Sporting Heroes and heroines

Following on from the Ali thread,who were your heroes when you were a bhey/maid or yoof/yoofess? Mine as follows;

Football-Jim Baxter
Cricket-Geoff Boycott
Golf-Jack Nicklaus
Snooker-Steve Davis
Tennis-John Mcenroe
Rugby Union-David Duckham
Boxing-Cassius Clay/Ali

There's probably a few more that i can't remember.

Football - Mike Bickle
Football - Gordon Banks
Football - Gary Sprake
Boxing - Ali
Football - Alan Clarke
Football - Ray Clemence
Football - Julie Driscoll (what you mean she didn't play football - she must have kicked one at some point!)

Football - Stan Bowles
Cricket - Mike Brearley
Rugby - Andy Ripley
Snooker - The Hurricane

Cricket - I loved Athers...heroic defiance (if not a hero), his nightmares in the 90s summed up England; being verbally antagonised by Glen McGrath, physically assaulted by Allan Donald, his truly miserable stodgyness was something to be admired.

Football - Oo aa, Cantona! That goal in the Cup Final against Liverpool, that swagger, that boot in the face of the Palace fan, the collar up. No offence to Adie Littlejohn who's pace lit up many a drab Argyle game, but Cantona was class.

Rugger - Don't really have a rugger hero, think it is much more of a team game. The England pack of the turn of the millenia maybe, or Robinson - he was electric.

Tennis - R Fed. In times of grunt and physical greasy types dominating with robotic power tennis, Federer is just sheer grace and skill.

Football - Johnny Williams
---------- Johnny Haynes

Cricket -- Freddie Titmus
----------- Tom Gravney

Boxing - Henry Cooper

Athletics - Roger Bannister

Wrestling - Mike McManus

Rugby - Gareth Evans

Football - Hoddle, Gascoigne, & Le Tissier
Golf - John Daly
Tennis - Ilie Nastase
Snooker - Bill Werbeniuk, Alex Higgins, and Jimmy White.
F1 - Senna

I love a maverick. People who get to the very top against all the odds fascinate me.

Football - Garry Nelson
Cricket - Graham Dilley
Rugby - Ben Clarke
Golf - Nick Faldo
Boxing - Steve Collins

Frank Bullitt wrote:

Football - Garry Nelson
Cricket - Graham Dilley
Rugby - Ben Clarke
Golf - Nick Faldo
Boxing - Steve Collins

Graham Dilley ? ! good grief Frank.

Table Tennis ( wiff waff ) ....... Chester Barnes
Crown Green Bowls ................David Bryant and his pipe.
Boxing......................... Muhammed Ali
Motor racing, womanising and blowing his own trumpet ........ James Hunt

Unless I have an emotional connection to sportsmen I find it difficult to award hero status to anybody but the Argyle giants(ha) of my impressionable youth, "the likes of Frank Lord, Tony Book and I was starstruck when Johnny Newman turned up as the groundsman at my school when he retired".

Admiration abounds for countless sportsmen though. I saw Seve in his first open in 1976 and was astounded at his raw talent, Tom Watson always struck me (and still does) as the perfect gent. Dear old Both, I was in Aussie during the 81 Headingly epic and by God did the Aussies effing hate him.

Opposite to Czarky I tend to admire the mix of class and humility.

Can I have second go?

Cricket - Geoff Boycott
Snooker - Ray Reardon

I never liked cricket much but I liked Geoffrey B and Ray Reardon for similar reasons - it was entrancing watching an innings or a game built slowly move by move, totally focussed on all that was around you. At its best it had similarities to meditation.

Football - WBA's late 60s/early 70s goalie whose name I can't remember but he was tall and had something wrong with his fingers (does that remind anyone of his name?)

Gymnast Olga Korbut. Everybody loved her. A boy in my class even put his hair up in little bunches to look like her.

Mark Spitz and Shane Gould, the two swimmers who stormed through the 1972 Olympics and persuaded me that I too could be a world champion even though I'd not long learnt to swim.

Paul Mariner, Billy Rafferty, Jim Furnell. And George Best.

knecht wrote:

Can I have second go?

Cricket - Geoff Boycott
Snooker - Ray Reardon

I never liked cricket much but I liked Geoffrey B and Ray Reardon for similar reasons - it was entrancing watching an innings or a game built slowly move by move, totally focussed on all that was around you. At its best it had similarities to meditation.

Football - WBA's late 60s/early 70s goalie whose name I can't remember but he was tall and had something wrong with his fingers (does that remind anyone of his name?)

John Osbourne?

Greenskin wrote:

knecht wrote:

Can I have second go?

Cricket - Geoff Boycott
Snooker - Ray Reardon

I never liked cricket much but I liked Geoffrey B and Ray Reardon for similar reasons - it was entrancing watching an innings or a game built slowly move by move, totally focussed on all that was around you. At its best it had similarities to meditation.

Football - WBA's late 60s/early 70s goalie whose name I can't remember but he was tall and had something wrong with his fingers (does that remind anyone of his name?)

John Osbourne?

That's the one!