A recent Twitter post I saw provoked me into thinking about the most memorable live sporting events I have attended.
Live sport has been a huge part of my life since childhood, when our family were season ticket holders at Elm Park, the old home of Reading Football Club, not very far from where I grew up. Subsequently I became a junior member at Somerset during school days in Taunton: a season ticket holder at West Ham during my early London days when I also swapped Somerset for Surrey (attendance not loyalty) and took membership at The Oval; then at Wasps rugby first at Loftus Road then in Wycombe thanks to the connections of my late great friend Matthew Compton.
When we moved to Spain I adopted Atletico de Madrid as my team, and enjoyed some great visits to the Estadio Vincente Calderon, before taking an 'abonado' (season ticket) at the new Wanda Metropolitano.
And then for an extraordinary 18 months between April 2003 and October 2004 I was the Sports Correspondent for the Financial Times and was paid to travel the world indulging my passion. this is somewhat handy because it means that all of these events are already chronicled and in my giant red cuttings books.
Initially I planned to narrow this list down to the ' top 10' but once I started thinking about it, it became impossible, so I'm going to indulge myself and write about whatever I want. So here we go...
December 21st, 1985 - Reading 4, Plymouth 3; Elm Park, Reading
We watched a lot of matches at the Old Elm Park in the late 1970s and 1980s. Like Dad, my brother and I were born in Reading, and while we also supported Division One teams, we watched our football in Reading. There were, I am sorry so say, few memorable games. Reading drifted around Divisions 3 and 4, winning little and testing the patience of supporters. In the early days I went, the heroes were Richie Bowman, Pat Earles, the goalkeeper Steve Death and central defenders Martin Hicks and Steve Hetzke. They were not, it has to be said, very good.
And then came the 1985/86 team, anchored by terrier midfielder Kevin Bremner and with goal-scoring machine Trevor Senior up front. Reading stormed the Third Division right from the beginning of the season, winning 13 games on the bounce. The Club and the town had never seen anything like it.
This was my first term away at boarding school, and so the first game I attended was during my half term in late October. It was the 14th game of the season, and the first Reading didn't win, drawing 2-2 at home with Wolves. I felt like I'd missed the best party ever.
My eventual reward for the years of drudgery came during the Christmas holidays. Shortly after half time, however, it looked like I was Reading's unlucky charm. In my second visit to Elm Park of the season, Reading were 3-0 down. I wasn't going to be allowed back. I didn't want to go back.
But the tide turned and there is nothing like a come-from-behind win. Reading forced themselves back into the match on 65 minutes when Bremner earned a penalty that Dean Horrix scored. Given this match took place 35 years ago, it's fair to say I don't recall a lot about it. But I remember the feeling, as Reading roared back into the match and a crowd that wasn't much given to noise and emotion got right into it. Trevor Senior scored two in two minutes around the 70' mark and then Reading threw the kitchen sink at Plymouth.
Bremner, one of those players you only liked when they were on your side, was thrown up front, and with about five minutes to go he turned in the winner from a long throw in. 4-3. And that is how it stayed.
Reading couldn't sustain their first half of the season pace, in which they won 19 of 23 games, winning only 10 in the second half of the season. And the Plymouth game turned out to be critical, as the Royals won the Division Three by just seven points from Argyle. Senior, a very unlikely looking athlete who went on to become the Club's all time leading scorer, hit the net an incredible 27 times.
The Club's account of the match can be found here, and in 2013 Daniel Harris of the Guardian wrote a great piece, remembering what is still the Football League's record start to a season.
May 11th, 1986 - Somerset versus Middlesex, John Player League; The County Ground, Taunton
Junior membership of Somerset Country Cricket Club cost me £10 for unlimited access to County Championship and the Sunday John Player league 40 over games. The membership card was a little cardboard book, that at the time I am sure I thought was embossed leather, but almost certainly wasn't. If I recall correctly, the 1986 book was blue. It was my most treasured possession. I couldn't believe the magic of a tiny little book that could allow me access to see live cricket.
For a Taunton schoolboy, the glamour of Somerset cricket at the time was everything. The team contained the homegrown Ian Botham as well as the incredible West Indian duo of Viv Richards and Joel Garner. They had won one day trophies previously, and if the Championship side under-performed, well what of it?
The County Ground was a about a 20 minute walk from school (a little less if you flouted the rules and took the Chip Lane shortcut) which made getting to games after school pretty straightforward.
But the best day was Sunday, a long yawning bore of a day for many boarders most of the year, until the cricket season came along.
So in mid May I trooped down to the ground with a small handful of friends for the 40 over match with Middlesex, a County Cricket powerhouse at that time featuring England stars like Mike Gatting, John Emburey and Paul Downton and a fearsome bowling attack including Wayne Daniel, Norman Cowans and a young Angus Fraser.
Middlesex batted first, and anchored by the veteran Clive Radley and England 'keeper Downton, they made 196 in their 40 overs.
I remember precisely none of that. Nor do I remember a great deal of Somerset's reply, in which Peter Roebuck and Julian Wyatt put on 122 for the first wicket. The first memory was of Viv smacking one in the general direction of St James's churchyard on his way to a breezy 19 before holing out, prompting one of our teachers sitting nearby to curse him for his irresponsibility. Surely though this was why people watched Viv bat? Roebuck could nudge the singles. We wanted FIRE from Viv.
We didn't get much from him that day, but we got it from Both instead. Despite all their wickets in hand and the great platform set by the openers, Somerset stumbled on their way to the total.
It was all very tense and it really did feel like we'd blown it, with Somerset 185-4, needing 12 runs to win, with three balls remaining. Crucially, Botham was on strike.
With Daniel bowling the fourth ball of the final was blasted out of the ground for six. I don't remember in which direction. Now the odds were shortening. One more of those...
Botham swiped at and missed the fifth ball.
Six from one. Daniel with the ball. Botham with the bat.
For reasons I am sure he may struggle to understand, Daniel bounced Botham. I do remember where this ball went because it sailed over our heads at deep leg square leg at the Priory Bridge Road end of the ground. Somerset won by 4 wickets.
We floated back to school after the game, where the kids playing outside on The Front told us they had heard the roar from the ground and wanted to know what had happened.
What had happened was pure Botham. Pure cricketing magic.
I've watched a lot of Somerset cricket since then, including Lords finals and T20 finals but nothing sticks out like that incredible game.
It all went to hell afterwards. A week later Botham admitted to smoking pot and the ECB banned him for two months. At the end of the season the most almighty Civil War broke out at the Club when it decided to dispense with the services of Richards and Garner to hire the late Martin Crowe (still one of my very favourite players).
There was not a lot of success in the years that followed. But there was always a seat in the sun - for 10 quid a season, a pint of cider and some banter with schoolmates. The happiest of days.
The brilliant Somerset blog The Incider wrote a detailed review of the game in 2017.