ON THIS DAY

Some own goals are farcical and some are tragic and one of the tragic ones came on 1st July 2015 at the Women's World Cup Finals played in Canada. In the 92nd minute of the semi-final between England and Japan England's Laura Bassett scored an own-goal which gave holders Japan a place in the final. To be fair though she had the courage (and skill) to make the interception and that ball could have gone anywhere - but sadly it went into the net.....

Two of the greats of European football - Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Kluivert - were born just a little over 50 miles apart in the Netherlands on this day, 1st July 1976.

Scottish League side Raith Rovers embarked on a close season tour of the Canary Islands in the summer of 1923 - in those days the Canaries weren't a quick trip by plane but a more ponderous trip by boat. They set sail on the Highland Loch which was calling in on the Canaries en route to Buenos Aires but on the morning of 1st July 1923 a violent storm saw the ship hit rocks off northern Spain with the passengers being forced into the lifeboats. They were safely rescued and eventually reached the Canaries where they won all the four matches they played. But hey, they had been shipwrecked which is surely a unique chapter of their history which no other British club can match. Or can they?