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Crazy Football Bets
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Will and Guy's Crazy Football Bets - Strange But True Stories

'If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.'  Johnny Carson

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Football Dream Bets £25,000 - Xabi Alonso Story

The BBC reported, on January 11 2006, that a gambler has made £25,000 after a dream came true.Football dream nets £25,000 Xabi Alonso

Adrian Hayward placed a £200 bet, at odds of 125-1, after having a dream, that Xabi Alonso, [Liverpool Football Club and Spain], would score a goal some time this season from his own half of the field.

The Spanish international scored in the 3rd round FA Cup match against Luton.

'I've never placed such a large bet before but I had a feeling about it, 'said Mr Hayward, of Newbury, Berkshire. I was watching the Luton match on TV with my family and I saw the keeper off his line. I was shouting ' Shoot!' and he did. It seemed to take an age to hit the net but when it did, I just went berserk. '

The 42-year-old father-of-two said he might spend some of the winnings on a family holiday.

Bookmaker Paddy Power observed, 'When he placed the bet we thought it was the easiest £200 we had ever made. But fair play to him. It's great when these unusual bets pay out and it shows that dreams do come true. '

How to Make Money Betting on David Beckham

Bet a friend that Beckham used to play for Preston North End.  You could embellish the story by saying that you were there that day in 1995 when Beckham scored a goal for Preston North End.  (True story.)

The Longest Odds Ever LaidThe Longest Odds ever laid in a bet on Elvis

The biggest odds that Hills have ever offered is 20,000,000-1.  That bet was for Elvis Presley to ride into town on Shergar and then play Lord Lucan in the Wimbledon tennis final.

(Unless you know of bigger odds?)

'If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.'- Johnny Carson

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More Crazy Football Bets

Penalty Miss Costs £1million

A gambler has missed out on a £1 million pay out [$1,743,343USD] - because of one kick of a football. Mick Dunning, 52, was all set for a life of luxury after coming up trumps on a £2 accumulator bet. The builder had correctly predicted 14 correct football scores on Saturday - putting him within one result of netting £1m.Crazy Football Bets

There was 15 minutes left on the clock and Port Vale were 1-0 down against Blackpool; a penalty decision meant he was within reach of his 15th correct prediction of a draw. However, the spot kick was blasted wide by Port Vale's Tony Dinning. That meant Mick's £1m payout plummeted to £22,315 [$39,000USD] with Blackpool winning the tie. 'I'm not bitter -you can't cry over something you never had, 'Mick told The Sun newspaper.

Mick, of Wimblebury, Staffs, says he will use the cash to pay off a few debts and take a luxury holiday.

Crazy Horse Racing Bet - £1,000,000 PayoutFred Craggs Million pound winning bet

23rd February 2008.
Fred Craggs of Thirsk, Yorkshire, UK has won a million pounds in an eight horse accumulator.  He is the first person to win a million pounds [$2,000,000 USD] in a betting shop in the UK.  His stake was only 50p [$1].  What's amazing is that Fred did not combine his selections in doubles and trebles, just a straight 8 horse accumulator.

Another remarkable feature of the bet is that all his 8 selections from Sandown, Dubai and Wolverhampton had catchy names rather than credentials based on form.   The first horse, which won the 2:55 at Sandown, was called: Isn't That Lucky.  It won at 10/1.

At the Dubai races most of the horses have Arabic names, thus it's even more unlikely that horses like 'Racer Forever', 'Frosty Secret' and 'Sun Classique' could win - but they did.

Later selections ran at the evening meeting at Wolverhampton, this is why Fred Craggs did not know that his 8 horse accumulator had obliged until he called into the William Hill betting shop on the Saturday. 

King's Fable won the 8:50 at 17/2.  Then the last horse in the accumulator, named, 'A Dream Come True.' duly won the 9:20 at Wolverhampton.  To cap off the co-incidences, this weekend was Fred Craggs' 60th birthday.

Will and Guy could not make it up.

Footnote
I remember years ago there was a similar case of a big payout.  The journalist interviewed the actual Mr William Hill founder of the famous bookmaking company. 'How do you feel about making such a big payout?' the journalist asked. 'It was all paid for by the thousands of punters who place similar bets that lose' William Hill replied candidly. 

Incidentally, it is said that William Hill made his fortune from taking bets that the 1947 Two Thousand Guineas winner Tudor Minstrel, would NOT last out the 1 ½ Derby trip.  Result of the 1947 Derby:  1st Pearl Diver. 4th Tudor Minstrel.

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You Could Not Make It Up - 2008 Cup Final

In England, Saturday the 17th of May is Cup Final day; in 2008 the final is between Portsmouth and Cardiff.  The FA (Football Association) Cup was first staged in the 1871-2 season, thus is the grand-daddy of all cup competitions.2008 Cup Final Pompey

What you could not make up, is that Will supports Portsmouth, while Guy was brought up near Cardiff, and supports the 'Bluebirds'. 

For the anoraks, Portsmouth hold the record for holding the FA Cup the longest - 7 years.   Pompey won the cup final in 1939, because there was no competition in the intervening years on account of the Second World War,  they held on to the FA Cup until 1946.

Cardiff are Welsh, and as such are the only non-English club to win the competition.   In the 1927 Cup Final Cardiff beat the mighty Arsenal.  The Arsenal goalie was a Welshman called Dan Lewis, and my uncle Eddie said he saw Lewis throw the ball in his own net, thus letting Cardiff win 1-0.

Bearing in mind that these are the only occasions that Portsmouth and Cardiff have won the FA Cup, and also neither are ever again likely to win the FA Cup again in our lifetimes - you could not make it up.

Final Score Cardiff 0 : Portsmouth 1.  (Well done to Will and Pompey)

 

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