Sportsmania

We are very pleased to announce that 1966 World Cup Winner, Ray Wilson MBE, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Ray played left back, and made 63 appearances for England, obviously the most notable being the 1966 World Cup Final.

We are very pleased to announce that 1966 World Cup Winning Goalkeeper, Gordon Banks OBE, will be joining us for Sporsmania! Gordon had an incredibly successful club career, but he will always be remembered best for being such an integral part of the 1966 World Cup winning team! He is also acknowledged by FIFA as having made one of the finest saves ever in a World Cup, when in 1970 he made a save from Pele that the legend himself described as ‘the greatest save he had ever seen’! We are honoured that Gordon will be joining us for the event!

We are pleased to announce that former member of the Wimbledon FC ‘Crazy Gang’, Dean Holdsworth, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Dean played 169 games for Wimbledon between 1992 and 1997, where he was part of the infamous ‘crazy gang’, along with Vinny Jones, Dennis Wise and John Fashanu! He then went on to make 158 appearances for Bolton Wanderers between 1997 and 2003.

We are very pleased to announce that former world Light-Heavyweight boxing champion, John Conteh, will be joining us for Sportsmania! John was World Light-Heavyweight boxing champion from October 1974 until 1978, and is considered as one of Britains most illustrious boxing champions of all time!

We are very pleased to announce that one of the most prolific strikers of all time, Jimmy Greaves, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Jimmy made 157 appearances for Chelsea, and 321 for Tottenham Hotspurs. He broke so many goal scoring records it is unbelievable, and he is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time, and his record of being the top league goal-scorer in 6 seasons has never been matched. Jimmy made 57 appearances for England and scored 44 goals, making him England’s 3rd highest goal-scorer of all time. Jimmy was the first choice England striker in the 1966 World Cup, but after getting injured in one of the earlier matches, he didn’t play in the final! We are honoured to have such a legendary footballer join us at the event!

We are very please to announce that legendary goalkeeper, Pat Jennings OBE, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Pat made 472 appearances for Tottenham Hotspurs over 13 years. He then moved to Arsenal, where he made a further 327 appearances for them! Pat also made 119 appearances for Northern Ireland.

We are very pleased to announce that legendary jockey, Bob Champion MBE, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Bob won the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti despite suffering from Cancer. His story was made into a major feature film, Champion!

We are very pleased to announce that Ron (Chopper) Harris will be joining us for Sportsmania! Ron was one of the most formidable defenders of the 60s and 70s, and made 655 appearances for Chelsea, many as captain! In 1967 he became the youngest captain to lead his side out in The FA Cup Final!

We are very pleased to announce that Steve Perryman MBE will be joining us for Sportsmania! Steve played for Tottenham Hotspurs for 17 years, between 1969 and 1986, where he notched up 854 appearances for the club! As well as being the clubs captain, he won many honours during his time there, including the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.

We are very pleased to announce that former WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World, Frank Bruno, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Frank won the WBC Heavyweight belt beating Oliver McCall on 2nd September 1995. He also fought Mike Tyson on two separate occasions. Frank is one of this countries best known sports personalities

We are very pleased to announce that legendary boxer, and former British, European and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion, Sir Henry Cooper OBE, will be joining us for Sportsmania! Henry Cooper was one of a very select few people to put Muhammed Ali down on the canvas, and he is one of Britain’s best known and most loved sports personalities of all time. We are honoured that he will be with us for the event.

I'm very pleased to let you all know that on Saturday at 6pm we will be making the first guest announcements for Sportsmania! We have some really great names for you, and hope that you are as excited about them as we are!!!!!! See you all on Saturday!!!!!!! Mark

Mark is alive! And been working really hard to bring you some great guest announcements, the first of which you'll see on Saturday!!!!!! Mark

I'm very pleased to let you all know that on Saturday at 6pm we will be making the first guest announcements for Sportsmania! We have some really great names for you, and hope that you are as excited about them as we are!!!!!! See you all on Saturday!!!!!!! Mark

This is a really interesting debate, and I appreciate all your input, and also the fact that you have thought about your points of view and argued them well without things turning into a slanging match! I don't want to give my thoughts on it yet, as I don't want to unduly influence anyone! So keep those posts coming! Cheers everyone! Mark

I'm really undecided on this point! Some people say WWE is sport, and some say it is wrestling! I am interested in your opinions, and whether you think WWE wrestlers should be at Sportsmania, or if they would be more appropriate at Collectormania! I look forward to seeing what you all think, as your views could well help me shape my own! Thanks Mark

This is actually an interesting point, which I cannot completely decide on myself!!! So, I have started a poll in a seperate thread to see what you all think! Is wrestling a sport, or entertainment? My opinion is that it is probably both, so the more relevant question is do WWE wrestlers have a place at Sportsmania? On that point I am completely undecided, so it will be interesting to see what everyone else thinks! Mark

Thats a good list Golden Green! I like the idea of Brian Jacks, and thats one that I had not already thought of! Mark

Hi there, Dont you mean MAN UNITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mark Nice one!!!!! Mark

Hi there, Let us know who you would like to see at the event! Literally any sports star from any sport from any era is a possibility, so plenty to choose from! Mark

I'm really excited to announce that Sportsmania will be coming to thecentre:mk on 23rd and 24th June 2007! Sportsmania will follow a similar format to Collectormania, with a host of high calibre celebrities from the sports world meeting you, and signing autographs; plus a wide variety of exhibition stands and displays! Sportsmania is a joint venture between myself, Mark Woollard, and Jason at Showmasters. Some of you will know that I started Showmasters and Collectormania with Jason back in 2002, but then left the company in 2005 in order to pursue some other things in my life, including doing crazy things like jumping out of aeroplanes, really high bungee jumps, and travelling round the world!!!!!! I'm personally really into sport in general, and I particularly always wanted to run a sports related event and am really excited to now be doing so! I'm really into Football, Formula One, Boxing and Rugby, so expect some exciting guests from all those fields!!!! However, I'm also keen to see representation from a wide range of all sports, so please do let us know if there's anyone you want to meet! I'm really keen to listen to any opinions or ideas you have about the events, so please do post them on here! You can also contact me direct on info@sportsmaniaevents.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can! The event website, www.sportsmaniaevents.com will be going live very soon, and we will let you know on here as soon as it does! We are also already working on the first guests for the event, and will be able to announce them very soon! We have some great ideas for guest line up, but we always want to hear your ideas too, as it's your event, so please do post away in the guest suggestions thread!!!! Jason and I are so excited about this event, and can't wait for June to come around! We hope to see you there!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mark