A random thread for sport things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Mr Larrington]

Indeed.  I know it's a game of two halves, Brian, but why anyone would only want to record half of it is a mystery to my Rugby-biased branez.

[Von Broad]

Blimey!

That's what I thought, although I wasn't even aware that they had been playing until just now. That will be revenge for 1970, then.

I seem to remember we had keeper problems of a different nature in that game too

That was well enjoyable last night. Makes a change.
If everybody's fit [i'm not going there] Hodgson has lots of options in the summer.

[Basil]

Come on Cambridge.  Let's have a 2-0 light blue wash.   

[Mr Larrington]

Boaty McBoatrace?

[mattc]

Weather Drama in the wimmins race - opportinuty for the coxes to earn their pay travel expenses.

First time I've seen crews wrapped in space blankets as they disembark. Awesome contest.

[Basil]

Bugger.

[mattc]

oh, this is a spoiler thread is it. I hdant realised         

I'd rather have been on the wrong side of that contest than  this one:
www.eurosport.co.uk/rugby-league/oxford-crush-cambridge-in-varsity-match_sto5292524/story.shtml

[Wowbagger]

Blimey!

That's what I thought, although I wasn't even aware that they had been playing until just now. That will be revenge for 1970, then.

I seem to remember we had keeper problems of a different nature in that game too

That was well enjoyable last night. Makes a change.
If everybody's fit [i'm not going there] Hodgson has lots of options in the summer.

The biggest problem England had that day was Ramsey's decision to take Bobby Charlton off when England were 2 - 0 up. The Germans were terrified of him and in his absence they started to play football.

For his part, Charlton never played for England again.

[Von Broad]

Blimey!

That's what I thought, although I wasn't even aware that they had been playing until just now. That will be revenge for 1970, then.

I seem to remember we had keeper problems of a different nature in that game too

That was well enjoyable last night. Makes a change.
If everybody's fit [i'm not going there] Hodgson has lots of options in the summer.

The biggest problem England had that day was Ramsey's decision to take Bobby Charlton off when England were 2 - 0 up.

Manager's dilemma. Decisions are always going to be something of a gamble. Given the conditions [extreme heat] and Charlton being a senior player who you want fresh for the next game, and being 2-0 up, there was some logic to Ramsey's thinking.

I remember that tournament clear as daylight....it had quite an impact on me at the time....what with the hazy, grainy satellite images it was like watching something from another world.

[Wowbagger]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/22/swedish-footballer-sent-off-for-farting-during-match

Winding up the opposition?

[T42]

Wilting flowers, that lot. If he had been a front-row forward there might have been a real reason, especially if he was playing downwind.

[Wowbagger]

The trouble is that when a front-row forward farts, the chief recipients are his own second row.

[T42]

Alas. In some circumstances it's difficult to aim.

I have heard of a penalty being awarded for blasphemy in the scrum, though.

[Wowbagger]

Perhaps I was fortunate to go unpenalised.

When I was at college (many years ago!) our rugby pitch was alongside a tidal stream and was an area of partially-reclaimed salt marsh. At one end of the pitch it was - fragrant, as it were. I recall one scrum in which, as prop forward, my right foot cut a vertical furrow through the merde and I ended up flat on my face, covered with marshland. The referee and the rest of the players were so doubled up with laughter that when I informed my opposing loosehead that as much of my unwanted dressing as I could possibly manage was going to end up all over him at subsequent scrums everyone just took it as part of the fun.

[Wowbagger]

This is rather good, albeit from a fairly low level of rugby.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/37048459

[madcow]

RIP Gary Sprake. 500 + appearances for the mighty Whites under Don Revie and 30+ caps for Wales.
Not forgotten. MOT.

[Peter]

Certainly not forgotten, here.  Up there with Bruce Grobbelar as one of the most "accident-prone" goalies in British football.  I remember him hurling the ball into his own net once.  But he was a good goalie, nevertheless.  It's difficult to know just how good, though, because Leeds's outfield players usually maimed the opposition before they got anywhere near Sprake.  It was a horrid period.  It's a young age for a professional sportsman, so I wonder what the cause was.

RIP Gary - a great entertainer.

Ian Porterfield went too young, too - remember him?

[Wowbagger]

Peter, that is a very mischievous last sentence! 

But indeed, Sprake was a very good goalkeeper, most of the time. I seem to remember an entertainer, possibly Mike Yarwood, doing an impression of him.

[madcow]

It is a pity that two or three mishaps defined Sprake and overshadowed what was a long and distinguished career.
It is beyond doubt that Revie would have dropped him immediately if he thought his overall performance was suspect. Sprake kept David Harvey on the bench even though Harvey was eventually capped by Scotland.

[ElyDave]

This is rather good, albeit from a fairly low level of rugby.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/37048459

Not that low a level, Cambridge are in National 1.

Some great refereeing as well, I'm an ex-referee and spotted several penalty opportunities there, but he let Cambridge play their momentum.

[Peter]

It is a pity that two or three mishaps defined Sprake and overshadowed what was a long and distinguished career.
It is beyond doubt that Revie would have dropped him immediately if he thought his overall performance was suspect. Sprake kept David Harvey on the bench even though Harvey was eventually capped by Scotland.

Ah, David Harvey - he'll certainly remember Ian Porterfield.  The opposing goalkeeper was Jim Montgomery, who was better than either of them and it's a shame his career coincided with that of Gordon Banks.

But Gary was certainly good.

[Wowbagger]

It is a pity that two or three mishaps defined Sprake and overshadowed what was a long and distinguished career.
It is beyond doubt that Revie would have dropped him immediately if he thought his overall performance was suspect. Sprake kept David Harvey on the bench even though Harvey was eventually capped by Scotland.

I think most goalkeepers are remembered for the howlers they make. I have a memory, which may be inaccurate, of Sprake pulling off an amazing save from a Francis Lee penalty in one international match. There were few footballers who put as much welly into their penalties as Lee, and IIRC this one, after Sprake got a fist to it, hit the underside of the bar twice before finally rolling to safety.

[Cudzoziemiec]

RIP Gary Sprake. 500 + appearances for the mighty Whites under Don Revie and 30+ caps for Wales.
Not forgotten. MOT.

Confused here. What does MOT mean in this context?

[madcow]

Marching On Together. The title of a song that the  Leeds players recorded before the 1972 FA Cup Final.
It was the "B" side to "Leeds United". 
It's played before every home match and is the not so  secret sign off for LUFC fans.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Thanks, I might go and see if I can find it on Youtube. It can't be any worse than the song Rod Hull and Emu made for Bristol Rovers' promotion to the Second Division in 1974 (that is on youtube, but you really don't want to hear it).