Sports Diary
by Patrick O’Connor
WELL you have to ask don’t you?
Tiny Scottish non-league side Largs Thistle couldn’t believe their luck when locals Colin and Chris Weir were announced as Britain’s biggest ever lottery winners.
The Weirs collected £161 million on the Euro lottery and Thistle were not slow in coming forward to ask the couple if they could purchase a couple of star players for their squad.
They live a short distance from the Largs ground in Ayrshire and Colin is reputed to be a big Barcelona fan.
Largs vice-chairman Jim McGinty told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Colin is a regular supporter and a great bloke. It would be fantastic if he could help us out with a few bob. He could afford to buy us Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez and Barca’s Lionel Messi with plenty to spare.
“At the moment our latest signing is a lad from Hamilton Academicals. Our club is £5,000 in debt, so a new stand would be very nice if Colin could help us. He can have the number one spot in the club car park.”
So far there has been no reply…
Loved watching the Women’s World Cup football tournament in Germany and especially thrilled that Japan triumphed in their penalty shoot-out with the United States to lift the trophy.
Despite being physically inferior to many of the teams they played, the Japanese were tough and competitive but fair and played with a smile on their face.
On a couple of occasions when players were substituted, they turned to the crowd and bowed as they left the field which was delightful to see.
Wonder if we will witness such politeness in the Premier League this season?
Sometimes things happen which make you realise that sport, and especially the planet’s most popular pastime football, isn’t the most important thing in life.
Premier League club Blackburn Rovers have had to postpone a pre-season friendly in India after the recent terrorist bombings in Mumbai.
Rovers are owned by Indian poultry firm Venky’s and were due to appear in Pune and become the first Premier League side to play in India.
Twenty-one people were killed and 113 injured in three separate blasts in Mumbai and manager Blackburn Steve Kean said: “The trip is not cancelled, it is postponed to another date because of the activity out there.”
Cricket has been plagued with allegations of match-fixing in recent years and now former Australia captain Steve Waugh has come up with a controversial suggestion to deal with it.
He has called for lie detector tests to be introduced, having already undergone a polygraph examination himself.
Waugh believes lie detectors could be used to clear people who have been wrongly accused of fixing and to reassure fans that they are seeing authentic, competitive cricket.
“As a former captain I know you never ask a player to do something you are not willing to do yourself. So on 7 April I went to Melbourne and went through the process of a polygraph test.
“We’re looking for ambassadors or advocates to put up a hand and say they would undergo a polygraph to be a role model for their team.”
Oliver Gill was a young defender at one of the world’s most famous football clubs, Manchester United.
You could say he had the world at his feet, he had been named on the substitute’s bench for United’s Premier League games against Bolton and West Ham last season and in the summer was offered a new contract at Old Trafford after being named reserve Player of the Year.
However the 20 year old has now decided to give up football and follow his father David into the world of economics and has enrolled at Durham University.
David Gill, by the way, is Manchester United’s chief executive!