14.7.2019's ranking on the 1966-O-Metre

[jason voorhees]

So where did yesterday rank on Greatest Day in British Sport?

Lewis setting the record for most British Grand Prix wins at Silverstone
Djokovic and Federer with yet another legendary final
THAT cricket game, only the fact that it happened to be a World Cup Final at Lords.

What would the top 5 be otherwise?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The Saturday night at the London Olympics where three gold medals were won in an hour by British athletes was pretty awesome.

For sheer day-long drama I'd also nominate April 8th 1990, a Sunday that saw the two televised FA Cup semi-finals finish Crystal Palace 4 Liverpool 3 and Manchester United 3 Oldham 3, and then later in the evening Nick Faldo won the Masters in a sudden death playoff against Ray Floyd. The latter not IN Britain, granted, but still a great moment on the telly.

[Etienne]

Top 10

12.09.2005
07.08.2005
21.07.1981
14.07.2019
28.08.2005
26.12.2010
19.08.1953
31.07.1956
29.08.1882
13.08.1902

[Ray de Galles]

Nobody cares about Lewis Hamilton's car winning, it's not sport. I have genuinely barely seen a reference to it in the last 24 hrs.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The one with the longest triumphant knock-on value that I can remember was Roger Bannister's four minute mile. It's consigned to the dust under the wheels of Chariots of Fire now, but I know we (ie: British schoolkids) were still talking about it three or four years later.

[San Bernardhinault]

That's what I assumed Etienne's 1953 date was, but Bannister was '54, wasn't he?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yes. May 6th. I was almost six, but I remember watching it (most likely a recording) on my grandparents TV. In my memory it was celebrated very much as a collective event. Chris Brasher was the pacemaker, and his contribution enabled Bannister to break the record. My Dad and Grandad made sure I understood that it wasn't just one man's achievement. I'm not sure whether that was a general view, or not. In any case the names Bannister and Brasher still go together in my head. I actually remember Brasher slightly better as he wore glasses.

[San Bernardhinault]

I snuck into the Iffley Road track a few times, mostly to drink a couple of cans with my mates. I ran on it once at night, for a very short period before realising that I hated running when drunk. I also went in once legitimately for some college event with my parents, who I think were only very vaguely aware that something important had happened there once.

[tee rex]

That's what I assumed Etienne's 1953 date was, but Bannister was '54, wasn't he?

I think Etienne's are all cricket, Ashes triumphs and sundry others. 1902 is the one I'd need to look up.

[Etienne]

Yeah, they're all cricket. The 1902 one is Jessops century, and Hirst and Rhodes last wicket stand. 1953 is when England won the Ashes back after 20 years of Bradman inspired Aussie domination.

[Janik]

Yes. May 6th. I was almost six, but I remember watching it (most likely a recording) on my grandparents TV. In my memory it was celebrated very much as a collective event. Chris Brasher was the pacemaker, and his contribution enabled Bannister to break the record. My Dad and Grandad made sure I understood that it wasn't just one man's achievement. I'm not sure whether that was a general view, or not. In any case the names Bannister and Brasher still go together in my head. I actually remember Brasher slightly better as he wore glasses.

What did the other pacemaker, Chris Chataway, do to get overlooked??

[Kevin S]

Nobody cares about Lewis Hamilton's car winning, it's not sport. I have genuinely barely seen a reference to it in the last 24 hrs.

I disagree with words 8 to 10 here but certainly "Hamilton wins Grand Prix" is not really something to get that excited about these days and especially not this season. The coverage of the race that I've seen (as someone who goes looking - I also agree with Ray that it wasn't really in the news unless you looked for it) was more about how there were actually interesting tussles between Ferrari and Red Bull, and McLaren and Renault. Cars actually racing each other being something of a rare sight in 2019 so far.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

What did the other pacemaker, Chris Chataway, do to get overlooked??

Later that year Chataway won a televised 5000m race, breaking the world record, and it was he, not Bannister, who won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

[E10 Rifle]

I think you'd have to put 04.07.1990 in there. I know its only one sport, and an obvious one, but it felt like a huge and uncharted-territory thing at the time.

[Ray de Galles]

01/07/16 too, obviously.

[Duncan Gardner]

16.7.2016

Northern Ireland 2 Ukraine 0, Euro 2016

Apart from the result (best for 34 years) it was a chance to catch up with 2 of my fave Old Labour pundits- OTF's own David Agnew and Kate Hoey MP

[Janik]

Re: England cricket, we are at risk of confusing the fervour of the converted, a group which very much includes the broadcast and print media, for nation-stopping appeal. The Cricket attracted a peak audience of 7.9m, according to the BBC. That puts it behind the Tennis yesterday (9.6m), which included no local interest but did have a very popular player involved, and notably behind the Football semi a couple of weeks ago (11.7m), which was on a weeknight (that number just shows the opportunity lost in defeat, btw).

In terms of stopping the nation, a la the Men's Football Semi in '18 (26.5m) or Andy Murray's first Wimbledon title (17.3m), Sunday didn't really come close. Those two transcended sports fans to include wider society. The Tennis and Cricket had people who are into sport, and not necessarily those two sports in particular, gripped. But only those individuals. Most people went on with their lives as if nothing in particular was happening.

[Sporting]

Any chance of some of you putting some more details apart from just the bare dates? Ta!

[Jah Womble]

Was thinking the same.

(Viewers of the AFCoN semi-finals might also wish to add Riyad Mahrez's brilliant 95th-minute winner for Algeria against Nigeria to Sunday's overall drama.)

[tee rex]

I was really surprised at those viewing figures yesterday. Somebody on the Guardian BTL said when asked "Who won the World Cup?" his kids said "the USA".

One intractable problem for cricket is that although the ending was beyond incredible, it was preceded by a slow set-up, for those who are not used to the rhythms of the game (or simply have lives that don't allow for a day put aside). I got into it in the 70s because a Test was more watchable than the test card, the only other option, even though it was sometimes a toss-up.

[Duncan Gardner]

the Cricket attracted a peak audience of 7.9m, according to the BBC. That puts it behind the Tennis yesterday (9.6m), which included no local interest but did have a very popular player involved

Non-local sportswomen and men become local (ie, English) if/ when they're successful. Murray most obviously in tennis, but going back to Chris Evert in the 70s. They married a local and live in SW19, what more do you want? Even the Fed's mother (tongue) is English, I believe

One intractable problem for cricket is that although the ending was beyond incredible, it was preceded by a slow set-up, for those who are not used to the rhythms of the game (or simply have lives that don't allow for a day put aside)

T20 was designed to address that very problem, so has it/ cricket generally failed? The absurd 100 ball thing suggests it has. You can't expect a nation to immediately embrace counting on that scale when they can't even be trusted to rank 5 or 6 election candidates in number order

[tee rex]

From 1969 to 1981 Britain won seven ladies singles titles at Wimbledon.

[E10 Rifle]

4.7.90 was the England-West Germany World Cup semi-final. A bigger and better thing than the comparable one last year IMO

[Etienne]

I think there were various issues with the cricket in terms of getting a new audience.

Obviously it was just one game - in the case of Wimbledon and Women's Football World Cup those watching the key matches had been able to watch the whole tournament, which isn't the case with cricket. Plus, to properly appreciate the tension (not the last 30 minutes but the rest of the match) you had to have some understanding of cricket and it's rules. My wife thought England had already lost when Buttler and Stokes were together because they were consistently scoring under the required rate, while I knew if they stayed together then they would surely win it.

So the people who it might have won over are those who are either lapsed cricket fans, or people who live with cricket fans but were not particularly interested themselves. It's a sizeable number of people in itself, but in itself I doubt it will transform participation levels.

----
More details on the dates I mentioned before:

12.09.2005 - final day of the Oval Test, 2005 Ashes, England win back Ashes for first time since 1987
07.08.2005 - final day of the Edgbaston Test 2005 Ashes, Greatest Test ever
21.07.1981 - final day of the Headingley Test 1981 Ashes, Botham 149, Willis 8 wickets as Australia bowled out for 130, England win after being 500-1 outsiders.
14.07.2019 - World Cup Final
28.08.2005 - final day of the Trent Bridge Test 2005 Ashes, Giles and Hoggard inch England to victory
26.12.2010 - first day of the MCG test 2010 Ashes, England bowl out Australia for 98, before batting to 157/0. England's most dominant ever day in Ashes cricket in Australia.
19.08.1953 - final day of the Oval Test 1953 Ashes, England win Ashes for first time since 1933
31.07.1956 - final day of the Old Trafford Test, 1956 Jim Laker takes all 10 wickets as England retain the Ashes
29.08.1882 - Only Test. Australia won this one, but what an amazing game.
13.08.1902 - Jessop scores 104 off 77 balls as England recover from 48-5 to win the test.

[Duncan Gardner]

From 1969 to 1981 Britain won seven ladies singles titles at Wimbledon.

Are you sure? Ann Jones (1969) and Virginia Wade (1977). Wade also won the Australian and Sue Barker the French according to Wiki.