1.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 18:05:14
This is a fun article Ed. Being in the US, Bo Jackson is the greatest freak athlete that I've ever seen. He is the only athlete I can think of in my lifetime that whenever he was on either the football or baseball field that everyone was on the edge of their seets because they knew that he was going to do something incredible. There was the time he ran over Brian Bosworth, who was supposed to be one of the "baddest" linebackers on the planet at that time. I strongly recommend all of you looking at that on you tube. There was the catch he made in the baseball all star game when he scales the wall in Baltimore for a catch. There are a lot more. He absolutely crushed a ball as the leadoff batter in the 1989 all star game. He was cut short by a freak injury during a football game against Cincinnati, but he was far and away the greatest athlete I've ever seen.

{Ed001's Note - I literally had only heard of him due to the 'Bo Knows' Nike advertising campaign.}

2.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 18:08:09
Very interesting article, Tris.

Worth mentioning Liam Botham as well, who got a 5-fee as a teenager representing Hampshire in cricket, and probably would have picked up a few England caps. But he decided to avoid being ‘Ian’s son’ and switched to rugby where I think he represented England in Rugby League?

{Ed001's Note - there are thousands I could have mentioned Zed. Literally it is surprisingly common. But then the best sportsmen and women tend to have been competitive in many different sports as youngsters before settling on one in their late teens. Which is why I dislike so much the football academies in England went through a phase (not sure if they still do this or not) where they would actively discourage or even ban their pupils from taking part in other sports.}

3.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 18:35:29
Ernie Els played rugby, cricket and tennis to a high level (junior) before concentrating on golf.

4.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 18:45:42
Ah good point. Some people just have the hand eye coordination, and if they have the fitness from another sport, it’s about learning technique basically.

5.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 19:10:11
Premoz roglic the cyclist who came 4th in last years Tour de France was a professional ski jumper

Also Jeff Wilson the New Zealand winger who played with the great Jonah Lomu also played cricket for New Zealand.

6.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 19:50:50
Max Woosnam
Played for City and England, scored a ton at Lords, won at Wimbledon in mixed doubles and Olympic gold in doubles beat Charlie Chaplin at table tennis whilst using a butter knife and I think he made a 147 break in snooker all while an amateur. He was so admired the city players asked the manager to make him captain. He also played for the corinthians.
Just for added kudos he served in Gallipoli and then the Western front in world war 1.
You can still by his biography on ebay we'll worth a read.

7.) 04 May 2019
04 May 2019 22:55:46
Anthony mundine is def one.

8.) 05 May 2019
05 May 2019 00:17:35
Great article ed!

Another one would be Jeff Wilson He played rugby for New Zealand as a winger and was also capped by the New Zealand cricket team!

{Ed001's Note - he was one who just missed out.}

9.) 05 May 2019
05 May 2019 08:24:44
Mundine is one of the greatest imo, went from being one of the top players in rugby league to winning a world title in boxing
Kyler Murray has just been drafted number 1 in the NFL a year after being drafted number 9 in the MLB draft, that’s pretty amazing.
Zed- Botham got nowhere near the England Rugby League set up, he made a few appearances for Wigan but didn’t make the grade, ended up back in Union. Hard to comment on his cricket career as he didn’t have one, falls into a similar bracket at Phil Neville who was a star for lancs in the same junior team as Flintoff and everyone tipped him for stardom but it’s hard to know how it would have panned out if he chose cricket. Sportsman are normally good at everything they put their hands too Rafael Van Der Vaart has just this weekend played in his first BDO darts tournament and a quite a few have played professional golf tournaments.

10.) 05 May 2019
05 May 2019 08:33:08
Liam Botham didn't play rugby league for England. I don't think he played rugby union for England, either; not at full level anyway.
I remember Anthony Mundine playing league for the Brisbane Broncos. They had an unbelievable team, at that time.

11.) 05 May 2019
05 May 2019 15:32:42
Mundine was the highest paid rugby league player I think.