A look back at their Sporting Moments - 2014

[bennythedip2]

A year in the Life of sport 2014


Our team of writers (Sporting Life) reflect on the year in sport, including the biggest moments from football, horse racing and formula one.

A selection of some of favourite sporting memories of 2014

Horse Racing - Going for Gold

By Ian Ogg

Gold Cup day at Cheltenham encapsulated all the drama and all the highs and lows of the sport of racing in a single day in a remarkable sequence of events.

The Festival week had proved to be a torrid one for jockey Daryl Jacob during a difficult season, his first with trainer Paul Nicholls.

The pair teamed up with Calipto who was sent off as favourite for the opening Triumph Hurdle and the juvenile appeared to be travelling strongly with two hurdles to jump, only for Jacob’s stirrup leathers to break, leaving the jockey relatively powerless to assist his mount in the crucial, closing stages and they could finish only fourth.

That, at least, was a better outcome than that ‘enjoyed’ by Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend and their respective mounts. Walsh and Abyssial took a crashing fall, bringing down Adriana Des Mottes and Townend; Walsh was rushed to hospital, suffering a compound fracture of his right arm, while Townend was stood down for the day after riding in the County Hurdle.


Ian Ogg "Not only had Russell won the feature race but he had earlier taken the Triumph Hurdle for Gigginstown when standing in for his injured replacement, Bryan Cooper, before completing his treble in the finale to put his name back up in lights."

Ian Ogg


The County Hurdle did provide some redemption for Jacob who produced a fine ride aboard Lac Fontana to beat Arctic Fire (who had been due to be ridden by Walsh) by half a length, gaining a first victory of the week but it went from that high to an awful low in the very next race.

Jacob’s mount in the Albert Bartlett, Port Melon, had just come out onto the track when he got spooked on his way to the start, crashing through a rail and dumping Jacob onto some concrete.

Jacob was treated for around 10 minutes before being stretchered away and taken to hospital where he was found to have suffered a broken leg, knee and elbow.

The Gold Cup was delayed as a result and that only increased the drama to racing’s blue riband event with three horses separated by less than a length with the result only being confirmed after a stewards’ inquiry.

David Casey, who had ridden Arctic Fire in place of Walsh, was once more subbing for Willie Mullins and again had to settle for an agonising second but there was delight for the winning jockey Davy Russell.

Russell had lost one of Ireland’s top jobs as retained rider for Gigginstown Stud in January but ended the final day of the Festival with a remarkable treble.

Not only had he won the feature race but he had earlier taken the Triumph Hurdle for Gigginstown when standing in for his injured replacement Bryan Cooper, before completing his treble in the finale to put his name back up in lights.

Drama, controversy, the much sought after narrative and a constant reminder of the very real danger of the sport for all participants – the day was an emotional rollercoaster for all involved in even the most tenuous manner.


Horse Racing

By Will Hayler

Unlike my colleague Mr Ogg, I found Gold Cup a mind-melting occasion. No sooner had the steam boiling away in Daryl Jacob’s cerebral kettle been released, than literally minutes later we were concerned for his life. Given that the day took a further twist with a Gold Cup whose result and dynamics I will never quite be able to fathom, it was a day I struggle to digest even now.

A man of simpler pleasures, there is nothing in horse racing I enjoy quite as much as watching a good horse win a good race under a good jockey, and few horses I have ever seen can match the turn of foot shown by Sole Power to win the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes under Richard Hughes.

Hughes was, of course, brilliant that day. He showed supreme confidence in both his horse and his own ability to find the right channel through which to direct the rocket underneath him.

The jockey said afterwards that when a gap appeared “too early”, two furlongs out, he’d made an intentional choice to forego that opportunity and bury him behind rivals for longer, knowing that Sole Power’s cylinders would be filling up again for another crucial 300 metres.

It was almost certainly a race-winning decision.

But in all the excitement afterwards about the ride, I felt rather sorry for Sole Power himself, undeniably the best five-furlong sprinter on turf in Europe this season and a horse who made beating a field of decent horses look effortlessly, almost embarrassingly easy.

Rarely can a horse have gone from a length down to half-a-length in front in a top-flight sprint within a matter of four, maybe five strides. He ate the ground right in front of him.

After the race, I watched the replay five or six times with my lower jaw edging nearer to the floor with each viewing. It’s a race that merits a second (or third) viewing – click here to see it again.

Football - Seventh heaven

By Matt Brocklebank

On July 8 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the footballing world was tilted on its axis as Germany thrashed the World Cup hosts 7-1 in a semi-final that will be remembered as one of the most stunning games in history.

Five times World Cup winners Brazil had not lost a competitive match on home soil in 39 years, yet within 30 surreal minutes at Estadio Mineirao Luiz Felipe Scolari's team were 5-0 down and dreams of another title were all but dashed.

The tournament had begun in an atmosphere of feverish excitement and with a glut of goals – a near record 136 being scored in the 48 group stage games.


Matt Brocklebank "Joachim Low’s Germany capitalised on Brazil’s weaknesses with a ruthless display of total football bordering on perfection, mesmerically creating chance after chance and converting every one."

Matt Brocklebank


Brazil had more than played their part, much to the delight of their fans, but the hosts had demonstrated signs of frailty during encounters with Croatia, Mexico and Chile.

Furthermore, the Selecao went into the semi-finals without stricken superstar Neymar and, perhaps more crucially given how they completely froze when falling behind in the 11th minute, suspended centre-back and captain Thiago Silva.

But few could have anticipated what transpired.

Joachim Low’s Germany capitalised on Brazil’s weaknesses with a ruthless display of total football bordering on perfection, mesmerically creating chance after chance and converting every one.

Since the beautiful game arrived in South America, Brazil have been utterly reliant on what they do when they have the ball; attacking flair, freedom and expression always heavily outweighing the sense of defensive duty.

Yet suddenly they could barely get a look at the ball as Germany fizzed passes with pinpoint precision and converted opportunities without wavering. And the more stand-in skipper David Luiz and company darted around the pitch in a desperate bid to gain possession and stem the tidal wave of attacks, the more gaps were created for Germany to exploit.

The magnitude of the occasion really hit home when Brazilian fans were off their feet applauding after Andre Schurrle smashed home the seventh goal and there were even resounding cheers of 'ole' from the home support as the European side stroked it around at will in the final few minutes.

It was therefore fitting that Germany were able to complete the task and get the better of Brazil's arch-rivals Argentina in a predictably anti-climactic final, while none of the gloss was taken off their most famous triumph - a triumph that defined a magnificent summer and elevated the status of German football to a new level.


Football - Comeback kings

By Nick Hext

It seems a long time ago now but what a Premier League title race we enjoyed last season.

Liverpool provided the surprise ingredient but their swashbuckling campaign ultimately ended without the title after an incredible evening of football at Selhurst Park.

The Reds arrived for the Monday Night Football clash with Crystal Palace needing three points after the 2-0 defeat at home to Chelsea stopped the destiny of the title being in their own hands.

Memories of Steven Gerrard and that slip were still fresh in the mind when Liverpool took to the field against Tony Pulis’ resurgent Eagles but there was nothing in the initial jousting to hint at the drama to come.

Joe Allen’s first Liverpool goal put the Reds 1-0 up at the break. Goals from Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez made it 3-0 and all was looking good for the men from Anfield with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Thoughts were turning to cutting down Manchester City’s superior goal difference – which at this stage looked likely to decide the title – but how quickly things can change.

79th minute: Damien Delaney pulls a goal back for Palace. The home fans shout and scream but surely we are too late in the contest for the hosts to get anything?

81st minute: Dwight Gayle finds the back of the net. Just one goal in it now, can Liverpool’s shaky defence hold out?

88th minute: Gayle is at it again as he slides a shot under Simon Mignolet. Palace have secured the most remarkable 3-3 draw and Liverpool’s title dreams are in tatters.

The night ends with Liverpool one point clear of Manchester City at the summit but you wouldn’t have known it as Suarez left the field with tears streaming down his face next to a stoic Gerrard.

City knew what they had to do. Victories at home to Aston Villa and West Ham would secure the title. They did so with the minimum of fuss to leave an incredible night at Selhurst Park as the last twist in a compelling battle at the top.


Cricket - 63 not out forever

By Dave Tickner

There has been so much to enjoy in cricket this year. The visceral thrill of watching Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn in full flight. Kumar Sangakkara and Shiv Chanderpaul still flying the flag for a generation of great batsmen; Joe Root, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Angelo Mathews showing the next generation is ready to step up.

But ultimately 2014 will not be fondly remembered by cricket fans, and it will be a year remembered for two events. In November, the tragic death of Australia batsman Phillip Hughes after being hit on the neck by a bouncer stunned the sport in a way quite unlike any before.

The depth and breadth of the feeling highlighted both Hughes’ popularity and a sport struggling to come to terms with the fact the game had taken one of its own.

Hughes remains 63 not out forever – the scorecard from his final innings officially amended from ‘retired hurt’ – and a talent unfulfilled.

Hughes was an unorthodox but outrageously talented batsman; it’s impossible to know whether he would ever have managed to harness that ability at the very highest level but it would have been such fun to find out.

While Hughes’ death was a horrific accident, the other defining moment of the year was a cynical and deliberate attack on the sport.

India, cricket’s playground bully, decided they didn’t like being just part of the gang. They wanted to be in charge, now and forever. Despicably supported by England and Australia, the only other cricketing countries with any financial clout, the ICC has been carved up. The ‘Big Three’ now run the global game.

Cricket’s obsession with status and the historical integrity of its statistics means it has always been the only major sport seeking to restrict its growth and development. Now it is trying to narrow the field further.

The next step was confirmation that the 2019 World Cup will feature only 10 teams, with the top eight full members guaranteed a spot.

Even as Ireland, Afghanistan and the like produce feelgood stories, the future of the sport outside its heartlands has perhaps never looked bleaker. Merry Christmas.


Rugby League - A legend signs off in style

By Ben Linfoot

After four years hard toil for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sam Burgess’ NRL Grand Final farewell could have been ruined by the fierce first-minute hit from England colleague James Graham.


Luckily for Burgess, he only fractured his cheekbone in the incident, allowing him to play on for the remaining 79 minutes where he and the rest of his green and red-clad team-mates ensured the Bunnies won their first Premiership in 43 years.


Burgess won the Clive Churchill Medal – of course he did – awarded to the outstanding player in the match. This wasn’t borne out of sympathy for the obviously injured colossus. Burgess was immense, as always, in the biggest game of his career.


In the first half alone Burgess made 18 tackles (missed none), 113 metres, 13 runs (the most by anyone on the pitch), two offloads and a tackle break.


In the second period the 26-year-old helped the Rabbitohs completely dominate the forward battle, the passage of play seeing the scoreboard advance from 6-6 to 30-6 thanks to 24 unanswered points.

"I just had to get on with it I guess,” said Burgess afterwards, in reference to him playing on despite his injury. “Nothing was going to stop me enjoying that ride and that moment with the team tonight… there was no chance I was missing out.”

Burgess’ move to South Sydney was completed in 2010 after he was courted by the Rabbitohs celebrity owner Russell Crowe, who sold the Australian dream to the then Bradford Bulls prop during the filming of Robin Hood.

In-keeping with the Hollywood script, Burgess was joined Down Under by his brothers; first Luke, then George, then Tom. In August 2013 they played together for the Rabbitohs against the Wests Tigers, the first time in over century four brothers had played top-flight rugby in Australia.

It was no wonder, then, that even before the final whistle in Sydney, Burgess’ face was awash with a mixture of blood, sweat and tears.

The heroic forward had achieved his dream. Though his League career has been cut short, or at least interrupted, as he pursues another in Union, his status as a legend in the 13-man game is forever ensured.


Rugby Union - Party in Paris

By Chris Hammer

It may not have stopped the nation quite like Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal that sunk the Aussies in their own back yard in 2003, but the achievement of England’s women’s team this summer was certainly no less memorable for those who followed it closely.

Four years after an agonising 13-10 defeat to New Zealand in the final left them runners-up for the third World Cup in succession, England had another opportunity to banish those memories and get their hands on the trophy for the first time since 1994.

Standing in their way on this occasion in Paris would be a Canada side contesting their first ever final and despite heading into the showpiece as favourites, anyone who saw the 13-13 draw between the teams during the Pool stages knew this wasn’t going to be be as one sided as England’s other games in the tournament which included commanding victories over Samoa, Spain and Ireland in the last four.

In front of a near capacity crowd of 22,000 at the Stade Jean-Bouin and an unprecedented television audience of over a million, you could see the weight of history heaped upon England’s shoulders as they struggled to make their superior possession and territory translate into a significant lead.

A team consisting of a plumber, a vet, a lifeguard as well as a few teachers, students and a keen bass guitarist, who all had train in their spare time for no pay to fulfil their rugby ambitions, were never allowed any breathing space by their tenacious opponents and it took until the 31st minute to register their first try when Danielle Waterman crossed to ease the nerves somewhat.

The boot of Canadian star Magali Harvey cut England’s lead to just 11-9 midway through the second half but a successful kick from Emily Scarratt increased the gap to five before the same player charged through a weary defence to score the killer try and spark wild celebrations.


Chris Hammer "The focus now is on a successful Olympic run in two years’ time that will thrust the England team further into the limelight than ever before and hopefully the well-deserved funding boost will make those dreams a reality."

Chris Hammer


Captain Katy McLean, a primary school teacher by day, lifted the trophy to mark a momentous day which should leave a lasting legacy on the game in this country that must not be understated.

Within a month the RFU announced that England’s women rugby players would be paid for the first time, with 20 of them handed professional contracts and now able to train full time.

Of those selected, who were all expected to give up their day jobs, 12 were members of the World Cup winning squad, including captain McLean, while the others to benefit included some of those hoping to help the Sevens team qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.

This development finally saw rugby join football, hockey and cricket as a sport which pays its top female players and while there’s obviously still a huge gulf in wages compared to their male counterparts, it’s still at least a step in the right direction that will encourage youngsters to get involved in the game.

The focus now is on a successful Olympic run in two years’ time that will thrust the England team further into the limelight than ever before – feasibly on a par with the footballers who thrilled capacity crowds during the London Games in 2012 – and hopefully the well-deserved funding boost will make those dreams a reality.


Formula One - Turning of the tide

By Ben Coley

Sebastian Vettel would not be winning a historic fifth consecutive title, that much was clear before the campaign had even started. Time would prove that he would not even be the top dog in his own garage, as young Daniel Ricciardo sank seamlessly into the seat vacated by compatriot Mark Webber, but it was an inter-team battle with no real impact on the title race.

In the absence of Red Bull and their dominance, we were presented with a vastly more competitive campaign than those which had preceded it – even if both protagonists once again came from inside the same team.

And while there were highs and lows for both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who would end the season in that order, it was in Bahrain that racing fans got to see these friends-turned-enemies thrash their vehicles around the desert in a race which had the more seasoned viewers recalling days of Prost and Senna.

Rosberg was superb on his way to pole position in qualifying, so much so that an 18-point Championship lead all of a sudden looked big, but it took Hamilton just four bends of this floodlit race to take control. He would not drive into the distance – the pair exchanged the lead on lap 18 and again on 19 – but, come lap 41 of 57, the British driver had managed to lock Rosberg at arm’s length.


Ben Coley "Hamilton would go on to win the title with something to spare, but the duel in the desert was where the foundations for it were laid."

Ben Coley


Then came an almighty crash between Esteban Gutierrez and Pastor Maldonado, one for which the latter – not for the first time – received all of the blame and an accompanying grid penalty. In came the safety car, out went Hamilton’s near-10-second advantage and with Rosberg now faster, the stage was set for the best front-end battle of the year.

Hamilton would hold on in the end but not before Rosberg had launched wave after wave of attack, despite the desperate – and misguided – pleas of Mercedes’ executive director, Paddy Lowe.

Here, Hamilton and Rosberg were not team-mates at Mercedes and the Constructors’ Championship held no relevance. They were racers, no more or less than when they went kart-to-kart as kids, and no technician on the wrong side of the pit wall would trick them otherwise.

Bahrain’s 10-year anniversary would prove a microcosm not just of their careers but of the season as Hamilton proved marginally the better in a race Rosberg called the most exciting of his life, the Briton showing guile and guts in this rare role as defender.

Hamilton would go on to win the title with something to spare, but the duel in the desert was where the foundations for it were laid.


Tennis - Up for the Cup

By Andy Schooler

For a competition that is often the subject of much derision, the Davis Cup has quite a habit for throwing up great memories and this year was no exception.

There was a French comeback from 2-0 down in the first round to an unfancied German side and the historic end to the campaign which saw Switzerland and Roger Federer get their hands on the famous old trophy for the very first time.

However, putting my patriotic hat on, I’ll go all the way back to the January for my moment of the year – one which helped the Great Britain team produce their own slice of history.

While Andy Murray claimed two points in GB’s victory over the USA in San Diego it was little-known James Ward, ranked 173rd in the world at the time, who was the true hero with a highly-unexpected win over Sam Querrey.

If you are looking for an exact moment, it came during the fourth set. With Ward trailing by two sets to one and 2-4, 0-40, defeat seemed inevitable but the Londoner came out fighting, holding serve to kickstart a run of eight straight games which completely swung the match – and the tie – in his and GB’s favour.

Without Ward’s win it is hard to see how GB would have claimed what was their first victory in the elite World Group since the mid-80s.

So in a year dominated by great tales of upset wins by the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic and yet more brilliance from Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, Ward fully deserves another mention for his moment in the Californian sun.


Golf - A Phoenix from the flames

By Ben Coley

At the start of October, Oliver Wilson was staring deep into the golfing abyss. Another Ryder Cup had come and gone without a player who had qualified for the team in 2008 and, as the decade-younger Rory McIlroy ended a near-perfect summer, Wilson arrived in Scotland on a generous sponsors' invite to take up his place in one of the most relaxing events on the calendar - the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Shortly after 0900 on Thursday, crowds gathered to watch the 102nd-ranked player on the Challenge Tour hit his tee-shot down the first fairway at Carnoustie. Yet they didn't see the second, nor the third and final blow on that gentle opener, for they were here for somebody else - somebody who had just ended a near-perfect summer with victory as part of the European Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles.

But while every blow in McIlroy's 73 would attract attention, it was Wilson who rolled back the years with birdies at the first and second, two more at five and seven, a fifth at the 10th before a hat-trick on holes 14, 15 and 16. Those whose eyes had been drawn to the world number one saw their minds cast back to when Wilson was a star on the rise, one who would prove capable of responding to a bogey at 17 with a birdie at the last. The lead might have been fragile, but it was his.

Few dared say it, but this ghost of a star had played the hardest course, too. Carnastie, where that old grinder Paul Lawrie won his Claret Jug and where Padraig Harrington began his own legacy, had been dismissed out of hand. Before him now lay an opportunity at two wide golf courses that would accommodate even those drives which had brought black numbers onto too many scorecards since dusk fell on his glory days.

The idea was folly, of course. Wilson, this lost wanderer from the Challenge Tour, could only manage two birdies on Friday, both undermined by bogies. Raphael Jacquelin had already turned a deficit into a lead and from here, there would be no fairytale. Wilson would make way for the stars of the circuit to do battle over the closing 36 holes at the Old Course; no doubt McIlroy would be among them, even Louis Oosthuizen, two players whose memories of St Andrews are fond.

But this story's hero did not forge a career on luck, no more than he'd forged it on the pure, inherent brilliance of the likes of McIlroy and Oosthuizen. Somewhere in between lies a marriage of talent, dedication and strength of mind and this untrappable trinity would show itself on Saturday, as Wilson refused to bow down. Five birdies, one eagle and no bogies meant a round of 65 and, suddenly, he had a three-shot lead. Fragile, still, but now firmly in Wilson's own hands.

Sunday was difficult, but not just for the leader. First, McIlroy made a double-bogey. Chris Wood would do something similar. Later, a run which looked relentless from Richie Ramsay would derail over the closing holes while bogeys at 13 and 15 put an end to the prospects of young Brooks Koepka, whose friend Peter Uihlein had come off second best to another blast from the past a year earlier.

Wilson, meanwhile, had reached the turn in 37. One bogey, eight pars and not a single birdie on the card - the putter had abandoned him when he needed it most. But then came birdies at 10 and 11, before the shot of his life on the brutal 16th paved the way for another and he was back in the lead. Two holes - both famous for their treachery - stood between him and the goal he'd got lost searching for.

Somehow, he did it. A miracle wedge from his own hands, a pushed putt from another's; Wilson's 72-hole total was one shot better than anybody else's. One shot better than the best player in the world; one shot better than Ramsay, who had bogeyed two of his last three holes; one shot better than Tommy Fleetwood, whose birdie putt at the last diverted off course and allowed Wilson to fulfil a lifetime's ambition.

How did it happen? How did the world number 786 find an opening 64, then follow a body-blow of a 72 on Friday with a magnificent 65 on Saturday? How, when McIlroy, Ramsay, Fleetwood and Koepka ask him questions, did this has-been find answers within that even at his peak had proved out of reach?

We will never know and Wilson, whose best subsequent finish has been 55th, may never again enjoy a perfect storm as he did that week in Scotland.

But now, when the day comes, he'll leave this sport not as Oliver Wilson, nine-time runner-up who was on a losing Ryder Cup side. He'll leave it as Oliver Wilson, 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Champion and, in my eyes, the author of one of the greatest comeback stories this sport has ever told.


Snooker - The milestone man

By Simon Crawford

There is a saying in sport that records are made to be broken.

But I have a feeling that the one Neil Robertson achieved back in April will stand for many years to come.

As he took on Judd Trump in the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield, Robertson notched a break of 102 which was incredibly his 100th century of the season.

It shattered the previous best of 61 which had been held by Trump and after ending the 2013/14 campaign on 103 centuries, it appears to be a landmark that is likely to stand long after the Australian left-hander has decided to hang up his cue.

However, the 32-year-old did admit to some jitters before achieving the milestone.

"I remember missing an easy black against Mark Allen in the previous round [in Sheffield] and I just had that awful feeling of finishing on 99 like Don Bradman had done with his average in Test cricket," said Robertson.

"So when it happened it was a brilliant feeling. It probably took a while for it to sink in and even now I look back on it and think 'wow, that was something special'.

Some cynics will claim that there are many more events in the modern era so therefore more opportunities to make centuries, but you can take nothing away from what was a superb achievement.

Athletics - Good things come to those who wait

By Chris Hammer

If you’d told Jo Pavey at the start of her career over 15 years ago that if she was to ever win a major international gold medal then she’d have to wait until being a mother of two at the age of 40, I doubt she would have thought it was possible.


Even at the start of the season, the thought of finally standing on top of the podium at either the Commonwealth Games or European Championships was more of a pipe dream than a serious ambition when you consider Pavey had only recently returned to action following the birth of her second child Emily in September 2013.


By her own admission, the long-distance runner’s primary target for the season was just to earn a spot on the team for both major events, especially the Commonwealths where she’d be competing in front of the sell out and vociferous Glasgow crowd.


So often Britain’s best 5k and 10k athlete, Pavey began her quest for unlikely glory by once again became national champion over the longer distance back in May – only a month after she stopped breastfeeding – and now had three months to prepare for the first of two major tests.


And up against top-class – and much younger - Kenyan opposition over 5,000m, the Devonshire athlete sporting her trademark knee length white socks produced a battling performance to not only stay with the breakaway of three but charge past Margaret Muriuki to take bronze on a thrilling final night of athletics at Glasgow 2014.


At that moment, Pavey was enjoying her career highlight at an age many are long retired from the sport. Just 10 days later in Zurich another personal miracle was achieved and athletics history was made.


With just two laps to go of the 10,000m, Pavey was third in a leading pack of four that was headed by France's Clemence Calvin - 16 years younger and around 20 seconds quicker in the rankings - and British fans were just hoping she’d be able to cling onto what would be an incredible silver or bronze.


But Pavey wanted more. At the bell she surged to the front and although Calvin stayed within striking distance during a nail-biting final lap, the new super mum of British sport found another burst of speed down the home straight to become the oldest female European champion of all time.


Pavey immediately ran to 11-month old Emily, four-year old son Jacob before embracing husband and coach Gavin in one of those sporting moments which genuinely warm the hearts.


It may have taken until she was nearly 41 to experience her first lap of honour, but doing it this way was surely well worth the wait.


Boxing - Best of British

By Simon Crawford

British boxing has been on such an unprecedented high in 2014 that it seems almost unfair to have to pick out just one outstanding moment.

There was that incredible night when an 80,000 sold-out Wembley witnessed Carl Froch produce the sweetest punch of his career to stop George Groves, Carl Frampton winning the IBF super-bantamweight crown in-front of an army of partisan fans in Belfast, the long overdue emergence of a genuine heavyweight world title hope in Anthony Joshua and the huge success enjoyed by the home nations’ teams in a highly enjoyable Commonwealth Games tournament in Glasgow.


Simon Crawford "Even though he boasted an unbeaten record, Brook went into the fight as the underdog but boxed superbly against an opponent whose unorthodox style made him such a dangerous opponent."

Simon Crawford


There are literally too many to mention but I’m under strict instructions to pick just one so it will have to be Kell Brook’s stunning win over Shawn Porter to claim the IBF welterweight title in Carson City.

Many had questioned the wisdom of the Sheffield man travelling across the Atlantic as it’s a well-known fact that ‘away’ fighters hardly ever get a decision in their favour.

Even though he boasted an unbeaten record, Brook went into the fight as the underdog but boxed superbly against an opponent whose unorthodox style made him such a dangerous opponent.

Brook suffered a cut eye in the second round but controlled long spells of the fight, using his piston-like jab and crunching right hand.

I was convinced he had won the fight as the final bell sounded – but you could not help but fear the worst as the judges’ scorecards were read out.

One judge called it a 114-114 draw and as the other two scores were read out – 117-111, 116-112 - I had that sinking feeling as I’m sure many Britons had.

But the decision went the way of Brook and there followed unbelievable scenes of unbridled celebration in the ring by the Brook camp who had defied all the odds to land the title.


NFL - Catch of the day

By David John

Many memories from a sporting year revolve around a particular performance over an event but Odell Beckham Jr’s catch against Dallas was just one incredible split-second piece of action that the rookie New York Giants receiver will always be remembered for regardless of what else he achieves in his career.

And it was not like we were not tipped off about what he was capable of doing.

The former LSU standout was filmed in the pre-game warm-up plucking the ball out of the air with one hand in prophetic fashion before producing when it mattered as the Giants tried to get the better of their NFC East rivals.

Beckham Jr had already caught a touchdown pass in the first quarter as quarterback Eli Manning launched a pass towards the right pylon in his direction from 43 yards out in the second period.

Dallas cornerback Brandon Carr is no mug and looked to have good position in coverage but somehow Beckham Jr managed to wriggle himself into a yard of space as the ball arrived.

Falling backwards, he stretched full length to somehow secure the ball with his right hand while at the same time controlling his body as he hit the turf to fall into the end zone for a touchdown.

The video went viral and the legend of Beckham Jr was created. Analyst Cris Collinsworth said it was perhaps the greatest catch in NFL history so who I am to disagree? You could certainly make a rock-solid argument for that being the case.

Stand aside David and Victoria.