Most Defining Sporting Moment

Recently in my Journalism lecture I was asked to write about my most defining sports moment and I found myself taking a very different approach to my class mates.

So give it a read if you enjoy a very pessimistic view on the world of sport:

When people are asked to talk about their greatest sporting moment, most of us will have a story about a world cup winning goal, a last minute wicket or relegation saving try.

They will look back on that great day with rose tinted glasses and a tear in their eye, telling you exactly where they were, what they were doing and even what they were wearing.

Because for most fans this is what sport is all about, the great highs that will live forever in the memory and make you and your team feel invincible.

Unfortunately for me I’m a football fan who made the misguided choice as a youngster of picking Newcastle United as the team which I will follow for the rest of my life.

Even more unfortunately for me I’m English and so my sporting life hasn’t been filled with victory and silverware, more anguish and heartache.

It’s unfair for me to criticise England as a sports nation as, in my short 20 years alive, I have seen England Rugby team win a World Cup, Kelly Holmes get a double Olympic gold and our heroes in the Cricket team win the Ashes and, more recently, demolish the Australian down under.

But selfishly I would trade all of that for something as trivial as Newcastle winning the League Cup or England FC to reach a final, and not embarrass themselves too much in the process.

In short I am a pessimistic young man and to me sport is a reflection of life.

It isn’t always about the victories and the highs, and I think you learn more from failure than success.

So for me the thing that comes into my head when asked about what defines sport for me isn’t the record £15 million signing that brought Shearer back home, or the Asprilla Hat trick against Barcelona or even the 5-1 demolition of United when Centre Back Pillip Albert lobbed Schmeichel (although that was a magnificent day.)

No. For me the most defining moment sport was when Newcastle got relegated in 2009.

I remember the season of 08/09 like it was yesterday and I always will.

The Messiah Kevin Keegan had returned and we had an impressive team that boasted a strike force of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka. So surely we wouldn’t have a problem scoring right?

That season was the worst in living memory and made my beloved team look like disgrace.

Our new owner had no idea how to run a football club and we went through 4, yes 4, managers in that season, one of which was Joe Kinnear who is a walking heart attack.

And there is nothing more frustrating as a fan than seeing prize assets walk out of the club, but we were treated to Keegan quitting and the selling of our best talent Milner, N’Zogbia and Shay Given.

Oh but they were replaced, under very dodgy circumstances, with Xisco and Ignacio Gonzales. Who? I don’t know either.

AND the club was constantly up for sale at a stupidly high price after our beer swilling, cockney owner fell out of favour with our fans. I’ve no idea why.

Ok rant over. The fact is that after we instated Alan Shearer and Ian “relegation expert” Dowie for the latter stages of the season, to save us from the drop.

We played must-win-game after must-win-game and failed to notch up enough points to steer us to safety and on the last game of the season the eyes of English football were fixed on the bottom of the table as NEWCASTLE UNITED were staring relegation in the face.

I will always remember that day.

It was my gap year and I was working at my local corner shop. I couldn’t get the day off work so there was no Soccer Saturday for me, I had to smuggle in my radio and listen to the most horrific 90 minutes of football ever.

A Damien Duff own goal put Villa 1-0 up but for once, Man United were doing us a favour and were beating Hull.

All we needed was a goal and I was literally on the edge, Christ knows what was going on in the shop, it could have been on fire or being looted but I was in a trance, wishing with every fibre of my being for an equaliser.

My mind was casting back to the press conference that Michael Owen gave when he signed for the club: “I can’t promise you victory but I can promise you goals” (or words to that effect.) Well Mike one would be very useful now if you want to earn some of the £100,000+ wage you’re getting.

I was listening on 5 Live and with 10 minutes to go I was feeling sick and about to cry when Stan Collymore made the wild prediction that we would get a list minute equaliser and stay up.

It gave me hope; false hope. Cheers Stan.

And what happened next was my defining sports moment.

The final whistle blew, we were down, HULL survived and I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

I felt strange, empty and physically wanted to vomit, it’s weird how just a game can make you so depressed.

And then my phone started buzzing with a barrage of texts which ranged from the: “unlucky mate” to the: “ha ha ha enjoy the Championship.” (The latter, of course, were almost exclusively sent by fan-boy Man United fans.)

I was officially in a state of mourning; first anger, then denial, then acceptance.

Now I may have been exaggerating my pessimistic views a little bit, but for me this is what sport is all about whether you’re a player, manager or fan.

It’s not about the wins, we’ve all scored a last minute own goal, bottled a penalty or dropped an important catch and I personally remember these more vividly then my successes.

It’s as much a part of the game as the victories but it makes them taste so much sweeter when they come.

And as a fan I would much rather have the highs and lows at a club like Newcastle than all the silverware of Man United.

Because when we finally win some and people ask me about my most defining sporting moment, I might have a different answer.