2010 FIFA World Cup beginning in Soccer City.  A colourful opening ceremony was followed by hosts’ South Africa drawing 1-1 in the opener with Mexico.  Siphiwe Tshabalala scored one of the goals of the tournament for the hosts.  Twenty-four hours later, England drew their opening match in Rustenberg against the USA.  The 1-1 draw stood out for a glaring error from goalkeeper Robert Green and millions of ITV HD viewers missing the England goal from Steven Gerrard, enjoying a Hyundai car commercial instead!  There was success for Northern Ireland, when Graeme McDowell won the US Open at Pebble Beach, becoming the first European since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to win the prestigious event.  Meanwhile, Mark Webber was very lucky to walkaway unscathed from a terrifying 196mph shunt with Heikki Kovalainen at the European Grand Prix in Valencia. 

AGONY: Steven Gerrard feels the pain of an early exit for England

England’s World Cup dreams were blown apart in Bloemfontein.  Fabio Capello’s flat Three Lions losing 4-1 to bitter rivals Germany in the last 16.  Despite having a clear goal disallowed, when Frank Lampard’s shot bounced over the line, the younger German side had far more passion and the scoreline didn’t flatter them.  It was another dismal major tournament performance from England, but Capello somehow managed to hang onto his job.  England weren’t the only ones to make an embarrassing exit, as 1998 winners France and defending champions Italy also making desperate early departures.  In the quarter-finals, Ghana got denied a semi-final place by Uruguay in a gripping quarter-final in Soccer City.  Luis Suarez’s blatant handball handed the Africans a last minute penalty in extra-time, which Asamoah Gyan missed.  Suarez’s celebrations left a bitter taste with many fans afterwards.  The final of the World Cup was a bruiser; with English referee Howard Webb dishing out 14 yellow cards.  Spain won the bad-tempered final in Soccer City, with Andreas Iniesta striking the decisive goal in extra-time against a Holland side that seem to be more interested in playing kung-fu.  At Wimbledon, John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut in the longest game ever in tennis.  Their first round match ended in Isner’s favour, 70-68 in the fifth and deciding set.  Watched on by David Beckham amongst others, Andy Murray failed in his quest to become SW19 champion, beaten by the inspirational Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in straight sets.  Nadal went on to win the final, cruising past the conqueror of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych in straight sets.  In the women’s game, Serena Williams regained her title, thrashing Russia’s Vera Zvonareva in less than an hour.

WINNER: Mo Farah achieves a brilliant double in Barcelona

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen ran away with the Open Championship at St. Andrews, finishing on 16 under par, seven strokes clear of Lee Westwood, who would end the year as the world no.1.  In the Tour de France, Britain’s Mark Cavendish finished with an impressive five stage wins and Bradley Wiggins ended the event in fourth place.  The winner was Spain’s Alberto Contador.  Ferrari received a $100,000 fine for their use of team orders at the German Grand Prix.  Felipe Massa controversially handed a deserved victory over to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim.  Formula One wasn’t the only sport in the dock in the summer, as cricket was faced with some tough questions, over match-fixing and ball-tampering allegations involving some of Pakistan’s key cricketers.  It made for savoury front page headlines and overshadowed a dominant summer series victory for England.  Happier times came out of the European Athletics Championships, which were very successful for Britain in Barcelona.  Mo Farah starred with two long distance wins in the 5,000m and 10,000m.  Phillips Idowu added to his world championship gold in the men’s triple jump and there was also gold for Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon and Andy Turner in the men’s 110m hurdles.  Britain left the event with 19 medals and puts us in great stead for London 2012.

REGAIN: McDowell played a key role in the Ryder Cup

The Warrington Wolves surprised the odds to defeat the Leeds Rhinos 30-6, to win the Rugby League Carengie Challenge Cup at Wembley.  In Super League, Wigan Warriors overcame Leeds in the final at Old Trafford, to win their first title since 1998.  The Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor turned into a rain-hit affair and a tense battle for supremacy.  In the first ever Monday finish to the tournament, Europe came out on top in Wales, with Graeme McDowell sinking the crucial put to see off America by one point, and regain the trophy for Europe, guided by the fantastic Colin Montgomerie.  After a dismal build-up and the withdrawal of several top-class athletes, the Commonwealth Games went ahead in India very successfully.  The starring role was from Tom Daley, as the young 16-year old won a double diving gold, despite having missed most of the season through injury.  After his closest challenger Dani Pedrosa fractured his knee in a practice crash for the Japanese MotoGP in Motegi, Jorge Lorenzo was practically assured of his first championship, which he buttoned up in Malaysia with a podium finish.

SOAKING: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button give the new champ a shower

The closest ever F1 world championship battle went down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.  Four men still had the chance of clinching the jewel in the crown and it was Sebastian Vettel who became the youngest ever Grand Prix champion, with victory in the season finale.  Championship favourite Fernando Alonso was penalised by a poorly timed pitstop and wound up a frustrated 7^th, three places lower than what was required.  Mark Webber (8^th) and Lewis Hamilton (2^nd) were the other men in with a shout at the finale.  Hamilton may have missed out, but Dario Franchitti’s domination of the American scene continued, winning the Indy 500 for the second time in his career and the IndyCars title in the season finale in California, overhauling long-time leader Will Power in the final reckoning.  David Haye retained his world heavyweight championship title, after a comfortable stoppage of the woeful Audley Harrison in Manchester.  In the pick of the autumn rugby internationals, England beat Australia at Twickenham and Scotland stunned the world champions South Africa and the Ashes is currently tied at 1-1, after Australia levelled the series with an easy rout of England in the third test in Perth.    

That was 2010, a spectacular year and 2011 is bound to promise more of the same.

Freddie Says Goodbye To The Cricket Arena

Whilst the County Championship was being settled on Thursday afternoon, one of England’s greatest ever Cricket players was announcing his retirement from the game.  Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff has retired from the Cricket arena, on the recommendations of doctors and surgeons, due to a constant knee injury, that has plagued him ever since the Ashes triumph of 2005.

Flintoff’s career came to an end as it turned out in August 2009, when he played a minor role in helping England regain the Ashes last summer against Australia.  This was despite a fantastic five-wicket haul at Lord’s, and more memorably, running out the Australian captain Ricky Ponting on the final afternoon of the series at The Oval.  He bowed out of the test scene there and then, but he hoped to carry on playing 20:20 cricket for England, county championship action for Lancashire and in the fast-paced Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super Kings.  However, after two more surgeries required in the last twelve months, both unsuccessful, Freddie has decided to make the right decision and call it a day at the age of 32.  Bookmakers are already slashing odds on Flintoff appearing in some form of reality show like ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me out of Here,’ before the end of the year.

Rather than facing the press about his decision, Flintoff chose to tell the world via a released statement:

"The decision to end my career came yesterday after consultation with medical advisers."  "I was told that the problems I have been trying to overcome in rehab for the last year following the latest in a series of operations would not recover sufficiently to allow a comeback.  "I will now be taking a break before deciding which future direction to take."

In his charismatic career with England, Flintoff took 226 test wickets and 169 wickets in the one-day form of the game.  He played 79 tests, scoring nearly 4,000 test runs, averaging 31.77.  This included five flamboyant centuries, including a crucial century in the Trent Bridge test of 2005, that helped England earn the crucial 2-1 series advantage against Australia to win the coveted urn for the first time in eighteen years.  He was captain of his country for the doomed defence of the Ashes in Australia, losing 5-0 in the winter of 2006/07.  His Ashes exploits also earned Flintoff the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for 2005.  Off the field, Flintoff was known to like a cigarette, and didn’t set the greatest examples of professional behaviour to youngsters on occasions.  Most memorably, he slurred through several interviews, having knocked back many in the 2005 Ashes celebrations.  He was also stripped of the England captaincy during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, for escaping from the team hotel and crashing a pedalo, whilst drunk. 

However, nothing can take out his dramatic effect on the game and although England have moved on fairly well since his departure from Test Cricket, his missing presence in this winter’s Ashes series will be felt, by both sides. 

After all, the remarkable Ashes Series of 2005 was truly the summer where we fell in love with the game of Cricket, and that was all down to the remarkable, outstanding Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff.

News of the World Heads Down The Online Charging Route

Following the successful changes to the Times’ website and the charging for online content this summer, News International are spreading their wings further, with the announcement that the News of the World will go down a similar route from the beginning of October.

Some sensationalist exclusives in recent years have rocketed up the popularity of the News of the World, as it is now the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK.  Its trend follows off the Sun, which is the biggest-selling daily newspaper in Britain.  To continue accessing the website, readers will be charged £1 a day, or can sign up to a four-week subscription for £1.99.  To go along with the new charge in income, the NOTW website will get a complete new look, with the aim on providing the stories quicker as they matter to the general public.

The editor of the News of the World, Colin Myler has backed the idea, calling it a “significant change in the newspaper’s history, for the right reason.”

"The paid site makes the most of our heritage, presenting our unique content with a real focus on exclusive video and pictures,"

The News of the World has broken the stories of the John Higgins alleged snooker match-fixing, the shamed Pakistan cricket players caught also under a match-fixing storm during their recent test series in England, and the shaming of England striker Wayne Rooney’s private activities.  It becomes the third partner in the News International Corporation to go into a subscription-based format, following The Times and Sunday Times announcement back in March.  You must feel that The Sun will go a similar route rather soon, as could Sky News award-winning website.  I’m not a fan of paying to view news content, but if it’s a working profitable gain for the global corporation, then they are always going to continue with the successful experiment.  Let’s see what developments will happen in the coming months involving News International’s dealings, because it could be very interesting.

Muttiah Makes Cricket History

Last Thursday, one of the legends in the game of Cricket bowed out of the arena, and in absolutely fantastic and flamboyant fashion.  In his final test match, Muttiah Muralitharan took the final wicket of Pragyan Ojha to become the first player to reach a staggering 800 Test wickets.

Muralitharan, possibly the greatest spinner in Cricket history was carried off the ground by his Sri Lankan team-mates, as they celebrated a tremendous test victory in Galle.  Muttiah started the test on 792 wickets, needing eight more to set a record that is more than likely never to be beaten.  On the milestone, Muralitharan said this:

“Thanks to my wife and family for their support.  To my team-mates, past and present, to the cricket board and officials and the public of Sri Lanka.  Thank you for supporting me all through these 19 years.”

Muralitharan is now the greatest wicket-taker, in both the one-day internationals and Test Cricket scene.  His bowling action has been questioned in the past, but has been cleared twice by the ICC (International Cricket Council).

He sits well above the great Australian spinner Shane Warne, who took 708 wickets and India’s Anil Kumble, who claimed 619 Test victims.  Some may have questioned his actions, others may say 25% of his wickets came against the more inferior sides such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but despite the controversy, what he did with the ball is amazing.  We may never see the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan again.