1985: The greatest sporting year

I've been putting this off for years. But the recent Live Aid nostalgia has pushed me over the edge. We've all had the debate in the pub about the greatest sporting year - no, just me then? - so I'm here to argue the case for 1985. After forty years, it is time to tell 1985 that I'm crazy for you.

There are of course many factors involved in your chosen favourite sporting year. Allegiance matters. Therefore, Manchester United winning a treble, Europe collapsing in the Ryder Cup, and Australia winning two World Cups means I don't want to party like it's 1999. Yet pushing all this irrational stuff to one side, there can be no doubting the credentials of 1985.

1980: Wimbledon and the magic eye

There was never a dull moment with Ilie Năstase. Walking across centre court in his first round match at Wimbledon in June 1980, the Romanian had his eyes firmly set on a box positioned at the side of the court. He bent down to examine the device, the crowd tittering as Năstase continued to entertain.

This was no ordinary box. In fact, it was a £2,000 machine installed in an attempt to improve officiating in tennis, an early example of technology in a sport, tasked with eliminating any controversial decisions. But as we have found out with the 2025 move away from line judges, initially not everyone was impressed.

1985: Anne White causes a storm

On the face of it, the first round match at Wimbledon between Americans Pam Shriver and Anne White in 1985 was not expected to provide many headlines. White had never been beyond the third round at SW19, so a routine win seemed the order of the day for number five seed Shriver, a 1981 Wimbledon semi-finalist.

Shriver would progress. But come the end of the match, the actual tennis was very much a sideshow. The reason for the furore would be revealed at approximately 7.20pm on Thursday June 27. As soon as White took off her tracksuit, it was very much a case of hold the front pages.

1980s: All I Want For Christmas Is....

Is it just me, or does it become harder as the years go by to come up with ideas for Christmas gifts for yourself? Every year my wife mentions that I need to produce a Christmas list for the family, and my mind goes blank, as I struggle to think of anything that I need (bar socks).

It's not like that during your childhood, especially if you were lucky enough to grow up in the 80s. There were plenty of videos, records/tapes/CDs, and computer games to choose from, as the Woolworths and WH Smiths catalogues were scanned in great detail.

And then there was the magic of the Argos catalogue. Picking up one of those bad boys and compiling a Christmas list from the many products displayed was a joy. Thanks to the legends at Retromash, I've been able to visit old Argos catalogues and party like it's 1985 again. 

Below are some of the gifts my parents were kind enough to buy me for Christmas, and a couple that got away. Maybe I should add the presents I didn't receive to my current list? 

1987 Wimbledon: Boris Becker v Peter Doohan

Before 1987, the only pain Boris Becker had suffered at Wimbledon was during his third-round match against Bill Scanlon. Stretchered off court two after tearing ankle ligaments, the 16-year-old German exited the tournament in agonising circumstances.

1983 French Open: Jo Durie

The past is indeed a foreign country. Before Johanna Konta’s exploits, the last British woman to reach a French Open semi-final was Jo Durie in 1983. Around that time, Manchester City had just been relegated, Brighton almost won the FA Cup, Aberdeen lifted a European trophy, and a female Prime Minister was about to increase her majority in the UK election.

1984 Stockholm Open: John McEnroe

For all his outbursts and some of the histrionics that surrounded John McEnroe’s career, there could be no doubting that the American was one of the finest tennis players of his generation. Seven grand slam singles titles between 1979-1984 highlighted McEnroe’s success in the sport, and his battles with Bjorn Borg are often cited as one of the defining rivalries in sport.

1986 Wimbledon: Castle v Wilander

England's Andrew Castle pushed Mats Wilander all the way in their second round match at Wimbledon in 1986. But he failed to build upon the initial flashes of promise he showed on that day.

After spending more than four years at Wichita State University, 22-year-old Andrew Castle was keen to make an impression during the five-week LTA satellite tour in the spring of 1986. “The American college system teaches you that losing is no good to nobody,” Castle stated. “Winning is everything. It is the only attitude for a professional. You learn to win or get out.”

1980s sporting retirements

Nico Rosberg recently made the shock decision to retire from Formula One after winning the World Championship title. So this week I am taking a look back at some sporting retirements of the 1980s, including an England rugby union captain forced to quit the sport, a triple blow for the Australian cricket team, and a future England manager saying his goodbyes before leaving the scene Anneka Rice style.

1984 Australian Open Tennis

This week I am reviewing the 1984 Australian Open; a tournament that ended the Grand Slam hopes of Martina Navratilova, saw another chapter written in the success story of Sweden and Mats Wilander, at a location which was nearing the end of its time as a major championship venue.

An Ode to Billy Joel

Something a little different for my last blog of the year, and apologies if this is not your cup of tea, but this week I am paying tribute to my love of sport in the 1980s by butchering Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire.

I had great fun putting this together, and please don't be too harsh.  After all, I'm no Stock, Aitken or Waterman.

1988 US Open Tennis

A look back this week on the final Grand Slam of the 1988 tennis season: the US Open. A tournament which saw the completion of Steffi Graf's glorious year, another win for Mats Wilander and Sweden, more British disappointment, a shock for Martina Navratilova, and the continued rise of Andre Agassi.

This completes my series on the 1988 Grand Slam tennis season:

Australian Open
French Open
Wimbledon

1988 Wimbledon

Continuing my 1988 Grand Slam tennis series, a look back this week on the 1988 Wimbledon Championships. A tournament that saw one Grand Slam ambition end and another continue, more British disappointment, classic semi-finals, and a Swede confirm his undoubted talent by winning the Wimbledon title.

Ivan Lendl - The Man Who Made Murray

It is dangerous to go through your life with the same opinions on someone or something that you have always believed to be true. So as my life has progressed, I have always tried to educate myself on matters that I feel need addressing. Obviously with me that involves sporting issues rather than sensible, grown-up things, but what do you expect?

Therefore, reading Ivan Lendl - The Man Who Made Murray by Mark Hodgkinson was a valuable experience for me, a real eye-opener. Previously I had held the firm belief that Lendl was dull, cold, boring, and seriously lacking on the personality front. As I read the book, I discovered that I was not alone in this view, after all, Lendl was hardly Mr Popular on the international tennis scene in the 1980s. But in his excellent and engrossing book, Hodgkinson sets about tackling the misconceptions and myths surrounding the man, who would eventually win eight Grand Slam singles titles, and as the title suggests, help Andy Murray to realise his ambitions.

1988 French Open Tennis

Roland Garros had been hosting the French Open championships for 60 years when the second Grand Slam event of the 1988 season began in Paris. It would be a tournament which saw the Grand Slam dream staying alive for two players, former greats falling by the wayside, a teenage invasion of the women's singles, French hopes raised and then dashed at the last, and a women's final that set records, yet one which Natasha Zvereva would probably prefer to forget.

1980s: Sporting thrashings

There can be nothing worse than being on the end of a sporting thrashing. I should know, having once played in for a junior football team which lost a match 33-0 (we made the local paper and earned a free trip to Burger King and the local cinema to watch Home Alone, so we did get something out of it).

My embarrassment was fortunately limited, a very local affair that I have tried my best to forget. But many of the participants in the following sporting thrashings were not as lucky as me. Theirs was very much a national or international humbling, played out in front of the watching public, read about by sports fans at the time and since.

1988 Australian Open Tennis

This week I have decided to take a look back at the 1988 Australian Open, a tournament staged at a spectacular new complex, involving epic matches, stifling heat, one final dart at glory for a past great, and the true beginning of a new era in the women's game.

Sporting celebrations of the 1980s

Celebrate good times, come on! There is nothing like a great sporting celebration to get the blood pumping, as all the pressure that has been building inside is finally allowed to disperse, that brief period of time following something special where both athletes and fans experience an overwhelming feeling of elation. This week I am taking a look back at sporting celebrations of the 1980s, five moments where the competitors marked success in an unforgettable manner. A high five if you like.

1980 US Open: Borg v McEnroe

Think of the Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe duels and generally the mind instantly shoots back to 1980, that classic Wimbledon final, containing that magical tie-break, with the cool Swede eventually coming out on top in five thrilling sets that seemed to define the pair and their rivalry. But barely two months later came another encounter which, as Dennis Norden would have no doubt stated, could have been filed under the category of all-time great matches. The 1980 US Open final may not receive the same plaudits and recognition as the preceding major, certainly not in Britain at least, yet for both men it would mark a significant moment in their respective careers.

Wimbledon: 1980s A to Z

With the start of Wimbledon this week, I turned my attentions to the tournament I grew up watching in the 1980s. There were so many great players, matches and highlights in this particular decade, that my indecision over which year to cover in my blog led me to compiling my very own 1980s A to Z of Wimbledon.

You may not agree with some or all of my choices, there are bound to be entries that I have missed out, but below are my personal memories of the tournament from 1980-1989: