The Sporting Almanac Podcast

World Cup Series Ep. 4 - Refereeing ControversyIt is said referees have the hardest job in football. You can do your job perfectly 99.9% of the time, and have your entire career defined by the 0.1%. You are a figure of hatred, of derision, sometimes even of violent intent. But you lace up your boots, pick up your whistle and go again next week.As football fans, most of us can forgive minor mistakes, basic human error. But when a decision decides if your nation progresses or goes home, when a decision leads to injury or farce, or simply when you cannot believe the evidence of your own eyes that an error so brazen can be allowed - we universally cannot stand for it.Today we present our top 10 refereeing controversies, from 1930 through to the modern day. We have dodgy timekeeping, fascist influencers, bloody battles, hands of God and possibly the single worst challenge in football history going unpunished.There is pure speculation on our part, as always, such as wondering how one host nation in South Korea, 2002, can be the beneficiary of so many fortuitous decisions during their run to the semi-finals, and what might motivate an organisation such as FIFA to facilitate such good luck. Theoretically, of course.Mentioned in the episode (viewer discretion is advised) - Schumacher's challenge on Battiston in Seville, 1982.https://youtu.be/6FtBPjqOlEg?is=H1CY6jBzl09_Lsng

World Cup Series Ep. 2 - Origin StoryWith the World Cup a little over 24 hours away, we talk about the tournament, its truly terrible format, and about exactly why it is coming home.We also delve into the World Cup and FIFA's origin stories, about Uruguay 1930 and how the tournaments finances have evolved to today - setting us up nicely for the next episode...--------------------------------Credit: This episode contains music from Fesliyan Studios. Find their huge collection at https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/

The UEFA European FinalsWith one extraordinarily happy host in Ben, who has worn nothing but Arsenal shirts since the final whistle blew in Bournemouth last week, we preview the three European finals (even the one that already happened) as he hopes to go from obnoxiously delighted to utterly unbearable with a Gunners win in Budapest.But it's not just about Arsenal, far from it. We talk Europa and Conference League's too, about whether the former has been watered down by the ever growing number of Champions League qualifiers, and whether the latter is a tin pot or a magnificent opportunity for fans of traditionally smaller teams to experience a European run (ok, definitely option 2 on that one).Finally, we go back to our favourite topic - has the Champions League become a closed shop for the giants of the European game, can a Crystal Palace or even arguably an Aston Villa really hope to be able to compete for it year after year, or does state investment, financial "fair play" regulations and unbalanced leagues outside of England make this an unachievable goal, even with sustained success?

Oil, Oligarchs and the FA Cup FinalFootball has changed a lot since the glory days of the FA Cup. Some things are better left in the past - muddy Wembley pitches, heavy footballs and serious injuries every other final. Other things are still sorely missed - breakfast time coverage on Cup Final morning, joyous pitch invasions, and the genuine belief that almost anyone could win it.That unpredictability fading away has perhaps done more than anything else to fuel claims that the magic of the Cup is disappearing. In the last thirty years, just five clubs have won all but four FA Cup finals: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and this season’s finalists, Manchester City and Chelsea.This episode stands in stark contrast to last year’s celebration of the competition’s glorious history. Instead, this is something of a rant - and at times, a genuinely concerned one - about modern football and the financial imbalance that increasingly defines it. No clubs embody that shift more clearly than City and Chelsea, both transformed from outsiders into serial winners by vast wealth in remarkably short periods of time.Now, with accusations of financial impropriety hanging over one club and proven rule breaches with relatively limited punishment attached to the other, both stand at the forefront of a modern football economy dominated by a handful of superclubs. Clubs whose spending power - despite regulations supposedly designed to create financial fairness - continues to dwarf that of almost everyone else, while those same rules seem to be making it even harder for challengers to catch up.Because ultimately, how can the FA Cup ever truly regain its old magic when the highest reaches of the game feel less accessible than ever before?

The Six Nations - Italy16 wins in 130 games in the Six Nations paints a picture of Italy as perennial whipping boys, fodder for the more established nations, perhaps even unworthy of their place at the top table of European and Northern Hemisphere Rugby Union. But it does not tell the full story of Italy's continuous and steady rise and genuine improvement since they first joined the competition in the year 2000.Playing catch up to five other nations where Rugby Union is in some cases a national obsession, in others a well organised and established secondary national sport, especially when you yourselves have fingers in so many sporting pies spreading talent pools thin - it was never going to be easy, and it was never going to be quick. But slowly and surely, led by legends of the game like Andrea Masi, the Bergamasco brothers and the irrepressible Sergio Parisse, the Italians have built fast, caught up and now stand as a genuine challenge to anyone in the tournament, especially at home.In this episode we look at the quarter century of Italy in the competition and ask the important questions: How good are Italy really now? Could they win the Six Nations in the next decade? And what is it they have in common with Micah Richards? For the answers to these and more, friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your ears!

Super Bowl LX - Seattle Seahawks vs. New England PatriotsThe Super Bowl simply needs no introduction. It is, one way or another, the biggest event on the annual sporting calendar. Multi-million dollar advertisements, tickets in the tens of thousands of dollars and more, a half time show some people look forward to more than the football... and behind it all, you have two conference champions vying for the only things that universally matter in the game - the Vince Lombardi trophy, a Super Bowl ring and immortality.Today, we focus on three main events of Jack's choosing - his favourite Super Bowl, his choice for the most important Super Bowl in history, and his greatest Super Bowl fairy-tale. Expect helmet catches, a league turned upside down, grocery store shelf stacking, and destiny fulfilled across the board.Ben takes us on a preview of this season's event framed around the last time the Seahawks took on the Patriots, where the Seahawks famously did not run the ball and blew the chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls, a wound Seattle will be desperate to heal in Santa Clara on Sunday. And Jack, for one, very much hopes they will...Plays Mentioned in the Episode:The Helmet Catch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlyBEJ60DucPhilly Special (mic'd up) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XmhBaUdgesWarner to Bruce 73yd touchdown - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ui9eOuMScI

Winter Olympics Series Episode X - Alpine Skiing and its SuperwomenWe bring our Winter Olympics series to a close just in time for the opening ceremony, and finish with the true blue ribbon events of the games - Alpine Skiing, consisting of the Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Team Combined and, the crème de la crème of the winter games, the Downhill events.The latter is designed to test the six core components of technique, courage, speed, risk, physical condition and judgement, perhaps none more so than courage. Athletes can reach speeds in excess of 150kph, injury (or worse) is never more than a moments misjudgement away. There is no test in sport like it.We take a look particularly at the careers of two incredible women: Mikaela Shiffrin, arguably the greatest ever to strap on a pair of skis; and Ester Ledecká, the first person to compete at both Snowboarding and Skiing at the same Olympics - impressive enough, but what happened when she did is no less than extraordinary.Mikaela Shiffrinhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXZONudWZSwEster Ledeckáhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke0bRzCWz1c