LUFCTALK

Just One from each Sport but who are the greatest sports superstars you have actually seen compete ?
As many different sports as you like.

Here are mine -
Football - Other than Leeds players would be Johan Cruyff
Cricket - Viv Richards (both test match and playing for Somerset).
Boxing - Leeonezer Barber is the only world champion I've seen fight live(light heavy mid 80's). He won the vacant title at Leeds Town hall.
Have seen Chris Eubank but not fighting.
Snooker - Seen Ray Reardon play when he was World Champ.
Seen Stephen Hendry at a hotel in York but never saw him play
Cycling - Bradley Wiggins (Tour de Yorkshire)
Athletics - Seen a few at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970 and will give my vote to Kip Keino (Kenya).
Table Tennis - Jan Ove Waldner (Swedish World Champ) many rate best ever.

Football -
Paolo Maldini, for Milan at the San Siro
Pierluigi Collina, reffing at Celtic Park
Marcelo Bielsa, managing at Elland Road

Here are mine -

Football - Bobby Charlton
Pele - Can’t remember the year but saw him play for Brazil at Wembley
Billy Bremner - My all time hero. Always gave 110%.

Cricket - Garfield Sobers great sportsman & a lovely gentleman
Fred Trueman - Boyhood hero, shame he was such an awful man.
Joe Root - A future legend.
Virat Kohli - Will join the list once I’ve seen him this summer at Headingley

Snooker - Saw Alex Higgins in a charity game, phenomenal player

Horse Racing - Lester Piggott, always took my dad to the Ebor meeting at York.

NottinghamWhite wrote:
Horse Racing - Lester Piggott, always took my dad to the Ebor meeting at York.

Forgot horse racing can add Lester to my list.

As for the horses it's got to be Red Rum, was at the national in 77 to see history made.

Selby White wrote:...As for the horses it's got to be Red Rum, was at the national in 77 to see history made.

Born just a few miles from my home in Rossenarra stud, Kells, County Kilkenny

John Charles
Fred Trueman
Jonathon Palmer (F1) Did three laps as a passenger with him - scary.

Football - Gareth Bale at Elland Road. We won 2-1 in the FA Cup, I was in the East Stand Upper that day, his movement and pace was sensational.

Boxing - I met Lennox Lewis at Jamaica airport, lovely bloke. At a proper boxing bout, Thomas Hit Man Hearns.

Snooker - Seen loads of the top players live, if pushed for the best I’d say John Higgins.

Horse Racing - I was at Cheltenham when Best Mate won the Gold Cup for the third time, the atmosphere was incredible.

Rugby League - Again, seen 1000’s of games live. Impossible to actually pick the best, as I’d probably forget someone, but Martin Offiah is probably the most exciting, even though he played for Wigan.

Formula 1 - I went to the Italian Grand Prix, by a country mile the best atmosphere I’ve witnessed at a sporting event. Absolutely sensational stuff, Montoya won, but Schumacher was in the race and the best driver I’ve seen live.

There are more sports, but the above spring to mind more than others.

I forgot about speedway.

I worked in Poole for a year and went every time Pirates were at home, typically on a Tuesday night.
Really exciting sport - and I say that as someone who finds F1 beyond boring and I'm not in any way a petrolhead.
The smell of the methanol fuel, the shale hitting the newbies in the face as they rush to the fence (ahem), the fisticuffs, the realisation that there's no brakes and the bikes have one gear and hit 80mph.
Then there's the sheer down-to-earth honesty.
I've seen a few world champions and met quite a few of the riders too as they came in my shop from time to time (Game).
Weirdest thing is, they're all lean but they've also all broken most of the bones in their bodies at some point and several have one leg longer than the other so when you see them on civvy street, lurching and hobbling about, it's kinda weird ..

Barlow Boy wrote:Rugby League - Again, seen 1000’s of games live. Impossible to actually pick the best, as I’d probably forget someone, but Martin Offiah is probably the most exciting, even though he played for Wigan.

What do you mean "even though he played for Wigan"?

rigger wrote:I forgot about speedway.

I worked in Poole for a year and went every time Pirates were at home, typically on a Tuesday night.
Really exciting sport - and I say that as someone who finds F1 beyond boring and I'm not in any way a petrolhead.
The smell of the methanol fuel, the shale hitting the newbies in the face as they rush to the fence (ahem), the fisticuffs, the realisation that there's no brakes and the bikes have one gear and hit 80mph.
Then there's the sheer down-to-earth honesty.
I've seen a few world champions and met quite a few of the riders too as they came in my shop from time to time (Game).
Weirdest thing is, they're all lean but they've also all broken most of the bones in their bodies at some point and several have one leg longer than the other so when you see them on civvy street, lurching and hobbling about, it's kinda weird ..

That reminds me. When I was about 15, I was into cycle speedway. The team I rode for was called Prestbury Chads, named after Liverpool Chads. Our captain was Peter Craven who went on to be world champion at proper speedway. Sadly, he was killed in a speedway crash.
The other one I forgot was, when we moved to Leeds and I joined a boys' club, one of the other lads was a Maurice Bamford who played rugby for Leeds as a junior. Even though he was the same age as me, he looked about 10 years older! I didn't shave but he'd shaved that morning and still had the startings of a beard! He went on to manage the Great Britain Rugby League side.