...Sports columns
Riddle Writes
by John Riddle
www.riddlewrites.co.uk
Summer Sports Fest
I imagine by the time this edition hits the sunspots in the Canary Islands that your team will either be celebrating promotion or relegation or just maybe you are breathing a sigh of relief that they did neither.
The play-offs kick off on Thursday 14th May, with the semi finals and for full details of what sports is of SKY’s grand slam summer see below.
But the football is not quite over with the final weekend of the Premier League taking place on 23-25th May followed a few days later on 27th May for the UEFA Champions League Final.
I watched both the Chelsea v Barca and the Manchester United v Arsenal games, top quality players but even the bookmakers could not decide who would be in Rome come the end of May.
But if you imagine the next couple of months are going to be dull, well think again. Between 15th-29th June, the U-21 European championships take place and Stuart Pearce is hopeful his England side will reach the final.
Golf will take centre stage this summer along side cricket, naturally with the Aussies visiting England in the Ashes series.
The British and Irish Lions will be touring South Africa. One of the coaches Ian McGeechan toured South Africa in 1974 with the “Invincibles” who remained unbeaten for 22 matches. Is a repeat on the cards, I wondered? There is a fascinating encounter in Las Vegas as Phil “the power” Taylor goes head-to-head with Barny in the “City of Sin” Classic in July.
My own particular sporting tour takes in the Tarbert Yacht Race week on Loch Fyne in Scotland before I return in May to the Riverside in Chester-le-Street to watch the 2nd Test between England and the West Indies.
Paul Collingwood and his Durham pals will be up for this one. I will be there complete with a fine bottle of vino and sun glasses for the first day. Then it’s down the A1 to Castleford in West Yorkshire as they take on Leeds in the Super League. Whilst there I will, of course, be calling in to see Jacqui Peters and her husband Paul. Jacqui, regular readers will recall was the star of the Shirley Bassey Show in Tenerife for almost a decade before returning to the UK and “The Hare and Hounds” pub in Riccall near York.
Jacqui and Paul have maintained their ties with the island and the popular “Miss Kitty” appeared at the pub earlier this year. The regulars said they had never seen anything like Miss Kitty.
I might even stay for a small sherry and watch the Manchester United v Arsenal game at 12 noon on 16th May. Anyone who saw the clash between the two clubs in the champions league semi final will know we will be watching top quality football. Later that weekend my old pal Ian the Chef at the Roast House in Los Cristianos will be crying in his beer as his favourite team West Bromwich Albion host Liverpool. In the previous encounters between the Baggies and the Reds, the men from Merseyside have found the net on 22 occasions. The W.B.A. have yet to reply.
I imagine a great many of our Spanish readers will be celebrating the success of Josep Guardiola’s magnificent Barcelona side who look like they may win a league and cup double this season. Of course, I am told that another team much closer to home in Santa Cruz may have something to celebrate if things go according to plan. I hope so!
Wembley is the venue for the play-offs and on Saturday 23rd May all fans of lower league football will be on the Coca Cola League 2 Final. That of course is followed the following day by the League One Play Off Final with the battle for the big prize, a place in the Premier League, up for grabs as the remaining pretenders from the Championship do battle.
If the games are as good as last season when veteran Dean Windass scored the winner for Hull City against Bristol, then we are in for a treat. The value of a place in the top flight of English football is estimated to be worth £60m. High stakes indeed.
Another right royal battle is in store on Friday 29th May when the “War of the Roses” is re-enacted once again this time on the cricket pitch as Yorkshire take on Lancashire in the Twenty20 Cup.
As I was born in Huddersfield, only a stone’s throw from the cricket field at Almondbury, I will, of course, be rooting for the white rose team.
Add to this the plethora of sporting events including the Finals of the Premier League Dart season, the European Golf Open from the London Golf Club, the Indianapolis 500 and the Greyhound Derby worth over £100K to the winning dog and you have just a snapshot of what constitutes the sporting calendar during the course of this edition.
The pitch at Wembley has come in for some stick but what can you expect with the amount of games other than football that churn up the grass? Let us hope that the new pitch has been re-laid and bedded in long before Chelsea and Everton meet on 30th May in the F.A. Cup Final.
One man who will be missing from the final, we are told due to a serious injury, will be Everton’s English international centre back Phil Jagielka. He underwent surgery in London following the injury in the defeat to Manchester City and we are told that the operation went well.
He will be able to start the programme of rehabilitation almost at once but sadly not in time to take his place in the Toffees starting line up.
David Moyes has one of the smallest squads in the Premier League and he would be my choice as one of the managers of the season. Both Everton and Chelsea should both grace European football next season along with Liverpool, Arsenal and of course Manchester United.
In the interim period enjoy the summer sports and until we meet again have a great time.