The Sunday Times Sport - UK (2021-11-14)

The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 21

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BARNEY CURLEY: THE

MAN WHO BEAT THE

BOOKIES

BBC iPLAYER

It was quite the coup. In

1975, Barney Curley,

the former tyre

smuggler, showband

manager and

apprentice priest

turned professional

gambler, was in

financial trouble. With

forensic planning,

Curley orchestrated

one big hit on Ireland’s

bookmakers, with the

aid of an unfancied

horse called Yellow

Sam; 300 mostly

unknowing helpers and

the isolated (especially

from public

telephones)

Bellewstown racetrack.

As the man who died

in May explains, he

watched the race in

hiding and won the

equivalent of £2 million

in today’s money,

before leaving for an

early night: “I’m not a

great man for

celebrations,” he said.

With the proceeds he

bought a mansion,

which he would

The 21-year-old Manchester City

star, who faces WSL title-holders

Chelsea today, has already won

an FA Women’s Cup and two

PFA Women’s Young Player of

the Year awards

LEVEL-HEADED

Despite her meteoric rise, Hemp

keeps her feet on the ground and

has an exceptional work ethic.

“As I get older, there's going to be

even more pressure being put on

me," she says, "but that's what I

want to do and that's how you're

going to be the best. I want to be

the best and I’m going to try

and get there.”

HEMPO TEMPO

Affectionately known as

'Hempo' among her team-mates,

the forward has built a

reputation for raw speed. During

her first season with Manchester

City, she showcased her pace on

the Wembley stage, chasing

down a long ball from

Jennifer Beattie to score in

the 2019 FA Cup final. In a

video with Manchester

City, fellow England

international Ellen White

said: “[Hemp] is rapid,

quick reactions, speedy all

over the pitch. Everyone

can see it in the games,

especially in the first ten

yards — she’s so quick.”

FIGHTING FIT

Hemp sustained a hamstring

injury that resulted in her being

sidelined from August to

December last year. Her

comeback was nothing short of

remarkable, with a scintillating

end to City’s title-chasing

campaign earning her a second

PFA Young Player of the Year

award. “I think I used that time

effectively and made sure I was

stronger, fitter, faster,” she said.

“That time in the gym has really

helped me come back to full

fitness although I know I can still

improve and keep getting better.”

TWINKLE TOES

Hemp regularly uses her fast

footwork to keep opponents

second-guessing. As a young

child, Hemp was more interested

in dancing than watching her

sister play. “I wasn’t actually

keen on watching the football! I'd

just be doing my little dances in

the corner while she was

playing,” she has said. Her

dazzling feet produced a hatful

of goals and assists last

campaign; in March, she dribbled

past four Reading defenders to

set up Chloe Kelly for one of the

assists of the season.

HEMP OLYMPICS

Her love of sport started in her back

garden, where she and her older

sister Amy would compete in the

‘Hemp Olympics’, recreating their

favourite sporting events. She is

now an Olympian herself, following

her journey with Team GB to Tokyo

this summer. As Amy took to football

first, Lauren would support her older

sister on the touchline with her

family and eventually join in with

Amy’s training in the back garden.

FACTFILE

Age 21

Height 5ft 4in

Position Winger/Forward

Club Manchester City

Kit number 15

Birthplace North Walsham,

England

England caps 12

ANATOMY OF

...LAUREN HEMP by Ben Willcocks

LESSONS FROM

A LIFE IN SPORT

DAN BIGGAR

The British & Irish Lion

and Wales fly half on

preferring football and

Sex & The City binges

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

My dad played rugby but I did

football until my first year at

Gowerton School when Dean

Mason, a geography teacher

who ran the rugby side, asked

me to come to a game after

school. I really enjoyed it,

found I was halfway OK and

went on from there.

MY BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT

That first game. I believed

there was something there to

push towards. I prefer

watching football even now,

but when I played rugby, it

involved the social side of

things much more.

THE COACH I LOOKED UP TO

The hard part is that you’re

not just managing Dan Biggar

the rugby player, but Dan

Biggar the person. What

makes me tick might not

make 25 other blokes tick. I

can’t speak highly enough of

Chris Boyd at Northampton:

he gets me as a person and

he’s made me a better player.

Warren Gatland plays mind

games to keep me on my

toes: if I get a compliment off

him, I know I’ve given one of

the best performances in

rugby history.

MY CHILDHOOD HERO...

Jonny Wilkinson. He might

have been English, but every

British boy playing rugby

wanted to be him. My mum

took me on the trip of a

lifetime to the 2003 World

Cup. She said it was for me

but it was for her really. We

saw the final and stayed at the

same hotel as the England

team. I met Martin Johnson

and Matt Dawson, but nobody

could get near Jonny.

RUGBY NEVER GOT ANY BETTER

THAN...

The 2015 World Cup victory

over England. It put me on

another level. I became that

go-to guy. It took a little bit of

adjusting for the first couple

of months, but I’d always

wanted to be the main man

for Wales. That cemented it.

MY FAVOURITE GROUND

I absolutely love the Stadio

Olimpico in Rome. The pitch

is always in top condition, the

crowd are great and we stay

in a brilliant hotel close to the

ground. The Italians change

in the Lazio dressing rooms,

we change in the Roma one.

They have the players’ names

in each locker: last time I got

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s.

Biggar admired Wilkinson

MY LEAST FAVOURITE GROUND

The Aviva in Dublin is difficult.

The stand on the far side is

quite low because of the

houses, Dublin’s a windy city

and so for a kicker it’s a

challenge.

FUNNIEST MOMENT FROM MY

CAREER

My 2015 World Cup comedy

kicking routine going viral. I’m

just glad I put a few over...

I LEARNT MOST FROM...

That teacher, Dean Mason. He

put me forward for academies

and was a real driving

influence. Now he rarely

sends me a message when

I’ve done well, only when I’ve

had a bad loss or haven’t

played particularly well. That

speaks volumes about him as

a person.

WHEN WILL THE GAME BE UP?

I have two years left at

Northampton and the 2023

World Cup is a huge aim for

me. Then we’ll see what’s

next. I want to go out on my

own terms, but could I state

for the record that I want

nothing to do with coaching?

MY ONE REGRET

The 2019 World Cup semi-

final against South Africa was

the lowest I‘ve been after a

rugby game. We lost 19-16,

there was nothing in it and

we’d have played England in

the final. My family were there

too and it’s the game I keep

playing back in my mind.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU?

My family is my happy place.

Nobody’s judging me, we’re

not on a schedule and since

we had [son] James four years

ago, rugby comes second.

Giving him a good start in life

is what’s important to me now.

John Aizlewood

Dan Biggar is a Dove Men

+Care ambassador.

eventually raffle,

earning another huge

profit. But The Man

Who Beat The Bookies

takes a remarkable

twist. After his 18-year-

old son died in a car

accident, Curley

embraced

philanthropy and gave

away his fortune in

order to build hospitals

and schools for

Zambia’s poorest

citizens. What a man.

John Aizlewood