Inside Track: Curiosity Corner

This week: FR

1: It’s painful when a team goes out of a knock-out competition at this stage....

2: .....but better when still in with a chance at this stage

3: A French International who was a winner with Bayern Munich......

4: .....so, too, was this player, who won his Internationals caps with Holland

5: Part of rugby’s boiler house.....

6: ....and a Scot who has played for Bath, his country and the Lions

7: It has an annual yacht race named after it

8: When a French horse runs in an Irish or English race its known as this

9: Aidan O’Brien runs his horses in these

10: Aintree Grand National, Wanamaker Mile, Melbourne Cup, Kentucky Derby etc

HE SAID

“What made him special was his passion. People were just getting back (to life) after the war, and to finish work and go to football, pay five shillings, was an important. He felt it was vital to entertain them.”

Denis Law, commenting on Bill Shankly, his manager when he was having his first taste of English League football, with Huddersfield, after making it down as a youngster from his home in Aberdeen. Law transferred to Manchester City, before moving on to Torino.

He then went to Man United, and after that, back to Maine Road. Along the way he won 55 Caps with Scotland. Shankly would also move – to Liverpool, where he presided over the club’s greatest era.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Kerry beat Cavan in the 1925 All-Ireland semi-final. Cavan objected, claiming Kerry had played an illegal player. Kerry, who were thrown of the competition, then put in a counter objection, saying Cavan had included an illegal player.

Cavan suffered the same fate as Kerry, and the All-Ireland title was awarded to Galway, the Connacht champions.

Keith Peacock has the distinction of being the first English League player to come on as a substitute. Playing with Charlton Athletic, he made his entrance against Bolton in August, 1965. Prior to that, if a team lost a player through injury they had to see out the game with 10 men.

Mary Rand’s win in the Long Jump in 1964 gave Great Britain its first gold in women’s athletics. At the same Games, in Tokyo, Lynn Davies won the men’s Long Jump.

A record number of countries, 145, played in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. This compares with the entry of just 13 for the finals at the first World Cup, in Uruguay, 1930.

USA played host for the first time, with the finals opening game going ahead at Chicago’s Soldier Field, where Ireland rugby team scored an historic first win over the All-Blacks a number of years back.

Due to it being covered by satellite television for the first time, the 1994 World Cup reached out to a worldwide audience of billions. It’s been like that since.

Could you imagine it, contestants cycling in water, one team taking on another? It happened the first time London staged the Olympics, in 1908.

There was, however, no golds for the winners. Bicycle polo was only a demonstration sport. It hasn’t figured since, because, it’s said, a player nearly drowned trying to fix a puncture.

Mayo’s record in All-Ireland finals is not good – it’s dealt with elsewhere on these pages. They’ve been beaten 15 times in the final round, but there are other counties with a worse record.

Kerry is one, who is the other? (answer below) While they hold the record for most wins, Kerry also top the loser list, having missed out 23 times.

Next to them are Cork, 16 times runners-up.

ANSWERS

Know Your Initials: 1 First Round, 2 Final Round, 3 Franck Ribéry, 4 Frank Rjkaard, 5 Front Row, 6 Finn Russell, 7 Fasnet Rock, 8 Foreign Raider, 9 Flat Races, 10 Famous Races.