Editor’s Views – Forget Politics, a Week Is an Eternity in Sport
No one argues with the old cliché “a week is a long time in politics”. But what about sports betting? Here it seems things move a lot faster. Even slow-maturing markets can shift dramatically in days and, in some cases, hours.
A few weeks ago, if you surveyed the British public about the name and identity of Emma Raducanu the responses would have probably included curious questions such as: “Is she a magician’s assistant?” or “Is it a brand of vegetarian readymade meals?” Most now know her as the sensational teenaged winner of the 2021 US Tennis Open.
Emma Raducanu and her US Open trophy. They young tennis star is 1/20 to collect more silverware by winning the Sports Personality of the Year award in December. ©GettyImages
Has Raducanu Aced the Sports Personality Award?
Just days before Emma Raducanu landed the US Open title – at odds of 400/1 – we highlighted the top six in the betting for the BBC’s annual Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) award. Of course, Emma Raducanu never got a mention in the story.
At that point, the 18-year-old was not even in the betting list. But, as the victories started to come inside New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium her name was inserted into the bookies prices’ and her odds quickly tumbled.
50/1, 33/1, 12/1, 6/1, 4/1, 5/6, and 1/20, is how her price collapsed as she won round after round. To make her US Open heroics all the more noteworthy, Raducanu also had to win three additional qualifying matches played during late August.
Priced 1/20 with William Hill bookmakers, can Emma Raducanu be opposed in the SPOTY betting? Well, if the price is to be believed the show will not be worth watching and the BBC is not in the business of producing anticlimactic television.
It is unlikely the BBC will have much footage of the US Open with the rights belonging to a rival broadcaster. Conversely, they have film of Tom Daley (now out to 10/1 in the SPOTY betting) doing everything apart from making his appearance from the womb.
Admittedly tennis does have an outstanding record at the SPOTY awards – Greg Rusedski won it in 1997, more recently Andy Murray is a three-time winner – but at odds of 1/20 surely this so-called ‘penalty-kick of a bet’ is best left alone.
Sherrock So Nearly Shocked MVG
An Emotional Michael van Gerwen (MVG) claimed his first title of 2021 with victory in the Viaplay Nordic Darts Masters on Saturday. The Dutchman has gone almost ten months since his last tournament victory, and he broke down in tears as he lifted the winner’s trophy.
Michael van Gerwen heaped praise on Fallon Sherrock after he took last weekend’s Viaplay Nordic Darts Masters final.
©MikalSchlosser/PDC
“To win this means a lot to me and I’m very proud. I’ve been through a really tough period, there was so much pressure on my shoulders,” said van Gerwen after the match.
As touching as his emotional outburst was, Fallon Sherrock finishing runner-up in the tournament put a bigger smile on many faces. “She played a phenomenal tournament and I think she played one of the best games of her life in the final, and I had to find another gear,” said van Gerwen heaping praise on his defeated rival.
He was not speaking any untruths. The first female player to make the decider of a televised PDC tournament, Sherrock won six of seven legs (in either 13 or 14 darts) to lead the decider 6-3. Sadly, her momentum slowed and she ultimately lost 11-7.
Sherrock’s run to the final sees her return to the spotlight ahead of the forthcoming PDC Women’s Series, where she will attempt to qualify for the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts and William Hill World Darts Championship.
Is Formula 1 History Is Repeating Itself
We have previously touched on the current Formula 1 season being reminiscent of 1989 and 1990 when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were in a tense dogfight for the world championship crown. After last weekend you can throw in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix and the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain.
In both of those contests Michael Schumacher deliberately – that’s allegedly – drove into Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve in an attempt to take them out of the race. You can see these incidents and many more in ‘Schumacher’ the new documentary that became available to Netflix subscribers last week.
Stranded: Max Verstappen’s Red Bull sits above Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes after the two clashed in Monza. ©LATImages/Mercedes
I am a Formula 1 fan but no film critic, so I’m not sure how to rate the show. The Telegraph’s film critic, who gave the documentary just one star, described ‘Schumacher’ as “a robotic positioning exercise for the Schumacher brand.”
The Guardian’s reviewer stated: “The film is a collaboration with the Schumachers and massively benefits from their archive of photos and home movies. The downside is that it has the blandness of an authorized biography.”
Anyway, the future is more exciting. With Hamilton and Verstappen colliding at the most recent Grand Prix and then blaming one another for the collision, the script for 2035s blockbuster ‘Duel on the Tarmac’ is now halfway complete.
The next scene, round 15 of the 2021 World Championship, takes place at Sochi this Sunday. Hamilton is 4/6 to prevail at the Russian circuit and regain the lead in the championship race.
Greyhound Underground
London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is working towards banning gambling adverts on London’s Underground network. How times change. Following the 6pm rush hour, the Underground network was once heavily geared towards transporting punters to the capital’s greyhound tracks.
This famous Wood Lane Underground Station sign has been reproduced and now sits framed on a London pub wall. ©Brindley
The sport of the working classes thrived both pre-and-post-World War II. London was simply peppered with greyhound stadiums: There was Park Royal, Harringay, Wimbledon, Wembley, West Ham, Clapton, Catford, New Cross, Wandsworth, Hackney, Stamford Bridge, Hendon, and Walthamstow. On the outskirts of the big smoke were Romford, Crayford, Slough and many more.
Such was the popularity of greyhound racing tens of thousands of people would go racing every night. Their means of getting to the tracks was primarily London’s Underground rail network.
Awake to this audience greyhound racing was heavily advertised on the Underground with the service itself using some excellent commercial posters to encourage people to visit the tracks. Remarkably, from 1927 until 1959, Wood Lane Underground Station was exclusively used to transport the public to and from White City Greyhound Stadium.
There are no greyhound tracks in London anymore. Soon there will no longer be poster advertising of any form of gambling. What part of our heritage will be culled next?
