Tag Archives: Sports

December Highlights for Sports Fans

1. Anthony Joshua v Dillian Whyte – Saturday, 12 December – Pay TV options vary

From the O2 comes this grudge match for the British and Commonwealth titles and the right to challenge for the WBA title against either Danny Jacobs or Peter Quillin. When they last met in the amateur ring, it was Whyte who triumphed but since then, Olympic medallist Joshua has punched his way to a knockout in all 14 of his professional bouts; nobody has ever taken him past the third round.

Whyte’s trainer, Johnathon Banks, who also works with Wladimir Klitschko
will certainly be hoping for a better outcome than he got last month when Klitschko lost his World Heavyweight title to Tyson Fury.

2. UFC 194 Jose Aldo v Conor McGregor – Saturday, 12 December – Pay TV options vary.

Elton John got it right. Saturday Night is all right for fighting because on the same night over in Las Vegas, Brazilian Aldo and Ireland’s McGregor will finally meet to contest the UFC Featherweight Championship. Fingers crossed that Aldo doesn’t pull out again like he did when this bout was first scheduled back in July.

3. It’s Christmas!

After a weekend like that, you can deny it no longer. Christmas is coming so with two weeks to go until the big day, see if you can get some holiday spirit going.

Wear a Christmas jumper – whether it’s to work or slopping around in the house, an enormous woolly number with reindeer, tinsel, flashing lights, or preferably all of the above, will banish your inner Scrooge.

Write Christmas cards – yes, actual, physical Christmas cards that you put into an envelope, put a stamp on and push through the mouth of the pillar box. Go on, it’s probably the most handwriting you do all year.

Listen to Christmas music – while writing the above cards.

Watch a Christmas film – you can choose a classic like Home Alone or Miracle on 34th Street. Or go less obvious with Die Hard or Bad Santa. Either way, get some spiced Christmas popcorn on the go (both Jamie and Nigella have got good recipes), mull up some wine and settle down on the sofa.

4. They think it’s all over….

Call me nasty but one of the things that keeps me happy on Christmas Day, as I stuff myself with turkey and all the trimmings and top myself up with beer and sherry, is the knowledge that 8 out of 10 Premier League football players can’t to do the same. They have to keep themselves in peak condition for the Boxing Day fixtures. As Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, it’s business as usual with Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea among the big hitters on display.

Wales in Rugby – A History of The Six Nations Championship

 

With the Six Nations Championships now well underway for the 2015 season, Welsh rugby union fans’ confidence will be riding high in anticipation of a successful campaign, undoubtedly matched by a steely determination to win back the title after losing grasp last year. The welsh team have an enviable record in the competition having won outright twenty six times since in all and winning jointly on a further nine occasions.

In actual fact, Wales did not feature in the predecessor to the current competition which featured only two teams – England and Scotland – when they played the first international rugby union match in 1871. With the inauguration of the Calcutta Cup in 1879 as the prize for the winners of sporadic matches between the two countries, the appetite to participate in international rugby union grew in Wales (as well as in the other Home Nations) and in 1883 the Home International Championship was launched, featuring England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

The Welsh team enjoyed early success in the competition and came to be the dominant force in the final years of the competition, winning six out of the last ten championships in the first decade of the 20th century. With a surge in popularity of rugby union on the continent, France was admitted to the competition in 1910 and the Five Nations was born, although the advent of World War in 1914 led the tournament to be suspended for the duration of hostilities and for two further years beyond.

With allegations of financial mismanagement, the French were ejected from the competition in 1931, with the five Home Countries continuing to compete until world war intervened for a second time and the tournament was suspended again. On its resurrection in 1947, France returned to the fold and the Five Nations resumed, although this time the French proved to be a formidable competitor, winning a string of titles over the next two decades. Welsh dominance in the 1970s, in particular, proved that the Red Dragons were anything but a bit part player.

For the best part of half a century the format of the Five Nations remained unchanged until Italy’s admission in 2000 led to the tournament being renamed the Six Nations Championship. With Wales cementing their reputation as a rugby union powerhouse through continued success in the competition, fans will be passionately urging their team to reclaim the title at the end of the 2015 season.

Stadiwm y Mileniwm – The Story of The Millennium Stadium

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales is a major arena that hosts important sporting and entertainment events. It was opened in 1999, and its capacity is 74,500.

The Stadium is notable for its sliding roof, which allows for football and rugby matches to be played in dry conditions all year round. Only one other stadium in Europe also has a retractable roof.

While London’s new Wembley Stadium was being developed, The Millennium Stadium hosted FA Cup and League Cup finals, and some rugby league Challenge Cup finals. The venue is the home ground of the Welsh rugby union and football teams, and also hosted the 1999 rugby union World Cup final and some football games during the 2012 Olympics. Boxing and motorsport events have also been held at the venue.

Among the music acts to have performed at the Millennium Stadium are Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and U2.

Boxing Clever in Wales – Welsh Boxing Heroes

Wales has a rich boxing history, with many of Britain’s greatest fighters originating in the Principality.

One iconic boxer from Cardiff was Jim Driscoll, a child of Irish parents, who won the Lonsdale Belt in 1910. A featherweight, Driscoll grew up in grinding poverty in the Newtown district of Cardiff.

An interesting figure in Welsh boxing is former pro and now media pundit Nicky Piper. A highly educated man, Piper is also a member of Mensa, confounding the stereotype about punch-drunk fighters being barely articulate people.

More recently, Joe Calzaghe, the son of a Sardinian father and Welsh mother, has emerged as one of Welsh boxing’s true heroes. He retired in 2009, having finished his career with no professional defeats. His record of 46 bouts, no defeats and 32 wins by knockout is one of which any professional fighter would be very proud.

The Premier League – A History

The Premier League was officially founded in 1992, after all clubs in the old First Division resigned from the Football League and joined the breakaway division. Since that time, the Premier League has functioned as the highest level of professional football in England.

One of the main reasons behind the new league was commercial independence from the Football Association. This allowed the Premier League to negotiate its own television and sponsorship deals, providing more money for clubs to compete with the biggest teams in Europe.

Initially, 22 clubs competed in the Premier League, although this was reduced to 20 teams ahead of the 1995-96 campaign.

Manchester United were crowned as the first Premier League champions in the 1992-93 season and they are the most successful team in the league’s history, winning it a total of 13 times.

In 2003-04, Arsenal made history, becoming the first team to complete an entire Premier League season without losing a match. The following year, Chelsea were crowned as champions and set various records, including the highest points total and the fewest goals conceded.

How Watching Sports Can Actually be Beneficial to Your Health

It sounds like research produced by the National Society of Couch Potatoes, but there’s something to it. Researchers at the University of Western Sydney have found that merely watching sport can cause your heart and breathing rates to increase. They also found increased nerve activity associated with watching of exercise. Interestingly, they learned that it also happened with watching emotionally charged images, including erotic ones.

This goes beyond direct influence though. Watching great athletes is inspirational. We see how great they look, how physically fit they are, and feel inspired to improve our own fitness. Also, watching sport, not just playing it, is a social pastime. People watch together and make friends. Such strong, positive social interactions are closely linked with general physical and emotional well-being.

So throw out the pies, turn on the sport, or go out and watch it with others. It’ll do you good.

How Football has Changed Through the Ages

The world’s favourite sport, football is a global industry with huge celebrities, vast paycheques and recognisable brands. Its origins, however, are very different. In the middle ages, English football was a rough and violent game with few rules. A game of football often pitted the men of one village against the inhabitants of a neighbouring village; violence was not uncommon. In fact, the first written record of a football match relates to the death of a player who was stabbed by another.

Over the centuries, football evolved into a number of different forms, some of which were kick-only and others of which involved carrying the ball; these games were the ancestors of modern rugby and American football. It wasn’t until 1863 that the Football Association was created to standardise the rules of football. Association football — or “soccer,” in the era’s slang — was born and the rest is history.

Cardiff City FC – A Brief History

Founded in 1899, Cardiff City FC began life as Riverside AFC until a name change in 1908. They moved into their famous ground Ninian Park in 1910 and began a gradual development.

In 1927, Cardiff City won the FA Cup, becoming the only side outside England to do so. However, this was their crowning achievement and the club slipped into a period of decline.

Following the war, they spent many decades struggling in the lower divisions, with relegation a constant struggle. There were some high points though, mainly due to qualification to Europe and a semi-final place in the Cup Winners Cup.

In recent years, Cardiff have been resurgent with a new stadium, an FA Cup final place, Championship victory and promotion to the Premier League being the high points. A rebrand, which saw the traditional kit colour of blue changing to red, has caused some fan discontent, but overall the future for Cardiff City looks to be bright.