Sporting Witness

Christy Ring was one of Ireland’s greatest hurling players. His career spanned three decades and he achieved many accolades including eight All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship titles. In 1956, he played in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final. Christy Ring’s Cork were hoping to beat Wexford to not only secure the championship, but for him to also achieve a record ninth title. Crai...

In July 1990, West Germany won the World Cup for the third time, beating Argentina 1-0 in Rome. The shirt the victorious players were wearing that night has become a design classic and is now one of the most sought-after by classic kit collectors. With its distinctive black, red and gold zigzag across the chest, West Germany’s 1990 shirt was a game-changer in the world of football kits, helping to...

It's been fifty years since Arthur Ashe beat defending champion and fellow American Jimmy Connors to become the first African-American man to win Wimbledon. The final in July 1975 was called one of the most remarkable in the history of The Championships. At 49, Ashe died from Aids-related pneumonia. His former agent, Donald Dell, spoke to Louise Hidalgo in 2011 about what his friend might have gon...

In 1974, East Germany beat West Germany in a World Cup match in Hamburg. Afterwards, on a flight, the West German Finance Minister, Hans Apel, found himself sitting next to one of the East German players, Hans-Jurgen Kreische. Apel was so despondent that he told Kreische West Germany could not win the World Cup. Kreische disagreed and the pair had a bet. They tell Mani Djazmi about that fateful mo...

In 1995, post-apartheid South Africa hosted, and won, the Rugby World Cup. It was a hugely unifying moment for the country. In 2013, Rob Bonnet heard Francois Pienaar, the captain of the victorious Springboks, explain what the triumph meant to the nation. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the...

In 1994, as the genocide in Rwanda against the Tutsi minority unfolded, goalkeeper Eric Murangwa Eugene’s life was in danger. Being a Tutsi, Eric had to beg for his life when five armed men showed up at his house to kill him. It was only when they recognised him as a footballer, and saw his photos as proof, that they left. Eric tells Jake Warren about spending the following months trying to evade...

Dutch goalkeeper Eddy Treijtel played for Rotterdam giants, Feyenoord, more than 300 times. But one of his most talked about moments happened during a game against city rivals Sparta Rotterdam, in 1970. His goal kick, meant to pick out a striker, instead hit and killed a seagull. The dead bird was later stuffed and now resides in the club’s museum. Eddy tells Johnny I’Anson about the moment that w...

Bayern Munich were minutes away from winning the Champions League in 1999, before two late Manchester United goals. In 2001, they had a chance at redemption. To do this they had to beat Spanish side Valencia, who were in the final for the second year running after losing to Real Madrid in 2000. In a match with 17 penalties, it would ultimately be Bayern who won the title in dramatic fashion. Micha...

In 2000, Mongolian wrestlers began to transform the traditional Japanese sport of sumo, introducing innovative techniques and reshaping the competitive landscape. Mokonami Sakae, one of the pioneers, overcame cultural and physical challenges to make his mark in the ring. But the rise of Mongolian sumo wrestlers was not without controversy. A Made in Manchester production presented by Ashley Byrne....

In May 1985 Hong Kong inflicted an unexpected footballing defeat on their neighbours and rivals China in a World Cup qualifying game in Beijing. The disappointed Chinese fans rioted and the Hong Kong team had to flee to the safety of their hotel. They later returned home to a hero's welcome. In 2017 Ashley Byrne spoke to former Hong Kong manager, Lawrence Yu Kam-kee. A Made in Manchester productio...

In 2000, keen cricketer Paul Hawkins wanted to turn his passion into innovation when he created the technology we now know as Hawk-Eye and goal-line technology. It was first used in cricket in 2001. Then, after several controversial sporting moments, involving Serena Williams and Frank Lampard, it was introduced in tennis and football. Now it’s used in more than 25 sports around the world. 50-year...

The story of the longest consistently run cycling grand tour for women. Now known as the Giro Rosa, the Giro D'Italia Femminile was first raced in 1988. The race featured a total of nine stages with an average of 87km per day. The winner was Italian Maria Canins. When she started cycling, she was nicknamed ‘Mama Volante’ – ‘The Flying Mother’ – as she was a 32-year-old mother who was originally an...

In 2003, Kwame Nkruman-Acheampong put skis on for the first time. Seven years later, he was competing in slalom at the Vancouver Olympics, the first Ghanaian to ever qualify for the winter games. Kwame grew up in Ghana, but in 2002, at the age of 28, he moved back to UK. To support himself through his masters degree, Kwame decided to get a job and ended up working at the local indoor ski centre in...

In 1980, Rosie Ruiz was crowned the female winner of the Boston Marathon. But the Cuban runner was not known in marathon circles and her victory instantly raised eyebrows. Men's champion Bill Rodgers was there when Rosie was crowned at the finish line with laurel leaves. "I became suspicious of Rosie pretty quickly," he said. "A really fit, strong, marathoner, woman is pretty tough. Rosie was not...

The story of how the legendary surfer, Garrett McNamara, pioneered riding the colossal 100ft waves at Nazaré on the Portuguese coast. At Nazaré in 2011 he broke the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed at the time, officially judged to be 78ft (23.8m). Nazaré has since become a centre of big wave surfing. Garrett McNamara spoke to Alex Last in 2020 about how he first came to surf at Nazar...

On 12 October 2013, American Minda Dentler became the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship race, over 226km. Born into poverty in India, Minda describes how she overcame serious physical illness to realise her athletic dream in Hawaii. Presented by Ashley Byrne. A Made in Manchester production. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive an...

In 2014, English wrestler Saraya-Jade Bevis became the youngest female champion in WWE history. Her life story – growing up in in a wrestling family – was turned into the Hollywood film Fighting with My Family, starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. She tells Vicky Farncombe about her extraordinary rise to fame. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for th...

When sport enthusiast Van Phillips lost his foot in a water-skiing accident, he decided to design a prosthetic leg that allowed him to keep running. In 1984, he made the first prosthetic running leg using carbon graphite, which was light, flexible and strong. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Van Phillips, the inventor of the first carbon graphite prosthetic running leg. This programme was first broadcast in...

At 60m, Nelli Cooman is a former indoor world record holder, running 7:00 seconds in 1986. It was the first time that indoor times were considered official records. Born in Suriname, she moved to the Netherlands aged eight. She was initially a football player, until her sprinting talents were discovered in high school. She became the first Dutch athlete to get sponsorship and go full time, becomin...

In 1976, a group of friends invented a game at a rehab hospital in Canada, which they called "murderball". It was debuted at the World Wheelchair Games in 1990 and called wheelchair rugby. It became a full Paralympic Sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Duncan "The Quadfather" Campbell was one of the 'founding fathers' of the game after a diving accident caused a spinal cord inj...

In the 1997 European Cup Winners’ Cup, FA Cup champions Chelsea played part-timers Tromsø at home – high in the Arctic north of Norway. The match was at times reduced to a farce as the two sides struggled to cope with heavy snow. Chelsea's manager Ruud Gullit argued the game should have been stopped. Tromsø defender Steinar Nilsen speaks to Lars Bevanger about the match - and the tricky conditions...

In 2000, a Canadian diver became the first person to explore the underwater caves of a giant iceberg. Jill Heinerth was already renowned for her exploits mapping vast underground cave networks in Florida. But when a vast iceberg known as B-15 broke away from an ice shelf in Antarctica, Jill was given a unique challenge. Braving sub-zero temperatures and the treachery of constantly shifting ice, sh...

In 1978, Naomi James became the first woman to sail single-handedly around the world via Cape Horn. At the time, Naomi had had only six weeks of sailing experience and had never been on her own on a boat. She also suffered seasickness, and struggled with navigation. But with the encouragement of her husband Rob James, a professional sailor, she set off from Dartmouth, England, in her yacht, the Ex...

In the final minutes of Super Bowl 42, the trailing New York Giants pulled off a move later described as “an insult to physics and Albert Einstein”. Quarterback Eli Manning sent the ball hurtling forward towards wide receiver David Tyree. As he leapt to make the catch, Tyree was under such intense pressure from the New England Patriots’ Rodney Harrison, that it was nearly impossible to get both ha...

On 7 February 1970, footballing legend George Best returned from a month-long ban to score six goals in one game. The striker wanted to prove the critics wrong who said Manchester United had been playing better without him. Ray Fairfax, from Northampton Town, was tasked with marking the Ballon d'Or winner. He tells Vicky Farncombe the unusual methods his side used to prepare for the match – includ...