Coach, McGeechan, was undoubtedly pleased with the finishing peroformance against the invitational side, but knows the matches are only going to get tougher as they near the first test against the Springboks on June the 20th.

Tomorrow night (3rd of June) the British and Irish Lions play the Xerox Golden Lions in Johannesburg. Brian O’Driscoll has been named captain and only 3 players from the Royal XV match will feauture. McGeechan’s intention is to have all of the British and Irish Lions squad to have played at least one match in their first 3 opening games. It will hopefully give McGeechan a better understanding of his players and their current attitude in games prior to the start of the 3 tests later this month.

British and Irish Lions vs South Africa Betting Odds June 20th 2009

South Africa	1/3	4/11	1/4	2/7	1/3
British Irish Lions	12/5	2	11/4	5/2	5/2
Draw	22	18	20	20	16

Many may mock this as just another publicity stunt by the former glamour model intent in keeping herself within the headlines. However, I for one, would never stand in the way of someones ambition. Jordan’s appearance has probably helped the image of Horse Riding rather than hindered it. Somewhere, within this country, we have future Olympic stars who have yet to realise their dream. And that is the stuff you just can’t pass over for the sake of a few headlines.

Jordan Doing Dressage

The sport really blossomed in the sixties which saw famous names such as Cassius Clay (Mohammad Ali), Joe Frazier and George Foreman enter into the public eye as Olympians and between the three of them dominate the Heavy Weight Division for nearly 2 decades.

There have been others of course who have went onto greatness such as Lennox Lewis and more recently Amir Khan and Audley Harrison the first ever Briton to win Olympic Gold in the Superheavyweight division (unfortunately Harrison has never went onto achieve greatness as other Olympians before him).

Today, we have 7 great fighters from the UK ready to ply their trade in Beijing, however as most Olympic betting fans will be aware that we lost Frankie Gavin, perhaps our best bet at Gold, who struggled to make his weight and receives the most cruellest of blows – losing out to the scales before a punch has been thrown.

Of the UK fighters left to watch, one that catches my eye is David Price all 6ft 8in of him, plying his trade in the heavyweight division. It wont be long before the bell sounds and hopefully future boxing champions of the world will emerge victorious.

We’re delighted to pick our favourite Top 10 great football captains for all our football betting readers. I’m sure you’ll feel that we have missed someone out so please use the comments to let us know who you feel should be in our Top 10 great football captains list.

10 : Bryan Robson

Manchester United’s longest serving club captain and also England’s 3rd most capped captain in history. He scored an incredible 26 times for his country and some feel he would have scored a lot more if injuries hadn’t plagued his later career.

09 : Terry Butcher

Another England captain who would give his all for club and country on the park. In 1986 Butcher moved to Glasgow Rangers were he became the clubs captain and helped win 3 league titles in 4 years. He is now assistant manager of Scotland.

08 : Billy McNeil

The first British captain to hold aloft the European Cup back in 1967. McNeil was a Celtic man through and through and played over 800 times in the famous green and white hoops.

07 : Franz Beckenbauer

Nicknamed ‘The Kaiser’, Beckenbauer, was one of a number of famous names associated with West German football in the seventies. He captained West Germany to victory in the World Cup in 1974 and also the Euro Championship in 1972.

06 : Maradona

The midget midfield maestro that is Diego Maradona, who single handed (no pun intended) won the World Cup for Argentina in Mexico 86. The man that is Maradona was multi-talented on the football field and often would score sublime goals for both club and country.

05 : Socrates

Captained Brazil in 1982 and 1986 World Cups. A self-confessed heavy smoker and drinker he still stunned opponents on the park with his natural talent. Highly political figure in his homeland of Brazil and also a doctor in philosophy.

04 : Graeme Souness

A man who left his mark on the football field and also on the opposing team as well. Fiercely competitive individual who was part of the famous Liverpool teams of the late 70′s and early 80′s. Lifted the European trophy for Liverpool in 1983.

03 : Roy Keane

A highly commited individual who asked for only the best and nothing else from his team mates. Keane also brought controversy with his role as captain of Republic of Ireland, famously walking out of the World Cup in 2002 because of the lack standards set by the Irish FA. It brought Keane a lot of enemies but also made the Irish FA reconsider how they ran their football arrangements and brought about massive change on and off the field.

02 : Lothar Matthäus

Capped 150 times for Germany and won them the World Cup in 1990. A strict regime of training and dieting has seen him play in 5 World Cups spanning over 16 years.

01 : Bobby Moore

England’s glory son and the only English captain to hoist the World Cup back in 1966. He was regarded as a tough player on the field and a heavy drinker off it. A captain respected by his team mates both at club and international level and also adored by the public of his time makes Bobby Moore our #1 choice as a Great Football Captain.

Through the years there has been some outlandish bets made that are the stuff of legend. Here we highlight some unique and sometimes unfortuitous bets.

The £100,000 Bet For England To Win the World Cup

Back in 2002 when Japan and Korea were hosting the World Cup, England had a team full of stars and Beckam and co were being touted as favourites to win the competition outright. The media, as usual, were caught up in the frenzy of it all as England marched into the Quarter-Finals after beating much fancied Argentina in the group stages and then trouncing Denmark in the 2nd round.

In fact so much was the hype surrounding England that it went straight to one punters head where he placed a bet of £100,000 on England to win the competition. The West Midlands punter staked the six-figure sum at odds of 7/2 at a Ladbrokes shop in Birmingham and expected to win £450,000. Unfortunately, England lost 2 – 1 to Brazil in that Quarter-Final with the brilliance or luck of Ronaldinho being the difference.

The Man Who Bet on his own Life

You’ve heard of ‘Cheating Death’ what about ‘Betting against Death’? Well, Jon Matthews from Milton Keynes did just that. Back in 2007 he was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and given less than 9 months to live. Defiant Jon made a bet with the bookies of £100 at 50/1 that he would survive the time given for his condition. He did and won £5,000 into the bargain.

I’ll Bet My House

Talking about having a premonition! Back in January of 1994, an unnamed man from High Wycombe sold his house for £147,000, bought a plane ticket to Las Vegas and walked in to Binions Horseshoe Casino and placed the entire amount on one spin of the roulette wheel. He put £147,000 on red. The ball settled on seven (red). He had doubled his money and then bought a bigger house.

Bet When The World Ends

This is a good one and perhaps the only strange thing about this bet is the odds. William Hill took a bet that the world would end on the 11th August 1999 at 12:50 pm. William Hill only gave odds of 1,000,000 to 1.

I mean if the punter was right it’s going to be pretty darn hard to pick-up his winnings. Bizarre.

And Finally …

Remember, there is always a possible chance of an outlandish bet coming good. David Threlfal of Preston is testament to that. He placed a bet that Man would walk on the Moon before 1971. When Neil Armstrong planted his big space boot on the Moon’s surface, Threlfal was £10,000 richer. Which was a lot of cash back in 1969.

The Festival represents the first leg of the Spring Double, the second being the Grand National meeting. While the latter offers a majority of handicap races, the Cheltenham meet features a diverse set of races both with and without handicaps, thus producing a different approach to sports betting tactics.

The Grand National Handicap System poses greater challenges of winner prediction, but longer odds, for followers of online betting, while Cheltenham offers non-handicap races which, although having shorter odds, tend to yield clear favourites.
Online betting enthusiasts will, however, still have the opportunity to pit their wits against the bookies because Cheltenham has a history of occasional, unexpected long-odds winners nosing home and providing rich reward for those with an eye for the unpredictable. Nevertheless, form is still the key at Cheltenham and it is worth noting that, statistically, previous festival winners have a better of chance of winning at subsequent festivals. What’s more, it’s rare for a horse carrying over 11 stone to win in the handicap races.

Followers of sports betting will have spotted one or two of their sporting heroes flinging themselves about the place on the show. Darren Gough, of all people, is credited with moving the show up a gear.

It’s a hair-raising process to engage in online betting for this event, now termed “strictly come dancing betting“. For all its veneer of civility there underlies a fierce competitiveness spiced with a satisfying undertow of cattiness. Bloggers record their frustration as talented competitors lose to popular TV faces. Judges impartiality is drawn into question wholesale and it’s a rare sports betting talent that can navigate these muddy waters and land the winner.

It’s all good fun and, after weeks of tears and tribulation, the show draws to a close this coming Saturday. Alesha is the bookies fave and will surely take the tiara. Matt D’Angelo lies a distant second in the bookies view – but then what do they know? In this melee of flamboyant emotional extravagance anything can happen.

Billed by some as the fight of the decade, and with each fighter standing to lose his undefeated run of victories, the winner will earn a place among the greats of boxing history. As is usual, a war of words precedes the actual event with the American asserting that Hatton is a mere ‘street fighter’ and Mayweather being described by our own man as ‘totally full of himself’. Of course, they each regard themselves in the highest esteem with Mayweather claiming to be ‘better than Ali’ and Hatton awarding himself the ‘best fighter in the world today’ accolade.

Sports betting is offering odds on not just the outcome, win, lose or draw, but also, on some online betting sites, a price for the number of rounds etc. Lennox Lewis reckons that Hatton can take the supposedly unbeatable Mayweather but will have to do it in four rounds. Hatton really believes he can win and observes that British boxing is on a roll right now with seven world champions – and many of them will be there in Vegas to watch his fight.

The series-deciding One Day International cricket match between England and India begins at 10 in the morning – see Sky TV - and we have a number of Euro 2008 qualifiers to look forward to which include all the home nations.

It’s weekends like this that make you want to check out your free bets deals though Free Betting Online and get your account ready, particularly if your a live betting fan. Many of the major bookmakers will offer live betting, or “In running” betting” so that you can bet on the outcome of a match while it’s happening.

With events like the rugby world cup, some bookies change their free bets offers for the duration, as we blogged about last week, Victor Chandler have upped their conventional £50 free bet to a huge £100 offer.

Also, get looking around for money-back specials – Paddy Power are particularly good for these in nearly all their sports betting areas. They are doing a “FAstest Goal This Weekend” special by time elapsed so get going with your search for the best free bet.

As always, we aim to bring you up to date with the latest betting offers from the online bookmakers and this month there is no let up as the action continues at a pace in the sports betting world. The major event is the Rugby Union World Cup that starts in Paris next week. England will be desperate to prove everyone wrong by clicking into some sort of form to retain the trophy from the favourites – The All Blacks - who no one can see being stopped at the moment.

The Premiership also continues to provide a very interesting season with t he top of the table looking far different from last year but we know that the best teams will always start to gel now. By Christmas, there could be a big change around before the push for the championship in the new year.

Outside of sports there is also X-factor betting which is generating a lot of interest with the usual comedy acts amongst them as Simon Cowell continues to make no friends at all!

With these two bookmakers increasing their offers, others are bound to try to compete back at them which is good news for the punter! Keep an eye out with us on the betting world and what sort of betting offers are around.