The Kings of the Comeback - We take a look at the greatest comebacks in sporting history.

This week in San Francisco saw the final race in the America’s Cup sailing event. The comeback by Oracle Team USA, featuring Brit Ben Ainslie, is rightly now considered one of the most remarkable comebacks in sporting history. Having been docked two points before the cup had even started, before falling 8-1 behind, an unbelievable run saw them draw into contention before clinching the cup in a dramatic winner takes all final race.

Is this the greatest comeback of all time? Here are some other contenders from over the years to reminisce over:

Dennis Taylor 


The bespeckled and quirky Taylor staged one of the greatest comebacks in snooker history. In the 1985 Crucible final, legend Steve Davis was at the top of his game and by the second session Taylor trailed 8-0. The comeback that ensued was truly epic, forcing it back to 17-17 frames each, Taylor took the nerve-tingly final frame. The famous finger-wag will go down as one of the most iconic celebrations in sport.

2012 Ryder Cup 

Known as the ‘Miracle of Medinah’ the European teams comeback against the Americans in Chicago, as they trailed 10-4 going into Sunday’s singles, was truly a miraculous performance. Jose Maria Olazabal’s men hushed the partisan team USA crowd and orchestrated an amazing recovery, Martin Kaymer sank the putt that saw the Cup gloriously returning to Europe.

Allez les Bleus 

The 1999 Rugby World Cup Semi-Final between France and New Zealand is often cited as the greatest game in its history. A rampant Jonah Lomu put the All Blacks into a dominant 24-10 lead and they looked set to play the game out to reach the final. However, France came back to defy all the odds and the favourites went spiralling out. In particular an exceptional performance from Christophe Lamaison, recording a 28-point haul, led Les Bleus to a 43-31 victory.


Botham's Ashes - Headingley 

England may have had an unprecedented run of Ashes success in recent years, but back in the 80’s it was another period of Australian dominance. In the 1981 Headingly test Australia were on the verge of going 2-0 up within four days. Then Ian Botham stepped up to bat, not leaving the crease until he had recorded a defiant innings of 149. England followed-on, forcing the the Aussies to bat again. Bob Willis then recorded sensational figures of 8-43 and England became the second ever test team to win after following-on. The confidence and glory gained from this victory led England to a 3-1 series victory.


Faldo the Masters Master

This could easily be labelled an amazing choke, but regardless the 1996 Masters saw a scintillating Faldo come back from six shots down to beat Greg Norman. As Norman crumbled in the final round, Faldo’s 67 saw the Englishman win by five shots and claim his third Masters title.







So, what is your favourite sporting comeback of all time?

The Great North Run - Great for Charity and Athletics....

The Great North Run the second biggest half marathon in the world was another runaway success this year, providing a welcome boost to the struggling local economy and raising an estimated £28m for charity.

The men's race featured one of the most dramatic finishes in the event’s history, which cemented the outstanding day in the public mind.

The race reached came to thrilling end when Britain's Olympic hero Mo Farah, the best long distance runner in the world, entered into an epic duel with Ethiopian rival Kenenisa Bekele which saw him lose out by one second at the last.

Mighty Mo commented after the last gasp sprint: "It was a great race. It was a great finish.

"I thought when Kenenisa went with a mile to go I thought the pace was just ridiculous!

"I thought I'd come back and close the gap slowly. I managed to close a little bit of it. But you know, you can't take away what he has. He has a great speed and it came down to the last 200m."

Their dual and breathtaking sprint finish is sure to be remembered for years to come. As will the sight of the near 56,000 runners who braved the awful weather forecasts and enhanced the reputation of this remarkable event, which was officially started by World 400m Champion Christine Ohuruogu and England Cricketer Graeme Swann.

David Hart, spokesman for organisers Nova International, said: “It was an incredible day – one of the greatest races in athletics history.

“It had probably the greatest finish of any Great North Run in recent years, the crowd were sensational, and it was a great day for the region and the 56,000 runners involved.

“Thankfully the weather didn’t turn out to be quite as challenging as had been forecast.

“A couple of people have been taken to hospital and are under observation, but overall it was a fantastic day and Nova, as organisers, are very, very proud of how it went.”

The race was not just about the professional athletes though, it boasted a variety of interesting and famous characters, from celebrities like former football star turned TV pundit Robbie Savage (alongside referee Graham Poll) and Spice Girl Mel C, to hordes of fun runners who took part to achieve personal race goals and raise huge amounts of cash for a range of worthy cause.

During the race an estimated 82,000 litres of water was drunk by parched runners.

From just 12,000 competitors at the first run in 1981, the event has now grown to more than 55,000 accepted entrants from more than 100,000 applicants.

F.A.O Greg Dyke: England have always been Rubbish...

When new F.A Chairman Greg Dyke was presented to the media last week, he spent much of his first press conference bemoaning the falling number of Englishmen playing football in the Premier League.

"The real challenge for us looking forward is that we've gone from 70% English players in the Premier League to 30% and it's still falling. If that continues, we won't have a chance in hell in future tournaments. We have got to stop that decline and we've got to get more English players playing at the highest level."

Since his comments there has been a media frenzy, many football journalists have jumped at the chance to get behind this view and add their foreigner blaming opinions to the debate. The most prominent statistic used to highlight this lack of English talent, is the fact that when the PL was launched in 1992, 75 per cent of players were English and now it is down to just 32%.

Which explains England's glorious World Cup victory in 1994.

On the surface Greg Dyke’s comments might seem sensible, the sort of everyfan schtick you are likely to hear at the pub before a game. However if you think about it with any level of insight, the idea that the foreign talent in the Premier League is diminishing the quality of the England team is clearly and obviously not true.

If we look at the history of the England team, apart from a glorious aberration on home soil in 1966, they have actually always been pretty average. Even when the league was full of a near 100% Englishmen we were not in fact world beaters. There is an argument to say that since the influx of foreign born stars, the England team has actually got better. In the 70’s and 80’s England often didn't qualify for major tournaments, since the advent of the Premier League the England team have regularly qualified and been consistent in getting to the knock-out phases, before going out to the first good team they have come across.

The elephant in the room is that England does not produce enough players of the required quality to surpass their foreign colleagues, if they were good enough they would of course be first picks. The idea that limiting the foreign players in the league will increase the quality of English players is nonsense, if they cannot compete at club level against these players they are unlikely to be better at international level. Not forgetting that the knock on effect of such a move would not only reduce the quality of the League, but is also likely to reduce the interest from fans around the world.

So what is the problem?

The coaching and education of young players is the key to this problem, the standard of grass roots coaching in this country is simply appalling. England just doesn't compare to countries like Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil and even smaller nations. Grass roots football still has too much emphasis on kick and rush tactics, long balls and rewarding strength over technique. We have less qualified and professional coaches than these countries by a significant margin and have only just stopped our young kids from running around huge 11-a-side pitches at the age of ten!!

So next time an England team is being outplayed and knocked out at the first hurdle. Please remember, it is not the fault of the Dennis Bergkamp's, Eric Cantona’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s of this world. It is because we have only recently given up on our over reliance on prehistoric tactics and valuing strength over technique. England players also seem to show a genuine lack of composure, which manifests itself as our heroes being brave blood stained "warriors". Real composure and bravery is not a blood stained defeat, but risking a piece of skill or passing in a pressurised situation and not resorting to long ball tactics every time something goes wrong.

Quite simply, England need better players. Players with more quality and technique on the ball. Reducing the amount of good foreign players in the league will not improve this.

…And lets not get started on the fact that English players on the whole are scared to play abroad and generally seem to put a minimal amount of effort in to improve their game after they have “made it”.