With the regular season over, Jack Evans explains the Super League picture, both sides of the River.

Rugby League may not be one of the nation’s most popular sports but in Hull it is a way of life for thousands of Hull FC and Hull KR fans. Not only does the River Hull separate the East and West sides of the city but it separates the red and white shirts of Kingston Rovers and the black and white jerseys of their West Hull counterparts Hull FC. And as the top sides in the country prepare for the play-offs, it’s that time of year where the region casts a critical eye over two of the nation’s top sides.
 

In terms of our city’s clubs, it has been a season of relative disappointment after pre-season hopes of a challenge on the top four. Instead of a side capable of winning the Leader’s Trophy, fans have been treated with two sets of players who have limped into the play-offs after a decent run of form at the latter end of the year.

Despite a lacklustre season by the Robins and the Black & Whites, the campaign has been a significant one off the pitch for the two teams. Rovers coach Justin Morgan will leave his position as Head Coach at the end of the play-offs and is hotly tipped to take up a coaching position in the Australian NRL. He will leave the club after six years at the helm, where he has won promotion to the Super League and stabilised a side that have now featured in the last three play-off campaigns.

At the KC Stadium, Hull City Chairman Adam Pearson completed a £6 million takeover of Hull FC before revealing after the penultimate game of the season that coach Richard Agar would leave at the end of the year. Agar’s departure has been met with mixed response from fans who have grown increasingly disgruntled with the management team after failing to reach the obvious potential of the club.

Injuries to key players – Sean Long and Scott Fitzgibbon obvious absentees this year – have hindered the progress of the club in recent campaigns but supporters were becoming progressively unhappy with the predictable tactics that Agar employed and the lack of invention from players with obvious talent. In fact the Rugby on offer was never satisfying a city that revolves around the sport.

Adam Pearson brings substantial finances to the Black & Whites but the salary cap that exists in the Super League restricts his ability to turn Hull FC into the Manchester City of Rugby League. One of the ways in which Pearson can push the side onto the next level is through bringing in a top class coach and Agar’s departure seemed inevitable as soon as the Hull-based businessman took over the reins at the KC.

If we look at his record whilst in charge a win percentage of just 11% against the top four sides confirms that the Airlie Birds have never reached their potential at any point throughout Agar’s tenure and that a Challenge Cup final runner up medal is not good enough showing for a club of Hull FC’s stature.

The coach had been linked with Wakefield Wildcats in the past and it always seemed likely that he would move on to another of Yorkshire’s Rugby League sides. After the final league defeat to top of the league Warrington Wolves, a result that assured the club of a 8th place finish in the league, it was confirmed that Agar had indeed penned a three year deal to take over prior to next season.

But back on the pitch and both teams did finish strongly after it had become more and more likely that only one of the two teams would finish in the top eight – a scenario that was only voided by the capitulation of Castleford. And even though both sides arrive into the play-offs in red hot form, the chances of them both offering a serious challenge to the likes of Wigan, Warrington and St Helens are slim – a thesis supported by Hull FC’s defeat to the Wolves on the final day.

In all fairness, the Hull teams are probably the form sides going into their respective play-off games against Leeds Rhinos and Catalan Dragons. They had to be if they were going to scrape into the top eight. Will they make a significant impact in the next couple of weeks? I doubt it. In fact, in Hull FC’s case in particular, previous results against the other teams in play-off contention are extremely poor. Their elimination play-off opponents Leeds have defeated them ten times with no reply since their Challenge Cup final appearance in 2007, and Agar has never defeated the Rhinos while coach at the KC.

I expect both sides to fall at the first hurdle and fail to rescue seasons that have ultimately been a massive disappointment. For Hull FC in particular, 8th place is a huge underachievement, for one of only three teams considered in Super League’s Category A, they are a side who should be challenging with the Wigans, Warringtons and St Helens of the world. Instead they have floundered in mediocrity under Agar and it was probably right for them to part ways.

Hull KR had high expectations for the season and will be disappointed with 7th place, but with Justin Morgan and a number of players leaving at the end of the season the Robins will be looking to start a new chapter in life at Craven Park. Their city neighbours will similarly be looking to draw a line under a bad season and realise their potential in the near future. Let’s hope our two sides can prove me wrong and impact on the impending play-off campaign. What is for sure is that fans will expect more from two of Super League’s perennial underachievers when the new season commences next year.

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With this recent success in mind, Assam and his son have their eyes firmly fixed on The Tiger’s return to the Premier League, and with money to invest, they intend to make this vision a reality. The first major part of this grand plan is to extend the capacity of the KC Stadium from 25,000 to 35,000, a crucial move if Hull are to come back up to the Premier League and remain there for the long haul. However, this extra capacity would not only benefit the football club but also would enhance the KC’s position as a concert venue. I remember a few years back when Elton John did a live concert there, if the stadium had a capacity of an extra 10,000 back then just imagine how much extra money they could have made!

But this development doesn’t stop at extending the KC, Assam’s master plan is to use the KC as the foundation stone for a £114 million sports complex that would include tennis courts, an Olympic sized pool and gymnastics facilities to complement the existing Bonus area. Assad’s dream then is to build a sports park that the people of Hull can be proud of, but this is also proof that Hull is starting to truly regenerate as a city. You see when Hull City council started to undertake the Hull forward project six years ago, the main purpose of it was to build facilities that would attract inward investment into Hull from large private sector businesses. Now don’t get me wrong, St. Stephen’s square has provided a new focal point for the people of Hull. However, this project has not created the levels of inward investment that Hull city council have strived for due to the fact that most of the shops in St. Stephan’s have just transferred themselves from their old Whiteferagate stores. As a result these empty stores are now housing some strange modern artworks. These works may be interesting but not exactly making any money are they?

This sports complex is therefore the first true example of inward investment that Hull can benefit from. The fact that a local businessman who has relied on the Humber region for his success is prepared to plough his funds into a project that isn’t just for the people of Hull but also for those of the wider Humber region itself and beyond, is a sign that (dare I say it) David Cameron’s big society is now starting to become a reality as the development could play a paramount role in reviving the wounds of Hull’s deeply scared reputation.

So, where do I even start with this? Well, first of all it is common knowledge that Hull’s crime rate is one of the largest in the UK, with a total of 60 offences per 1000 people, compared to the national average of 32. But what are the main causes of crime you may ask? One argument is that is starts with the youth of society, children, teenagers and young adults going into crime because they have been deprived by their neighbourhood and society of prospects and opportunities to develop themselves.

But what allows young people to develop? My belief is that the youth of society needs to have freedom to socialise in a space that they can explore and call their own, with no-one to tell them to move away or go somewhere else and is separate from the urban streets. In the old days these spaces would have been sports playing fields or small areas of open grass in the middle of suburban estates. However, due to the last government’s violation of these green spaces that they successfully achieved by selling them off to housing developers, and the advent of the cotton wool culture that developed in the later Blair years, many Parents have been mistaken to think that it is safer for their children to play computer games and stay at home under their watchful eyes. However, these ideas have instead isolated the younger generation from the childhood socialising and exercising that their parents took for granted, and with no escape from their parental control forced upon them they believe that crime is the only way that they can escape from the clutches of Big Brother and gain a short period of freedom before they end up with criminal convictions that draw curtains on all of their prospects.

It can therefore be seen that this new sports complex will give children and young people a better chance to take up and perfect a range of sports, allowing them to stay healthy and also to socialise with others, without the eyes of Big Brother parents watching and recording their every move. In addition the complex will be a big step in solving the city’s obesity crisis as it will give sports and fitness greater levels of representation in Hull, making it a clear beacon for the importance of sport to the city’s lifestyle and political agenda. This would also balance out and reduce the domination of the takeaways and chip shops. Of course being a town associated with the fishing industry fish and chip shops have never been uncommon. But seriously, how far do have to walk in hull to find a takeaway? Undermines the concept of healthy eating a little bit doesn’t it?

This development would also be good for the University Athletic Union as sports teams would finally have proper training facilities that they could use not only for themselves but also for university competitions. As a committed member of the Hull university trampoling club I am delighted to hear the news that a competition will be held at the Bonus arena in Hull during November next year. The arena is next to the site of the proposed complex will help to bolster Hull University Trampoline club’s reputation as an active and professional club, as well as that of their partnership club, the Hull High Fliers. It would also allow people like me to take a greater role in other aspects of trampoling such as marshalling competitors and judging them, if I felt like a challenge. In addition, if the new facilities were built the swimming club could abandon the 30 metre pool at Beverly road baths and adopt a 50 metre Olympic sized pool to train in which would allow them to be better prepared to compete in the student galas in Sheffield. There would also be the possibility of Hull University creating a Tennis team but in the short term it would also increase the status of the squash team by allowing them to host their own competitions as well.

One of the most immediate concerns with these plans is that they would be built on the site where hull fair is usually held, meaning that our once a year fair will have to find a new home. But maybe that’s not a bad idea. I mean, it only happens once a year doesn’t it? Meaning that for 11 months of the year the land just sits there doing nothing. Wouldn’t a permanent sports complex make the land more productive? It would increase its value and generate more revenue for the city and its owners. Let’s not forget that fairgrounds can be set up anywhere, even an empty field would do, especially if it’s only once a year. Local farmers could benefit hugely, especially seems that the autumn and winter are their least productive months, it would help keep their cash flow healthy during this period.

So, as we can see it seems like the time has come to end the dark days of Hull’s recent past, to put an end to the days when Hull’s own John Prescott would be seen scoffing a bag of Fish and Chips or Mr Chou in the light of his own city drowning in a sea of obesity and inactivity amongst its citizens. To put an end to those days when the Humber region didn’t have large enough facilities to firmly put itself on the map of our United Kingdom. But most importantly, an end to the days when businessmen and investors wouldn’t touch Hull with a bargepole. This project might go ahead with just council consent but if Stephan Brady gets his way, and these plans go to a local referendum, just Vote Yes. Not only to a new sports complex, but to a brighter chapter in Hull’s rich and varied history.

By Tom Davis

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The Sharks have been very much a surprise package this season, proving themselves much better than many of their opponents expected. In the two seasons before this, the Sharks had managed only a 1-7 season (for those who don’t follow American football, that’s short for one win and seven defeats). This season has been a remarkable turn around.

A 4-4 record this year earned them a place in the Challenge Trophy tournament, in which they earned revenge on York for an earlier defeat, and dispatched Northumbria and Southampton to book their place in the final.

Their opponents were Cardiff Cobras, very much an unknown quantity to the Sharks. Despite a solid opening drive the Sharks were put under a lot of pressure thanks to Cardiff’s nimble running-back. This didn’t seem to worry the Sharks yet though, since they had been stopping runners all season with their aggressive defence.

A turning point came when, on a fourth down, the Cobras chose to pass rather than run, which resulted in a touchdown. The Sharks were far from out of the game though, and made some solid yards running the ball. Unfortunately they were unable to convert this into points and in the second quarter the Cobras passed for another touchdown. The score was 14-0 Cobras.

Ironically it wasn’t the Cobras that eventually broke the Shark’s spirit, but the referees. Hull had been picking up some momentum throughout the second and third quarters and they finally broke right through the Cobras defence. On a 3rd down, at about the half way line, the Shark’s Paddy ‘Brady’ White battled his way through the defenders and ran the ball into the end-zone for a touchdown. This should have been 14-7.

In a move that bewildered fans and players alike, the referees blew their whistles: the touchdown would not count, they said, because of apparent shirt holding. This was not NFL, so there was no way for Sharks coaches to ask for an action-reply of the apparent foul. However, it was easy to see, from the reactions of the Sharks players, that this was a highly suspect call on part of the refs.

After the disallowed touchdown the Sharks seemed to lose their momentum. Heads began to drop. Had the touchdown been allowed the Sharks would have been one score away from levelling the game with over 15 minutes left to play. In American football that is quiet easily done. Instead disappointment filled the team, who eventually conceded another touchdown. After that it was pretty much game over.

One player told me that on another day Hull could have easily beaten the Cobras. While the Sharks didn’t win the trophy they certainly left their mark on the AU this year. By the time of the final the Sharks were the only team from Hull still competing in a national tournament. This year they have proved they are good enough to be counted amongst Hull’s biggest AU teams, and next will hopefully see them build on this year’s success.

Chris Hansell

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Hullfire: Congratulations on getting to the final, first your career in the Sharks. How long have you been a part of the team?

Tom Kharchi: I’ve been playing for the Sharks for three years and this is my first year as captain. I played a year of American football outside of university. I played a lot of basketball before I came to Hull and really wanted to get involved with a new sport. Seeing the Super Bowl really influenced as I saw how it was the biggest sporting
event in the world. It made me want to get more involved in American football.

HF: Which positions have you played while you’ve been at the Sharks?

TK: I’ve played wide receiver throughout my time here and I played tight end as well in my first year. I actually got my first touchdown playing in that position.

HF: You’re in the final of The Challenge Trophy, can you put the competition into context and tell us how many teams you’ve beaten to come this far?

TK: It’s the third and fourth position from each conference and we’re in the Northern conference. We won four, lost four in our regular season. That was enough to put us in third place. So that put us through to the Challenge Trophy. We were ranked lower than other teams so had to play a round before the quarters. In the Play Offs we played York. We played them in the regular season but lost that day, we weren’t good at all.

We didn’t think York were better than us so to get the chance to play them again was a great opportunity. We played them at home and absolutely thrashed them 32 – 2 which was definitely one of the highlights of the season. That put us against Northumbria University in the quarter finals. It was away and we travelled up there only to find that they hadn’t booked an ambulance which meant that the match had to be abandoned, which was really irritating. It was rearranged and we were at our home ground. Even though the match being cancelled was frustrating, it got us more pumped up for the rearranged fixture.

When we did beat them therefore it was just so satisfying. Because we won on that Wednesday, we were drawn in the semi-finals against Southampton on the Sunday. I had to arrange transport, accommodation and travel over the course of two days so we could travel down to Southampton on the Saturday. We got into Southampton at 10am on the Saturday and settled in, then had a team conference and learnt about Southampton’s team and their tactics. We got up on Sunday and I felt that there was a really good atmosphere. It was a huge morale boost being with the whole team together in the morning and we made our way down to the pitch at around 10:30am.

Their pitch was 3G which meant it was artificial turf which was good because normally we play on grass or a really hard, muddy surface. They had a nice set up. Some of the players were quite optimistic however I know we could win. From watching the Southampton game that we scouted, I knew they weren’t going to be as good as people thought. Our defence has been one of the best in the BUAFL and in the semi we nearly shut Southampton out completely. We didn’t let them score a touchdown while we got two, putting us through to the final. They could only respond with two field goals.

HF: Who are you playing in the final?

TK: We are playing Cardiff at the John Charles Stadium. We have a busy week of training and scouting. Scouting is where we analyse them and look at their tactics. The word people are using is ‘unbelievable’. In my first and second years we were only able to win one game each year. We were the fifth worst team in Britain and now we’re one of the best just due to the hard work everybody has put in.

HF: What has been the most inspirational moment from your Challenge Trophy this year?

TK: That is a difficult question. One of the most inspirational moments has been when we were playing Northumbria at home and they were five yards out from our end zone to score and they had a fourth down. The chances they would get a touchdown was high as they were only five yards away, and they obviously had four attempts to do it. But our defence stepped up so much they stopped everything. We knew exactly what they were going to do. The only players they had left running we saw and kept them out of the play. The only person they could get the ball to was their running back and he was rapid, a real athlete. However we stepped and up and stopped them each time. That was the moment we knew we could win the game and get through to the semis. We wanted it so much and in the end we did beat them.

HF: Is this your favourite match you’ve played in?

TK: Yeah that was. Every match I’ve played this season and every match we’d won prior to Northumbria, I’d been on the sidelines happy. But this game, all the aggravation we’d had with travelling up there and the game having to be rearranged. Going through the farce of booking our ambulance, pitch and referees in the space of two days. I had to organise everything so was getting really stressed, all to get this one game sorted. But we knew that if we beat them we’d be in the semis and that was a real incentive. It would have been the furthest the Sharks would have been for eight years. The second the final whistle went I was absolutely ecstatic. I ran onto the pitch, I was going crazy. I’d never done it before. Even when we had our biggest win of the season against York I was happy but for after this game I couldn’t compose myself.

HF: Are there any individual players that deserve praise this season?

TK: It’s difficult because we have such a big squad, I could go through so many. I’ll mention two from offence and two from defence. One of the players that stepped up was Ben Walker who plays wide receiver. He’s been unbelievable, one of our key threats. He’s got six touchdowns this season and scored the winner in the semi. It was a 45 yard throw from our quarterback Chris Brady. Without him I don’t know if we had of got here and done so well. Another player on the offence who has been reliable and key is Adam ‘Chunks’ Weston, one of our running backs. Such a strong and tough player, he keeps running and running and running, hitting guys that are twice his size and weight.

Being a running back is a tough job because you have to take so much impact, it takes such a toll but he has played so well and been so consistent. In our defence there’s been so many: We have a player who has recently signed for a German team. His name is Robert Law. He didn’t play in the Challenge Trophy but there has been so many who have been amazing so far. Our defensive captain Carl Malam has also stepped up and has been one of our best players. His hitting and tackling has been superb. He’s just so fast and seems to come out of nowhere sometimes.

HF: So do the team have a good relationship, on and off the pitch?

TK: Yeah, I’d say within the Athletic Union we are the closest knit group, we’ve got such a close bond. To be such a successful team you’ve got to have good relations with each other. We have socials with each other every Wednesday and a lot of the players live together and know each other. And working with all the cheerleaders is great, we get on with them really well too. That’s what has motivated us, everyone wants to do it for each other. If you’re playing with a person you don’t like so much, you’re not going to put your neck on the line for them every week, but everybody really gets on and that’s the point. It’s like one big happy family and what we’ve done together this season has been an amazing.

HF: Has that been the key to the success this year compared to previous years?

TK: One of the main reasons I’ve stayed with the Sharks is the way they work with themselves, with each other. So I’d say yeah it is because we’ve got a lot of players who started three years ago and have come all the way through the ranks and are now seniors in their final year. The close knit group we’ve got now, they really want to do it for each other. It’s their last opportunity to do something great. We come so far in so little time and the relations we’ve had on and off the pitch have been a massive influence on us.

HF: With your success this year do you think this will get more people involved with American football within in the University?

TK: Yes, definitely. In the past two years we’ve had a reputation as a losing team. People think why should I join them if they’re doing badly? But now when we do our recruitment drive we can say we were in a national championship final and were one of the best teams in the BUAFL. I can’t see why people wouldn’t want to come down and try out and see why we are so good, so fun and one of the most respected teams in the Athletic Union.

HF: So you’ve definitely seen the team grow over the past three years?

TK: Definitely. There are so many aspects and attributes that you see grow within the players in the American football team. We don’t just see people within the American football team. We see people in everyday life and around university, being a student as well as being an athlete. So you see them grow into a better person, a better athlete and a better team member. I remember in my first year I was involved with only about four plays all season. I didn’t start and I wasn’t involved in the season. In comparison to now, I’m captain and I start every game. I can say the same for a lot of the other players. They’ve come along and learnt the game and now know exactly what to do. If I ask them to do something on the pitch I know they will do it to the best of their ability. The great thing to see is what peoples’ attitudes are outside of American football: the people who help out behind the scenes and help run the club, going out for a drink after a game and meeting all the lads and being able to have that close knit family feel. That’s why it’s such a great sport to play, because of the people that are in the Sharks.

*This interview was conducted before the Challenge Trophy. The Sharks
battled valiantly against a tough Cardiff side but eventually were
defeated 21 – 0.

Sam Langan

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 Badly run football clubs seem to have become a theme in football over recent years, as a fan it pains me that Newcastle are known as one of the laughing stocks of English football. However, supporters can cling on to the fact that they are not the only football club to suffer from owners who seem to alienate their fans and ignore the traditions of the club. Leeds, Crystal Palace, Cardiff, Chelsea, Portsmouth and Southampton are but a portion of the list of clubs who have suffered at the hands of selfish and arrogant owners. Perhaps one of the most well known cases has been that of the Glazer family and their controlling stake of Manchester United. The family completed a takeover of the club in 2003 after gaining most of the investment in the form of loans. Such a strategy has placed a, once debt-free, club in the red by over £600 million with £60 million worth of interest being paid per annum. The anger of the fans was such that a group, affectionately known as ‘the Red Rebels’, formed their own club, F.C. United of Manchester, in 2005.

 Another of the most striking examples of the alienation of supporters and mistreatment of a club’s heritage can be seen in the case of Wimbledon F.C at the turn of the millennium. As a successful top flight club it is hard to believe the fall from grace that has occurred since their victorious F.A Cup final win over Liverpool in 1988. The Taylor Report of 1990 released information that required top flight clubs to have all seating stadia to avoid cases such as the Hillsborough tragedy of 1989, and the Heysel disaster of 1985. Wimbledon proceeded to share a stadium with neighbours Crystal Palace, originally a temporary arrangement, it lasted over ten years. It was at this point that the clubs owners decided to uproot one of the most traditional and well known clubs of English football and move it 56 miles north to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. The move away from their native London led to a large portion of fans turning their back on the club, they felt as though they had lost their identity, they tried to reclaim it by founding their own club in 2002, A.F.C. Wimbledon, it still survives today.

 It seems that the growing financial instability of football today had led to the ownership of a football club no longer being a viable business. Some owners seem to want to make money when it is not feasible to do so taking into consideration the growing costs of players and wages that surround the game. The rate at which clubs are seeking foreign investment is no longer good for the heritage of our football. Like we have seen at Manchester United, Wimbledon and Newcastle there seems to be a distinct disrespect towards the supporters and the traditions of their club. Football fans are often labelled as fickle, people who are supportive through good times and aggressive through the bad. Yet, what owners seem to be forgetting is that we are not asking for too much. I for one don’t want to win titles or cups, for now I am content with stability and survival. No fan deserves to be a laughing stock in the world of football. We are not fickle Mr Ashley, we just don’t like you.

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 Despite McCoy’s gargantuan victory, securing over 40% of the public vote, any one of the ten stars who had made the shortlist could have made a presentable case for themselves. One of those was cycling’s Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish. He won an unprecedented five stages of last year’s Tour de France, taking his total number of stage wins up to 16. He also won the points title for the Tour of Spain, the first time any Briton has secured a major sprint tour title for over 20 years.

Teenage diving sensation Tom Daley enjoyed another highly successful year. He returned from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi with two gold medals, one of which involved him beating Olympic champion Matt Mitcham into second place. He has now won Commonwealth, European and World titles, all at the tender age of 16!

No sporting shortlist would be complete without the shining light of British boxing, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye. It’s been another superb year for the Hayemaker as he furthered his quest to unify the heavyweight division. He defended his title twice in 2010, with a routine 10th-round stoppage of John Ruiz and a blistering 3rd round KO of the hapless Audley Harrison. A fight with one, or both, of the fearsome Klitschko brothers appears to be next on Haye’s agenda.

Golf was represented twice on the shortlist, beginning with the man known as “G-Mac”. Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell became the first European to win the US Open in 40 years, and also sank the winning putt for Europe in the 2010 Ryder Cup. Golf’s other representative was Englishman Lee Westwood. Aside from second-placed finishes at the Masters and the Open, Westwood ended the 281-week reign of Tiger Woods as World Number One. That in itself is surely worth an award of its own!

 It’s been a tremendous year for English cricket, with victory in the World Twenty20 and, most importantly, the winning of the Ashes Series in Australia. One man who shone through all this was Graeme Swann, England’s spinning sensation. By playing key roles in the afore-mentioned triumphs, Swann has risen to number 2 in the ICC world bowling rankings behind South African paceman Dale Steyn, establishing himself as the world’s best spin bowler along the way.

The greatest moments in sport are when the odds are defied, and that’s certainly what winter Olympian Amy Williams did. Despite having a distinct lack of adequate practice facilities, Williams defied her much better-prepared opponents to slide her way to gold in the skeleton bob event in Vancouver, Britain’s only medal at the Winter Games.

 And now we come to the top three, starting with third-placed Jessica Ennis. The Sheffield-born heptathlete added to the world title she won in 2009 by winning the world indoor title and gold in the European Championships in 2010. Things are certainly looking rosy for the London Olympics for Ennis.

 Now some people may question whether or not darts can be classed as a sport, but to stay at the top of your profession for nigh-on 20 years is something worth recognising. This is exactly what Phil “The Power” Taylor has done. 2010 was a golden year even by his stratospheric standards, collecting no less than SIX major titles including his FIFTEENTH World Championship!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce your winner…Tony McCoy. He has been Champion Jockey an unbelievable fifteen times in a row and has ridden over 3,000 winners in his career. But one thing has always eluded him, a victory in the most famous hurdles race in history, The Grand National. That was, of course, until last year when he rode ‘Don’t Push It’ to victory at Aintree to put the seal on an epic career.

 2010 was a year full of ups and downs in British sport, a personal high point being England’s cricketers retaining the Ashes at a canter. My low point? Germany 4, England 1…need I say any more? Here’s hoping for an exciting and intriguing 2011 in the world of sport

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By: Thomas Rawson

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By Sam Langan

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