Encounters With Sport Stars In Non Sporting Situations

[Ian Pethick]

In those all too frequent these days, and all too boring, work sessions on Teams/Zoom, there are usually "ice breaker" bits at the beginning where you have to describe an encounter with a famous sporting person. I thought I would share the two encounters with sports stars that I drag out, hopefully others will join in.

 

Witnessing former Denmark and Manchester United winger, Jesper Olsen, being apprehended by police outside the stadium in Bruges during Euro 2000 for ticket touting.

 

Seeing former West Indies Test cricket all rounder, Eldine Baptiste, washing cars on the forecourt of a car showroom near Falmouth in the late eighties. He was a professional for St Gluvias at the time.

 

[TheolderIgetthebetterIwas]

Walking out of Kimberley park in Falmouth one summer and crossing the road towards me was 6 or 7 of the mighty Leeds team managed by Don Revie!!!

Norman Hunter looked a mean bar steward just crossing the road, big fella as well.

I said hello to which they all courteously replied...impressed and gobsmacked at the same time. 

The true meaning of a surreal moment. 

[fenman]

When I was a rural beat P.C.  in a village near Great Yarmouth , I was playing darts in my local when 3 men and their wives walked in . There was a bit of commotion at the bar involving Harry the publican and these people . My mate went to the bar for the round  and when he came back said " who do you think those people are ?"  I hadn't really looked at them properly , there was a lot of noise around them but all friendly . It turns out that it was the famous West Ham trio , Moore, Hurst and Peters . When it was my round I had to squeeze past them to the bar  they were polite and had no illusions of grandeur about them at all . Eventually they went through the pub to the living quarters . It turns out that Harry the old boy who ran the pub , had been manager of a holiday camp outside Yarmouth  during the 1960's and they had spent holidays there  regularly and a friendship  developed .  I can't recall exactly but I think Martin Peters was playing for Norwich City at the time  and they'd  decided to visit  Harry on a night out .

By a strange quirk I  actually played against Martin Peters after he'd retired from the professional game  ,  he still lived in Norwich and played in the Norwich Thursday League ( now sadly gone ) for a team run by the owner of Yarmouth funfair . We played them in a cup round and we lost  about 10 or 11 - 1  .

I watched him and wondered why he was better than me , it was incredible , everything seemed slow motion with him , but it was an illusion , his ball control was so good he gained himself time and space where I would have been still trying to control the ball . Phil Boyer was also in their team . I can't remember much about the game other than chasing shadows for most of it .

On another occasion , the Mem Sahib and I were in the Isle of Man ( wonderful place )  . We were staying in a chalet in a village called Groudle Glen  , during our fortnight the Mem Sahib spoke to the next door resident about the weather , the scenery etc. and said he was vaguely familiar . I spoke to him a few times  about the porpoises swimming in the bay outside . At the end of his stay after he'd gone the site owner said that Dennis Taylor , the world snooker champion , has told him to thank us for not interupting his stay by asking him for photo's , autographs etc . .

[TheolderIgetthebetterIwas]

2 hours ago, fenman said:

When I was a rural beat P.C.  in a village near Great Yarmouth , I was playing darts in my local when 3 men and their wives walked in . There was a bit of commotion at the bar involving Harry the publican and these people . My mate went to the bar for the round  and when he came back said " who do you think those people are ?"  I hadn't really looked at them properly , there was a lot of noise around them but all friendly . It turns out that it was the famous West Ham trio , Moore, Hurst and Peters . When it was my round I had to squeeze past them to the bar  they were polite and had no illusions of grandeur about them at all . Eventually they went through the pub to the living quarters . It turns out that Harry the old boy who ran the pub , had been manager of a holiday camp outside Yarmouth  during the 1960's and they had spent holidays there  regularly and a friendship  developed .  I can't recall exactly but I think Martin Peters was playing for Norwich City at the time  and they'd  decided to visit  Harry on a night out .

By a strange quirk I  actually played against Martin Peters after he'd retired from the professional game  ,  he still lived in Norwich and played in the Norwich Thursday League ( now sadly gone ) for a team run by the owner of Yarmouth funfair . We played them in a cup round and we lost  about 10 or 11 - 1  .

I watched him and wondered why he was better than me , it was incredible , everything seemed slow motion with him , but it was an illusion , his ball control was so good he gained himself time and space where I would have been still trying to control the ball . Phil Boyer was also in their team . I can't remember much about the game other than chasing shadows for most of it .

On another occasion , the Mem Sahib and I were in the Isle of Man ( wonderful place )  . We were staying in a chalet in a village called Groudle Glen  , during our fortnight the Mem Sahib spoke to the next door resident about the weather , the scenery etc. and said he was vaguely familiar . I spoke to him a few times  about the porpoises swimming in the bay outside . At the end of his stay after he'd gone the site owner said that Dennis Taylor , the world snooker champion , has told him to thank us for not interupting his stay by asking him for photo's , autographs etc . .

Love that.

[fenman]

Not so much a meeting a sport star story , more an insight into some top level sports  reality .

In the late 1990's I used to have treatment for a trapped nerve in my neck at a chiro practice . By sheer co incidence  for 3 of the appointments I was booked in at about the same time as Cassie Jackman  who at the time was a world class Squash player , in fact I think she won a world title in the early 90's  . Usual thing in a medical waiting room , rummaging through magazines , trying to find something to read to take your mind off what's to come  ie. lying relaxed then having your neck wrung suddenly !!!!!! . I didn't have the courage to talk to her , this extremely attractive world sport star , until the second appointment . I was browsing through a  holiday magazine and she asked me where I fancied going . My heart raced for a second or 2 ( or 3, 4 ) before I realised she didn't mean a holiday with her . Anyway the ice was broken , and I said seeing the world was probably  old hat for her  but she stunned me by saying that the reality was , that although she travelled to India , Pakistan , U.S.A. , Japan etc. she didn't actually do any touring or sightseeing . As the sport wasn't awash with money and regarded as a minority sport , very much like my sport , you were put up in average hotels and were only allocated rooms while you were in the competition , when you were eliminated  you had to leave . She said that although  she was fortunate enough to be able to progress in the competitions for  most of the rounds there was very little time for sightseeing between games . I found that really suprising , I'd imagined that being at the top level of a sport like that would be all glamour and luxury . Sadly for her the problem she was having treatment for didn't respond so she was forced to retire .

Just to digress a bit , when you think of your own counties top sports stars it's easy to forget some of them are from your own county . For example from Norfolk we've got Alfie Hewitt a World champion wheelchair tennis player , George Russell the F1 racing driver who stunned the F1 world last season when he filled in for Hamilton , Snakebite Wright the ex World Champion dart player  , although he's Scottish by birth he lives on the Norfolk border , 2 Mervyn Kings  , one a top darts player the other a world class bowls player . All top sports people but overlooked within the county . It must be the same in Devon and Cornwall .

[fenman]

Can't stop him now .

Same subject but the other way round , famous people you've met in sport , but not famous for the sport .

4 years ago my son used to compete against Keith Flint  of Prodigy the rock band fame  in motorcycle racing . One of the things that impressed me about him was that he kept everything low key and didn't want people sort of kow towing to him . He didn't have a huge luxury motorhome like some of the riders . He had a small Volkswagen  caravette  and cooked his meals on a small gas stove and mixed with the other riders  as a fellow sportsman and not a rock superstar . I didn't have much conversation with him but my son used to take the mickey out of him when it rained , saying he'd go rusty with all the metalwork through his ear and nose , or " you'll be worth more money when the price of scrap metal go's up " . He took it all in good part and I think he enjoyed being free to do his own thing rather being dictated to by music management .

[Richard Chown]

Long story short I nearly got knocked over crossing the road by Chris Ewbank who was driving a truck who then attempted to ram raid the gates of Downing Street before being dragged out and set upon my dogs. 

[Bruegel the Elder]

3 hours ago, Richard Chown said:

Long story short I nearly got knocked over crossing the road by Chris Ewbank who was driving a truck who then attempted to ram raid the gates of Downing Street before being dragged out and set upon my dogs. 

 

2 hours ago, Keith B said:

Really ? ? How long ago was that Richard ?

Richard, could you make it a long story long? Frankly I am entirely baffled. I rather hope you have some auto-correct issues here (dragged out by who? Who has set upon who’s dogs? by rather than my?)!

[TheolderIgetthebetterIwas]

1 hour ago, Keith B said:

Perhaps he was very tired Bruegel or maybe had one over the eight when he wrote it ? Chris Eubank blimey, he didn't lose many fights.

2004 Chris Ewbank being a *****! Look at my lorry...idiot.

[Bruegel the Elder]

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/chris-eubank-arrested-at-downing-street-protest-itn-news-footage/683034842

Is this the incident from October 2003? If so I can’t see Richard (mind you, I’ve no idea what he looks like!) or indeed any dogs, although Eubank is led away by police as they wonder what to do with the truck. He only got arrested on his second attempt for driving into another vehicle and carrying a bladed weapon. He failed to turn up at court, but still got away with a fine.

All this (plus another conviction for taking and driving away a brewery lorry) didn’t stop him from becoming a U.S. Marshal in Louisiana despite having no training! What an extraordinary character.

He was apparently quite a good boxer too!

[fenman]

 This is a very recent one from last week . Over the past few years  I've become fairly friendly with a man over the allotment . We've helped each other out and swapped plants  , equipment etc. Occasionally his son has been with him and we've discussed Norwich City's fortunes , the growing season , the sort of normal things that allotmenters do . The son , like his dad is a typical pleasant old boy , as we say in Norfolk . Las week the dad asked if he could borrow some of my " enviromesh " netting  . We carried it over to his plot and I mentioned that I hadn't seen his son Olllie for a while . He said that he was abroad in Sri Lanka and then going to India so he wouldn't be about for a while . I thought it odd as the world is in lockdown and most travel is banned . I said was he on holiday he said no he's part of the England test team . I felt really stupid , I'd never thought or put together the name Ollie Stone , the Warwickshire and England fast bowler . I didn't even know he played cricket , I can't recall either of them mentioning it , perhaps he mentioned it in a conversation about planting early potatoes . He's mainly in the one day teams  rather than the 5 day tests . 

[TheolderIgetthebetterIwas]

Bit of a face palm moment there Fenman...lol