Oh, too many to mention but here’s a couple, from sports I love.
1/ 1990 World Cup – David Platt’s last minute goal. Made all the more special because I finished my finals 4 days before the finals started and graduated the day of the World Cup Final. In between, I watched all the games with my University mates, and the build up and atmosphere to the England games was something else. Stone Roses ‘This is the One’ being the theme to the games, few beers in evidence….. and then Gazza swings in a free kick, Platty swivels and scores and I think I had the same feeling as 100 simultaneous orgasms!
2/ Not a moment – but a passage. England vs Sth Africa: Atherton has nicked one from Donald and stood there and been given not out. Donald is absolutely seething. The next few minutes shows exactly why Test Cricket is still the best. Donald works Atherton over so brilliantly and Atherton stares back after each ball impassively. FEC he may have been but that and the Johannesburg escape showed that wneh it comes to balls, not many bigger than Mike Atherton.
3/ Rugby WCF, 2003. But not the drop goal. That was inevitable and therefore diluted as a moment for me. To me the magic moment was as England were working into position with a series of rucks. Dawson saw a gap and went for it, but got tackled and laid the ball back. Next man there was Johnson. What does he do? Stand in as scrum half and try to set Wilkinson up? No – under intense pressure, he’s the coolest man on the pitch and makes the superb decision that he’ll do what he has practised time and again. He takes short pass, drives on a few paces and goes to ground, setting the ball up perfectly so that Dawson, back on his feet now is back in position to do his job, so Wilko can do his. No panic, supreme professionalism and decision making.
Posted 14 years ago
