Footballers suffering from memory loss
Plus: Capital cities without top-flight clubs; Burton Albion: record breakers?; and why do PSG have a pram on their logo? Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk. And you can now follow the Knowledge on Twitter at twitter.com/TheKnowledge_GU
\\ "After Daniel Agger 's very effective against Arsenal last weekend after a hit on the head, it made me wonder: what' s the most memorable performance of a player who could not 't remember? " enquired Bill Maclachlan last week.
Lilian Thuram had what he described as his "Miles Davis moment" in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals. Having played Davor Suker onside for Croatia's opener, the France defender scored twice in the second half, his first international goals, but his brain seemed slightly scrambled:
'I still have no recollection of what happened and, even though I try, I can't put it together. I needed [coach] Aimé Jacquet and the other players to tell me that we had won, and that we were in the World Cup final.'
Jacquet himself told me that he thought Thuram was in 'some mystical state'. This was confirmed by Marcel Desailly who, when he went to congratulate Thuram, asked him: 'What is going on? Who are you?' 'I didn't know who I was or where I was,' Thuram says now.
His first goal came within a minute of Suker's and reinvigorated the French. The second, on 70 minutes sent France into the final and from there, on into history with victory against Brazil. No less a figure than President Jacques Chirac described the Croatia match as 'the most beautiful day in the history of French sport'.
. Who? Sestak, of course."
Some players have suffered their memory loss in the act of scoring. "There is a famous story about Gus Poyet playing for Spurs against West Ham at Upton Park," writes Leo Brownstein. "He was knocked out heading a goal in a 1-0 win but when he came round, he berated the ref for not giving Spurs a corner as he had no recollection of the actual goal."
And English players have not been immune. "In 1952 Nat Lofthouse was knocked unconscious by the Austrian goalkeeper in scoring his second goal of the 3-2 win for England," writes Mike Lever. "It was only when he returned to the dressing room he found out he had actually scored twice. From which came his nickname 'The Lion of Vienna'."
JUST CAPITAL
"Berlin currently has no representative in the German Bundesliga," notes Stephen Glennon. "What's the longest period of time that a capital city has had no team in the corresponding country's first league?"
Along with Canberra (nine years from 1986-1995) and London (16 years from 1888-1904), two capital cities stand out: Bonn and Brasillia.
First, to South America. "Brazil went 12 seasons without its capital represented by a club in the top flight, from 1986 (after Brasilia FC was relegated in 1985) to 1999 (when Gama competed in the top division)," writes Paulo Padilha. "Additionally, if you consider that Gama comes from the Distrito Federal, the state Brasilia is in, but is actually in the satellite town of Gama, you would have to look at the 2000 season for a club actually from Brasilia competing for the national title. There is, however, an extra catch there because in 2000 the top league was the aptly named Copa João Havelange, a bloated monster that, due to some litigation, included all four divisions from the previous season as 'one division' split into various groups (essentially the previous year's divisions), with the groups formed from the lower divisions sending their winners into the play-offs. Brasilia FC participated that year, but in what would have been the third or fourth division (the Wikipedia entry only scratches the surface on that season). You'd have to fast forward to 2005 to find Brasiliense in the official top flight, officially representing the capital city. So there you go, Brasilia stayed 18 seasons out of Brazil's top division."
That's nothing, though, compared to with Bonn. The capital of West Germany never had a team in the Bundesliga â" a period of 27 years from 1963 to 1990.
ON THE UP
\\ "John Ashdown, in his excellent recent blog on the Burton stated that they run 11 consecutive seasons of improvement (1 aberration) can be recorded. Of course, it can 't be" " wrote Andrew Pechey last week.
Accrington Stanley can currently match Burton's record. Since their relegation from the Unibond Premier in 1999, Stanley have improved year on year with, like Albion, just one season of stagnation â" and even then it can be argued they go one better than the Brewers, failing to improve on their 10th-place finish in the Conference 2003-04, but winning more points in finishing in the same position in 2004-05. Currently the club's forward momentum is gradual â" in the past three seasons they have finished 17th, 16th and 15th in League Two.
Know of a run better than Accrington's or Burton's? Then let us know at the usual address.
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"The Paris St Germain logo has what can only be a pram under the Eiffel Tower - why?" asked Tom Haslam back in 2005
The pram is actually a cradle, as several of you have picked up on, but you're on the right lines Tom. "The badge does indeed combine the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower with a cradle and the fleur de lis, or lily," explains Tim Pike.
"Obviously, the Tower represents Paris, while the cradle and fleur de lis are the symbols of the quiet suburban town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where PSG train and are headquartered (about 15 miles west of Paris). A similar design features on the town's crest, which you can see here.
"Saint-Germain is nicknamed 'le berceau de Louis XI' (the cradle of Louis XIV), as the town happens to be the birthplace of the Sun King (in 1638, fact fans), hence the cradle. The lily is also a longstanding royal symbol in France.
"The pram is an emblem for Paris," adds Stéphane Di Cesare. "More exactly, it was the emblem of the 'Water Merchants', a merchants' guild in Paris in the Middle Ages." So now you know.
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
Can you help?
"In these modern times of ball boys throwing on a different ball when one goes out of play, which ball does a hat-trick hero keep at the end and where do the others go?" ponders Jon Trickett.
"Through the use of the internet I am deperately trying to prove to my friend something which I am certain of - that a player around about 5-10 years ago, when signing for their new club, possibly Middlesborough, had contractual agreements set in place that they could not fly to space," writes Andy Simpson. "Can anyone shed some light on this?"
"Following the transfer to Kilmarnock of David Silva and Momo Sissoko," writes Iain Rooney. "I was wondering: What other instances have there been of famously-monikered players and have they managed to emulate the glory of their more celebrated namesakes? (For example, a Michel Platini currently plays for CSKA Sofia...)"
"I met Gary Taylor-Fletcher - an ardent Red - en route to the 2007 Champions League Final in Athens," writes Gaz Kendall. "Injuries permitting, he'll be lining up for Blackpool against Liverpool in the Premier League on 2 October. But what is remarkable â" and perhaps unique â" is that in scoring the Seasiders' first Premier League goal on the opening day against Wigan, he completed the set of having played and scored in the Isthmian League, the Conference, League Two, League One, the Championship, Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup... all since the year 2000. Is there a player who has scored goals spanning a greater gulf of class than Isthmian to Premier League and everything in between in such a short space of time?"
"Driving past Colchester United's ground the other day I remarked to myself how close it was to the A12 - seemingly less than a goal kick from the road. Also, the stands are not the biggest, and it's not a 'bowl' stadium, so I reckon it's very possible to kick a ball out of the ground on to the A12," writes Philip Genochio. "So two questions: Has a ball yet been kicked out of the ground on to the A12, and can any other stadium lay claim to being closer to a major road?"
"If one day, FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok reaches the Champions League or Europa League, we could witness a European fixture played very close to China," writes Emre Ozturk. "I want to know: what is the furthest a team has had to travel in a European competition?"
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk .
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