1) Football is mourning Jack Charlton, who died last week aged 85. There’s much to savour from a life, and football career, well lived. Starting with his honour-filled Leeds years, which he also discusses here with Jeff Stelling alongside Paul Reaney and Norman Hunter, including the tale of his first England call-up. His finest hour in an England shirt, of course, came in 1966. More achievements followed as a manager, at Middlesbrough, for whom key figures pay tribute here, and at Sheffield Wednesday, whom he also led to promotion.
Honorary Irish citizenship ensued after he then took the Republic to unprecedented heights, first at the 1988 European Championships – when they beat England and Ronnie Whelan scored this sensational goal against the Soviet Union – and then at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. So you’ll be wanting Packie Bonner’s save in Genoa and Ray Houghton’s fairytale of New York then. At Italia 90, Charlton’s team also met the Pope, which he chats about to Colm Meaney here. Four years later, Ireland reached the knockout stages again though not without some losses of temper. And finally, Fathers Ted and Dougal pay their tribute.
2) “That cannot be right …” – Noah Lyles’s 200m world record that wasn’t.
3) After months of idleness and frustration, club cricket finally returned last weekend in all its varied glory, so here’s a couple of nuggets of the ridiculous and the sublime, the latter with added umpire commentary.
4) Today is the 70th anniversary of the famous “Maracanazo”, Uruguay’s 1950 World Cup final triumph over Brazil in Rio, to the dismay of a record crowd of 199,000 at the Maracanã.
5) They’re rattling through the races now Formula 1 has returned, and this weekend we’re at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The race was first run in 1936 but it made history when the 1986 edition was the first held in the old Eastern Bloc. Nelson Piquet took the victory, pipping Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell to top place on the podium. In recent times it has been dominated by Lewis Hamilton, who first won in Hungary in 2007 and became the most successful driver in the circuit’s history with his seventh win in the race last year.
Wow Incredible..... hiking the Watzmann Mountain, Germany pic.twitter.com/CCiUnAI3l4
— Domenico (@AvatarDomy) July 10, 2020
Our favourites from below the line last week
1) Relaxing on the couch – or perhaps not.
2) The art of the juke, as demonstrated by a selection of NFL and college players.
3) Last week’s Ennio Morricone-inspired discussion of World Cup 1978 music prompts an argument in favour of the BBC’s theme for the tournament.
4) IndyCar restart bedlam, featuring pile-ups, inappropriate hand gestures and more.
5) A Japanese-language documentary about Shunsuke Nakumura’s time at Celtic, featuring a visit to a young Kieran Tierney’s house.
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