Famously trained by the late Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain on the sands of Southport Beach on Merseyside, northwest England, Red Rum won the Grand National for the first time in 1973. On that occasion, ridden by Brian Fletcher, Red Rum overhauled long-time leader, Crisp, who had been thirty lengths clear at one stage, in the dying strides to win by three-quarters of a length in a course record time of 9 minutes and 1.9 seconds.
Red Rum and Fletcher returned to Aintree for another crack at the celebrated steeplechase in 1974 and duly won again. Despite the welter burden of twelve stone, Red Rum came home seven lengths ahead of his nearest rival, L’Escargot. In so doing, he became the first horse since Reynoldstown, in 1936, to record back-to-back wins in the Grand National and – notwithstanding subsequent reductions in the maximum weight carried – remains the only horse since World War II to carry such a weight to victory. Red Rum finished second in the 1975 and 1976 renewals of the Grand National, in 1975 under Brian Fletcher and in 1976 under Tommy Stack, who replaced Fletcher after the latter made disparaging comments to the press about Red Rum and was informed by McCain that he would not be riding the horse again.
Stack was once again aboard Red Rum when he lined up, as a twelve-year-old, for the 1977 Grand National. Generally regarded as past his prime, Red Rum was, nonetheless, saddled with top-weight once again, albeit just eleven stone and eight pounds, and was sent off joint-second favourite at 9/1. He took the lead at the twenty-second fence, Becher’s Brook on the second circuit, following the departure of favourite Andy Pandy, and stormed home to his unprecedented third win in the race, twenty-five lengths clear of his nearest rival.
The saying goes that “the world only remembers the winners”… but that’s not always true.
Here we look back at World Cup history and pick out two of the great underdog stories, of sides that didn’t win the tournament, but left it with their heads held high.
A Rugby Nation Celebrates its Soccer Stars
Look back to the 2010 World Cup and New Zealand were making only their second appearance in the major tournament after beating Bahrain to reach the competition. An island nation that takes great pride in its All Blacks rugby union side, it was the All Whites who took centre stage for the competition in South Africa. In a group that included Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia, the Kiwis were not given much of a chance of picking up any points in the pool. While New Zealand failed to reach the knockout stages, they did manage to go through their group without losing a match and were the only team to be undefeated at the tournament. Even the eventual winners Spain suffered a 1-0 loss to Switzerland on their way to World Cup glory.
New Zealand started with a 1-1 draw against Slovakia thanks to an injury-time goal from Winston Reid, before a remarkable stalemate against Worlds Cup holders Italy. Scoring early can give an underdog a real confidence boost and Shane Smeltz’s opener after seven minutes certainly did that. However, it was by no means the quickest goal in the tournament’s history as there have been numerous goals within the first minute including Hakan Sukur’s strike within 11 seconds in 2002 for Turkey against South Korea.
Vincenzo Iaquinta went on to equalise for the Azzurri in the 29th minute from the penalty spot, before New Zealand held on for a famous draw at Mbombela Stadium. A goalless draw with Paraguay meant the Kiwis missed out on reaching the knockouts by a point, but they did finish above the Italians and headed back to New Zealand with plenty of plaudits for their efforts.
Cameroon Take African Football Forward
There have been some great runs from African nations at World Cups, with the likes of Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) being two prime examples. But Cameroon back in 1990 were the first African country to really make a statement on the world stage. The Indomitable Lions managed to secure a 1-0 win over eventual finalists Argentina in their opening game of Italia 90, with François Omam-Biyik scoring the all-important goal. The result was even more remarkable considering Cameroon had two players sent off in the match against an Argentina side captained by the great Diego Maradona.
Age is just a number. At 43 years old, I was still playing because football is life. I had a great time in Pelita Jaya, Indonesia ⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/2TJj1vHJVS
— Roger Milla (@roger_milla_9) August 26, 2020
Cameroon then went on to beat Romania 2-1, before a heavy 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Soviet Union. Still, Cameroon managed to finish top of Group B before their 38-year-old forward Roger Milla became a world sensation with his goals and eye-catching celebrations. Milla bagged a brace as Cameroon beat Colombia 2-1 in extra-time in the last-16, before a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to England in the quarter-finals. It took extra time to separate the two sides, and Cameroon left the tournament having put African football firmly on the map.
World Cups are more than just about the winners, and Qatar 2022 is likely to produce its own stories of underdogs who will grab the headlines.
According to Guinness World Records, the fastest serve of a tennis ball was recorded by former Australian professional Samuel Groth during a second-round match at the Busan Open Challenger Tennis in Busan, South Korea on May 9, 2012. Against Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik, Groth sent down an ace clocked at 163.4 mph, thereby obliterating the previous record, 156 mph, set by Croatian Ivo Karlovic during a doubles match against Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup World Group in Zagreb on March 5, 2011. For the record, Groth also registered serves measured at 158.9 mph and 157.5 mph, but still lost the match.
Serving speed is measured, immediately after the ball has left the racket, by speed guns positioned behind the baseline at either end of the court. Each gun emits a stream of radar pulses, some of which are reflected by the ball back to the gun, where the difference between their frequency and those of the original pulses is translated into the speed of the ball, in miles per hour (mph). Not all speed guns are created equal, so the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) does not formally recognise speeds recorded at Challenger Tour events.
Thus, as far as the ATP is concerned, the fastest serve of a tennis ball, 157.2 mph, was recorded by American John Isner against Australian Bernard Tomic during a singles match in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup World Group in Melbourne on March 6, 2016. Isner also has the distinction of serving the most aces in the history of the ATP Tour, 14,177 at the time of writing, and having played in, and won, the longest tennis match of all time; after 11 hours and 5 minutes, he finally defeated Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the final set of their first-round match in the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 2010.