The greatest sports
stories ever told
| A note from the Editor... |
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Welcome to the latest edition of OverTime, home - thanks to the largesse of the University of Brighton and the splendidness of its sports journalism students - of the greatest sports stories ever told. We tell it like it is and how it was, reeling in the years to celebrate and analyse the competitive arts, reflecting the way we were and how it has affected the way we are. And all in glorious monochrome. Somehow, sport always seems more dream-like and otherworldly in black and white.
We shake hands with heroes as well as the lesser-sung but no less worthy of interest. In the well-known corner, among others, Joe Calzhage, Will Carling, George Cohen, and Angus Fraser stand tall. There's Olympic luminaries past - Steve Backley, Lynn Davies, Tommy Godwin and Alan Minter - as well as present - Tony Jeffries and Louis Smith. We even have a revealing natter with Colin Welland, the man behind the pen behind Chariots of Fire. From the other end of the spectrum come the likes of Steve Tilson, Micky Cantwell, Nikki Pedersen, Dean Bowditch and Gurnam Singh. Who they? You'll be glad you found out. We will whet your appetites by talking to up-and-comers such as James Benning and Kathryn Cross, and revitalise them, in our The Way We Were section, by paying homage to the imperishable ones - Arkle, Duncan Edwards, Herb Elliott, Althea Gibson, Bobby Moore, Pele, Jackie Robinson, Garry Sobers, Alfredo di Stefano and Sugar Ray Robinson. Nor do we short-change those who serve, including British Paralympic Association chairman Mike Brace, former Lord's administrator Donald Carr and drug czar Dick Pound. Besides the thorniest problem of all, performance-enhancing, we tackle the other big issues of the day - violence, corruption, match-fixing, hooliganism and that greatest of imponderables, the future of English tennis, a subject for which the LTA chief executive, Roger Draper, is handily-placed to supply some answers. And, just in case anybody accuses us of lacking levity, we raise a toast to tiddlywinks, in particular the day a leading Royal challenged Spike Milligan to a game. If sport be the food of dreams, read on.
Rob Steen
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Blondes have more fun: Moore was the Golden Boy of English soccer in the Swinging Sixties © Google Images
When Moore is never less
Cool, blond and, let's face it, something of a bombshell: in the summer of 1966, every English schoolboy wanted to be Bobby Moore. Captain of West Ham and England, hoister of the World Cup, he even pulled off the notable coup of making defending sexy. Ryan Forrester looks back on the night a legend took his first professional steps while Jordan Halford remembers Duncan Edwards, who, but for the Munich air disaster that same year, might well have rendered him surplus to requirements. It was 1958...
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Roger and in
Simon Moss corners Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper and hears about his vision for British tennis, and the search for the new Fred Perry
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Take drugs out of the ballgame
Brendan Simpson meets Dick Pound, the anti-drugs czar, for a far from cosy chat about sport's most widespread and virulent cancer |
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In an exclusive interview, George Cohen talks to Mark Conlon about life as a World Cup winner, England's footballing woes and why he doesn't envy today's players one little bit
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Wembley and 1966...Sydney and 2003...The Oval and 2005: English sporting history is full of instant connections between space and time. Munich and 1958 remains the bitterest link. By Sam Smith
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Racism, sexism, sectarianism, homophobia...you name it, Brendan Simpson has a prejudice against it
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With cricket grappling as never before with the opposing forces of tradition and transition, Richard Evans talks to the cult hero turned journalist turned county supremo and ICC committee member about the day's two most pressing issues: Twenty20 and technology
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Once was no big deal. Twice was a minor miracle. But when Leeds and Cardiff collided in the same round of the FA Cup at Elland Road for the third season running, the odds against a third 2-1 win for the Welshmen were not even worth calculating. Terry Pierce persuades City's Colin Baker to give us the inside track on the most remarkable result in the history of football's most venerable cup competition
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Sam Feasey talks to Damian Hopley and Peter Wheeler about the fissures that have beset English rugby since the onset of professionalism
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Mirror, mirror, on the wall/What's the unfairest of them all? Will Tidey casts an angry eye over sport's resident evils - violence, performance-enhancing drugs and match-fixing
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It was the year of the Notting Hill riots but one brave black footballer bridged the divide. Matthew Webb tells the heartwarming tale of an extremely determined man named Jesilimi "Tesi" Balogun
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The Williams sisters cite her as an inspirational role model, but she died much as she had emerged, unable to pay her medical bills. Oliver Miller remembers Althea Gibson, standard-bearer for black America and Wimbledon's first black champion
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Forbes magazine recently listed its 20 Greatest Sporting Feats and we beg, nay plead, to differ. Profoundly. Check out our exclusive survey
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Half a century ago, Surrey won their record-breaking seventh consecutive County Championship, a landmark that still stands tall and proud. Nick Teale looks back at the culmination of cricket's best-known reign
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In a small auditorium in downtown St Louis, Bob Pettit put in one of the great NBA finals performances 50 years ago, winning a title and cementing himself as a basketball legend. By Sam Hart
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| Olympic Games |
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Moving images
They were forgotten champions until Colin Welland decided to tell their story in Chariots of Fire, the ultimate Olympics movie, the result a bagful of Oscars for Britain and belated recognition for two long-forgotten giants of the track. Oliver Miller talks to the screenwriter who brought Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell the acclaim they deserved
Prague heading for Czech point
As London prepares to host the 2012 Games, seven more countries are locked in a bidding war for the same privilege four years later. Andy Watkins discusses the Czech Republic's prospects with Karel Tejkal
Twenty20 for 2020?
OK, so why are cricket and rugby not a part of the Games despite being two of the world's biggest sports? Richard Greatorex talks to James Fitzgerald of the International Cricket Council and reads the tea-leaves
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| Pecs, Ties & Videotape |
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Flag-wavers of convenience
“I would like to thank my adopted country, Canada, my native country, Jamaica, and the country in which I was born, England." So said Lennox Lewis. Dan Parr analyses the thorny issue of dual nationality
Father and Son Inc
Joe and Enzo Calzaghe are an intriguing combination. Joe does the punching and the world-title-winning, dad Joe does the training, the talking and the singing. Sean Wozencroft listens to some Italian-Welsh rabbit
Gods, giants, kings and queens
The field could not be stronger. Ali, Martina, Michael, Tiger, Flo-Jo and many more are all under starter's orders. So, who's the greatest of them all? Let Dan Rumens and his era-crossing team help you decide
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| The Way We Were - 1958 |
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The greatest loss of all
It could have been Duncan Edwards who hoisted the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966, but the sky wept for the most famous “Busby Babe” when he was tragically killed in the Munich air disaster. Jordan Halford pays homage to the best we never saw
Sven and the art of tennis maintenance
Before Bjorn Borg there was...Sven Davidson. Adam Clark pays tribute to the man who became Sweden's first Grand Slam champion then gave it all up to help usher in the professional era
Catcher in the spry
Roy Campanella was the one of baseball's greatest catchers, the most garlanded player of the 1950s but then came a near-fatal car crash. By Lee Price
Compo the all-round hero
"Brylcreem Boy", record-breaking cricketer, England international footballer, national idol, supporter of Apartheid. Colin Harvey looks back on the extraordinary sporting life of Denis Compton
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