A week of sport

A week is a long time, so I thought I’d do a roundup of the week’s sport for this post.

The main story of the week has to be the death of the ex-England, Newcastle, Ipswich and Barcelona manager Sir Bobby Robson at the age of 76. Sir Bobby finally succumbed the cancer he had successfully fought off five times. In a career that spanned a lifetime, he was one of the most respected managers in the game winning the FA cup and Uefa cup at the unfashionable Ipswich Town in a thirteen year reign.

After these achievements, the England job beckoned. Hounded by the media during his first few years, Robson managed an England side that reached the quarter finals of the world cup in 1986, going out the Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal and then the greatest individual goal the world has ever seen.

Then in 1990 Robson took England a stage further, reaching the World Cup semi-finals, only to be beaten on penalties by West Germany. If England would have won, they would have been favourites for the final. Whilst Robson did not achieve victory, he guided England further than any other manager since Sir Alf Ramsey in the 1966 triumph.

After England, he managed abroad, winning friends in Holland, Portugal (where he met a young Jose Mourinho) and Spain. However, his last managerial job was the one he always wanted – Newcastle United. He took United back into Europe, finishing fourth in the league. He never got that elusive piece of silverware and was sacked for underachievement – Newcastle finished 5th. What they would give to even be the Premier League now. Many would argue that everything fell apart after Robson’s departure.

Robson’s last public appearance was at St James’ Park last Sunday at a charity game – a re-run of the 1990 World Cup semi-final which England won 3-2. He will be remembered as a great manager and player, but also as an excellent ambassador for the sport who no-one had a bad word for.

In other sports news, the return of Michael Schumacher to Formula One has many fans foaming at the mouth. The horrendous crash of Felipe Massa (a piece of another car hit him whilst driving at 120mph) has led to another sporting comeback. This year is turning into the one of the comeback, with Lance Armstrong being another one to return to the sport that made him famous. Whether Schumacher will emulate some of the success that made him the most successful driver in F1 history is yet to be seen, but he is sure to bring more publicity to the world’s greatest car chase.

One of the successes of the week has been Britain’s swimmers, particularly the women. Gemma Spofforth won the 100m backstroke - setting a world record in the process – whilst Jo Jackson and Rebecca Adlington won silver and bronze respectively in the 400m freestyle. Fran Halsall won silver in the 100 freestyle, whilst the women also won bronze in the 200m freestyle relay. There are also more medal opportunities as Jackson and Adlington have both qualified for the 800m freestyle final.

Britain’s female swimmers are enjoying a golden age, and despite the swimming suit argument, they are among the best in the world at the moment. Hopefully they will succeed at the Olympics in 2012.

Talking of hosting tournaments, the decade of sport is really starting to take place. Britain has the Olympics in 2012, the Rugby League World Cup in 2013, the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the Rugby Union World Cup in 2015. There is also the hope of the football world cup in 2018. This really would be a way to grow oneself out of recession.

There are many more sports stories, but I think that will do for this week.