Top Five Sporting Meccas

As ever, I have tried to be a bit off beat and so don’t be surprised if a couple, if not all of these, are not what you were expecting. They are a mixture of world class venues, legendary arenas and symbolic stadiums. This is not a list of the most attractive or biggest venues but of the best places to play and watch sport.   

MGM Grand, Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Strip, lit up, loud with music, fountains, neon lights and looking glorious. The casinos full of expectant punters. The MGM Grand, the world’s second largest hotel, filled to the rafters with sporting greats and celebrities ready to watch two legends slug it out in front of thousands of baying fans. This has to be without doubt one of the most bloodthirsty arenas in world sport.

I have never been to a boxing bout but I would dearly love to return to Vegas for something along the lines of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr v ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley which we were treated to on Saturday night. I have been to the MGM before and it was bloody brilliant then. I can only imagine what it would be like when the glitz and the glamour that surrounds the world of top quality boxing comes to town.

The MGM Garden Arena's ring and ringside seating

 

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The atmosphere in the arena is sensational. 17,000 thousand people baying for blood and a screaming for that killer blow to be struck. The fans whipped into a frenzy by the undercard and let loose on the casino after the two sluggers have left everything they have on the canvas.

The MGM is where Hollywood meets the sporting greats and the result is a devastating concoction of blood, sweat, tears and more. A true boxing amphitheatre.    

Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, Arundel

On the complete opposite side of the sporting stadium spectrum is Arundel, arguably the most quaint and gorgeous place a person can turn their arm over or nudge an easy two to third man.

Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, owned by the Duke of Norfolk, traditionally used to be the venue for the touring side’s opening fixture. Afterwards they would travel to some other, more prestigious grounds such as Lord’s, Headingley and Trent Bridge but they wouldn’t be able to play amid such a serene backdrop as Arundel again.

The picturesque setting of Arundel Castle Cricket Ground

 

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It is the fact that it seems untouched by commercial interests which have come to dominate the world of professional cricket that make this ground so perfect. It is the polar opposite of the IPL. A tournament played in horrible concrete grounds packed full of lairy fans who just want to see three hours of slogging. There is nothing wrong with the IPL. In fact, as a Twenty20 tournament it seems ideal but that is not what cricket is about in my old fashioned opinion.

When I think of the great cricketing arenas, I think Lord’s, Newlands in Cape Town, the SCG. This is because they combine superb facilities with stunning backdrops and tradition. The only reason I have gone even further and named Arundel as a Sporting Mecca is because cricket is not all about the international game and I could not think of a nicer occasion than a charity game played with mates at the most sublimely English ground of them all.

Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury

The Meadow, Shrewsbury Town’s old ground and now, disgracefully a housing development. What a place this used to be. Granted, it was small. Ok, it was pretty gritty slash a complete shithole and if pushed I would have to admit that the standard of football was not always inspiring.

However, that is not the point. If everyone was only interested in the Premiership then our football lives would be far less rich. Our lower leagues are what makes England the greatest footballing nation in the world because so many people are interested in them. More people probably turn up to watch Rochdale v Mansfield Town than some top flight Italian matches.

Gay Meadow in all its evening glory

 

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A mixture of the old Victorian turnstiles that were used from the ground’s opening in 1910 till it’s closure in 2007, the proximity of the river which forced the club to employ a man, Fred Davies, to row a boat on the Severn collecting all the balls lumped out of the ground and the terraces made the Meadow the textbook lower league ground.I had the pleasure of watching a centre back called Matty Redmile make his debut at the colloseum of lower league football in 2001. In the first half he attempted a Cruyff turn on the halfway line, tripped over his own feet, got mugged and the striker beat the keeper on a one on one. Disaster. But, he made up for it in the second half with a scissor kick from the edge of the box to send the Riverside stand into raptures.

This is the kind of entertainment you got at the Meadow. Add this to the foulest pie and pint combo of your life and a shed load of abuse for anyone who dared turn up in any other colour apart from blue and yellow and you have yourself a classic afternoon.

Wimbledon Centre Court

One of the greatest things about Wimbledon Centre Court is the fact that you can only play on it if you are wearing all-white. This is the type of tradition that makes Wimbledon such a wonderfully English event. The players understand this and a combination of these traditions, the history of the tournament and the manicured grass surface make this the major that means the most.

The Court itself, the most famous in the world, is a fantastic venue on many levels. It is traditional with its Royal Box but it is also modern with its brand new retractable roof. This court has adapted to the changes that so may other venues fear while managing to maintain it’s character and that is just one more reason why it is one of the world’s great sporting arenas.

Wimbledon Centre Court in the aftermath of Nadal and Federer;s classic 2008 final

 

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A venue needs to have hosted great events if it is to be seen as a Sporting Mecca and Wimbledon’s Centre Court has done this and then some. Just think back to Rafa Nadal’s glorious victory over Roger Federer in 2008 when the winning shot was played well in to the twilight hours. Or, that epic encounter between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe in 1980 when one tie-break lasted more than 20 minutes. These are the type of duels that only solidify Centre Court as one of the best venues in sport.

The Circus Tavern, Purfleet

I just love the idea of having a World Championships played in a pub. However, this is no ordinary pub. The Circus is technically an entertainment venue but in my mind it is one of the most legendary arenas in sport.

The way the crowd were pretty much on the oche with the players, the unbelievably lairy atmosphere and the fact that at the end of the day, you were still in a pub, made the Circus Tavern the ultimate marriage between a sport and it’s primary venue.

But, as ever, many boxes need to be ticked if a venue is to be upgraded to a Mecca. The Circus hosted 14 years of World Championship darts and was one of the main reasons behind the resurgence in this great sport. The way the crowd could get involved made the atmosphere electric, if not completely drunken, and this appealed to so may people that darts is now a major part of Sky Sports weekly menu.

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Before darts outgrew the arena forcing the World Championships to move to the larger Alexandra Palace, The Circus hosted some of the greatest darts matches ever played. Most notable was the classic 2004 final when Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor beat Kevin ‘The Artist’ Painter in a sudden death leg to prevail 7-6. Similarly, the 2007 final when The Power was on the end of identical treatment from Raymond Van Barneveld.

The atmosphere in these battles was quite simply amazing. Many people may not like darts or like the way that booze is seen as a critical component of its success. I disagree and having been to an evening at the World Championships and totally loved it, I just wish I could have gone one better and taken a trip to The Circus.

Mentioned in dispatches

Augusta National; Cheltenham Racecourse; Wembley; Lord’s; the Bird’s Nest, Beijing; St Andrews; the Camp Nou and The Crucible.

The March of the Vets

Watching Steve ‘The Golden Nugget’ Davis roll back the years by defeating defending World Champion John Higgins at the Crucible a couple of days ago was a real pleasure. Davis, a six-times World Champion himself, was positively ecstatic and his euphoria was only matched by the sportsmanship of Higgins who proclaimed Davis the greatest ever after his defeat.

The reason this was such a welcome win is that Davis is 52 years of age. You may think age doesn’t matter when it comes to snooker. Why would it when all you have to do is stroll around a table and occasionally pot a ball? How wrong you are.

Snooker, like all sports, seems to favour the younger participant. You only have to watch the decline of Stephen Hendry’s fortunes to see that when you top forty your best days tend to be well and truly behind you in terms of the green baize. However, this does not mean that one is not capable of a massive upset every now and then.

Steve Davis salutes the crowd after one of the greatest upsets in Crucible history

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Davis has done this more often than most and one must take your hat off to the man who has now hit 100 Crucible century breaks and won more professional titles than anyone else in the sport.  Despite being branded the most boring man in sport by some, he has hit back at his critics by turning into a insightful and knowledgeable pundit whilst maintaining a very high standard of play at an age when most players have packed away their cue and are probably turning into pool sharks in backstreet snooker clubs.

Davis is one of a select group of current sportsmen that are still enjoying their game well into their 50s and 60s and have the ability to put the cat amongst the pigeons every now and then. Another example is the golfer Tom Watson who seems to be maturing like a fine burgundy as he sets the pace at majors with monotonous regularity these days.

Tom Watson wows the Turnberry crowd with yet another virtuoso performance

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His vintage performance at last year’s Open at Turnberry when he was robbed out of a sixth Claret Jug was inspiring as well as heartbreaking. Watson is 60. 60! To still be troubling the scorer’s at that age is a pretty phenomenal effort, let alone making the so-called best players in the world look like mere amateurs. To then hit a first round 67 at Augusta and put the fear of God into the rest of the field in the process is seriously impressive.

There is nothing like a popular old boy putting his decades of experience to good use and showing the young whippersnappers what how it’s done. The fact that the last two Open’s have had Watson and the legendary Greg Norman in the final pairing have been such a welcome change of pace that I am thinking about quitting my job and following the Seniors Tour full time!

Greg 'The Great White Shark' Norman recovers during his 2008 Open charge

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The tragedy is that neither man has been able to finish the job and has been pipped at the post on both occasions. How wonderful it would have been to watch either of these two great champions hoisting the jug aloft but alas, it was not to be.

It remains to be seen whether the Golden Nugget can close the deal in Sheffield this year and lift his seventh World Title but even if he doesn’t, he has made the opening stages of this year’s tournament memorable.

It is nice to know that sport is not something that is confined to those under the age of 35. Kanu is testament to that. There he is, returning to Wembley for another FA Cup Final at the age of 64…! Similarly, there is a group of people who ran the London Marathon for the thirtieth consecutive time yesterday – the Everpresents. What an achievement.

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life and I hope that the sportsman of our generation can follow in the well-trodden footsteps of men such as Davis and Watson by continuing to entertain us well into the future.