Can The Mariners Do A Devon Loch?

It’s not every day that I can say that watching the A-League’sTV coverage has helped me to get a bellyful of laughs!
Let’s face it, football can be a very tense kind of game for supporters of one team or the other, or for those who have invested some of their hard-earned in the result. If you’ve backed Team A to win and they are leading Team B by one goal with minutes to go, and Team A’s goal is under siege, you’re more likely to be reaching for the
heart pills than crying tears of laughter.

I personally have not had too many laughs watching the A-League – oh, alright then, I will admit that witnessing the occasional Liam Reddy clanger or seeing one hapless defender score two own goals in one game this season has given me the giggles – but I must thank Fox Sport’s coverage of last weekend’s game between the Brisbane Roar and Newcastle Jets for the biggest laugh I’ve had for ages over sport.

With the Roar trailing 1-0 deep into the second half, commentator Robbie Slater was asked if he thought the Central Coast Mariners, eleven points clear of the Roar, could still find a way to lose the “minor” premiership. Slater said he didn’t think so, and then said that the question reminded him of a comment made by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson not so long ago when he was asked a similar question. I can’t remember whether the question referred to Ferguson’s own team, but it matters not. What mattered was Ferguson’s reply, which was along the lines of “they’d have to do a Devon Lock to lose it from here”.

That intrigued me.

Who the hell was Devon Lock? Was he perhaps some Pommy athlete who ran out of puff in a distance race, or
something along those lines? I certainly could not remember anyone of that name.

In fact, the reference intrigued me enough to go googling the name 'Devon Lock" when the game had finished and I’d turned off the TV. A few mouse clicks later it turned out it was not “Devon Lock”, but “Devon Loch” that Ferguson had referred to. And Devon Loch was not a person, but a horse. A horse which had lost the Grand National Steeplechase – the United Kingdom’s top race over the jumps – way back in 1956 in sensational circumstances.

Then it was off to Youtube for me...

Now, maybe it’s because I am such a HUGE fan of the English royal family that what I found there made me laugh like a drain. In fact, the more times I see it, the funnier it seems to get. Here it is, for those who share a somewhat cruel sense of humour that has no problem laughing at other people’s misfortunes.

Oh, and if you happen to think that Australian jumps racing is dangerous, or potentially cruel to horses, you might need to get a load of the extended replay of the race that is also available on Youtube, rather than the shortened version accessible with this link.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62fPLtL8h7s