Is fishing a sport?

According to the Britannica Dictionary, a sport is ‘a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other’. Fishing, or angling, is the activity of catching or attempting to catch fish, freshwater or saltwater, from the wild for sport, recreation or food. So-called ‘sport fishing’ is usually done with a rod, reel, fishing line and ‘tackle’, in the form of hooks, weights and floats. As such, while opinions vary as to the level of physical exertion required, casting the line and retrieving it, when a fish is hooked, or continuously, in the case of fly fishing, inevitably involves some physical activity. Furthermore, in competitive sport fishing, anglers go head to head against each other for a variety of prize and awards, but are nonetheless governed by national rules, local byelaws and individual competition rules.

Thus, it is difficult to argue that any form of fishing in which anglers compete against each is anything but a sport. Indeed, the global governing body for sport fishing, the Confédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive (CIPS), which was founded in Rome in 1922, is affiliated to the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), formerly SportAccord, such that sport fishing is officially recognised as a sport.

Interestingly, the GAISF definition of sport includes a clause that reads ‘…sport should in no way be harmful to any living creatures’, which appears to be at odds with animal rights organisations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA argues that even ‘catch-and-release’ fishing causes fish pain, physical injury and physiological stress, which can ultimately lead to their demise when returned to the water.

Which jockey rode Foinavon to victory in the 1967 Grand National?

Since 1984, the seventh (and twenty-third) fence on the Grand National Course at Aintree has borne the name of ‘Foinavon’, who, in 1967, was the only horse to avoid a mêlée at the fence and went on to win at odds of 100/1. Ironically, as the riderless Popham Down led the field over Becher’s Brook on the second circuit, commentator Michael O’Hehir mentioned the fact that the loose horse didn’t appear to be causing interference. At least, not until the next fence, which the same horse ran down, bringing everything, bar Foinavon, to a standstill.

In any event, the lucky jockey that day was the late John Buckingham, who, with a clear view of the pile-up, show-jumped the fence on the outside and continued unimpeded. Buckingham later remarked, ‘It wasn’t until the Canal Turn [the next obstacle] that I knew I was on my own’. Many of the other jockeys remounted and set off in hot pursuit, but Foinavon was not for catching and passed the post 15 lengths ahead of his nearest pursuer, 15/2 favourite Honey End, ridden by the last Josh Gifford.

Foinavon had been bought by owner Cyril Watkins two years previously expressly to run in the Grand National but, on the day, neither Watkins nor his trainer, John Kempton, were at Aintree. Indeed, Buckingham was only offered the ride on Foinavon – his first in the Grand National – three days before the race, after it was turned down by three other jockeys. Notwithstanding his extravagant starting price, Foinavon had proved unpopular with other riders because Watkins refused to pay more than the flat riding fee, which, at the time, was £5/10/-. Neverthless, Buckingham was only to keen to take the ride on the nine-year-old, later revealing, ‘I’d have ridden Dick’s donkey to be in the Grand National…’

Who invented curling?

Curling is a winter sport, typically played indoors on artificial ice-rinks, by two teams of four players. The object of the sport is to score points by sliding granite stones, or ‘rocks’, each of which weighs 19kg, or 44lb, across the playing surface, known as a curling ‘sheet’, to finish as close as possible to the centre of three concentric circles marked on the ice, known as the ‘house’. Each round, or ‘end’, of curling consists of eight stones for each team, with each player delivering two, while two team-mates brush, or sweep, the ice in front of the stone, if necessary, to make it slide further and straighter. The rotational spin of the stone may cause it to deviate, or ‘curl’, away from a straight line, which is where the name of the sport comes from.

Curling is believed to be one of the oldest team sport in the world, for all that its exact origin is unknown. Documentary evidence dating from c.1540 records a challenge between Gavin Hamilton, a representative of the Abbot of Paisley Abbey, in Renfrewshire in the Scottish Lowlands, and John Sclater, a junior monk. Likewise, the painting ‘Hunters in the Snow (Winter)’ by the Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which dates from 1565, depicts ice skating and other winter activities, one of which is almost certainly curling.

The national governing body for the sport of curling in Scotland, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club – which, nowadays, trades as Scottish Curling – was founded, as the ‘Grand Caledonian Curling Club’, in Edinburgh in 1838 and received royal approval from Queen Victoria four years later. By that stage, curling had already been exported to North America by Scottish émigrés, with the first curling club opening in Montreal, Canada in 1807. Curling became an Olympic sport at the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France in 1924, but was only recognised as such, retrospectively, by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2006.

Which player holds the record for the highest single-frame in professional snooker?

Of course, barring fouls, the maximum number of points available in a single frame of snooker is 147. However, since the ‘miss’ rule was introduced to professional snooker, in September, 1995, players can, at the discretion of their opponent, be made to replay a shot indefinitely, conceding penalty points each time they do so. Thus, the potential for single-frame scores in excess, or well in excess, of 147 points is inherent to modern professional snooker.

For example, during a best-of-19-frame, first-round match in the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in April, 1999, Welsh professional Dominic Dale accrued a single-frame score of 167 points. His total consisted of a single red, 44 penalty points conceded by his opponent, Nigel Bond, and a break of 122. Bond, though, won the match 10-6, before being beaten 13-11 by Ken Doherty in the second round.

Dale set a record that would last over 22 years, until it was finally broken by English professional Jimmy Robertson in what turned out to be the final frame of a best-of-seven-frame, last-64 match against former Welsh professional Lee Walker in the re-arranged Scottish Open at Venue Cymru, Llandudno in December, 2021. After potting a long red, Robertson rolled the cue ball tight behind the brown and Walker subsequently made nine unsuccessful attempts to hit a red, conceding 40 penalty points in the process. Later in the frame, Walker conceded another four penalty points, such that he trailed 45-6, but Robertson made a clearance of 133 to close out the match 4-1 and set a new single-frame record of 178 points. Robertson was subsequently beaten 4-3 by eventual runner-up Anthony McGill in the last 32.

Who was the only boxer to knock out ‘Cinderella Man’ James Braddock?

Born in New York City on June 7, 1905, James Braddock first fought for the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) World Light Heavyweight title against Tommy Loughran at Yankee Stadium on July 18, 1929, but lost by unanimous decision. Thereafter, in the early years of the Great Depression, his career took a downturn and, at one stage, he was forced to file for government relief, of $17 a week, to support his family.

However, on June 14, 1934, Braddock stepped in as a subsitute opponent for promising heavyweight John ‘Corn’ Griffin at Madison Square Garden Bowl and, unexpectedly, won by technical knockout in the third round. Two more unforeseen points victories later, against John Henry Lewis on November 16, 1934 and Art Lasky on March 22, 1935, both at Madison Square Garden, Braddock had earned another world title fight.

On June 13, 1935, back at Madison Square Garden Bowl, Braddock faced reigning National Boxing Association (NBA) and NYSAC World Heavyweight champion Max Baer. Braddock, 30, was conceding 17lb in weight and 6″ in reach to Baer, 26, and started the fight as the 10/1 underdog. However, Baer produced a lacklustre, listless performance, at least for the first two-thirds of the fight and, even when he increased his work rate, his efforts came to little.

Braddock, by contrast, stuck to his task and eventually ran out a solid winner, by unanimous decision. His exploits did not go unnoticed by newspaperman Alfred ‘Damon’ Runyon, who dubbed him the ‘Cinderella Man’ on the grounds that his ‘was the old story re-enacted in its elementals with a big pugilist in the leading role.’

Braddock made just one, unsuccessful, defence of his titles against Joe Louis at Comiskey Park, Chicago on June 22, 1935, wjere he was knocked out – for the one and only time in his career – in the eighth round. However, he negotiated a clause whereby, if he lost, he would receive 10% of any future title purses won by Louis, so he was set for life whatever happened.