The National Football League (NFL) was founded, as the American Professional Football Association (APFA), in Canton, Ohio in 1920 and became known by its current name two years later. In just over a century of its history, the record high score overall occurred in a regular-season game between Washington Redskins – now, of course, Washington Commanders – and the New York Giants at District of Columbia Stadium, Washington, D.C., on November 27, 1966. To put that date in perspective, it was exactly seven weeks before Super Bowl I, played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum the following January.
With home advantage, the Redskins, coached by Otto Everett Graham Jr., were made 17-point favourites by the bookmakers and duly took a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter, courtesy of two touchdowns by running back A.D. Whitfield and a third by defensive back Brig Owens. Indeed, having returned a defensive fumble 62 yards for his touchdown, Owens threw the ball into the crowd, thereby contributing to the total of 14 footballs that disappeared into the stands during the game; the practice of hanging nets behind goal posts was not introduced until 1967, so extra-point kicks accounted for the other 13.
The Giants briefly cut the Redskins’ lead to 20-7 but, after Whitfield scored his third touchdown of the game later in the second quarter, they were never less than 13 points behind. All told, the Redskins scored ten touchdowns, and a solitary field goal, in the dying seconds, while the Giants scored six touchdowns, for a final scoreline of 72-41 and a combined points total of 113.
The record high score may have been set six decades ago, but it has only been seriously challenged twice; in November 2004, Cincinnati Bengals beat Cleveland Browns 58-48 at Paul Brown Stadium, for a combined total of 106 points and, in November 2018, Los Angeles Rams beat Kansas City Chiefs 54-51 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, for a combined total of 105.
In the absence of time travel to the past – which, while theoretically possible, remains largely the preserve of science fiction – the oldest sport in the world will always be a matter for conjecture. According to Cambridge Dictionary, ‘sport’ is ‘a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job’. Thus, while the origins of various modern sports are prehistoric, the details of when they became ‘sports’, in the modern sense, are lost in the mists of time.
For example, the earliest direct evidence of bow and arrow technology dates from the Paleolithic period, 64,000 years ago, but the use of the bow as a hunting weapon, or for warfare, for that matter, is not quite the same as shooting arrows at an inanimate target. However, recreational archery was practised by civilisations of ancient Egypt, which dates from c.4,000 BCE, and ancient Greece, which dates from c.1,200 BCE.
Likewise, one of the earliest depictions of people swimming or, at least, people in a prone position with arms and legs bent, as if swimming, can be found in the so-called ‘Cave of Swimmers’, in southwestern Egypt. The Neolithic rock art is believed to date from c.8,000 years ago, during the African Humid Period, a.k.a. The Green Sahara, when the Sahara Desert was covered with lush vegetation and lakes.
Perhaps the most convincing evidence for the oldest sport(s) in the world, though, can be found in the Grotte de Lascaux, or ‘Lascaux Cave’, in southwestern France. The cave contains numerous paintings dating from the Upper Paleolithic period, c.15,300 years ago, including depictions of sprinters and wrestlers who, whether competing recreationally or professionally, were presumably doing so according to rules of some kind.
According to the governing body of Rugby Union, World Rugby, Tier One consists of the teams that contest the Six Nations Championship, in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Rugby Championship, in the Southern Hemisphere. Collectively, those teams are England, France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, from the former, and Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, from the latter.
Given the cut and thrust of modern professional Test rugby, it’s frankly hard to imagine that any match between two of those nations has ever finished 0-0, but is has, and did so for the last time at Murrayfield on January 18, 1964. On a murky, frosty day which, in fairness, was hardly conducive to free-flowing, ball-in-hand rugby, Scotland faced a touring New Zealand side that had already beaten Ireland, Wales and England and was closing in on a ‘Grand Slam’ against the four home nations.
According to British Pathé, the All Blacks pack, which included captain Wilson Whineray, was ‘about a stone a man heavier than Scotland’, but as Scottish flanker Jim Telfer later recalled, ‘We kept them on their toes and broke up play by wheeling the scrum a lot, which was legal, and constantly dribbling with our feet, which was the Scottish way.’
Telfer added, ‘Their [colossal, 17-stone] full-back Don Clarke was the best kicker in the world, so we tried to play in their half, because the balls back then were so heavy he needed to be quite close to score.’ The strategy worked, with Clarke missing four penalties and two attempts at drop goals.
The match was, no doubt, error-strewn, but no less exciting as a result. At the final whistle, many of the 70,000-strong crowd invaded the pitch in jubilant celebration. Aside from the scoreless draw, the All Blacks won 34 of their 36 matches on the tour, losing just once, 3-0 to Newport at Rodney Parade, in the third match the previous October.
Strictly speaking, the Eau Rouge is a minor tributary of the River Amblève, or Amel, which flows through the province of Liège in eastern Belgium. Eau Rouge translates into English as ‘Red Water’ and the watercourse takes its name from its red hue, due to deposits of ferric oxide or haematite. However, Eau Rouge is also the name of a corner on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, or Spa, for short, in Stavelot, Belgium, situated at the point where the track crosses the stream for the first time.
Eau Rouge is, almost certainly, the most famous corner in Formula One motor racing but, in truth, it is just the first part of a very fast, left-right-left sequence that constitutes turns 3, 4 and 5 on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. At the start of a Grand Prix, cars have just a short run into the first corner on the circuit, a very tight right-hand hairpin, known as La Source and, thereafter, accelerate downhill to Eau Rouge.
To avoid any confusion, though, Eau Rouge is the left-hand kink at the base of the dip; the steeply uphill, right-hand corner that follows is known as ‘Raidillon’, which translates as ‘Steep Path’, and the corner sequence finishes with another kink to the left at the crest of the rise. Before World War II, Eau Rouge was followed by a right-hand hairpin, known as Ancienne Douane but, to make the circuit faster, the hairpin was cut off by the corner known, since 1939, as Raidillon.
Historically, the Eau Rouge – Raidillon climb was considered the most challenging corner in Formula One. Technological advances and safety modifications have reduced its overall difficulty but, granted it is driven flat out, at speeds in excess of 300 km/h, it should continue to produce the same adrenalin rush, for drivers and spectators alike, as it always has for some time yet.
Of course, under normal circumstances, the ‘maximum’ break possible in a frame of snooker is 147, consisting of 15 reds, 15 blacks and the six colours in sequence. The first such break, officially ratified by the world governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), was compiled by Steve Davis in a quarter-final match against John Spencer in the Lada Classic at the Civic Centre in Oldham, Greater Manchester in January, 1982. According to the WPBSA, at the last count, 185 ‘maximum’ breaks had been made in professional tournament play.
However, if, after a foul, the cue-ball is snookered – that is, no ball ‘on’ can be hit on both extreme edges without obstruction by a ball, or balls, not ‘on’ – the striker may nominate any ball, other than the ball ‘on’, as a ‘free ball’. If this situation occurs with all 15 reds remaining on the table, it effectively creates an ‘extra’ red, such that a maximum break of 155 is theoretically possible.
No professional snooker player has compiled a 155 break in tournament play, but Scottish former professional Jamie Burnett did complete 16-red clearance during his second round qualifying match against Leo Fernandez in the UK Championship at Pontins in Prestatyn, North East Wales in October, 2004. Early in the fourteenth frame, Burnett was snookered after a foul and hence nominated brown as a free ball, followed by brown again, and went on to complete a total clearance – 15 reds, 12 blacks, two pinks and one blue plus, of course, the colours in sequence – for a total of 148. His remarkable feat remains the highest break in the history of professional tournament play and seems unlikely to be beaten any time soon.