Favourite photos of the year

I've no idea how many photos I have taken this year but it must run into the many thousands,well the other day i decided to sort out my favourites and I came yup with around 70 that can be found here on my Flickr page

http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainpenguin/sets/72157632325488417/

Decided though to narrow those down to my top 3 for the year and they are

Drum Roll and excruciatingly long pause

In 3rd place

I have been lucky enough to travel to Shetland on business a few times this year and i got this on July 12th at Sumborough Head

In 2nd place

14th October saw me at the North York Moors Railway war weekend in Pickering and these 2 ladies so perfectly in character

And the winner and my favourite of the year and don't moan because it's football but this one of Nathan Rose-Laing's goal for AFC Wulfrunians against Bustlehome on August 4th was one of those sports shots you just dream about

In 2nd place

Must get blogging again

For whatever reason I have not blogged a great deal this year so as my photo a day project is just one day from completion the plan for 2013 is to blog a bit more,well maybe a lot more,wish me luck

Goodbye Paralympics And Thanks For Everything

To say that the last 10 days have been inspiring is putting it mildly,my views towards disabled athletes  has changed and I think I can say without fear of contradiction that the same can be said of huge numbers of fellow Britons.
So what has changed what has been different well I have gone from thinking aren't they doing well for disabled people to appreciating that these are amazing sportsmen and women, the appreciation that Johnny Peacock and Jason Smyth are words class sprinters in their own right,that I will never forget the way Hannah Cockcroft annihilated the rest of the world in a sprint double and no matter how many times I watch David Whitehead I still don't believe he can turn 20 metre deficit into a 20 metre win within the home straight and as I may have said in a Facebook post just drooled at the site of Oscar in full flow down the final straight of the 400 metres
My highlight of a wonderful inspiring life changing few days was not a gold for GB but a silver,the quite amazing women's 34 point medley relay as 4 nations came into the final few yards neck and neck.with Australia just pipping GB for the gold but the result didn't matter it was a quite pulsating swimming race.

Secondly the attitude of the competitors has if possible been even more inspirational than the performances,congratulations and hugs from losers to winners words of praise straight after the races from defeated athletes (and I will forgive Oscar) to the victors and a total resurrection of sportsmanship that will have Baron De Coubertin grinning from ear to ear wherever he is,and yes i will say to footballers cricketers F1 drivers etc they have set a standard that you have got to follow or be forever dammed.

And finally Channel 4,well I was not looking forward to their coverage believing that the BBC would be so much better and after the first morning I thought I was going to be proved correct,but then came the evening and Claire and Ade anchoring the show superbly a standard they kept up the whole games as the daytime presenters started to get their act together.But the jewel in the crown has to be The Last Leg with amputee's Adam Hills and Alex Brooker and Josh Widdecombe as the token able bodied person bringing a humour that epitomised how in these games disabled athletes are finally  looked on as athletes per se ,for those who have not seen it ask your mates about some of the "Is it OK's"

So to the athletes,broadcasters and everybody involved with these fabulous games thank you from the bottom of my heart,it has certainly changed me hopefully for the better

The Magic Of The FA Cup Lives On

After watching a truly superb FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie last night I have a great deal of sympathy for fans who follow those clubs for who this great competition gets in the way of them trying to finish 4^th in the EPL or avoid relegation,because of the weakened sides they put out they are never likely to know the sheer joy that this wonderful competition still engenders.

I wonder if we will ever again have a Wimbledon,Sunderland or Southampton go all the way to a win at Wembley or will the likes of Sutton,Woking and Hereford ever get the great elation of being real giant killers against a full strength top level side.

Well last nights match between AFC Wulfrunians and Coleshill Town (levels 5 & 6 in the non League Pyramid) may not have attracted any publicity but it was a credit to the old competition as full blooded cup tie and a win for the underdog as well.

So to those fans of the “Elite” if you are not going to your clubs match on the weekend of August 24^th may I suggest you find out which of your local non league sides are playing in the FA Cup Preliminary round get down their and watch matches that still engender the true spirit of the FA Cup,your few pounds will also help in ensuring that this level of football that keeps old traditions alive will have a future as well.

And if you are in Wolverhampton the AFC Wulfrunians v Kidsgrove at the Castlecroft Stadium is where you should be heading,you wont be disappointed

Hope I Die Before I Get Old

When Roger Daltry first sang those words from My Generation the last thing on his mind would have been the fact that he would still be playing to word wide audiences 40 years later and the same would apply to Paul McCartney and Elton John,this summer we have seen them in all their geriatric glory at the jubilee and the Olympics,sadly it has left many of us wondering if it would have been better if they had a t least retired before they got old.

Now dont get me wrong I have and always will be a major Who and Beatles fan and a lover of Elton's music  until the 80's came along but surely only the most blinkered die hard fan could have failed to cringe at some of the performances to world wide audiences this summer,sorry Paul , Roger and Elton but the voices have gone and Pete at your age windmill guitar really does not look cool any more.
Strangely enough the one oldie who can still hack it whose guitar style is mature and has a vocal range to cover his material .I refer you to Mr Eric Clapton,does not appear to have been considered for a major role in the Summers festivities.

So guys and Mick and the boys you might want to consider this as well there comes a time when you can no longer hack it those who have gloried in your magnificent music over the years reach for the ear plugs and to use an Olympic term before your legacy is shot to pieces.
So leave us with the records CD's tracks on the MP3 players etc and ride off with dignity into the sunset proud to be able to say I  could once hold an audience in the palm of my hand

Reflections On Super Saturday

There are days of Great Sport and there are Great Sportsdays but very rarely do the 2 come together,Saturday August 4th 2012 was one such day and one that those of us privileged to witness it will ever forget.I have been watching Olympic games World cups etc etc since 1964 but never have I known a day of sport that made me so proud to be British,but it's not just the winning it was the manner of the winning the people who won that made it extra special.

The manner of winning in a way was greater than the winning itself,it was pure sport with all the hype and commercialism stripped away be it the rowers surpassing even the exploits of Bejing the cyclists continuing to astonish us with their brilliance or the athletes living up to or in the case of Greg Rutherford exceeding expectations.
And the people themselves,well a few days ago Colin Moyhihan complained about the majority of medals coming from public school kids,look at yesterday though Colin  and to quote Billy Brag  on Twitter

"Tonight, our society was wonderfully represented by a ginger bloke, an immigrant named Mohammed and a mixed race woman"

In addition we had  rowers from a Comprehensive school a posh public school and a Grammar School and cyclists from mixed backgrounds,but all of them however many silver spoons or lack of them they had in their mouths had one thing in common  a burning desire to be the best at what they did and to win Olympic gold for their country.

A complete representation of our country from all classes and backgrounds gave us that wonderful day yesterday and for that we should be eternally grateful.

But of course where there are winners there have to be losers and there we had possibly the most inspirational moment of the day with Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase in tears in the post match interview apologising for letting everybody down by ONLY winning Olympic Silver,compare and contrast with the attitude of some footballers in South Africa after abject failure in the last World Cup

So to all those who gave us Super Saturday thank you for the joy of all those medals and thatnk you for all the hours of training away from the limelight that you did so that the rest of us could have that truly SUPER DAY.

Bradley & The Olympics

I have had over the past few days had a fair bit of stick for disagreeing with the sudden claims for Sir Bradley Wiggins and a few grumps about the Olympics so I thought it was time I put the record straight on where I stand

Bradley and The Tour De France

Firstly I must make the point that unlike many I have not suddenly been attracted to Le Tour because of the success of Bradley,Cav and Chris Froome but have been an avid follower ever since Channel 4 first took the step of showing regular highlights back in the mid 80's a time when the only British interest was likely to be in the hard work of a lowly Domestique,my heroes back in those days were the likes of Lauren Fignon, Greg Lemond and Stephen Roche and especially in the sprints the Tashkent Terror Djamolidine Abdoujaparov.

I know therefore the enormity of both Cav's winning of the points race and the fact that today Bradley will enter the Champs Elysees wearing the  Maillot Jaune and I hold the guy in total admiration as one of the great British sportsman of this and any other generation.I do however have a problem with the clamour for him to be knighted and that's not a problem with Bradley but with any professional be they a sportsman ,Politician,School dinner lady or whatever in that Knighthoods, MBE's etc etc should be an award  not for Doing Your Job but for going the extra mile (Ian Bothan for Charity work, Jummy Saville for the nights on the ward at Stoke Mandevilleetc or the thousands of unknowns who give up their own time to benefit others and not themselves).
So hopefully i wont be accused of being anti Bradley in the future 

The Olympics 

Anti Olympics per se  I am definitely not having watched them avidly since Tokyo in 1964 but from an early stage I have not been blinded by the fact that although they are the greatest sporting show on earth they are an nd never have been without major problems be that the major drugs problems that existed when the likes of Sharon Davies , Cathy Cook and many others were denied Gold medals because they were competing against the chemically enhanced Eastern Europeans through the politics that meant 3 successive games in Montreal,Moscow and LA were not a true test of who was the best because of assorted politically inspired boycotts through to China that was the last throw of a regime trying to prove that Communism was better than Capitalism .

So we come to London and although I profoundly hope it ends up as a great success and a credit to our country I am not going to jump on the bandwagon that all is perfect for the following reasons.

1) The Torch Relay a great idea of getting the whole country involved and had it been local people,maybe those who deserve  MBE's etc being involved I would have had no problem,but right from the start it became celebrity obsessed with the likes of Beckham,Drogba,Will I Am carrying the torch,people with no connection with the area they ran through and if any connection with the Olympics a very tenuous one.

2) Corporate Sponsorship,now I ma not naive enough to believe that in this day and age we can mange without the big boys  shoving their wares down our throat for the privilege of paying big bucks towards the cost of the games but the Sponsors Roadshow around the torch,the only recently clarified issue of wearing Non Sponsors logo's on your clothing when attending the games and the chosing of a company like Mcdonalds to be the "Official Restaurant " of the games when sport is supposed to sponsor a healthy lifestyle.

3) Locog and the "Olympic Brand" protection,what sort of world are we living in where the owner of the Olympic cafe that's not even in London was forced to change it's name for the duration of the games.

4) G4S well enough said about that complete balls up suffice it to say that millions have been paid to G4S that could have been used to stop the cuts in the army personnel who are now being asked to clean up the mess.

5) Team GB what the hell is that all about we are Great Britain not some American inspired branding of a country 


6) And worst of all the fact we are forced to allow convicted drug cheats to take part (Messrs Chambers & Miller) when we tried to take a stand for decency and were overruled not just by the courts but the IOC themselves in their backing of WADA.


So clarification grump over and I really hope Bradley goes on to add Olympic gold to today's success in Paris and that we come away with a clutch of medals from our home games