One wonders what historic moments in rugby and football (soccer) will emerge over the next 50 years (although difficult to imagine, if you’re over 50!). What magical moments of wizardry and wonderful moments of sportsmanship will emerge?

Leinster v Ulster was the first (16 Dec 1876) and last (31 Dec 2006) game of rugby played at the old Lansdowne Road stadium. The first international match was played way back in Victorian times in 1878 (when Ireland was under British rule). When the Republic of Ireland was eventually established, both the Republic and the North Of Ireland still united, every year, to wear the green shirt and take on the world’s best rugby teams. Football does not do this, except once, in 1973 a United Ireland team* took on the World champions, Brazil. The venue? Lansdowne Road. For 128 years Lansdowne Road was an international venue, much loved by anyone who visited. It then closed its doors for a moment (three and a half years in the greater scheme of things) and moved its rugby and football events to the hidden jewel in Ireland’s crown, the 82,500 Croke Park, HQ of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association)*.

What historic events and wonderful sportsmanship moments will emerge in this, the newest stadium in the oldest venue? Perhaps it is the oldest international sports venue in the world – can someone enlighten me?

* See the full stories of the 1973 moment when Ireland united in football in Lansdowne Road and also the 2007 moment when ‘God saved Croke Park’ in the Great Moments Of Sportsmanship collection of published short stories.

Who remembers Bobby Moore and Pele swapping shirts and embracing each other after their epic battle in the opening rounds in the 1970 World Cup? *

Or France 1998 when USA played Iran (despite having cut off diplomatic relations) – the players exchanged gifts, helped each other up off the ground and secretly arranged to play a 3 game friendly series without either government knowing.*

Or the magical moment in Germany 2006 just before kick off when the Iranian goalkeeper gave a bouquet of flowers to, the still grieving, Mexican goalkeeper, Sanchez, who had just flown back from Guadalajara after burying his father.*

Will players be allowed to swap shirts? Who will demonstrate sportsmanship? So that kids everywhere see how cool sportsmanship can be when opposing players do battle and embrace afterwards? Why do players play? Because they love it. Let’s see who will show their unbridled joy?  Who will fully embrace the magic of the brotherhood of football? Send me your stories, observations and thoughts as it all unfolds and I’ll publish them here.

Quiz Question: Who is England’s best ever goal scorer (goals to games ratio)? Very few English fans know it. Post your answer. I’ll also give full answer in my next post.

Footnote * indicates the full two minute story is in the Great Moments Of Sportsmanship book.

He had come runner up four times, and after years of dedication his moment seemed to arrive. The dream was crystal clear as he stepped up to play the18th hole again in a ‘Sudden Death’ play-off against the 49 times PGA tournament winner and Ryder Cup golfer, Furyk.

With the light fading over the beautiful harbour and the greens, both players safely reached the fairway from their tee shots. Davis’s second shot ran across the green, over the edge, bounced off some rocks below and finally settled on nicely packed sand with some reeds behind it. However, he successfully chipped up onto the green with his third shot. Now here’s the magic.

No one saw this happen except Davis. As he played his third shot he thought he might have barely touched ‘a loose impediment’ (a loose reed/bit of straw) which is a penalty. “It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. And I thought we’d check on TV, and indeed there was movement,” Davis said.

He immediately called for the tournament referee, Slugger White, and told him what had happened. It was so subtle that the crowd didn’t see it and the TV cameras didn’t see it.

He felt honour-bound to tell the referee, who checked with the TV slow motion replays and duly imposed a two shot penalty for ‘making contact with a loose impediment in a greenside hazard’ (rule 13.4: moving a loose impediment during a takeaway). Davis’s dream was over.

However, his actions on the 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links course, will be remembered by many for a long time to come. You can see this magical sportsmanship moment. Slugger White later said: “He’s class, first class”. Brian Davis has since received floods of congratulation cards, letters, emails from people all over America and in particular from parents who said they told their children this is how you play sport and this is how you live life.

Davis proves that nice guys are winners. In his own words, here’s how good it actually felt after the high tension game was over. “It’s probably the first time in my career, or in any golfer’s, where [you] lost in a play-off and actually drove home more positive than when you left,” he said. “It has been a good experience for me, and it has been great for the game of golf that we do call rules infractions on ourselves. It’s just part of the game.”

Note: Thanks to Ollie Campbell for alerting me about this story.

Dr. Sharon Kay Stoll on why golfers call their own penalties

Never may we lose this tradition. I have another question for you:  Why do some players now, when asked to swap shirts by their opposing player, point to the dressing room and, I assume, suggest that they swap shirts in the dressing room. Is this protocol madness. Doesn’t the FA, EUFA and FIFA realise that the best PR for the game is to let kids see players swap shirts. Does anyone know the logic here?

Liverpool have this tradition too. So too do Munster rugby & Queens Park Rangers FC (see story in the book). Now I’m delighted to add the mighty Real Madrid to this growing ‘club’ of sportsmanship.

To listen to the BBC 5 live Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

BBC 5 Live

Pass this link to a friend.

I was delighted to hear that he used to ask the Nottingham Forest fans to resist using foul language by showing them his handwritten sign. Any fans out there can tell me what words he wrote on the sign?

To listen to the BBC Nottingham Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

BBC Radio Nottingham

Pass this link to a friend.

As he said himself: “it was just a little bit of adrenaline, my hands got into it and I flipped my third shot into the bunker.” However he got ‘up and down’ in two and won it outright. He has a very very bright future. However that’s not why this post is in the blog. It was Justin Rose’s sportsmanship that caught my eye. He had a putt on the 18^th for a birdie 3 that could have won him the competition, or at least forced a play-off (as at that point McIlroy was out of the bunker for three shots and could only hope to get his par 4 with his final putt). Rose missed by less than an inch. He smiled, composed himself and tapped his ball in for a par 4. McIlroy then sank the biggest 4 foot putt of his life to win the competition. Rose was first over and embraced young Mcllroy with real warmth. A fellow competitor who has fought all the way to the wire proved to be a great sportsman. Well done Mr. Rose.

To listen to the Irish  Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

RTE-Radio-1

Pass this link to a friend.

“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 crowd clapped the Portuguese when they did anything good and vice versa. It was a real treat to be at that match. Oh I really enjoyed it. “

And when asked about how she felt when her son Bobby scored, she said:

“To tell you the truth I had a pile of programmes that I was bringing for the Bairns (children) at home , an orange drink for half time, I had a box of chocolates that I had been given, I had a box of toffees that a man had given me. I had to put all of them down before I could clap. It was really funny. Oh and then when I stood up it was a marvelous site to see the Portugal players shaking his hand. Something you don’t see these days. It was really terrific.”

You don’t see that these days. But you never know you just might if enough people spread the word about sportsmanship.