In October 1993, Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis made history when they met in Cardiff with the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title on the line.  The contest was the first time that two British born heavyweights had contested a world title, but the build-up to the bout was overshadowed by a bitter war of words between the fighters.  

Bruno questioned both Lewis's legitimacy as a champion - he had won the title when Riddick Bowe refused to face him and had dumped the WBC title in a waste bin - and perhaps more acutely Bruno questioned how British Lewis was, given he had emigrated to Canada as a boy and had won Olympic Gold representing Canada in 1988 - ironically defeating Bowe in the Final.  Bruno was at the time, a national treasure in Britain and in the build-up to the fight, he sought to utilise this support in his favour declaring himself a 'True Brit'.

Perhaps stung by Bruno's words, Lewis responded accordingly, questioning Bruno's credibility as a boxer; highlighting how the popular Bruno had spent more time in recent years "dressed up in girl's clothing" during pantomime performances than he had in the ring.  Lewis then went a step further and declared that Bruno was an 'Uncle Tom' such was his perceived subservience to White Britain in Lewis's eyes.  Understandably, Bruno was furious, declaring he was going to "knock Lewis back to Canada!" and the stage was set for 'The Battle of Britain'.

In this episode, Chris and Nathan assess the spiky build-up to the contest, what occurred in the ring on the famous night at the Arms Park and how the fight impacted upon British boxing and its status in years to come.

On one particularly glorious afternoon of rugby, the French national team conquered opponents from the British Isles to be crowned Champions of Europe.  Yet, the year was not 2025, and the code of rugby was not Union; the year was 1939, and the code was Rugby League.

A love of rugby is surely in the blood of any Gallic sports fan, but it may come as a surprise to those who follow France in the Six Nations Championship that, for a brief
time in the late 1930s, it seemed as though League might well supplant Union in the affections of the French nation as their national team rose to the pinnacle of the
European game.  However, this success would be short-lived, as French Rugby League would be left a casualty of the shifting political grounds on a war-torn continent.  

Following on from Chris’s exploration of why Rugby Union gained predominance over the alternate code in Wales, Nathan narrates the story of 'The Rise, Fall and Rise
again of French Rugby League' in the inter-war period.  At a moment when professionalism clashed with amateurism, and socialism clashed with fascism, the civil war within French rugby created animosity which has never truly disappeared
and captured a moment in time when sport and politics connected in a way that could never have been predicted.

In 1895, Rugby's Great Split occured.  Working class players situated largely in Northern England broke away from the sport's governing body - The Rugby Football Union (RFU) - due to the fact that the RFU's unwillingness to compensate players for the "broken time" incurred through playing the sport.

The RFU and Rugby Union were very much synonymous with the English Public School system from which the game of rugby stemmed and the breakaway 'Northern Union' that ultimately became the Rugby Football League (RFL) was clearly aligned with the working classes.  Therefore, a schism that lasted for a century was established, with boundaries firmly set around class distinctions.  Whilst the advent of professional rugby has somewhat thawed rugby's Cold War  (with England internationals such as George Ford and Owen Farrell being the sons of esteemed Rugby League players) the respective codes of rugby remain largely representative of a North-South divide in England.

As the esteemed author and rugby historian, Tony Collins states the Welsh "national side has traditionally comprised of miners, steelworkers and manual labourers, exactly the type of person who made Rugby League what it is in Northern England."  This begs the question 'Why did Rugby League not become popular in Wales’s working-class communities?' and that is what we focus on in this episode.

We explore how the emergence of the Northern Union and the controversy of 'The Arthur Gould affair' led to the development of Rugby League in Wales.  Given South Wales's similarities with the Rugby League heartlands of Lancashire and Yorkshire, there was belief that Wales could adopt the breakaway code of Rugby League rather than continue to play Rugby Union.  Why did this not happen? 

Whilst the majority of those playing rugby in Wales were from working class communities, the governing forces in Wales, the Welsh Football Union (WFU) later to become the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) was controlled by a "leadership […] (which) was privately educated in England, Conservative in politics, Anglican in religion.”  In essence, they shared the same background and prejudices of the RFU leaders and therefore a compromise was reached.

The WFU's cause was no doubt supported by the Welsh national side being the only home nation to defeat the all-conquering New Zealand tourists in 1905 in a match that was dubbed 'The Match of The Century'.  The WFU were able to cleverly position Rugby Union and Wales's national team as "the pre-eminent expression of Welsh consciousness and a signifier of Welsh nationhood.”  This presented Rugby League with a great challenge, one which it struggled with for the remainder of the Twentieth Century – “To challenge Welsh Rugby Union was to challenge Welsh national identity itself”.

Whilst Welsh star players were always liable to 'Go North' and crossover to Rugby League, the game was never able to truly establish itself at club level in the Welsh heartlands, despite repeated attempts to do so.  We explore the attempts to set up clubs and a Welsh Rugby League competition and why these were unable to take off.

Is it possible to think of England’s 1966 World Cup win without hearing Kenneth
Wolstenholme describing how "some people are on the pitch” before he delivered the immortal line "They think it's all over, it is now!" as Geoff Hurst slammed the ball home, completing his hat-trick and securing the English National side's greatest triumph?

 Would the Asheswin at Edgbaston in 2005 have been as iconic without Richie Benaud’s call of“Kasprowicz…Jones…Bowden”? 

If your memories and perceptions of sporting events are best recalled through the prism of the commentary that brought those moments to life, then
this week's episode of 'The Way We See Sport, The Way We See Life' is for you.  Over the course of this episode, Chris and Nathan delve into the intangible world
of sports journalism, exploring how the way in which sport is covered and reported can often shape our perception of the events we have witnessed.

From the squared circle of the WWE to the inimitable styling of Castleford Rugby League commentator Mick Morgan, this week's episode of TWWSS, TWWSL examines the fundamental question of whether there can ever be a truly objective narrative of sporting competition.

 In a world in which populist politicians increasingly delight in bending reality to their will, Nathan and Chris consider whether sports broadcasters and fans have long ago laid the precedent for a post-truth take on the world; an existence in which a lie can pass into history and “become the truth”.

In 1987's FIFA Youth World Cup, a dynamic and exciting young Yugoslav side featuring multiple players (Robert Jarni, Igor Štimac, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinečki, Predrag Mijatović and Davor Šuker) that would go on to have stellar careers in the game, defeated the likes of Brazil and West Germany en route to claiming the prize.

Numerous members of this side went on to represent Yugoslavia at Italia 90, where the side recovered from a chastening 4-1 defeat to eventual winners West Germany in their opening Group game to reach the Quarter Finals where they were eliminated on penalties by Argentina.  Building upon this relative success, Yugoslavia powered to qualification for the 1992 European Championships winning seven of their eight qualifiers and winning a group containing Denmark, Northern Ireland, Austria and the Faroe Islands.  

Inspired by the afforementioned players, along with additional stellar talents such as Darko Pančev, Srečko Katanec, Dragan Stojković, Alen Bokšić and Dejan Savićević, Yugoslavia would have been heavily fancied to perform well at Euro 92, particularly given the fact that Red Star Belgrade had been crowned as European and Intercontinental Champions in 1991.

However, the Yugoslav side were not able to participate in the tournament, simmering tensions between the constituent nations of the Yugoslav State (that had been bubbling since the death of Tito in 1980) morphed into the Yugoslav Wars with nationalist sentiments driving Croatians, Slovenians and Bosnians to seek autonomy outside of Yugoslavia.  

Football was at the core of the disputes with a match between Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb being abandoned due to rioting between fans.  Dinamo's captain, Boban kicked a Police Officer, who was assaulting one of the Croatian club's fans.  This match has subequently been heralded as 'The Match That Started A War'.  

Alongside this, the Yugosalavian team and national anthem were roundly booed by Croatian nationals at the last Yugoslav international hosted in Zagreb ahead of the 1990 World Cup.  However, in the 2000 documentary 'The Last Yugoslavian Football Team', Yugoslavia's victory over Spain in the Second Phase of Italia 90 is shown being greeted with jubilant celebrations on the streets of Sarajevo with fans joyously chanting "YUGOSLAVIA!  YUGOSLAVIA!" in scenes that suggest football was capable of uniting the Yugoslav state despite the ongoing tensions.

In this episode, Chris and Nathan chart the journey of this side and how the hotbed of ethnic and political tensions that culminated in the Yugoslav Wars  resulted in the Yugoslavian side were forced to withdaw from Euro 92 - which was ultimately won by the side who replaced them, Denmark.  We also analyse the performance of the constituent nations of the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia) in subequent tournaments.

There are few sports which elevate the importance of the so-called “spirit of the game” quite as much as cricket, but in the Antipodean summer of 1932-33 relations were decidedly frosty between the national teams of Australia and England.

This episode of ‘The Way We See Sport’, The Way We See Life sees Nathan and Chris launch series 2 with a deep-dive into the infamous Bodyline Ashes Series. As tempers flared between the Australians and an England team desperate for revenge after defeat in 1929, it looked for a time as if a Test cricket match in Adelaide might erupt into a fully-blown diplomatic crisis. 

A tale which encapsulates sporting genius in the form of the Australian batting great, Don Bradman, and tactical ruthlessness from the England captain, Douglas Jardine, also provides a perfect window into the complex concept of national consciousness. In 1914, Australia had answered Britain’s call to arms for the First World War, and lost many soldiers on the battlefields of Belgium and Gallipoli. By 1942, Australians would be fighting. not just in Europe, but in defence of their own continent, as they sought to delay the Japanese advance down the Kokoda Track. Both events would inevitably prompt reflection on the nature of Australia’s relationship with Britain, as well as its broader place in the world.

The Bodyline Tour of the 1930s captured a moment in which the notion of what it meant to be an Australian was shifting, and signposted something of a cultural shift away from the Mother Country.

When we left the story exploring the parallels between the tenures of Graham Taylor and John Major at the end of Part One in the summer of 1992, both men were perhaps at the peak of their powers.  Taylor’s England were looking forward to that summer’s European Championships having already comfortably seen off one of their Group Stage opponents (France) 2-0 in a friendly at Wembley earlier in the year and were on a run which had seen them record only a single defeat (against World Champions, Germany) in Taylor’s opening 21 matches.  

However, England completely flopped at Euro 92, failing to win a single game, scoring only one goal in three matches as they limply exited the tournament at the Group Stage.  Having lost the crucial final game to hosts Sweden, Taylor was cruelly lampooned in the press with his head superimposed onto a turnip accompanied by the savage headline ‘SWEDES 2 TURNIPS 1’ on the back page of The S*n.  Taylor’s honeymoon was well and truly over and the knives were out amongst the press given England’s poor performances, Taylor’s bizarre selections and his decision to substitute national treasure Gary Lineker when England desperately needed a goal.

For Major, despite the fact he had achieved the unthinkable in winning an election that many (including members of his own party) had thought was unwinnable, his majority was greatly reduced and it was not long before the pressure began to mount.  Britain’s relationship with Europe and its membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) had contributed to the downfall of his predecessor and on 16th September 1992, the events that became known as ‘Black Wednesday’ fatally undermined both Major’s credibility and the Tories reputation for economic competence.  Despite increasingly desperate attempts by Major and his Chancellor, Norman Lamont to remain in the ERM, Britain humiliatingly tumbled out of the ERM as interest rates soared.

Over the course of the next couple of years, the pace of events increasingly got out of control and continually blighted the reigns of Major and Taylor with both men increasingly resembling Basil Fawlty rather than the smooth, consummate professionals they had appeared to be back in 1990.  

Taylor inexplicably agreed to make a fly-on-the-wall documentary with Channel 4 chronicling England’s attempts to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Finals.  What exactly motivated Taylor to do this is uncertain, perhaps he wanted to showcase warts and all, the realities of international management?  Whatever the motivations, the resulting film ‘An Impossible Job’ has become a cult classic.  As England toil in their quest to reach USA 94, Taylor and his assistants (Lawrie McMenemy and Phil Neal) resemble ‘The Three Stooges’ as the campaign increasingly veers into tragi-comic territory as poor performance follows poor performance.  Taylor himself cuts an increasingly desperate and isolated figure and his relationships with his team, the press and even his loyal assistants become strained.  The nadir of the campaign perhaps comes in a crucial double header of away games against Poland and Norway.  Ahead of these games, Taylor comments that “the public back home expect (England) […] the results that will get us into the United States”, what instead unfurls is nothing short of a disaster.  England grab a perhaps undeserved point in Katowice, but a crushing defeat to Norway leaves England with an awful lot to do in their remaining games. Matters come to a cruel and brutal head in Rotterdam, when a combination of poor refereeing and bad luck leads to a 2-0 defeat that left both England’s World Cup hopes and Taylor’s reputation in tatters.

Like Taylor, John Major sought to put the seismic events of 1992 ‘Black Wednesday’ behind him at the autumn Tory Party conference, he sought to reassert his authority and show he was capable of leading the party forwar

During the autumn of 1990, the winds of change were blowing with respect to two of the most prominent positions in British culture, the England National team manager and the Prime Minister.  Two long-standing incumbents, Bobby Robson and Margaret Thatcher were both swept from power and replaced by less experienced and notably lower key successors (Graham Taylor and John Major).

Taylor and Major had both risen rapidly through the ranks during the late 1980s and both had seen off perhaps more celebrated candidates en-route to securing ‘The Top Job’.  The similarities between the two men were clear.  They had both come from relatively humble backgrounds; both men were seen as charming, modest and courteous in their dealings with both colleagues and the media.  In short, they were small c conservatives, exactly the kind ‘safe bet’ required to lead their respective administrations (The FA and The Tory Party).

Over the next few years, the synergies between the respective reigns of Taylor and Major continued.  Despite both having to follow in the footsteps of significant figures and being under pressure to deliver almost immediate results, they both got off to relatively successful starts.  Taylor was unbeaten in his first twelve matches and led England to qualification for the European Championships, emerging from a group containing sides (Poland and The Republic of Ireland) who had undone previous England managers.  

Major’s initial successes were perhaps even more marked, stepping out from the looming shadow of Thatcher and the bitter wranglings that had blighted the latter days of the premiership of ‘The Iron Lady’, he led the Tories to an unexpected fourth successive consecutive election victory.  In the process, he won more than 14 million votes.  A figure that has never been bettered.  Whilst his majority was significantly smaller than that which he had inherited (a fact that would cause him continued strife during the latter part of his premiership), to win at all from the position he had inherited was a remarkable achievement.

In this first part of a two-part special of ‘The Way We Sport, The Way We See Life’ we provide an overview of the early successes of Taylor and Major, charting their respective rises to power, assessing their impressive opening salvos and begin to explore why the seismic events of 1992 proved to ultimately be the undoing of both men.

29th May 1985.  A date that has gone down in infamy due to the tragic events that occurred ahead of that season's European Cup Final at Heysel.  39 fans (mostly Italian Juventus supporters) lost their lives when a wall collapsed as they were trying to flee from an attack from Liverpool fans.  

The event was the culmination of a decade or so in which hooligan activity had come to be seen as 'The English Disease' as fans of many English clubs and the national side were involved in rioting and behaviour during European competition.  This brought shame upon the nation and led to football fans being cast alongside striking miners as part of 'The Enemy Within' by Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Heysel presented Thatcher's government with an opportunity to strike dual blows against this growing hooligan influence, which had become a stain on the national game and against Liverpool, the city that perhaps more than any other had stood steadfastly in opposition against Thatcherism and her cabinet's monetarism agenda.  Thatcher acolyte, Geoffrey Howe had famously commented that he felt the city should be left to a "managed decline" in the wake of 1981's Toxteth riots.

The Thatcher government's response was swift, two days after the disaster, she instructed the FA to withdraw English clubs from European competition before they were banned.  Within a matter of days, UEFA, European football's governing body banned English clubs for "an indeterminate period of time".  There was a bittersweet twist as the ban denied Liverpool's neighbours, Everton the chance to emulate their rivals' European dominance and build on their existing success under Howard Kendall.

In this week's episode, Chris and Nathan look back at the tragedy, what caused it to happen and the impact it had on English football.  The episode's title refers to an interview that former Liverpool legend, Mark Lawrenson conducted with the 'On The Ball' podcast in 2022 in which he commented "Heysel is never, ever mentioned" in comparison with the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989.  Is this true?  Are Liverpool FC and Liverpool fans guilty of seeking to sweep Heysel under the carpet as has been suggested by rival fanbases?  The increased prevalance of tragedy chanting in recent years amongst fans of other clubs would suggest they share this belief.  Join Chris and Nathan as we explore the roots, causes and aftermath of this tragic event.  

In the shadow of the Gulf War, two teams of golfers met at Kiawah Island in 1991 for what soon developed into the most explosive and ill-tempered Ryder Cup ever to be held.

In this latest episode of 'The Way We See Sport, The Way We See Life', Nathan and Chris delve into an event which is often considered to be an example of when healthy sporting rivalry crossed the line into disrespectful jingoism. They consider whether the Gulf War was the true cause of the increased levels of animosity between the American and European golfers, and dig into the history of the Ryder Cup in order to question why such tension emerged at this particular point of what had previously been a competition noted for its sportsmanship. 

The Ryder Cup is the most marketable event in golf, so Nathan and Chris seek to ensure that they do justice to the story of the so-called 'War on the Shore'.