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Inspired by Arbboy’s posts on the darts thread, what are the earliest sporting memories you have? Here are mine.

1982 FA Cup Final - as a QPR fan this is obv huge. I was 7 years old, watched the final on TV (1-1 draw v Spurs). Then MY DAD GOT US TICKETS FOR THE REPLAY. Awesome, though sadly my only memory from that night was Glenn Hoddle’s penalty.

1982 World Cup - I’m sure I watched loads of it but the first bit that sticks in the mind was the Brazil-Italy semi final (best football game ever?). I was filling in my Ladybird World Cup 1982 book through the tournament.

1983 Darts final - Bristow v Deller. As Arbboy said an absolute classic. I can’t remember any other darts from the decade but this always stuck in my mind.
 
1984 Olympics - not a specific event, but the end of tournament round up set to Gold by Spandau Ballet.

Not sure what year this was and not going to Google but there was one year I came home from school and the Cheltenham Gold Cup was delayed because of snow or hail. No idea about the horses or anything, just remember the weather delay.

What are yours?

78 World Cup. I remember being bought a replica shirt in the St James Centre, bought Rod Stewart's song, collected the Panini stickers, think I've still got a commemorative magazine that had a picture of Ally MacLeod on the back with the prophetic line "Last time flowers, this time the Cup"...

As a child;

Some blokes climbing Everest. (Is that a sport?).

The first 4 minute mile, Roger Bannister.

England being thrashed 6-3 by Puskas's Hungary.

Wolves playing the first floodlit gave under floodlights v a European Team. I was a huge Billy Wright fan, I idolised him. Most kids did I think.

As an adult;

Has to be England winning the World cup at Wembley. It lifted the spirits of the entire nation.

Since we're talking about earliest memories, mine are extraordinarily vague.

The very first one is of my dad getting very excited by the prospect of watching Canada play the Russians in an ice hockey game at a very late hour on TV. It was a couple of years after we'd emigrated to England, and I suspect he thought he'd never see an ice hockey game again. I must've been about 6 years old and was just excited to be staying up so late.

The reason I'm an Evertonian is the 1966 FA Cup Final, which is my first detailed sporting memory. I was told to support the Lancashire team rather than the despicable Sheffield Wednesday from Yorkshire. Despite my protestations at 0-1 and frenzied protestations at 0-2, I was told that allegiances couldn't be traded for such frivolous reasons. Everton's comeback to win sealed my passion for both Everton and the game of football itself -  even though I didn't actually kick a ball for another couple of years.

Of course I watched the 1966 World Cup that summer, and since we (Everton) had bought Alan Ball from Blackpool, I was loving the fact that Bally had a brilliant game in the Final. I was there.... just not at Wembley.

The blue touch paper was lit, and I was watching all the major games: I recall watching Celtic winning the European Cup in 1967.

Funnily enough, I remember enjoying the 1967 Spurs v Chelsea Cup Final almost as much as the previous year's. It was a really good game. Then, after the next year's final I cried my eyes out after seeing Jeff Astle score for West Brom with what seemed to have been their only effort on goal. I hated football for at least a week.

Grandad taking me to the match at Roker Park (my Mam was scared about the 80's hooligans :D) he got me a mince pie and a bovril at half-time and the bovril was like lava and melted my tongue, it was sore for days.

66 World Cup.

First Clay Frazier fight.

Frances Chichester - Gypsy Moth. (Only came to my attention because of the name of the boat)

I think I remember the 1986 World Cup, specifically the England v Argentina game, but not sure if I actually saw it at the time or if seeing it so much since then has tricked my memory into thinking I did. I was always Gary Lineker in the playground though so I think I might have done.

First memory I know I have is the 1988 FA Cup Final, remember that vividly, especially the disappointment of my Aunt only being able to get one ticket so I couldn't go. We went round my dad's best mate's house as they had a colour TV and ours was only B&W. The mate and his family were Liverpool fans so they didn't enjoy it as much as I did!

The first FA Cup Final I sat and watched with my dad was 1963 and sealed the MUFC deal for me at the age of nine.
First live football was Northampton Town in their promotion years and that one glorious season in the First Division.
First trip to Wembley was for England v France in the Group stages of the 66 World Cup. Dad had bought a set of tickets for the group and QF but got tickets for me and my two cousins for that game.

Marvellous Marvin Hagler hammering Alan Minter in 1980 - it wasn't long after we'd moved back to Scotland, Dad and I were big Hagler fans, He travelled to other towns to get bigger bets on Hagler, especially after Minter's 'No black man is going to take my title', we expected Hagler to beat him, but after that we expected him to hurt him

Scotland away to Israel in a World Cup qualifier 1981, the game was during a school day, so our teacher sat in the cupboard with a radio & came out and gave us updates if we were still reading quietly. We won 1-0 Dalglish scored.

I've told the story before about how we moved to Sheffield from London for about a year when I was around nine-years-old during which time my parents became friendly with Arsenal manager George Swindin after mum and I met him and the team during a week away in Blackpool.

We had moved back to London and George had given my dad a couple of tickets for the upcoming England v Scotland game at Wembley. I was small for my age and dad had bought me an England rosette which must have looked huge. I distinctly remember an enormous genial Scotsmen wearing some kind of beret coming over, bending down to my level and telling me that "you might be needing a wee hankie" - it ended up with England's historic trouncing of the auld enemy 9-3.

I was 8 when Mikka Hakkinen winning the F1 title in 1998. Probably still the best looking F1 car going.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/McLaren_Mercedes_MP4-12_1997.jpg/1280px-McLaren_Mercedes_MP4-12_1997.jpg)

Wembley at the 1999 second division playoff final - Gillingham vs Man City. Vividly remember the City equaliser (we were Gillingham). 2-0 up with under 2 minutes to play, we lost on pens and Tony Pulis was sacked.

(https://media.balls.ie/uploads/2016/09/22182251/Pulis99.png)


Bit later but it was the first time I'd ever seen cricket - India tour of England in 2002 which was on channel 4. I watched every day, the graphics had a horrific orange and blue colour scheme and Tendulkar terrorised everyone IIRC

Ha - presumably you were too young to be too emotionally scarred by that....

Still in my top 5 sporting days that one for the range of emotion. Totally down and out when the 2nd Gillingham goal went in to the euphoria with the late, late goals and the penalty shoot out.
Travelled down to Wembley that day on a 1st Class Charter with silver service and too much lubrication. Arriving back went straight to a party to be goaded by United fans (they had won the Champions League final and completed the treble a few days earlier) before being joined by later arriving louder and more drunken City fans than me. Turned into WW3 and my wife  didn't talk me for 2 weeks. The beginning of the end for that marriage and a beginning of a new start for City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMI5Zqi5hHU

one of the best world finals ever.   Jocky did near 95 average over 10 sets in the dark ages with big wired boards.   If anyone is bored during lockdown watch this when darts was super big time on national tv before taylor/sky/Mvg/hearn.   Proper darts.  Jocky finished bristow forever in this final.   He never recovered from the pounding Jocky gave him for me.  Next year Taylor rocked up as a 150/1 rag and won and changed the game forever in 1990.  The general opinion was Taylor finished Bristow but the first five sets of this final finished Eric whilst Phil was still earning peanuts in stoke making toilet chain handles in the pot banks.  Eric then sponsored Phil to give him a retirement income moving forward once he knew his reign was over.

Jocky was a two time world champion (could easily have won more in an era of proper players) when he spent the entire 1980s as a raving alcoholic.  Bristow had won 5 world titles in the 80s going into this but Jocky never cared less about reputations.  Such a loss to the game both of them are already brown bread.   They lived the life in their era no doubt.   How many other multiple world champions can ever say that as a total piss head?  Scary how could he could have been sober.  Jocky won £20k for winning this.   Price got £500k this year for his world title.

ps the best bit about the whole final is the inflatable banana (6 foot style) in the crowd which summed up football fans of that era.   Man City started the inflatable banana  ( i had one as a kid at leicester games)

http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2011/3/16/how-the-inflatable-banana-almost-saved-football.html#:~:text=In%201987%2C%20a%20Manchester%20City,morphed%20into%20'Imre%20Banana'.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 12:48:47 AM by arbboy »   

Great memories from a great era for British sport.  Late 80s-early 90s across so many sports it was the changing of the guard so to speak from true GOAT contenders

Darts - Bristow to Taylor
Snooker - Davis to Hendry/Class of '92 (Ronnie/Higgins/Williams)
Football - Liverpool to Fergie and Man U

UK athletics was at an all time high for me.   Starting with Cram/Coe/Ovett through to Linford/Jackson/Edwards/Gunnell/Backley among many others.

The Eubank show was great even though i can't stand Piers Morgan.  To answer your question about my first memories of Boxing are from that era.  The very first memory is Barry McGuigan purely because my best mate at junior school came from a boxing family and his dad took him Loftus Road! in 1985 for his world title shot that he won.   The kid never stopped talking about it at school for days after.     After that Bruno v Bugner at White Hart Lane in 1987 is the first fight i can remember watching on Sportsnight i think it was on the bbc.  Following on from that i can remember watching the Eubank Collins fight at University in a hotel when we were playing in the University basketball finals in Cardiff.   That era of UK middle weights was amazing.  Such a different era pre Sky sports.

My first darts memory was watching Bristow Deller final in 1983.   I can still remember exactly where i watched that.   My first snooker memory is the same year and Cliff Thornburn's 147 at the crucible and big Bill coming round from the other table to congratulate him.  Went to my first football match live that year as well which wasn't a bad first one.  Leicester v Liverpool.   Tighty might remember it 3-3 draw some young kid called Lineker scored 2 i think and King Kenny did the same.

First memory of cricket is the 1984 'blackwash' test series watching that at lunch time at junior school.   Still for me the greatest test series ever.   England weren't even that bad and had several all time greats and just got destroyed.

copy and paste from darts thread to add my first memories here.

Great stuff Arb.

We mustn't forget Sid Waddell. Such an amazing darts commentator.

"He's like a leopard in the snows of Kilimanjaro"

"His mother will be chewing the curtains"

Took comms to a total different level in a pub sport.   One of the true all time all sport great comms.

https://www.lardydarts.com/p/sid-waddell-quotes   so many all time classics in here.


"William Tell could take an apple off your head, Taylor could take out a processed pea."

This is my personal fav closely followed by 'Jocky Wilson.....what an athlete'

Hahahah

Kenny Dalglish signing for Liverpool for £440,00 in the Summer of 77 to replace Kevin Keegan, then winning the European Cup in 78 at Wembley.

The World Cup in Argentina in 78.  Seemed like football from another planet. 
Arie Haan scoring for Holland from 40 yards vs Italy.
Scotlands manager stating they were going to win the tournament, then them losing 3-0 to Peru in their opener, with their goalie Alan Rough doing this best statue impression as a Peruvian free kick whistled into the top corner.
Archie Gemmils wonder goal vs Holland.

Barrie Sheene's duel with Kenny Roberts at the British Motorbike GP in 79. Shown live on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon, with Roberts winning by inches.

Red Rum winning the Grand National for the 3rd time in 77. I remember walking home after playing football for my primary school, still in my kit, covered in mud with everyone talking about the race later that day.

The USA beating the USSR at Ice Hockey for the gold medal of the Winter Olympics from Lake Placid in 1980.

Chrissie Evert at Wimbledon.

I feel so old.

If this was your favourite sporting moments instead, then Jocky Wilson would be up there with the best. Maybe it had to be musical ones. Oh well, still makes me smile!


https://youtu.be/jC6goaOrEvQ