If you’re UK based and of a certain age, you’re bound to have watched the gameshow Bullseye while growing up, and likely to have chanced upon the satellite TV reruns that are still showing to this very day. The premise was simple, teams of two took part in rounds that involve both general knowledge and darting ability (or lack therefore of). The winning pair of contestants then picked up prizes on ‘Bully’s Prize Board’. These more often than not come across as a combination of hand me downs and stuff you might find in a closing down sale. These prizes can then be put on the line for a shot at the star prize – a prize that’s only revealed upon winning it. To win this, they have to score 101 of more with six darts.
Exciting stuff, right? Sometimes the star prize was a trip to a Caribbean island or something along those lines. Who wouldn’t be chuffed to win that! On other occasions, it was a caravan or car. Again, a nice prize to win, even if you do have to saw it in two, or arm wrestle for it, since there are two contestants.
Beyond those prizes though, we start to stray into territory that is far more bizarre. One of the most frequently featured star prizes was a speed boat. As elated as winners may have been to have won, it does make you wonder how the contestants, some of whom may live on a council estate for instance, got to enjoy their top of the range speed boat in real life. Perhaps they zoomed down the side of a high rise, or did lengths in the local swimming pool. The real sh!t sandwich of a prize though, was a prize I only ever saw offered once.
Take into account that 80s fashions were as dodgy as they get. Notorious for it. Even when people made an effort they looked like they’d crawled out of a bush. And that’s just those featuring in pop videos. The likes of Bullseye contestants certainly don’t appear to have worked themselves into a panic over what to wear for their once in a lifetime appearance on the show. Throw on any old rag, was the order of the day. Keeping that in mind, the most tragic yet hilarious star prize on Bullseye was…… a fashion spree!
I’m not the biggest Tennis fan but when even the players are deciding to have a kick about mid game – as Benoit Paire and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did during their Stadion Court match at the NOVENTI OPEN on Tuesday – maybe it’s worth calling it a day!
The moment of humor and fun occurred in the third set (1-1) when Paire let his racket slip, and decided to pause the proceedings to see if he’d have more luck using his feet. The skillful exchange between players ended with a playful and yet unsuccessful bicycle kick from Paire. Tsonga, as was expected before the match, eventually won the match (6-4, 7-5) but I’m sure this football themed interlude will live as long in the memory as the game itself!
I’ve continued to enjoy the 2019 Women’s World Cup, and it already looks like the competition is set to be the most successful Women’s World Cup so far. One person not particularly over the moon about it though is a member of the Cameroon Women’s National Football team.
In their 15th June game against the Netherlands, Cameroon’s Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene was the first 2019 scorer for her country, which of course is great news. She also displayed a more irate side of her character though, when one of the Dutch players, Desiree van Lunteren, refused to allow her to drink from her bottle. The refusal did seem a little unusual, either rude or a case of ‘crossed wires’.
Another Dutch player, Merel van Dongen, witnessed this unfold and was kind enough to get up from the bench to offer the Cameroon player a water bottle. Clearly at this point though, Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene was already seeing red and instead decided to launch the bottle into the air, much to the amusement and/or annoyance of those around her. Cameroon went on to lose the game 3-1 to the Netherlands side. This follows their 1-0 loss to Canada. Their final group game is on Thursday against New Zealand. The Netherlands have now won both of their opening games and so are through to the knockout stage.
Check out footage of the incident below:
International football action is coming thick and fast right now. Fresh off the back of the brand new UEFA Men’s Nations League competition, we now have the excitement of the 2019 Women’s World Cup to enjoy. The women’s game is going from strength to strength nowadays, and a case in point has to be the peak audience of 6.3 million viewers for the England vs Scotland game, here in the UK. A game England edged 2 goals to 1.
While there’s been a few exciting games so far in the tournament, a handful have certainly been a little lacking on the goals front. That situation was certainly turned on its head today in impressive fashion though, when the USA, taking on Thailand, beat the World Record for the most goals ever scored in a Women’s World Cup game. The goals started at 12 minutes (courtesy of Alex Morgan, who went on to score 5 goals in total) and just didn’t stop coming. In total the USA had 40 shots (20 of which were on target against a diminutive Thai goalkeeper) vs 2 shots from the Thai side.
The US has featured in the semi finals or better of every single one of the seven Women’s World Cups held so far, winning three of them including the 2015 tournament, but still, such a relentlessly brutal one way traffic victory is quite something to behold. On the flipside, it’s of course gutting for their Thai opponents, some of whom left the pitch in tears. Thailand are relative newbies to theWomen’s World Cup tournament, only featuring once before in the Group rounds. They just didn’t have the ability or physical stature to compete with such a seasoned American side.
All of the USA goals:
The goals and scorers during the game are as follows:
- Morgan (12′ minutes, 53′ minutes, 74′ minutes, 81′ minutes, 87′ minutes),
- Lavelle (20′ minutes, 56′ minutes),
- Horan (32′ minutes),
- Mewis (50′ minutes, 54′ minutes),
- Rapinoe (79′ minutes),
- Pugh (84′ minutes),
- Lloyd (90’+2 minutes)
