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Ireland suffer early disappointment in the Six Nations with defeat against France in Dublin. INPHO/James Crombie
Sporting Year 2011

The sporting year in review: February

Pensioners scrapping Italian midfielders, professional footballers shooting young lads and a memorable New York minute.

AS WE FLIPPED the calendar over to February, there was plenty to look forward to; the return of league football and hurling, a brand-new Six Nations campaign, and the beginning of the Champions League knock-out stages.

Over in America, one of the season’s underdogs turned it around late on to win the Super Bowl while Down Under, another Irishman started to make his mark (literally) while his agent courted some unwanted attention.

Here’s how it all went down.

The winners

Joe Jordan: The San Siro can be a pretty intimidating place but Spurs’ assistant coach Joe Jordan was equal to the challenge (and then some) when confronted by Gennaro Gattuso after the Londoners’ Champions League tie against Milan. Gattuso was charged with “gross unsporting conduct” after headbutting Jordan but the Scot came out of the incident with his “hard as nails” reputation firmly intact.

Tommy Walsh: After spending a year learning the Aussie Rules ropes as a rookie, the Kerryman finally got a break and made his senior debut for St Kilda in the pre-season NAB Cup.

Caltech Beavers: This Californian college is more famous for producing science grads than sport stars, but its college basketball team had a night to remember when they beat Occidental 46-45 in February. The win brought a close to a remarkable 310 game losing streak which spanned the last 26 years. That’s a long time.

The losers

Ashley Cole: The Chelsea defender was the butt of plenty of jokes and back-page puns after accidentally shooting a work experience student with an air rifle at Chelsea’s training ground. All together now — “SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!”

Ricky Nixon: The Aussie super-agent famous for luring GAA talent to the AFL was caught up in a high-profile scandal after a 17-year-old girl went public with details of their relationship. Nixon later had his licence revoked for two years.

Horse Racing: The sport of kings was stunned when two horses, one of which was owned by JP McManus, were electrocuted and died in the parade ring before a race at Newbury.

Highlight of the month

A tight Manchester derby in Old Trafford was settled by Wayne Rooney’s wonderstrike in the 78th minute. Wazza’s winner went on to top the annual end of season polls, though the naysayers still maintain that he shinned it.

YouTube Credit: mgarfitt

Headline of the month

“The Pack is Back” Not one of our own unfortunately, but the LA Times hit the nail on the head following the Green Bay Packers’ win at Super Bowl XLV. Christina Aguilera may have fluffed her lines during the national anthem but Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers was right on song, throwing three touchdown passes in the 31-25 win.

Picture of the month

There were a few red faces in Greece after this spoof picture of the Manchester City squad — featuring Messrs Rooney, Zidane, Kaka, Messi and, erm, Wally — made it into Aris Thessaloniki’s official matchday programme for the sides’ Europa League meeting. City bosses laughed it off but the programme was pulped soon afterwards.

Sporting viral of the month

Say what you like about American sport but at least they know how to do hype stateside. The New York Knicks created this pre-match intro for hometown hero Carmelo Anthony after they sealed a deal to bring him back to the Big Apple.

YouTube Credit: NYKnicksJay

Tweet of the month

Ireland’s rugby team took quite a bit of flak on Twitter as their Six Nations campaign continued to stutter. Defeat to France was followed by a rather unconvincing 21-18 win over Scotland in Murrayfield, but Jamie and the lads were more than able to handle the boo boys.


Read more of our month-by-month review of 2011 here >