Sports Poets Society

John Pierce with Stephen Roche in 1988 https://www.velouk.net/2020/05/25/best-of-memories-john-pierce/ A photographer who has covered over 50 editions of the Tour de France, John Pierce writes about one the most memorable, the 1987 win by Ireland’s Stephen Roche John writes … Following many years in the 1970’s as the event photographer for the Raleigh Dunlop Tour of Ireland , I became friendly with many of the Irish race organisers and riders. During the 1979 season, one of the organisers from the Tour of Ireland – Noel Hammond invited me to his Dublin home. It was here that the winner of that years Ras Taileann, Dubliner Stephen Roche , showed me a small letter from AC-BB France signed by Mickey Wiegants . The letter invited him to join the club in the western suburb of Paris, unusually it came direct from the club’s owner/president in the South of France. Noel Hammond (Orwell Wheelers), coach of Stephen Roche pre AC-BB.  Noel was a Board Member of ICF a...

https://www.amazon.it/Maestri-calcio-grandi-allenatori-stranieri/dp/1520478593/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= di Christian Giordano © Guerin Sportivo © Ai giorni nostri i grandi club sono autentiche multinazionali, con relativi bilanci e una rete di scouting davvero globale. A rendere quel Celtic speciale era invece la peculiarità, oggi inimmaginabile, che l’intera rosa proveniva dal vivaio, fatto con giovani del luogo e dalle profonde radici locali. L’undici campione d’Europa 1966-67 era nato e cresciuto entro 15-30 miglia da Glasgow. Prima di scendere in campo come professionisti all'Hampden Park, quasi tutti i giocatori, da ragazzi, avevano tifato per i Bhoys (con l'acca) da quelle gradinate. All’arrivo di Jock Stein, nel 1965, il Celtic era un club dalle ampie risorse, ma non vinceva. Il campionato “apparteneva” ai fortissimi Rangers del difensore John Grieg e del mediano “Slim Jim” Baxter. Stein non solo regalò ai biancoverdi Coppa e...

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/not-a-betrayal-just-business-visentini-roche-and-the-1987-giro-ditalia/ 'Why would I go to a Carrera party? To see the guys who made me lose the race?' This article was originally published on Cyclingnews in 2017.  By  Barry Ryan  May 25, 2020 Rage was written across Roberto Visentini’s face as he crossed the line in Sappada, doomed rage. Almost seven minutes had passed since Stephen Roche had completed stage 15 of the 1987 Giro d’Italia, and the Irishman was already being helped into the maglia rosa when Visentini wheeled deliberately to a halt in the middle of a scrum of reporters and photographers. On stepping from his bike, he cast his eyes balefully towards his teammate on the podium. If nothing else, the man had a sense of theatre. “I want to come up,” Visentini called out, pointing to his own grimy pink jersey, before RAI television’s Giorgio Martino thrust a microphone in his direction. “It look...