Chit Chat
Welcome to Live View – Take the tour to learn more
Start Tour
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
24 Nov 09
05:24
Joined:
Date Joined:
22 Oct 09
As the decade nears a climax, and liittle of sporting interest remains, thought I'd give a not to brief appraisal.
Football:
What can you say? English teams largely dominated the second half of the decade in the european cup, 10 English players took part inte 2008 final! But we never quite lived up to our expectation internationally. No one (except arguably Brazil in 2002) really looked like beating us in the knockout stages of the major tournaments, but we kept up our run of bottling it in penalty shoot outs. Untimely injuries to our best players did not help either - Bckham, Rooney and Owen. This is no time for excuses though. Overall disappointing when compared to our expectation, but only a handful of**ries have records that can compare to the list below, and it stacks up pretty well in comparison to our post-war history - only 60s and 90s have any lcaim to be better than the noughties imo.
Euro2000 1st round
WC 2002 QF
Euro 2004 QF
WC 2006 QF
Euro 2008 DNQ
WC 2010 Qualified
Cricket
Some great moments, including two ashes winsamonst a number of abject failures. We wait a generation to beat the windies, then when it finally happens the wins get devalued by the "fact" that windies are rubbish. You can't win! We thrashed them regularly throughout the decade. Never beat India though. Overall we more than kep our own against the middling sides of Pak, SA, NZ and Sri Lanka. Beat Zim and Bangles as expected. Our one day form was ridiculously inconsisent as ever hence our poor performances in international limited overs competitions. Test Cricket is what it is all about imo though and by my recollection our results were: (could be minor misteaks)
Zim W
Windies W
Pakistan W
Sri Lanka W
Pakistan D
Australia L
India L
NZ W
SL W
India D
Aus W
Zim W
SA D
SL L
Bang W
Windies W
NZ W
Windies W
SA W
Bang W
Aus W
Pak L
India D
SL D
Pak W
Aus L
Windies W
India L
SL D
NZ W
NZ W
SA L
India L
Windies L
Windies W
Aus W
Overal won 53, lost 38, drew 33 (by my recollection, a drastic improvement on the nineties)
Other sports to continue
Football:
What can you say? English teams largely dominated the second half of the decade in the european cup, 10 English players took part inte 2008 final! But we never quite lived up to our expectation internationally. No one (except arguably Brazil in 2002) really looked like beating us in the knockout stages of the major tournaments, but we kept up our run of bottling it in penalty shoot outs. Untimely injuries to our best players did not help either - Bckham, Rooney and Owen. This is no time for excuses though. Overall disappointing when compared to our expectation, but only a handful of**ries have records that can compare to the list below, and it stacks up pretty well in comparison to our post-war history - only 60s and 90s have any lcaim to be better than the noughties imo.
Euro2000 1st round
WC 2002 QF
Euro 2004 QF
WC 2006 QF
Euro 2008 DNQ
WC 2010 Qualified
Cricket
Some great moments, including two ashes winsamonst a number of abject failures. We wait a generation to beat the windies, then when it finally happens the wins get devalued by the "fact" that windies are rubbish. You can't win! We thrashed them regularly throughout the decade. Never beat India though. Overall we more than kep our own against the middling sides of Pak, SA, NZ and Sri Lanka. Beat Zim and Bangles as expected. Our one day form was ridiculously inconsisent as ever hence our poor performances in international limited overs competitions. Test Cricket is what it is all about imo though and by my recollection our results were: (could be minor misteaks)
Zim W
Windies W
Pakistan W
Sri Lanka W
Pakistan D
Australia L
India L
NZ W
SL W
India D
Aus W
Zim W
SA D
SL L
Bang W
Windies W
NZ W
Windies W
SA W
Bang W
Aus W
Pak L
India D
SL D
Pak W
Aus L
Windies W
India L
SL D
NZ W
NZ W
SA L
India L
Windies L
Windies W
Aus W
Overal won 53, lost 38, drew 33 (by my recollection, a drastic improvement on the nineties)
Other sports to continue
Show More
Rugby Union[b][/b]
We were the best team on the planet for the first 4 years, have gone gradually down hill ever since. Still, no point peaking between the world cups. Our performance in six nations has been erratic, but....
WC 2003 Winners
WC 2007 Runners up
Rugby League
Always lost when it mattered, never failed to disappoint imo, though I believe our club sides won the world club champs regularly v aus, which makes our intenational form all the more frustrating
Olympic Sports
Nothing short of outstanding imo, seems an injustice to group athletics, cycling, swimming, rowing and sailing into one category. The cyclists have been awesome. Only the megapowers of Russia, USA and China could outgold us last year - something us brits should be immensely proud of iimo. We are a tiny country in comparison.
2000 11 golds
2004 9 golds
2008 19 golds
Golf
No major winners, 3-1 to Europe in ryder cups. Lots of top 20 golfers getting close, but sadly no one quite finishing off a major - this needs to be addressed ASAP, we don't want another Fred Perry (Nick Faldo) curse on our hands,it is already pushing on 15 years.
[b]Tennis[/b]
No major winners, awful in the Davis cup, Still our best decade for, well.... decades. Andy Murray the best male british tennis player since Fred Perry. Women have been awful, but, clutching at straws possibly, Heather Watson and Laura Robson both won junior titles in the last 18 months.
We were the best team on the planet for the first 4 years, have gone gradually down hill ever since. Still, no point peaking between the world cups. Our performance in six nations has been erratic, but....
WC 2003 Winners
WC 2007 Runners up
Rugby League
Always lost when it mattered, never failed to disappoint imo, though I believe our club sides won the world club champs regularly v aus, which makes our intenational form all the more frustrating
Olympic Sports
Nothing short of outstanding imo, seems an injustice to group athletics, cycling, swimming, rowing and sailing into one category. The cyclists have been awesome. Only the megapowers of Russia, USA and China could outgold us last year - something us brits should be immensely proud of iimo. We are a tiny country in comparison.
2000 11 golds
2004 9 golds
2008 19 golds
Golf
No major winners, 3-1 to Europe in ryder cups. Lots of top 20 golfers getting close, but sadly no one quite finishing off a major - this needs to be addressed ASAP, we don't want another Fred Perry (Nick Faldo) curse on our hands,it is already pushing on 15 years.
[b]Tennis[/b]
No major winners, awful in the Davis cup, Still our best decade for, well.... decades. Andy Murray the best male british tennis player since Fred Perry. Women have been awful, but, clutching at straws possibly, Heather Watson and Laura Robson both won junior titles in the last 18 months.
Boxing
Lennox Lewis undisputed heavyweight champ of the world, Joe Calzaghe retired, undefeated, undisputed super middleweight champ of the world. An inexhaustive list of people who have or still hold a world title belt(s): Hatton, Haye, Macarinelli, Clinton Woods, Junior Witter, Amir Kahn, Somebody Rees, Naseem Hamed...... just off the top of my head. When you think tHAT Barry McGuigan won SPOTY for winning one belt, we are truly living in blessed times regards British boxing imo, just a shame no one watches because it is all on fkin pay per view.
Motor Sport
Motor sport is all about F1 in this country. 2 winners in a decade would be riches to most countries but to the mighty GB it is just like any oher decade. Good work from Toseland and McRae so I am told, though I have no interest in bikes or rallying. anyone care to elaborate?
Other stuff
Phil Taylor by far the best darts player who ever stood at the oche
Ronnie Osullivan the best snooker player ever and 3 times world champ
Chrissie Wellington just a remarkable Ironwoman
Paula Radcliffe the greatest female marathon runner of all time
Alistair Brownlea the best triathlete in the world atm.
Lennox Lewis undisputed heavyweight champ of the world, Joe Calzaghe retired, undefeated, undisputed super middleweight champ of the world. An inexhaustive list of people who have or still hold a world title belt(s): Hatton, Haye, Macarinelli, Clinton Woods, Junior Witter, Amir Kahn, Somebody Rees, Naseem Hamed...... just off the top of my head. When you think tHAT Barry McGuigan won SPOTY for winning one belt, we are truly living in blessed times regards British boxing imo, just a shame no one watches because it is all on fkin pay per view.
Motor Sport
Motor sport is all about F1 in this country. 2 winners in a decade would be riches to most countries but to the mighty GB it is just like any oher decade. Good work from Toseland and McRae so I am told, though I have no interest in bikes or rallying. anyone care to elaborate?
Other stuff
Phil Taylor by far the best darts player who ever stood at the oche
Ronnie Osullivan the best snooker player ever and 3 times world champ
Chrissie Wellington just a remarkable Ironwoman
Paula Radcliffe the greatest female marathon runner of all time
Alistair Brownlea the best triathlete in the world atm.
In summary the best decade of English/British sport ever
:)
.
:)
.
beat Aus in both world cups too :)
they haven't beaten us in rugby wc for 18 years :)
they haven't beaten us in rugby wc for 18 years :)
Only the megapowers of Russia, USA and China could outgold us last year
a great new word imo rob :D
a great new word imo rob :D
A pleasing read, rob. Thanks.
Did you reel off that list of our cricket wins draws and losses by heart? Incredible memory if so!
Did you reel off that list of our cricket wins draws and losses by heart? Incredible memory if so!
Zim W
Windies W
Pakistan W
Sri Lanka W
Pakistan D
Australia L
India L
NZ D
SL W
India D
Aus L
Zim W
SA D
SL L
Bang W
Windies W
NZ W
Windies W
SA W
Bang W
Aus W
Pak L
India D
SL D
Pak W
Aus L
Windies W
India L
SL L
NZ W
NZ W
SA L
India L
Windies L
Windies W
Aus W
Off the top of my head...
Windies W
Pakistan W
Sri Lanka W
Pakistan D
Australia L
India L
NZ D
SL W
India D
Aus L
Zim W
SA D
SL L
Bang W
Windies W
NZ W
Windies W
SA W
Bang W
Aus W
Pak L
India D
SL D
Pak W
Aus L
Windies W
India L
SL L
NZ W
NZ W
SA L
India L
Windies L
Windies W
Aus W
Off the top of my head...
I can't believe anybody can remember every series played going back 10 yrs - not even the players playing in them. If you can, that's a bit Rainman imo.
fair play max. two of those were typos, but the NZ one was a genuine misteak. Looking back I can remember now. Was the one when Astle got 200 off 150 balls
Horse racing
Best Mate's three Gold Cups
Kauto Stars two wins and Denman's one win was unforgettable too.
See The Stars taking on all comers and sealing a place in Racing's Hall Of fame for being one of the greatest we'll ever see.
Best Mate's three Gold Cups
Kauto Stars two wins and Denman's one win was unforgettable too.
See The Stars taking on all comers and sealing a place in Racing's Hall Of fame for being one of the greatest we'll ever see.
I thought all those horses were irish. i thought all the top jockeys and horses and trainers were almost universally irish, which is why i didn't mention horseracing in my original appaisal.
Post Your Reply
Please login to post a reply.
Wonder
Instance ID: 13539