The Did you know thread. Uselss, but fascinating trivia, facts and stories

[Although this is statistically interesting, from a tactical/in-game standpoint I don't find it that surprising. Crouch often plays as more of a out&out goal-scorer for England while Rooney has often been lined up as a 2nd striker/withdrawn forward. While sticking the ball in the ol' onion bag is part of his job in that role, Rooney often is asked to serve as the creative fulcrum of the England attack IMO. As you pointed out about Crouch being used as a "super-sub", this often allows Crouch to score against flagging opposition in the waning minutes of a given match.]

 

Tony Adams' debut for Arsenal wasn't outstanding for his performance, but because he wore his shorts back to front.

 

[Good one, now I wish that I had posted that since I already knew it.

Before the '58 WC, Jimmy Greaves & Nat Lofthouse didn't make the cut for the final 22-man England tournament roster in April of '58. Greaves & "Lofty" then showed the England inter. sel. comm. what "geniuses" they were at picking forwards with Greaves finishing as joint top scorer along w/Bobby Smith of the 1st Div. of the '58-'59 season w/32 goals & Lofthouse finished as the 2nd place goal-scorer w/29 goals.

Here's a link w/info about the '58 prelim. squad and the cut down to the final squad:

http://www.englandfootballonline.com/CmpWC/CmpWCHeartache.html

Here's the England final 22-man squad @ the '58 WC:

http://www.englandfootballonline.com/CmpWC/CmpWC1958Squad.html

Here's the leading English 1st Div. goal-scorers fr. the '58-'59 season:

http://www.free-elements.com/England/Seasons/S1958.html ]

 

In Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1959, in a second division game, a goalkeeper was annoyed because a small plane was flying constantly around the stadium. So the goalkeeper kicked the ball in anger straight to the plane and the ball hit the plane's propeller, shutting it down! The plane fell near the stadium, but luckily nothing happened to the pilot. The goalkeeper got so scared that he left the match and went to hide into his house(which wasn't far away). The news spread around the world, and it has been featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not! book.
Here's the link to the article(The article is in spanish. Sadly, I couldn't find the article in english)

http://archivo.abc.com.py/2009-02-17/articulos/496575/inaudita-e-irrepetida-hazana-aerea

 

FC Barcelona's alltime topscorer is Paulino Alcantara from Philippines

 

[Fascinating bit of trivia there, schwuppe: Is Alcantara's all-time top-scoring mark just lge. gls. or is it in all competitions, mate? I'll do some digging around myself & see what I can turn up.]

 

All competitions, which mainly consisted of the "Campionat de Catalunya" (Catalonia Championship), and the Spanish Cup, which served as the de facto Spanish Championship as Alcántara played before the Primera División/La Liga had been established in 1928.

 

[Thank for the info, mate: I was just curious since IDK for sure how Alcantara's career goal numbers for Barca were being tallied.]

 

i was under the impression that there was a massive brawl in La Plata between uruguayan and argentinians back in like 1919

 

[It's funny that you bring this up because I was sent over on a freelance assignment to cover Best's move to Hong Kong & his being signed by HK Rangers. I think that he only ended up stepping on to the pitch for them once or twice IIRC. Before that Best logged a season or two w/the SJ Earthquakes of the NASL. The Earthquakes became an INDOOR football side while Best was there, so he was forced to adapt & actually was a quite brilliant indoor player IMO.

The British, & to a certain extent the world, press were actually somewhat ruthless w/poor George & his foreign adventures. You would often see back page headlines to the tune of, "Does He Know The Way Back From San Jose?" & other such jabs @ "Bestie".]

 

You may want to re-word that sentence.

 

[I was going to point that out, especially since I had first-hand experience w/HK Rangers. But I decided that discretion is the better part of valour, as it were. ]

 

I'm more like a bull in a china shop whereas you have a much more refined approach my friend.

Apologies to Excape Goat as I was not intending to barge in. (hence the wee smiley face on my post)

 

[So I would be the "Jimmy Greaves" to your "Bobby Smith", then? Or to your "'Torpedo' McGrory", perhaps? I was originally going to go w/Wilf Mannion & Dave Mackay, but I couldn't "shoehorn" in the McGrory reference very easily then.]

 

[Thanks for the info, mate; I was going to mention some of the facts that you posted, but I was going for the whole "wider view" approach: Best playing in the NASL, the British sporting press reaction to Best playing overseas, etc.]

 

Batistuta cut the field grass early in his career in some Argentina club. He later became the best of his generation.

 

[Did you mean to say Mick Channon here, mate?]

 

If interested in anecdotes about specific matches
I haev started this blog
http://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/

 

Excellent work. Brilliantly done.

 

thank you