Supberbowl XLVII disappointment

In addition to supporting Durham and Surrey County  cricket clubs, Newcastle United, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace in association Football, Warrington in Rugby League, I had followed the Chicago Bears and San Francisco Forty Niners for thirty years and in so doing watched more than half the Superbowls regarded as a World Cup in the USA  despite the fact that only teams from the two Premier Football leagues in the USA compete.

On Sunday night into the early hours I watched Superbowl XLVII when I was  almost in tears before the start as the Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus sang America the Brave with Jenifer Hudson..

I became interested in American Football game when it was first shown on television in the UK and watching a game on a projected large screen during my month at the Henley management Colleges was one of my highlights there. This was the era of the Chicago Bears and the fridge. Because a relative could not find a shirt for the Bears in the shops one Christmas I was given the bright red, white lettering with brown helmet shirt for the San Francisco 49ners instead. This was a shrewd purchase because the 49ners had commenced an extraordinary decade of triumphant under coach Bill Walsh and quarterbacks Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. My enthusiasm was such that I bought a computer game in the days of tapes and also saw  two pre season warm up games at Wembley  with the 49ers playing in one. 

San Francisco won 5 Superbowls between 1981 and 1994 The team has remained in San Francisco throughout its Franchise and for a couple of decades had close rivals the when the Cleveland Rams moved and became the Los Angels Rams 1946-1994, a rivalry similar to that between Newcastle and Sunderland.

It was the arrival of Joe Montana as the Quarterback whose influence helped bring the first Superbowl title in 1981 breaking record after record and in the 1984 season the team lost only one game of the sixteen, winning all the others. And although a 16-0 has been achieved their record of 19 successive wins remains to this day. They beat the Chicago Bears to play in the final and beat the Miami Dolphins to take the title for the second time. Their entire defence was chosen for the subsequent Pro Bowl, the first time.

In 1985 there was the arrival of another legend Jerry Rice a draft pick from Mississippi State university. After winning their third Superbowl with Rice named the most valuable player (Montana was named three times) coach Bill Walsh retired but this did not stop the team continuing their run of success as they gained their fourth title beating Denver 55 to 10, the biggest margin of victory in the competition to-date. They were the first team to win back to back Superbowls under different coaches. The last of the five wins came in 1994 after a number of major team changes.

As the decade and millennium drew to a close family disputes led to legal actions over the controlling interests and which appeared to signal a downturn in the playing fortunes of the club.

The appointment of Jim Harbaugh as head coach in January two years ago and the arrival of Colin Keapernick as first choice quarterback. Has changed fortunes one more and brought the 49ners to the Superbowl once more.

Jim Harbaugh was born just before Christmas in 1963, the son of a college football coach and his brother John is head coach of the Superbowl rivals the Baltimore Ravens, A sister is married to the head coach of the men’s Indiana basketball team. He has had cardio vascular surgery to correct  an abnormal heart beat and is a co owner of Indy car Racing Team, the Panther racers.

I first encountered Jim ( on TV) when after his career in college football he was a first draft pick as quarterback for the Chicago Bear in 1987, He moved to the Indianapolis Colts 1994-1997 and eh also played one season for the Ravens, he continued playing until 2001 but from 1994 he also gained experience as an Assistant coach to his father at Western Kentucky University. He then became quarterback coach for the Oakland Raiders and in 2004 became head coach at the University of San Diego, moving to Stamford University for the 2007 season before his appointment to the 49ners.

A new stadium to replace that at Candlewick Park commenced to be built in 2012 at Santa Clara outside the City although all the titles and legacy will remain when the team moves to the new state of the art premises for the 2014 season, where on the site is already the training facilities and administrative offices.

The game was a great anticlimax as San Francisco made mistakes from almost the first moment when a gain of 20 yards first down was riles out because of an illegal line up formation. They never recovered from this with Baltimore scoring three touch downs and taking a 21 to 6 point lead just before half time. During the  interval between the first and second quarters, the BBC (two) had a American football fan Olympic gold media list rower who was attending his first live game in the USA and was sitting a couple of rose away from  legend Jerry Rice. He was too shy to ask for a photo with the man although the BBC team no doubt arranged for one after saying he should mention was an Olympic gold medallist, The second half guest  while the  entertainment was being prepared was the British Rugby player Martin Johnson who captained the Lions World Cup success in 2003. He had been a strong American Football and 49ners supports having attended their training session where he was introduced as the worlds greatest rugby  union player. He had never seen the team play live and was very disappointed with how things were going. They went from bad to worse as at the kick off by the 49ners the received caught the ball on the one yard line and touched down to make the longest return run in the history of the competition for Baltimore with 109 yards in 11 seconds to lead 28 to 6.  When the lights in part of  the ground and there was a temporary delay I decided enough was enough and went to bed. I was both wrong and right.

In fact the temporary break provided the opportunity for the coach to impress upon he team the need for considerable improvement in he execution of he  play book  Colin Keapernick finds Michael Crabtree who avoids two tackles to reach the end zone and the score becomes 28 to 13 after the conversion. Frank Gore then runs the ball into the end zone to make the score 28 to 20 after the conversion and for the first time the Baltimore fans realise the game is not over. Could this be the greatest turn around in Superbowl history? After another couple of minutes San Francisco are able to add another three points with a field goal and the gap becomes 5 points. 17 points scored in four minutes of field play. This brought to an end the third quarter with everyone now tense as the fourth commenced. Of course by then I knew the outcome as I watched the rerun of the game the following day.

Baltimore can only get a field goal themselves tot take the score to 31 to 23 so San Francisco need  a touch down with a two point conversion to tie the game. The clock is running down. San Francisco get another touch down. Is history to be written? Unfortunately the two point conversion attempt fails. It is 31 to 29. The Ravens retaliate with a field goal but the difference is only five points so the 49ers ruin the field clock down to the two minutes before making their push for a winning touch down. The play is brilliant and they get with six on the fourth which fails. The coach claims he player was held back but his pleas are ignored. Baltimore concedes a safety and two points. They know what they are doing. The final score is 43 to 32. In fairness  the 49ners never took the lead and were always chasing the game after such a s disastrous start, There  is always next year.   

Newcastle V Chelsea Febuary 2nd 2013

I listened to Newcastle playing Chelsea at St James Pak on Saturday afternoon February 2nd 2013  on BBC Live 5 via the TV and then watched the whole game as Sky’s match of the day at 8.25 and then the highlights and analysis on Match of the Day. Newcastle started confidently with Gouffran having a shot in the first minute and Cabaye in the third who had two more  attempts in the 21st minute as well as one before in the 19th. However it is Cisse who had the better opportunities in the 4th and 19th, Moussa Sissoko was playing well but no indication of the performance to come. Juan Mata and Frank Lampard for Chelsea were  threatening but as yet finding it difficult to get into the game. I, and I suspect many other supporters in the ground was becoming concerned that with all this dominance but no goals, the team would go behind when Chelsea got themselves into full gear, I have witnessed so many game where if dominance fails to be converted into goals, the game is drawn or lost. A third of the game has passed without an indication of the excitement to come.

There were then two incidents which changed the game. Jonas Gutierrez, who has been captain this season indicated to the club that he wished to return to Argentina for personal reason before the Winter Transfer period but has been persuaded to remain until the end of the season. As if to mark this development he scored a rare goal, with his head, glancing it into the corner beyond the reach of the Chelsea goal keep in the 41st minute. This was fair reward for Newcastle after controlling much of the first half. However this was marred  when  Demba Ba about to head the ball into the Newcastle net received a kick to the nose which in most circumstances would have resulted in a penalty and a sending off. After being patched up he returned to the play but was forced to leave in the 42nd minute to be replaced by £50 million man Torres.

Chelsea were ordered out early onto the pitch at half time and scored two goal in the 55th and 61st minutes which were outstanding and unstoppable. The first by Frank Lampard dipped into the goal and the second from Juan Mata swerved into  the corner, At that point it looked as if  my premonition about playing well but not converting opportunities would prove accurate.  I am not sure when it was the TV commentator made the point that given their recent  arrival, especially Sissoko who not played many games recently their substitution was likely but after a great piece of moving play, the Chelsea goal keeper palmed the ball into the path of the Frenchman who calmly poked the ball into the net away from the goalkeeper in the 67th minute. This lit his and the crowd’s touchpaper and where in fairness the crowd has remained loyal and supportive despite the recent setbacks.

A few minutes later there was the first of two star performance runs by the player. In one, playing on the right hand side of the field he out run and manoeuvred one of the best English defenders to have his shot saved by the goal keeper and  in the other he made another run against a defender on the left side of play to also have his show saved with John terry stopping the corner from Cabaye who than had a  shot coming in from the wing just past the outside of the goal post. Both teams then had chances with Cabaye for Newcastle, Meta and Lampard for Chelsea.

It was then the legend was made when in the 89th minute Moussa Sissoko who had  placed himself in the centre of the play received a pass from the wing and drilled a  powerful  lowball into the back of the net to win the game for Newcastle 3.2. In order that the crowd could show their appreciation the manager substituted Moussa a few seconds later although there was 4  minutes of extra time to defend with two shots having to be saved by the Newcastle goal keeper.

Needless to add the home crowd had become delirious and players did a full lap  of honour around the ground to about a half the stadium who stayed to enjoy the experience. The whole game, the Newcastle win and performance by Sissoko was then praised by all the commentators and news reports. While this is only two wins out of two, for many the season has now begun and relegation no longer appears the threat it still remains.

Next weekend Newcastle are at fourth placed  Spurs and the game is covered by Sky while ESPN are showing the first knock out stage home tie in the Europe League on the 14th with the return leg a week later at 6pm and I have booked a ticket for the 1.30 but not the televised home game against relegation strugglers Southampton on the following Sunday and after that we shall see the progress, (or otherwise) before booking further tickets and with Sunderland, Liverpool and Arsenal coming as visitors and Man City, in form Swansea, relegation fighting QPR and also on the slide West Ham as away fixtures, Wigan and WBA are also away with Fulham and Stoke at home. There are no easy fixtures or points. But the hope, anticipated excitement of a return to glory days which I felt last season, returns.

The French invasion of Newcastle United 2013

For the first time in weeks I gave undivided attention to two sporting events on television although I went to bed in the early hours shortly after the second half commenced of the Superbowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Although I expected Newcastle United to lose against  the European, former Premier League  and F A Cup winning Champions, Chelsea I wanted to view how the new arrivals from France were performing after an excellent win, the first away win of the season against lowly Aston Villa last Tuesday evening, The commentators had noted the rally by the Villa in the second half and suggested that the Newcastle would find Chelsea a different proposition because of the defeat against Swansea in the FA Cup and the succession of recent 2.2 draws.

To mark the French invasion of new players into the squad the club shop had ordered 1000 berets and these had quickly sold out and the pub next to the ground the Strawberry was  reported to  have changed its letter board to the French equivalent. There has been these kind of marketing stunts before, some of which have taken off but given the dramatic loss of form this season compared to last and the selling of Demba Ba to Chelsea something was desperately needed to move the club out of the relegation zone.

Ba was replaced by Frenchman (1)Yuan Gouffran  b 1986, with 69 goals to his credit, 12 this season to date and European playing experience. I thought his performance was very encouraging, Newcastle’s problem this season has been the comparative failure of Papiss Cisse  from the French speaking player from Senegal who has still scored 7 time but missed a host of chances and whose all round play is also being questioned. They join the locally born Ameobi brothers and one other Englishman (Ranger)

The Newcastle midfield was already dominated by Frenchmen with one of the most creative players in the Premiership, capable of  dazzling runs (2)Hassam Ben Arfa b1987 who scored a brilliant goal during one of my few visits to the ground last season, scoring 7  in total  with 3 more this year (32 career total). His return eagerly is anticipated after two months of injury to which he appears prone. He has played 13 times for his national side. (3)Yohan Cabaye b 1986 can also score goals, often long range shots which delight the crowd and who also has played for his country 19 times. He has scored 42 goals in total with 4 for Newcastle this  season.

(4)Gabrial Obertan b 1989 is more  of a holding midfield player with 7 goals, 1 for Newcastle and is commanding a  regular first team  place,  (5)Silvain Marveaux can also score goals 19 in total with 2 for Newcastle in his 23 appearances this season, joining the club last January, (6) Romain Amalfitano b 1989 has played  5 times for the club this season from Reims. I will write more about the other new signing from France bringing the total  number of midfield Frenchmen to 6 alongside  Dutchman Anita, Gutierrez- Argentinean, Tiote-Ivory Coast, Vukic-Slovinian  and. Birgirimania- Burundian.


In the defence there is (8)Mapou Yanga -Mbiwa b 1989 from Montpelier club and who has played three  time for his country this year.  (9) Massadio Haidara  by 1992  from Nancy club is only 20 and is yet to play for the first team (10) Mathieu Debuchy b 1985 from Lille club has played for France 13 times, (4 this year) and played  4 times for Newcastle. They join six Englishman including local man Stephen Taylor, one form Northern Ireland, the Argentinean Coloccini and the Italian Santon while regular first team goal keeper Krull is from Holland with Englishmen Harper and Elliot.

So with ten French outfield players in the squad it is no exaggeration to talk of a French invasion.

Gouffran, Cabaye, Debauchy lined up on Saturday afternoon with the new midfield man  and immediate Tyneside legend Moussa Sissoko  born 1989 from the Toulose Club where he scored only 23 goals in 200 appearances, Yanga M’biwa and Marveaux came on as substitutes,