Greatest Sporting Moments

With England Women’s fantastic victory in the 2022 European Championships still fresh in our memories, we at IFGL reflected on what were Britain’s greatest ever sporting moments. There were a lot to choose from, and we’ve had to leave out some amazing achievements. Let us know at info@ifg-ltd.com if you agree with our choices, shown in no particular order below.

Before the Lionesses stunning win in July, you have to go back to 1966 to find a British nation winning a major international football tournament. Also at Wembley, and also against (West) Germany, the England’s men’s team, inspired by a Geoff Hurst hat-trick, first “brought football back home” in the 1966 World Cup Final. We’d endure another 56 “years of hurt” before another British football team triumphed.

Many thought running a mile in under 4 minutes – an average speed of 15 mph - was beyond what the human body was capable of. On 6 May 1954, after several near misses, Bannister entered a mile race in Oxford. Helped by 2 pace-makers, Bannister hit the front at the start of the final lap and flew down the final straight, almost collapsing over the finish line. The stadium announcer (Norris WcWhirter, who later became famous through the Guinness Book of World Records) told the ecstatic crowd that Bannister won the race in a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

After being losing finalists 3 times, England’s cricketers entered the 2019 Cricket World Cup ranked number 1 in the world, and with home advantage. Led by Irishman Eoin Morgan, England faced New Zealand in the final. Chasing down 243, England, thanks to MOTM Ben Stokes, tied the score off the final ball. This set up a super-over decider. New Zealand needed 2 off the final ball to win. Martin Guptill hit the ball into the deep and raced off, the throw from the boundary was speared into the gloves of Joss Buttler who whipped the bails off a few inches before a despairing Guptill made his ground. England were world champions.

Andy Murray was a serial grand slam finalist who seemed destined to be the nearly man. A year previously, a tearful Murray lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer. 12 months later he was determined to be the first British man to win the men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936. Seeded number 2, Murray faced his nemesis and number 1 seed Novak Djokovic in the final. Cheered on by a partisan home crowd Murray triumphed in 3 sets on a sunny Centre Court, winning on his 4th match point. Murray won Wimbledon again in 2016.

Tanni Grey-Thompson can justifiably lay claim to be Britain’s greatest Paralympic athlete and one of Britain’s finest ever sportspeople. Born with spina bifida in Cardiff, Wales, Tanni became a wheelchair athlete in 1984. In a stellar 23 year career Tanni won 16 Paralympic medals (11 of them gold), held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon 6 times in 10 years. Her crowning achievement was the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, where she won a clean-sweep of golds in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events, smashing 4 world records along the way.

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were hot favourites to win gold in the Ice Dancing event at the 1984 Winter Olympics, held in Sarajevo. Leading after the first 2 rounds, Torvill and Dean took to the ice in their purple costumes and waited in the centre of the rink as the crowd hushed. The first few notes of Ravel’s Bolero started playing and they began their mesmerising routine. 4 minutes later they left the ice to a standing ovation. The judges agreed – all 9 judges scored them 6.0 out of 6 for artistic impression, the first time a perfect score had been achieved.

In common with all of England’s other sporting final triumphs, the Martin Johnson led England rugby team in 2003 secured their victory in extra time. Despite being the stronger team in the final against tournament hosts Australia, England were consistently pegged back and the game went into overtime. With only seconds remaining, and the scores tied at 17 – 17, scrum half Matt Dawson threw a precise pass to England fly-half Johnny Wilkinson. Forced to take the chance on his weaker right foot, Wilkinson’s drop goal was struck perfectly between the posts, and England became the first (and so far only) northern hemisphere side to win the Webb Ellis trophy.

Despite all the pre-Games pessimism, the London Summer Olympics of 2012 was a huge success. From the vibrant Danny Boyle opening ceremony, featuring the Queen and 007 Daniel Craig jumping out of an aeroplane over the Olympic stadium, the country embraced the Olympic spirit. Britain’s athletes responded, winning an unprecedented 65 medals (29 of them gold). The crowning glory was the middle “Super Saturday”, when in the space of an unforgettable 44 minutes Team GB won 3 gold medals through Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah.

In a tough call between Matt Busby’s Manchester United in 1968 and Sir Alex Fergusson’s magnificent treble in 1999, we’ve gone for Celtic becoming the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967 as our greatest ever football club achievement. Celtic faced European giants Inter Milan in the final in Lisbon. Despite going behind in the 7th minute, Celtic were the better team and came back to win 2-1. Remarkably, in today’s world of multi-national club teams, it’s sobering to think that the winning Celtic team were all born within 10 miles of Celtic Park in Glasgow.

We’re still basking in this latest triumph, as the England women team deservedly overcame serial winners Germany in a tense European Championship final. Players like Georgia Stanway, Beth Mead and Leah Williamson went from being virtually unknown at the start of the tournament to household names as women’s football came of age, with record breaking attendances and intense public interest. The sight of Chloe Kelly wheeling away in delight, her shirt whirling above her head after scoring the winning goal, has already become an iconic sporting moment.