1. Romanian captain, Cristian Petre, who after suffering a 67-3 loss to England,  was asked by a reporter about the game and replied “I play rugby for happiness.”  More.
2. The French rugby team won the toss to choose who wears their own home jerseys in the Rugby World Cup Final and declined to wear their treasured ‘bleu’. Instead they felt it was right for Kiwis, as RWC hosts, should  wear their own colours.   More
3. Young Kerry Gaelic football Tomás Ó’Sé after the final whistle carried the ball as a souvenir to the Dublin goal keeper who kicked the winning point in 2011 All Ireland Gaelic Final. Caught on camera! More.
4. Former Somali refugee, Mohamed Farah, won gold for Britain in the 5,000 metres World Athletic Championships – making his new nation very proud while arch rival, Kenyan, Paul Lagat (representing USA) was the first to embrace him and congratulate him. More.
5. Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed honour when he allowed England’s batsman to be reinstated after being ‘run out’ because of a misunderstanding that the game had stopped for tea. More.
6. Vancouver’s Langley Elementary School children displayed true sportsmanship after Ice Hockey riots when they wrote to Boston school children to congratulate the winners, Boston. More.
7. Ex American basket ball pro, ex junkie and now coach, Chris Herren, is a true sportsman as he coaches children and encourages them to always have fun & enjoy their games. More.
8. The Indian & Pakistan cricket fans – arch enemies became friends for life as they shared the excitement & enjoyment of fierce competition as over one billion people watched the match on television.  One man offered to sell his liver … More.
9. 19 year old Japanese golfer, Ryo Ishikawa, donated all this year’s earnings to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  More.
10. Irish rugby coach, Declan Kidney when asked about the illegal Welsh try that won the game said, that ‘while he felt extremely frustrated, he was not going to make an issue of it at a time when so many in the world were suffering. More.

I will tweet later our all time favourite single moment for 2011. Happy New Year  To One and All.  Say ‘Yes’ to Great Sportsmanship in 2012.

Farah arrived in England when he was just 8 years old and hardly spoke any English. His first love was football and his dream was to play for Arsenal.  His PE teacher offered Farah the incentive of playing indoor football for 30 minutes before taking him to the running club. He worked hard and went on to get  the European track record for 10,000 metres, the British road record for 10,000 metres, the British indoor record in the 3,000 metres, the British track record for 5,000 metres and the European indoor record for 5,000 metres.

In July 2010, Farah was the first British man to win the European 10,000 metres gold medal. He went on to also win gold in the 5,000m, becoming the first British man to win the long distance double.

Then last weekend, he turned silver into gold in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea after winning silver in the 10,000 metres, he went on to win gold in the 5,000 metres after a dramatic final lap.

Bernard Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya and won medals for Kenya before changing his domicile and representing America. Despite the fierce rivalry between Farah and Lagat (Lagat pushed for gold the whole way), Lagat was the first man over to congratulate Farah. A beautiful moment from two world class sports men who have adopted to foreign countries.

Thanks to Ken Mc Cue (Sport Against Racism Ireland) for alerting me to the story.

Roger Milla’s samba with the corner flag, Peter Crouch’s Robot Dance or Pele leaping into the arms of other players with the biggest grin,  or this goalkeeper’s extraordinary celebration or,  this fan singing and dancing and inspiring a stadium, or perhaps this 19 year old jockey’s unbridled joy as he wins the 2011 Epson Derby* – what’s your favourite celebration?

Some say that the young French jockey’s celebration was dangerous. But surely it was better than ‘Rooney’s Rage’  style celebrations , that we see on TV screens every week as millionaire footballers release  angry tension with roars and aggressive fists (see why do people celebrate with anger?). Where is the joy gone?

Do players forget the fun, excitement and joy of playing in top class competitions? Research into England’s most recent World Cup flop revealed ‘fear of failure’ as the major factor.

Great players do not fear failure. In fact they have, what sports psychologists call, ‘Failure Tolerance’ – they don’t beat themselves up when they make a mistake. They just get on with it as in the case of Martin Palermo who once missed three penalties in one match for Argentina but never gave up and went to score the goal that put them into the last World Cup.

The  former junkie basketball player now coach highlighted last month seems to have it right. He gets kids to enjoy their game first and foremost. Come to think of it, the world’s most successful football/soccer manager, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson constantly reminds his players to ‘enjoy themselves’.

So come on, let’s get the joyous celebrations back into sport. Share your favourite celebration here by posting a comment. Tell me about your favourite celebration (in any sport).

Thanks to Paul Bowket for alerting me about the unbridled joy of the young French jockey as he comes from nowhere to win the 2011 Derby (*2 mins 30 seconds). 

Ryder Cup 1969: Then came that magical moment in 1969. On the very last hole, after three days of intense battle, The Open champion, England’s Tony Jacklin, had to make a nerve racking two foot putt to save Britain and Ireland from defeat. Up stepped the world’s greatest golfer, American, Jack Nicklaus, putted his own four and a half foot putt and then astonished the world by picking up Tony Jacklin’s ball marker (which effectively meant that Jacklin didn’t have to take the putt since Nicklaus ‘gave it to him’ or conceded the putt) and said “I know you would not have missed that.” Nicklaus later revealed: “I didn’t want to take the chance that he might miss the putt and have his stature diminished. “

Ryder Cup 2006: It’s 6.30am before the 2006 at the US PGA Golf Championship, when America’s Ryder Cup captain, Tom Lehman, invites fellow professional golfers to a private prayer for his golf friend and Ryder Cup opposition Darren Clarke whose wife, Heather had passed away a short time earlier. Many months later, when the still grieving Clarke walked onto the first tee of the Ryder Cup at Ireland’s K Club, his opposite number, America’s Phil Mickleson, walked towards Clarke, held out his hands and embraced him in a warm bear hug. Clarke hit a great tee shot and went on to play great golf. Then in the final hole of the final match between Paul McGinley and the American rookie JJ Henry, another magical moment occurred. The young American needed to putt a 25 foot putt to halve the hole, draw the overall match and, although the US had lost the Cup, avoid the USA suffering its worst ever defeat. McGinley conceded the putt.

Earlier in the year, the same Darren Clarke was winning by 2 shots with 10 holes to play when he hit his ball into thick rough in the Carton Club. The hooter went off and play was abandoned due to bad weather. When Clarke returned on the Monday he found his ball had magically emerged into a perfect position as all the thick grass was now flattened around his previously ‘almost buried’ ball. All the fans had trampled around the area or perhaps the Leprachauns had helped him. But Clarke refused to aim his next shot at the green, instead he chose to chip out sideways as that was what he would have done originally when the ball was deep in the thick grass. ‘Honesty’ he said ‘is part and parcel of the game and I could not have acted in any other way.’

Ryder Cup 2010: even before a ball has been hit, the European captain, Colin Montgomerie, announced that he had chosen not to use his “home captain’s prerogative” (which is setting the course up to suit the European players). He preferred instead to create an “honest course that would reward the best team”.  Game on! And what a great game it was. It went right to the wire – the very last match. And Europe prevailed.  The Americans displayed honest sportsmanship as they hugged their European victors – even in the early games. Both speeches were laden with honour and nobility as befits a sport that depends on its code of etiquette.  The magic of the Ryder Cup continues.

Note: For the full story of each of these and to explain how a rampaging streaker influenced McGinley’s sporting gesture see Great Moments Of Sportsmanship – a collection of true 2 minute stories about sportsmanship with the foreword written by Paul McGinley.

He was about to win his first tournament when he asked a referee to check the TV’s slow motion replay to see if he had moved a reed slightly (thereby incurring a penalty and effectively forfeiting the opportunity to win). Brian Davis is a hero who quietly chose honour and the essence of sportsmanship over big prize money.

Then comes the Ryder Cup when the world’s best professional golfers abandon money (there is no prize money nor any appearance money – just a fat wad of honour and respect). And when the European captain, Colin Montgomerie and the US captain, Corey Pavin, sat side by side yesterday at the media conference at Celtic Manor in Wales they showed such great respect for each other and for the history of this unique competition. It only comes round every two years.

Photo: Dan Perry    www.danperry.com

So here’s a two part post acknowledging some special Ryder Cup moments (plus a few extra) and revealing great golfers who had great hearts – as they simply made the world a better place.

America’s Arnold Palmer won 7 majors and also played in six US Ryder Cup teams (1961,1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973). He captained the team in 1963 and came back 12 years later to captain it once again. He almost single handedly made ‘The Open’ (the British Open) what it is today as prior to Palmer few Americans would travel over for it. He once said: ‘I’ve got a strong feeling that golf is a great vehicle to bring nations closer together. If I could get all the war torn nations of the world and have the war lords play golf together, I could solve the world’s problems and we could all be peace loving people. That may sound far fetched, but it’s what I believe.”

Although South Africa’s Gary Player would never play in the Ryder Cup, he did bring nations closer together, in his own way. He took his famous black caddie, Alfred Dyer, all over the world with him at a time when this was unheard of in apartheid South Africa. He won all four major championships and was the first non-American to win the US Masters. He was also the only 20^th century golfer to win ‘The Open’ in three different decades (1959, 1968 & 1974). He has donated his winnings to charity and funded educational charities in South Africa and in his adopted home, America.

Then came those magical Ryder Cup moments in 1969, 2006, 2010 (Jacklin, Nicklaus, Leyman, Clarke, Mickleson, McGinley and Monty). …….see part 2 (on Thursday).

Note: For the full story of each of these see Great Moments Of Sportsmanship – a collection of true 2 minute stories about sportsmanship with the foreword written by Paul McGinley. Also See

India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi say that “If we can be friends, so can our countries”. They say it is “the beauty of sport”. They are vibrant “we are trying to give a message of peace to people of India and Pakistan.”

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947. "It is the beauty of sport that it’s above culture, politics and religion," says Qureshi. "It feels very good to see the Indian fans taking autographs from me and Pakistani fans taking Rohan’s autographs. Rohan always points out that even if we change the minds of 3% or 4% of people, it’s worth it. And if we two can be friends together, then why can’t other Indians and Pakistanis be friends?"

India’s and Pakistan’s ambassadors to the United Nations have been sitting together and cheering them on. The players now want to stage an exhibition match at the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan. They have invited their presidents and prime ministers and are awaiting a response. In Wimbledon, earlier this summer, they started wearing t-shirts with the message "Stop War, Start Tennis".

They eventually lost narrowly to the hot favourite America brothers, Mike and Bob Bryan who spoke warmly about the ‘IndoPak Express’: “What these guys are doing bringing India and Pakistan together is very special. It shows that sport can bring people together." Both of the Americans have  donated generously to an appeal fund set up for the Pakistan floods.  "It’s just a match and it’s just a game. A lot of people in Pakistan don’t have homes and are out on the street. What these guys are doing bringing India and Pakistan together is very special. It shows that sport can bring people together."

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 (see front cover of my book)? *

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.

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 Harvard-bound runner ran 3 consecutive steps inside the lane adjacent to hers. Bellarmine Prep Coach Matt Ellis appealed the infraction, but his appeal was denied. Everyone knew that Cochrane had not stepped into the next lane and that the officials were wrong.

In a magical sportsmanship moment  when the official 3,200 race winner Andrea Nelson was awarded her first place medal at the podium, she moments later gave her first place medal to Cochran. Redmond’s Sarah Lord followed by giving Nelson her second-place medal, and the other medal winners followed suit. Somewhat reminiscent of the Britain’s  Gold medalist fencer, Judy Guinness at the 1932 LA Olympic when she refused her gold medal because officials had missed her opponent’s scores.

Some days later – the officials, having studied the video tapes rescinded their decision and officially awarded Cochran the gold medal. Congrats to Nelson, Lord and the other young lady who felt honour was more important than metal.

See the Full Story.

I was so pleased to receive the  full poem from John Miles (see 6th comment on this link) – many thanks John.

This discussion has been ongoing since I first posted a question about  these magical sportsmanship words back in December 2008.  However I still wonder why the attached beautiful graphic (which used to hang in my parents’ bedroom  in Dublin in the 1950s) refers to Newbolt? Does anyone know?

You can download this as a poster by clicking on it or print it out and post it onto a notice board, or a dressing room.