In the Kentucky Derby the chestnut colt had come off the pace to leave Alydar trailing by two lengths. Two months later, in her first Grand Slam event, she progressed to the semi-finals of the French Open. In June 1990 she became the youngest player in history to win a match at Wimbledon. Perhaps her finest moment was in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In the final against the favourite, Steffi Graf, the fifth game lasted 32 points and when Graf eventually won it and the first set that seemed to be that Astonishingly, Capriati came back to take gold. A year later she was out of the game, burnt out, off the rails and eventually arrested for marijuana possession Her subsequent comeback has never quite taken off.

Close – 18 years, 149 days – took his maiden Test wicket with his slow stuff, a full toss pulled to square leg, and was dismissed for nought in England’s only innings, also on the square leg boundary as England chased quick runs. After the drawn match he was dropped for the final Test and proceeded to make a career out of being recalled, which he was for the final time in 1976, aged 45.
Jennifer CapriatiCapriati perhaps enshrines all the potential pitfalls of playing too well too soon. She reached the final of her first tournament on the women’s professional tennis tour, in her native Florida, when she was still only 13. Brian Close

England’s cricket selectors have never been exactly renowned for placing their faith in youth.

In July 1949, the panel chaired by A J Holmes, the old Sussex amateur, utterly defied tradition by choosing , who was in his first season with Yorkshire and had played only 12 Championship matches. Close had swiftly developed a reputation as a versatile left- handed batsman and a right-arm bowler of pace or off-spin New Zealand batted first in the Third Test at Old Trafford. And we’re blaming referees for getting things wrong?OVERHEARD at an under-11s cup match last week from one disappointed, grumbling lad: “I hope they lose in the next round.” Still, you expect it at that age and with all these role models on TV, you know they’ll grow out of it.. Libero merely offers this exchange between himself, a snack bar assistant and her assistant at Portsmouth last week:”What’s in the pies?”"Dunno What’s in the pies?”"Meat I think.”"Meat.”"Er, OK Do you have any forks, please?”"Dunno Do we have any forks?”"No.”"No.”"OK. Thanks.”WITH much fanfare, Sky announced at the beginning of the season their remarkable Virtual Replay computer image system, which could clear up controversial incidents. So where was it on Wednesday for the Newcastle v Stevenage game, especially with Richard Keys mentioning it at one point?Later that night, ITV’s computer purported to show that Alan Shearer’s first goal had crossed the line The next day, Sky’s showed it had not.

The past week has illustrated the need for a code of practice across the country along with a standard training course, which could well, and should, be among their recommendations.THE FA may not see as feasible an idea in this column last week that they instigate a world-wide summit on refereeing, but surely recent events must make them think.Martin O’Neill and Carlton Palmer were duly fined for comments on referees and Gordon Strachan is to come. In which case, might a simple summit for players, managers and referees in this country not suffice initially? Or are the FA content to pick up all the revenue from the fines?THERE was much comment following the publication last week of a report by Colman’s, on the poor quality of food at football grounds. In addition, Les Ferdinand dared the FA to charge him after his vilification of Gerald Ashby following Tottenham’s exit from the Cup.It seems that managers and players are now conspicuously banding together to criticise, perhaps on the Spartacus principle that they can’t punish us all. These days, the money should be there.Most importantly, clubs should also have to follow guidelines on training stewards. While some are undoubtedly given good instruction on such topics as evacuation procedures, first-aid and positions to adopt physically and metaphorically, others appear to be thrown a jacket, given a cursory briefing and let loose.Informed by complaints and the examples of inconsistency, the Government’s Football Task Force are understood to be considering the whole question of stewarding at matches. At Reading, they had 80 riot police for the same size crowd.You would hope that such a presence is rarely necessary – knowing it can provoke an atmosphere of menace – but there is a balance to be struck.

Frequently stewards do not have the authority to control disturbances in the ground and there are times when the presence of the law is a relief. I was staggered to hear from the club’s safety officer, Dave Watson, that only one policeman is usually on duty inside the ground. Individual human nature is clearly also a significant factor; some are simply nicer than others.The problem is in just such conflict Often in similar situations, stewards can react differently. A complaint about, say, an abusive neighbour in the seating can meet with either sympathy or a “don’t tell me, mate, tell the police”.With clubs using stewards these days to halve police costs – an average of pounds 30 for a police officer, pounds 15 for a steward – one has some sympathy for these part-time volunteers. The FA are likely to announce their findings on Portsmouth this week and no doubt they will consider their stewarding and policing arrangements. Some may indeed be boorish and stimulated by power, seeing the job as a way of being paid to watch the match while enjoying pushing people around, but too much these days is generally expected of them.Which is why many clubs need to review their arrangements.