“Gambian top-flight club Steve Biko FC are named after the late South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko” tweets Kameel Gopal. “Are there any other clubs named after political figures of another country?”
When our readers come through, they really come through. Sit back and watch the answers to this one roll in, kicked off by Philip Farrell, who has a number of suggestions.
“French medieval hero and Saint Joan of Arc is memorialised in the name of ASC Jeanne d’Arc, from Senegal,” he writes. “Spartacus was a legendary gladiator and slave turned rebel who was born in what is now Bulgaria and was an important character in the history of the Roman Republic. Yet, a host of clubs outside Italy and Bulgaria share his name, Spartak.
Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s name lives on in Argentina. Photograph: PA
“Explorer Vasco da Gama was from Portugal. But no less than four clubs (two in Brazil, one in South Africa, and one in India) bear his name. (Although he was one of the first Europeans to reach these lands – by sea). Rutherford B Hayes was the 19th President of the United States (1877-1881). Club Presidente Hayes in Paraguay are named after him. (He mediated in a peace treaty for Paraguay at some point).”
Fine work Philip. But there’s more. Athena Brown perhaps goes off-piste slightly as she notes: “May I point you to the Argentine club CA Douglas Haig, named after the British military general and ‘Butcher of the Somme’, Field Marshal Douglas Haig.”
Daniel Jonathan nominates Club Bolívar from La Paz, named of course after Simón Bolívar, but he has more: “Galvez Esporte Clube are from Rio Branco, the capital of the Brazilian state of Acre, which borders Bolivia, and in fact used to belong to it, until in 1899 the Spanish adventurer Luis Gálvez Rodríguez de Arias organised a successful independence movement, becoming the new Republic of Acre’s first president.”
And finally, Tim Dockery has this: “Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He was the King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 until 1975. The Ghanaian Club King Faisal Babes FC was named after him and played in the Ghana Premier League as recently as 2014.”
Rapid-fire trebles
“Has anyone ever scored a hat-trick with three consecutive touches?” asks Danny Israel. “If not what is the fewest used by a player?”
To a point this might be impossible to know for sure. But we have a few best guesses. Chris Fowler nominates Hugo Sánchez who, while playing for Real Madrid against Real Oviedo in 1990, scored on 36, 46 and 64 minutes. “All were one-touch goals, and he probably didn’t touch the ball much between them,” says Chris.
Sadio Mané’s 2min 56sec treble for Southampton against Aston Villa – the Premier League record – was spoiled slightly by the forward taking plenty of touches between the goals, but one candidate could be Tommy Ross, who scored three in 90 seconds while playing for Ross County against Nairn County in 1964.
Robbie Fowler’s 4min 35sec hat-trick for Liverpool against Arsenal in 1994 is also worth a shout. He took one touch for his first, two for his second and four for his third and was never one to hang on to the ball for too long.
But Ben Usaf might have a winner in rapid hat-tricker James Hayter, playing for Bournemouth against Wrexham in February 2004. “He totalled five touches in 141 seconds, completing the league’s fastest ever hat-trick. Unfortunately his folks had left the ground at around 75 minutes with him still on the bench to make the ferry back to the Isle of Wight so missed it.”
The Palace percentage
“Seven of the 44 managers in the top two tiers have managed Crystal Palace (Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew, Neil Warnock, Tony Pulis, Steve Bruce and Ian Holloway) – that’s 16%. Is this a record?” asks Hamish Nesbit
Joe Murphy has this one covered. “If you look further afield to the sack-happy clubs of Italy then 16% is not even high. I picked two clubs at random and both have more than this!
“Seven out of 42 managers in Serie A and Serie B have managed Pescara. Those being Zeman (Pescara), Oddo (Udinese), Cosmi (Ascoli), Stroppa (Foggia), Di Francesco (Roma), Ballardini (Genoa) and Sarri (Napoli). That’s 17%.
“However, 12 out of 42 managers in Serie A and B have managed Palermo. Those being Bortoluzzi (Palermo), Lopez (Cagliari), De Zerbi (Benevento), Ballardini (Genoa), Novellino (Avellino), Iachini (Sassuolo), Gattuso (Milan), Gasperini (Atalanta), Colantuono (Salernitana), Zenga (Crotone), Cosmi (Ascoli) and Pioli (Fiorentina). That’s 29%. Additionally, up until February Corini managed Novara making 13 out of 42 or 31%.”
Knowledge archive
“The recent discussion about teams scoring an own goal without touching the ball brought back a memory that I need confirmation of,” wrote Barrie Voyce, this time last year. “I’m sure in the late-80s I saw Watford’s Neil Redfearn score with the Hornets’ first touch of the game. I don’t recall the opponents but seem to remember they kicked off and somehow immediately conceded a free-kick outside their own box. Redfearn stepped up and duly dispatched the ball into the top corner. Can anyone verify I actually witnessed this?”
Richard Scrimshaw has his hand up. “I can confirm the event,” he writes. “It was an FA Cup third-round replay against Newcastle on 10 January 1989. They kicked off and passed back to Dave Beasant, who handled the ball outside his area. Neil Redfearn put the free-kick into the top corner, but the game finished 2-2. After another replay (a second 0-0 draw at St James’s Park), Watford won the fourth match 1-0 thanks to a spectacular own goal by Glenn Roeder, who went on to manage both clubs. The first replay, including the free-kick but not its award, can be seen here.”
Can you help?
“Seeing Timothy Fosu-Mensah play against Manchester United got me thinking: has a loanee ever scored their first professional goal against their parent club?” – Sean McGurrin.
“After disappearing down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, I discovered that current Leicester City reserve Faiq Bolkiah is captain of the Brunei national team, despite still awaiting his competitive club debut. Is this a first or are there other examples of international captains who had not made a club appearance?” – Nathan Eaton
“Last Sunday I was watching my hometown club Jamshedpur FC against FC Goa in the Indian Super League. Both goalkeepers were sent off for handling outside the area. How many times has this happened and how many times have both goalkeepers been sent off?” – Chak.
“Are there any examples of ballboys or ballgirls’ actions directly leading to a goal or affecting the outcome of a game?” – Andy Lawn.