KENJI'S SPORTING CORNER

By: Kenji

The Day I Became a Woman

Notable films on sporting subjects. And a space for my own sporting lists (I admit it, that was the main incentive for this list). Yes, i know many sports films are hardly masterpieces, some are corny, winning against all the odds clichés and competitive macho hoo-ha (i hate Rocky). Still, quite a few are well worth checking out. City Lights is worthy of inclusion for its brilliant boxing section alone. I was tempted to leave out some in the bottom part of the list, but thought it might be useful to have a library subject guide.

Suggestions please, i’d like a more international list, it’s heavily Anglophone. As an antidote to the male domination of the genre and media coverage i put the Iranian film Offside, an engaging satire about female supporters barred from attending football matches, first on the list. Also from Iran, The Day I Became a Woman‘s central section features a young woman participating in a bike race whose reactionary male family members attempt to stop her en route. The Tarnished Angels, by Douglas Sirk, is a neglected treasure centred on the glamorous daredevil plane racing scene in the 50s. In the excellent 60s British film Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Tom Courtenay is an incarcerated teen whose running ability has him selected for a race against a posh school. When We Were Kings by Leon Gast is a fascinating documentary about the great 1974 heavyweight boxing contest between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, that effectively captures the heady spirit of the occasion and Ali’s psychological games against the fearsome champion. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner is a superior short Werner Herzog documentary, about a top ski-jumper of the 70s who was also a skilled, yes, woodcarver. I’m looking forward to seeing Fire in Babylon about the West Indies cricket team in its golden era, the 70s and 80s- ooh, the way Viv Richards hammered England to all corners in the long hot summer of 76!
—

City Lights

Films Missing from Mubi:

The Fencing Master
Gatica el Mono
The Boxer and the Death

and a great cycling documentary

Giro d’Italia- The Greatest Show on Earth

SPORT

My first sporting hero was the Motocross rider Terry Challinor in yellow and black, number 111, when, barely a tot, i would go each year to the local scramble (a major event in the British motocross calendar, with the nation’s top riders, oh yes). I’ve since become an international motorbike rider; er well, I’ve twice ridden motorbikes abroad, once into a ditch in Corfu, once into a wall in France. Rugby, ah there i fared a bit better, but gave it up as i was reaching my peak- training night clashed with seeing my then girlfriend in France. No contest. The other players were shocked by my attitude. I was a disgrace to the sport and the brotherhood of man. At school, I gave exhibitions in the noble art of boxing, and would have excelled at cross country running (i would never walk if i could run, the hills of Wales were my friends) if races weren’t so damned painful. And people do that for pleasure? Cricket: i strolled to the crease for the team with a nonchalant majesty. Some kid’s comment “here comes Majid Khan, he’ll be out first ball!” proved astonishingly prophetic. Bradman got a duck in his final innings- one better, my duck was golden. Rink bowls, ah now there i had something, the Welsh international neighbour who gave me a few games compared me to another lad in the next town who also had great promise. After a few weeks i was off and away, and the other teenager went on to be world champion. Ah, the cruelty of fate. And so for years i’ve been a couch potato, dreaming of glories that might have been, the winning try for Wales that got away. As for lists, my first lists as a kid were sporting and i can enjoy regressing into that reassuring pastime here, hopefully stirring up some arguments among sports fans along the way. Do let me know where you disagree or have someone to champion. Oh, or any films worth adding too.

Sporting Heroes

Barry John, “the king” (Welsh Rugby player), he walked on water

Majid Khan (Pakistan cricketer), the most beautiful stroke-maker
Muhammad Ali
Roger Federer
Peter “the cat” Bonetti (Chelsea goalkeeper)

Chiyonofuji “the wolf” (Sumo wrestler)-power, speed, technique and will
Gareth Edwards (Welsh Rugby player)

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson (Welsh wheelchair athlete)
Robert Millar (Scottish cyclist)
Rosa Mota (Portuguese distance runner)
Haile Gebreselassie (Ethiopian distance runner)
John Charles (Welsh footballer)
Viv Richards (Antiguan cricketer)
Ryan Giggs (Welsh footballer). I can’t stand the gutter press and lynch mobs
Pelé

Top 10 Sportsmen
Muhammad Ali
Pelé
Roger Federer
Eddy Merckx
Usain Bolt
Michael Phelps
Michael Jordan
Jesse Owens
Haile Gebrselassie
Carl Lewis
+
Don Bradman, Paavo Nurmi, Jim Thorpe, Wayne Gretzky, Naim Süleymanoğlu, Fausto Coppi, Michael Schumacher, Jack Nicklaus, Johann Cruyff, Rod Laver, Lance Armstrong, Sugar Ray Robinson, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Mark Spitz, Ayrton Senna, Emil Zatopek, Diego Maradona, Juan Fangio, Gary Sobers, Steve Redgrave, Gareth Edwards, Ed Moses…

Top 10 Footballers
Pelé
Johann Cruyff
Maradona
Lionel Messi
Alfredo Di Stefano
Franz Beckenbauer
Ferenc Puskas
Zinedine Zidane
Ronaldo
Garrincha
+
Eusebio, Michel Platini, Giuseppe Meazza, Marco Van Basten, Bobby Charlton, Lev Yashin, Romario, Paolo Maldini, Gerd Muller, Zico, John Charles, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lothar Matthaus, Franco Baresi, Ronaldinho, George Best, Ruud Gullit, Bobby Moore, Michael Laudrup, Gianni Rivera, Juan Schiaffino, José Andrade, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Krol, Giacinto Facchetti, Matthias Sindelar, Raymond Kopa, Luis Figo, Roberto Baggio, Josef Bican, Georghi Hagi, José Moreno, Kenny Dalglish, Duncan Edwards, Hugo Sanchez, Didi, Gunnar Nordahl, George Weah, Just Fontaine, Stanley Matthews, Ryan Giggs, Daniel Passarella, Zizinho….

Top 10 Boxers
Muhammad Ali
Sugar Ray Robinson
Joe Louis
Henry Armstrong
Jimmy Wilde
Harry Greb
Willie Pep
Sugar Ray Leonard
Manny Pacquiao
Roberto Duran
+
Roy Jones, Jack Johnson, Rocky Marciano, Marvin Hagler, Julio Cesar Chavez, Floyd Mayweather, Benny Leonard, Sam Langford, Carlos Monzon, Archie Moore, Bernard Hopkins, Thomas Hearns, Ezzard Charles, Pernell Whitaker, Joe Gans, Jack Dempsey, George Foreman, Joe Calzaghe, Alexis Arguello, Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes..

Rugby XV
G.Price (Wales)
FitzpatrIck (New Zealand)
Du Randt (South Africa)
Meads (NZ)
Eales (Australia)
McCaw (NZ)
M.Jones (NZ)
Du Preez (SA)
Edwards (Wales)
John (Wales)
Lomu (NZ)
Gerber (SA)
O’Driscoll (Ireland)
Campese (Australia)
Blanco (France)
+
Whineray (NZ), Paperemborde (France), Wood (Ireland), Johnson (England), Mayfield (SA), McBride (Ireland), Rives (France), Gallagher (NZ), Pienaar (SA), Brooke (NZ), M.Davies (Wales), Shelford (NZ), Van der Westhuizen (SA), Gregan (Australia), Going (NZ), Ella (Australia), Carter (NZ), Wilkinson (England), Porta (Argentina), Gibson (Ireland), Sella (France), Horan (Australia), Umaga (NZ), B.Williams (Wales), Kirwan (NZ), G.Davies (Wales), Cullen (NZ), JPR Williams (Wales), Clarke (NZ).. so many contenders

Cricket XI
Hobbs (England)
Gavaskar (India)
Bradman (Australia)
Tendulkar (India)
Richards (West Indies)
Sobers (West Indies)
Gilchrist (Australia)
Imran (Pakistan)
Marshall (West Indies)
Warne (Australia)
Lillee (Australia)

+
WG Grace, B.Richards, Sutcliffe, Trumper, Hutton, Hammond, G. Pollock, Zaheer, Ponting, G.Chappell, G.Headley, Sehwag, Weekes, Javed, Woolley, Compton, Jayasuriya, Kallis, Miller, Botham, Kapil Dev, Rhodes, Hadlee, S.Pollock, Wasim Akram, McGrath, Trueman, Ambrose, Garner, Waqar, Donald, Holding, Hall, Barnes, Spofforth, Muralitharan, O’Reilly, Laker, Kumble…

Tennis (male)
1.Roger Federer
2.Rod Laver
3.Pancho Gonzales
4.Pete Sampras
5.Bjorn Borg
6.Bill Tilden
7.Don Budge
8.Jack Kramer
+Nadal, Connors, Agassi, McEnroe, Lendl, Hoad, Emerson, Perry, Rosewall, Riggs, Renshaw, Becker, Edberg, Djokovic..

Tennis (female)
1.Martina Navratilova
2.Margaret Court
3.Helen Wills-Moody
4.Steffi Graf
5.Billie Jean King
6.Suzanne Lenglen
7.Chris Evert
8.Serena Williams
9.Maureen Connolly
10.Monica Seles
Justine Henin, Maria Bueno, Lottie Dod, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams..

_~
Here’s Olga Korbut, darling of the 1972 Olympics, the first i was able to watch properly as we just got a TV- what an event it was!

_~
While doing this list i found out that Terry Challinor is still competing, well into his 60s. The man once held in awe by a small boy- still in the yellow and black, after all these years. And i see his arch rival of the time Andy Roberton, who lived up my street, is still going strong too, both putting younger riders to shame. Well, the discovery has made doing the list worthwhile. And if anyone wonders why Tiger Woods isn’t in my overall sporting top 10, well look what Tom Watson and Greg Norman have done recently- doesn’t say too much for the current crop does it? In fact, Jack Nicklaus may still have the greater claim. The media hypes the current generation and so many oldies get neglected. Same with films. So much knowledge available online and dvd, yet it seems horizons are ever smaller, in time and space. For so many it seems films began with Star Wars or Pulp Fiction, never extended beyond Hollywood, and the top sporting greats are all from the last few years!