The record for the longest place kick in international rugby union is held by former Neath full-back Paul Thorburn, who kicked a penalty from 70 yards and 8 inches, or 64.2 metres, for Wales against Scotland in a Five Nations match at the National Stadium, Cardiff on February 1, 1986. Wales led 9-8 at half-time and, in the second half, still held a slender 16-15 lead. At that point, Scots flanker Finlay Calder was penalised for a late tackle on Welsh fly-half Jonathan Davies, where the ball landed, just inside the Welsh ten-metre line.
From a position well inside his own half, convential wisdom dictated that Thorburn would kick for touch, to obtain better field position, rather than going for goal, but Thorburn, winning just his fifth full cap, had different ideas. He later recalled, ‘I had told [Welsh captain] David Pickering that I would have a go and knew that, if I missed, it would still leave play in the Scotland half. Even so, incredulous commentator Bill McLaren said, ‘…but this would be a monster’, as Thorburn lined up his attempt.
A monster it proved, too. Thorburn gave the ball what he later described as ‘a real hoof’ towards the River Taff end of the ground and over the crossbar it sailed. ‘That is amazing!’ enthused McLaren, having just witnessed the longest place kick in over a century of Welsh rugby and, still, the longest in the history of international rugby union.
Thorburn later remarked, ‘That kick alone almost led to me having an American football career’. In fact, his ‘career’ in American football was limited to kicking off for the Los Angeles Rams against the Denver Broncos in a pre-season friendly, dubbed the ‘American Bowl’, at Wembley Stadium on August 9, 1987. Unfortunately, his kick-off came up ‘a little shy’, reaching only the Broncos 22-yard line, and Thorburn was never seen again in a Rams uniform.
According to Guinness World Records, the worst playoff team in the history of the National Football League (NFL), which dates back over a century, was the 2010 Seattle Seahawks. In their first season under Pete Carroll – who, at the time of writing, is still head coach at Lumen Field – the Seahawks recorded their third losing season in a row, having gone 4-12 in 2008 and 5-11 in 2009, but, remarkably, a 7-9 record was still enough to win the National Football Conference (NFC) Western Division. In so doing, they became the first team in a full, non-strike season to win any division of the NFL with a losing record.
In the final game of the season, the Seahawks beat the St. Louis Rams (now, of course, back in Los Angeles) at home to give themselves an identical .438 won-lost-tied percentage as the eventual runners-up. However, they qualified for the playoffs by virtue of marginally superior 4-2 record against their NFC West opponents, having previously beaten San Francisco 49ers at home and Arizona Cardinals home and away.
Unsurprisingly seeded fourth of the four division winners in the NFC, the Seahawks faced fifth seeds, and defending Super Bowl champions, New Orleans Saints at Lumen Field in the Wild Card Round on January 8, 2011. That game, which the Seahawks won 41-3 6, is best remembered for the so-called ‘Beast Quake’, a seismic tremor generated by the crowd during a 67-yard touchdown run by running back by Marshawn ‘Beast Mode’ Lynch in the fourth quarter. In one of the greatest runs in league history, Lynch broke nine tackles on his way to scoring a touchdown, with less than four minutes remaining.
Having become the first team to win a playoff game with a losing record, the Seattle Seahawks faced second seed Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in the Divisional Round. They trailed 21-0 at the end of the first half and, despite a late rally, which saw them score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, they eventually lost 35-24.
According to Guinness World Records, the fastest try in a full international rugby league match was scored by Serbian second row James Mirceski at the at the Makis Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia on November 9, 2019. Against Greece, in the third and final Group B match during the final phase of qualifying for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, Mirceski crossed the whitewash just 7.9 seconds after referee had blown the opening whistle. In so doing, he beat the previous record set by former Australian centre Robert ‘Bozo’ Fulton, who touched down after 15 seconds against France in the group stages of the 1970 Rugby League World Cup at the Odsal Stadium, Doncaster on November 1, 1970.
Mirceski’s try was converted by full-back Milos Zogovic but, thereafter, Serbia failed to score again and were soundly hammered 82-6 by Greece. The White Eagles, who have endured their fair share of trouncings down the years, had also lost their previous Group B match 86-0 to Scotland. However, in their defence (no pun intended), they had actually been eliminated much earlier in the qualifying process and only reached the final stages after Russia withdrew, citing ‘domestic issues’.
As a footnote, Greece may have qualfied for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup but, as the lowest-ranked team in Group A, alongside England, France and Samoa, faced an uphill task to progress in the tournament. In fact, they were beaten 34-12 by France, 72-4 by Samoa and 94-4 by England, thereby finishing bottom of the group with zero points.
‘Bengala’ is the Spanish word for ‘flare’ and ‘El Bengalazo’ was the name given to a disgraceful incident that occurred at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 3, 1989, during South American qualifying for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. In their fourth, and final, Group 3 match, the hosts, Brazil, led Chile 1-0 thanks to goal by striker Antônio de Oliveira Filho, a.k.a. Careca, early in the second half. However, with 23 minutes of normal time remaining, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the ground, bleeding from a head wound supposedly caused by a flare thrown from the crowd.
As Rojas was treated by the team doctor, Daniel Rodríguez, his incensed team-mates surrounded the referee and were subsequently led from the field by captain Fernando Astengo. On the instruction of Chilean coach Orlando Aravena, Rojas remained on the ground and was carried off on a stretcher. Despite the best efforts of Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau, the Chilean players refused to continue and the match was abandoned.
However, a review of television pictures and still photographs of the incident revealed that a flare was thrown on to the pitch, but missed Rojas by a yard or so and did not cause him injury of any kind. The South American Football Confederation launched an investigation and, under interrogation, Rojas confessed that his injury was self-inflicted, with a razor blade secreted in one of his goalkeeping gloves, in a vain attempt to have the match – which Chile needed to win – replayed at a neutral venue, or to have Brazil disqualified.
FIFA took a dim view of Rojas’ antics, banning him, Aravena and Rodriguez from professional football for life – although Rojas was granted an ‘amnesty’ in 2001 – and awarding the match to Brazil, by walkover, with an official scoreline of 2-0. For causing the abandonment of the match, Chile was banned from qualifying the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The Laws of Cricket, which are maintained by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), state that ‘A match is played between two sides, each of eleven players…’ Hence, historically, it was impossible for any cricketer to bat at No. 12 in any match, Test or otherwise. However, on August 1, 2019, the International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced a ruling that gave teams playing first-class cricket, including Test cricket, the option of making a Concussion Replacement Request for any player ‘ diagnosed with concussion or suspected concussion’. The ruling further stipulated that any replacement should be a ‘like-for-like player whose inclusion will not excessively advantage his team for the remainder of the match’.
Thus, on September 2, 2019, in the second innings of the second Test of the India tour of West Indies at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, Jermaine Blackwood replaced Darren Bravo as a concussion substitute. The latter retired hurt on 23 on the fourth morning, having been hit on the head by a bouncer from India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah the previous evening; a subsequent medical examination confirmed that Bravo was, in fact, suffering from concussion.
Blackwood went on to score 38 before being caught at the wicket, again off Bumrah, but his arrival at the crease meant that fast bowler Shannon Gabriel – a bona fide tailender, with a Test average of just 4.32 with the bat – was demoted from his usual No.11 position and came in at No. 12. Gabriel may have made history, but there was to be no fairytale ending for him or his team. In fact, he was at the crease for just four minutes and faced just one delivery, without scoring, before West Indies’ captain Jason Holder was clean bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for 39, giving India victory by 257 runs.