On the back of Konta's great win in the tennis last night I got to thinking 'what was the best / most exciting event I have ever seen - I came up with (in no particular order and certainly not exhaustive):
– Super Saturday at London 2012
– Jonny Wilkinson's last minute drop goal against Australia
– Beckham's free kick against Greece at Old Trafford
– 2005 Ashes win
So - what else is there?
Worlds madison at Manchester in 2008 when Wiggins and Cavendish won, great atmosphere.
1990(?) Moped Mayhem near Middlesbrough. One lad managed to high side a moped at all of 30mph. The moped just stopped and he went straight up at 30mph. Greatest sporting moment ever witnessed by anyone.
On telly or in person?
Mansell on Piquet, Silverstone, 1987
In the North Stand watching Worcester Warriors coming from behind to draw the second leg of the 2015 promotion play-offs against Bristol 30-30 and return to the Premiership 59-58 on aggregate. The final score sealed with a conversion kick that landed on top of us.
With ten minute to go StonerJr and I had resigned ourselves to another season in the championship. From bottom of the gut low, to elated high in less time that it takes to cook spaghetti. It took days to come down.
BBC.CO.UK The 'Miracle at Medina'!
I've watched every form of sport for 50 years.....and nothing else comes close!
2003 RWC Final.
I was at Super Saturday in person. The atmosphere was pretty special.
Personally, seeing the Scots almost beat the Aussies in the RWC a mile or so from my house was good too.
Beckham's free kick against Greece at Old Trafford
Yes that's definitely up there. Goose bump moment
for me I remember wathcing Michael johnson breaking the 400m world record at the 1996 Atlanta olympics
The miracle of Istanbul.
Live and in person it was Liverpool beating Real Madrid in the Bernabau.
Either when Donald Campbell forgot his kit and won the 100m in shirt, tie and shoes, or when Ollie "Mad Dog" Roberts turned up late to the start of the 800m, sprinted to catch the field up, won then chundered all over the shop.
Good times. 🙂
Wales beating Scotland
I was in Paris for the final stage of the Tour in 2012. To see Brad coming out of the tunnel at the front of Cav's leadout train, and then for Cav to win the sprint was just fantastic.
1990(?) Moped Mayhem near Middlesbrough. One lad managed to high side a moped at all of 30mph. The moped just stopped and he went straight up at 30mph. Greatest sporting moment ever witnessed by anyone.
I was there too - those first few years of Moped Mayhem were fantastic fun, and more than a little surreal at times.
Sheene vs Roberts Silverstone 79
Still have the tickets and programme
Beckham's free kick. I ripped the arse out of my trousers jumping to cheer. In a pub in Scotland full of Scots that had a great, great, great grandfather who once had a week's holiday in Corfu
1992 Senior TT.
Hislop on the Norton, Foggy (get well soon fella) on the OW01.
Watched from the Gooseneck, still get goosebumps thinking about it.
Scott Hastings deciding it was a good idea to tackle Jonah Lomu
And on the same note, Mike Catt getting stomped right into the turf like a cartoon character
And Danny Hart's Leogang run in 2011, I almost shat myself.
I've remembered another, which is surely my favourite. About 8 yo watching my Dad complete a 10k run, smashing himself to get a good time, stopping in front of the crowd around 100m from the finish line, do a massive spew, then carry on to finish
England beating Germany 5-1 back in 2001 in Munich.
Good question!
Of all time - probably Super Saturday, still gives me goose-bumps now and I wasn't even there. Particularly given the nation wasn't particularly happy leading up to it; waste of money, terrorist threats, G4S.... and then a mixed race lady, a naturalised muslim immigrant and a GINGER! all won Gold for us in the space of half an hour and we celebrated with them as a nation that doesn't care about these things! To have actually been there, as friends of ours were, would be never forgotten.
Being a cyclist - Wiggo's TdF win but particularly the moment when he leads Cav out around the last bend DARING anyone to try and come past. Or Chris Hoy in the 2012 Keirin, where Max Levy tried to shove his nose in on the final bend and was also told firmly 'not today'.
In person - Reading 4 Luton 1 in the Simod Cup final. As per the 'Why do people support shit teams' thread from a few days ago - because when this happens, once in a blue moon, it makes the other 40 years seem worthwhile.
I was there too - those first few years of Moped Mayhem were fantastic fun, and more than a little surreal at times.
😀 I was half expecting the human cannonball to be on here. Still time for him to appear (land?).
Richard Whitehead 200m London Paralympics final. From last Place to gold medal in a blink of an eye.
October 2015. Taking my son to watch the Republic of Ireland play Germany in the Aviva Stadium and we beat them 1-0.
Atmosphere was amazing as we desperately tried to hang on to the win.
Two stand out for me.
1992 at Roundhay Park in Leeds when Roger Hammond won the Junior World cyclo cross Championships race. When we knew he was going to get it,crowds of us were running between two points of the course every lap to cheer him on .
Wiggins in the London Olympic TT.
We were out on the course(Kingston) and the roar that went up when he went past was amazing.People then tried to get in to some of the places with TVs on to watch the finish,but a mate and I sat down next to some old folk with a radio.As Wiggins got closer and closer to the finish, all we could hear was the radio commentary,everything round about went quiet.It felt like everyone was holding thier breath,then the confirmation of the win and loudest cheer [b]eva[/b]. Fantastic.
In person:
2005 Ashes at Edgbaston, that was amazing.
Bayern Munich v's Bayern Leverkusen. The match was not important but the atmosphere was incredible there, just incredible.
On TV:
Rugby world cup final 2003, watched in a bar on Auckland, hell of a game.
Diving at the 2012 Olympics. Not the most obvious thing but the noise was like nothing I've heard before or since.
I've watched every form of sport for 50 years.....and nothing else comes close!
But if I think about it, Arsenal winning the league at Anfield in '89. 😀
Stade Francais v Leicester Tigers Heineken Cup final, Parc de Princes Paris 2001. Best game of rugby ever!
2003 RWC final wasn't bad either.
Leonard v Hagler. Live at Leicester Square cinema.
Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal against the Aussies was the only time i've jumped so hard plaster came off ceiling, the tension was unbelievable.
Having ridden the sportive the day before, watching Paris Roubaix 2 years ago by the side of Arenberg section just made me appreciate how hard they push themselves and was very visceral close up.
Personal one was watching Roger Black win silver at Olympics, he'd been in his last year at school as i joined (later turned out to be a complete arse when he came back to a rugby dinner and was making drunken jokes about paralympics)
First time i walked out to play at Twickenham instead of being in stands
Winning the Melges24 Europeans.
Standing in a packed bar in Lanzarote drunk, watching Tyson try to bite Holyfields ear off!
Beckham's free kick. I ripped the arse out of my trousers jumping to cheer.
LOL!
I was at a friend's house watching it - three blokes all watching it but only two of us were footie fans. When it went in we went utterly ballistic jumping all over the place, on top of each other etc. The third guy said something like 'guess that means something good'?
Ironically that same guy now has two football mad sons (one of which is a 11 yr old playing for Northampton Town Juniors and has the potential to be *very* special) so spends most of his free time being involved in football in one way or another.
But if I think about it, Arsenal winning the league at Anfield in '89.
Standing in the Kop that day was one of my WORST !
In person:
Huddersfield Town coming from behind on penalties vs Reading at Wembley playoff-final earlier this year.
TDF coming up Holme Moss (my manor) - unreal thinking that'd ever happen when I was a kid watching Channel 4 coverage.
Outside (not inside) the Velodrome at 2012 watching the Men's Team Sprint on the big screen.
Another one for me was West Ham beating Manchester United in 1992 – leaving the door open for the Mighty Whites to go on to win the last ever First Division title before the introduction of the Premiership.
I was listening to the game in the bath and pretty much jumped out when the goal went in. The next day I went down to Elland Road to get tickets to the final match of the season and see Leeds collect the trophy. The atmosphere leaving the ground afterwards was great - horns going, cars blaring our Queen's 'We Are The Champions' etc. A great day.
Redbull at alexandra palace
Or Danny Mac and Martyn Ashton at goodwood a few years back
Jenson Button's win in Canada.
Or
Danny Hart's World Champs Win for the Spectacle, or
Peaty's for the emotion.
Another vote for the Beckham free kick, was at the match, cue much jumping up and down by everyone and then my 20+ stone mate landed on me.
Penalty shoot out versus Spain in 1996 was another good un.
Was lucky enough to visit the Olympic Park for several days in 2012. the genral atmosphere was fantastic sat with a beer watching the big screens.
Watching 1998 WC final in a bar in what I thought was a quiet Provence town was quite something.
England v Argentina 1998 world cup (The Owen goal)
Lemond wining TDF by 8 seconds on the final time trial
Harry Carpenters commentary of Bruno vs Tyson "Get in there Frank!" made the hairs stand on my neck.
2005 Ashes Series
On tele was seeing Wiggins in Yellow leading out Cav in Paris. The symbolism of him still properly racing at that stage of the race was immense.
In person, Cav and Wiggins in the Madison at the Worlds in London, 2016. The build up, drama, crashes, noise was stunning. I couldn't speak for days after from shouting so much. Track cycling is, in my opinion, the best spectator sport in the world
England v Argentina 1998 world cup (The Owen goal)
Or the Sol Campbell disallowed goal 🙁
The velodrome session I went to during London 2012 was awesome, as were the athletics sessions in the stadium.
Moto GP - Catalunya 2009 - Rossi vs. Lorenzo
and of course, the '03 drop-goal.
