THIS WEEK IN SPORT HISTORY

• 1897: The first Boston Marathon was held and won by John

McDermott of New York. Run every April on Patriot’s Day, it is the oldest annual race of its kind.

• 1954: Trevor Francis, who would become British football’s first £ 1million player when he joined Nottingham Forest from Birmingham in 1979, was born. Francis died in 2023 at the age of

69.

• 1958: Manchester United great Sir Bobby Charlton played the first of his 106 games for England, appearing in a 4- 0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park.

• 2001: Liverpool reached their first European final for 16 years with a 1- 0 win over Barcelona at Anfield. The Reds went on to win the UEFA Cup against Alaves.

• 2004: Australian snooker player Quinten Hann apologised after offering to take opponent Andy Hicks ‘ outside’ following a row at the World Championship in Sheffield.

• 2005: The Football Association’s bid to stage the 2007 Champions League final at the new Wembley failed after UEFA awarded the showpiece event to the Olympic Stadium in Athens. However, Glasgow’s Hampden Park won the right to host the 2007 UEFA Cup final.

• 2007: Duncan Fletcher tendered his resignation as England cricket coach. He took charge of the team for the last time in the following Saturday’s World Cup Super Eight match against the

West Indies. Windies captain Brian Lara also announced that he would retire from all forms of international cricket after the same game.

• 2013: Mike Denness, the only Scotland- born cricketer to have captained England, died of cancer aged

72.

• 2014: Peter Moores was named the new England head coach by the England and Wales Cricket Board. He would be sacked following England’s unsuccessful World

Cup campaign in 2015.

• 2016: Sergio Aguero scored his 100th Premier League goal as Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw with Newcastle.

• 2018: The England and Wales Cricket Board proposed an eightteam men’s and women’s domestic competition of 100-balls-a-side to begin in 2020.

• 2021: Tottenham sacked Jose Mourinho less than a week before he was due to lead them out in the Carabao Cup final.