Munster Express Online

BOBBY CHARLTON: HERO

Bobby Charlton first played for his beloved Manchester United 60 years ago. Not yet 19, the boy from Ashington was one of Matt Busby’s favourite footballing sons, and in the wake of the Munich Air Disaster, which claimed the lives of so many of his friends, the young Charlton would help to rebuild a devastated club.
While never keen on talking up his own greatness – his story and records speak for themselves (758 club appearances, 249 goals; 106 caps, 49 goals) – Charlton has always maintained that Duncan Edwards was the greatest player he ever lined out with. Better than Best.
And had he lived, Charlton believes Edwards, and not Bobby Moore, would have lifted the World Cup for England at Wembley in 1966.
Edwards’ unfulfilled legacy remains the great ‘what if’ of English football. What cannot be disputed is the manner in which Charlton assumed the leadership mantle among the playing contingent post-Munich, as United, befitting the Phoenix they wore on their jerseys in the 1958 FA Cup Final, rose from the ashes.
Charlton’s greatest goalscoring contribution in a single season, came in the following 58/59 campaign, when he netted 29 goals as United remarkably finished as First Division runners-up behind Wolves.
Playing on raw emotion a great deal of the time, the Red Devils’ form proved too topsy-turvy in the immediate post-Munich era to challenge for the championship, but the real triumph, surely, was that the club had endured. Manchester United jad survived.
The red flag Matt Busby had asked his assistant Jimmy Murphy to keep flying, when lying injured and by no means certain of recovery in Munich, remained high, at the heart of that resolve was Bobby Charlton.
Five years after the ‘Flowers of Manchester’ were cruelly taken, the FA Cup was won. And within two years, they were champions again, and destined to return to the European Cup.
“I felt now that I was watching not ghosts but players in their own right,” wrote David Meek, the journalist most synonymous with the Old Trafford reporter’s beat.
“We had moved on from the crash, with the magical (George) Best winning a cult following as the first footballer pop star, Charlton bewitching me with his graceful Corinthian game in counter-balance to the fiery devilish play of (Denis) Law, the demon king. It was exciting, heady stuff.”
Before Messi, Neymar and Suarez, this was European football’s original ‘Blessed Trinity’, and Charlton, Law and Best inspiring United to another title in 1967, and another shot at the Holy Grail.
And the following May at Wembley, where he’d helped England win the World Cup just two years previously, Bobby Chartlon netted twice, captaining Manchester United to the European Cup following a 4-1 win over Eusebio’s Benfica. The wheel had come full circle.
“Charlton had been in at the beginning of the quest for the European grail and Busby used to say that when he felt moments of despair he would see Bobby and feel there was still hope,” wrote David Meek.
Chartlon’s thunderbolts had helped club and county to the pinnacle of the game, and, for a time, he was certainly the most famous living Englishman, loved the world over.
That his name now adorns the South Stand at Old Trafford is entirely fitting. He has been a director at the club since 1984 and remains one of its leading ambassadors. While his role in the selection of managers has been wildly over-stated (he could not, alone, veto the potential arrival of Jose Mourinho), Charlton remains a revered figure at the club.
“He epitomises Manchester United,” according to Ryan Giggs, the only man who wore the famous red shirt more than Sir Bobby Chartlon. Enough said.

Aintree and Augusta sure to enthral fans

Having turned a modest profit at the Cheltenham Festival I intend to have a few equally modest wagers next weekend on what is possibly my favourite sporting weekend of the year.
Augusta National has to be one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world and I for one will be tuned in to as much coverage of the US Masters as I can possibly muster.
With the Aintree Festival also getting under way on Thursday it promises to be four days of delight for the golf and national hunt racing fan.
While the Aintree Grand National is of course Europe’s most valuable jumps race with £1million in prize money I certainly don’t subscribe to the view that it’s the greatest steeplechase in the World and there are races at Aintree I’m much more interested in.
The possible meeting of Gold Cup contenders Cue Card, Djakadam, Vautour and Don Poli for instance in the Aintree Bowl on Thursday or the battle between Cheltenham winners Altior and Limini in the Novices Hurdle on Friday are far more interesting than what is after all a handicap, a very lucrative one but nonetheless a handicap.
It is however the biggest betting race of the year with an estimated £200million gambled on the result in Britain alone.
For anyone having a flutter most bookmakers will offer five places on the 40 runner field while some will undoubtedly stretch that to six next Saturday
Compare that to the betting for the Masters.
Paddy Power is just one of a number of bookmakers actually congratulating themselves on offering seven places at the Masters. However with almost 100 golfers teeing it up on Thursday they could surely afford to be a little more generous. After taking a bit of a pasting at Cheltenham though they’re probably running scared of Jordan Spieth (7/1), Bubba Watson (10/1) and Adam Scott (12/1). The trio have won the last four Masters between them and it wouldn’t be the greatest surprise to see one of them don the Green Jacket again on Sunday night.

US Women enter equal pay debate

In a move that will probably not be popular with Novak Djokovic or anyone else arguing for lower pay for female sports stars the United States women’s soccer team has initiated a legal challenge in an effort to attain equal pay with their male counterparts.
A wage discrimination complaint against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has been filed by five members of last year’s World Cup winning team including striker Alex Morgan, the highest earner on the team.
It has been reported that Morgan earns a seven-figure salary although much of that income comes from endorsements.
The players allege that USSF has illegally and unfairly paid women players less than the men even though the women’s team is currently more successful and more profitable.
The complaint, which has been referred to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states “Our team won its third World Cup title on July 5th, 2015. The game captured the hearts of approximately 23 million viewers, making it the most watched soccer game in American TV history”.
Goalkeeper Hope Solo urged USSF to sort the dispute and refused to rule out a work stoppage ahead of the Rio Olympics.
“The numbers speak for themselves. We are the best in the world, have three World Cups and four Olympic Championships and the men’s team get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”