The Independent Sports Quiz of the Year for 2006

Trouble and strife

1 Who refused to come out to play after tea?

2 Which England international was substituted at half-time during a Premiership match and immediately left the ground without his manager's permission?

3 Why was one of the world's two fastest men ordered to stop running?

4 Who was charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after running 60 yards to launch a fist-pumping, badge-kissing celebration in front of visiting Liverpool supporters?

5 Who caused a rumpus when he said that Wayne Rooney's petulance was connected with his tough upbringing in Toxteth, Michael Owen was "not happy" at Newcastle United and David Beckham might follow him to Aston Villa?

6Which former athlete, who served a drugs ban earlier in his career, was recruited by UK Athletics to work with the country's top sprinters?

7 Who said of whom: "All this selling himself as a gentleman is not true. He is the worst rubbish there is."

8 Which manager was served with a writ by his former employer for alleged "fraudulent misrepresentation" in the middle of a press conference announcing his appointment as manager at a rival club?

9 Who refused to join his colleagues on their lap of honour after they had won their country's only gold medal of the European Championships in Gothenburg?

10 Who offered to pull stumps for the last time and thereby end a controversy - in exchange for $500,000?

The numbers game

1 Who failed to get past 158 for the third time?

2 Who won the 342nd and last title of her career in New York?

3 Who failed to make the cut at a major tournament for the first time in 10 years after missing 21 fairways out of 28 in the first two rounds?

4 Who felled England in Edinburgh with six penalties?

5 Who moved into the all-time top 10 of England wicket-takers as he broke the 200 mark?

6 Who exchanged 24 passes before scoring with one of the moves of the tournament in Gelsenkirchen?

7 Which four-times Wimbledon semi-finalist lasted only 85 minutes and won only six games against Roger Federer at the All England Club?

8 Who ended Federer's 55-match winning streak in north America?

9 Which Welshman extended his career record to 42 wins out of 42 when he managed to defeat a Cameroonian in Manchester?

10 Which Six Nations team trailed 43-3 before scoring four tries in 12 minutes, eventually losing 43-31?

The winning touch

1 Which world No 1 won the Tour de France, the World Cup and a bronze medal at the world championships?

2 Who became the first player to earn $8m in prize-money in one season, winning more ranking points than anyone before him, and winning 10 or more titles for the third season in a row?

3 Why did 60,000 visitors from Limerick celebrate in Cardiff?

4 Who said farewell to his team's historic home with a win and a hat-trick?

5 Who powered his way to a 7-0 win in the final to claim his 13th world title?

6 Who won his first grand prix at the 113th attempt?

7 Which team recovered from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to reach the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate victory?

8 Which team lost 4-0 to Aston Villa in the Premiership and beat Chelsea 3-0 a week later?

9 Who won for the third time in a row for the first time ever, having won all five sessions for the first time since the introduction of the competition's current format?

10 In what sport did Steve Williams, Andy Triggs Hodge, Alex Partridge and Peter Reed conquer the world at Eton?

So farewell ... who died in 2006?

1 Three times a Master and a former world No 4, he died of cancer at 27.

2 Geoff Hurst called him "the single most influential figure of my career. He opened the door to modern football."

3 He was the last man to fight Muhammad Ali, in 1981, and his 1986 defeat by Mike Tyson heralded a new era of heavyweight boxing.

4 He took 2,304 first-class wickets, 307 of them in Test matches for England.

5 He was hailed as "the King of Stamford Bridge", but won only four England caps.

6 This former Sports Minister once explained how he was given the job. "I got this phone call from Tony Blair," he said. "I thought he was going to ask me to unblock the toilets or something."

7 He was voted Celtic's greatest ever player three years ago, and his darting runs earned him the nickname "Jinky".

8 He won 34 of his 71 races, enjoying his finest moment in the Cotswolds in 1989.

9 He was widely regarded as the most lethal goalscorer of all time, but his national team - for which he scored 83 goals in 84 matches - did not enjoy ultimate success on the biggest stage. An east European, he spent the latter part of his career in western Europe.

10 One of the great West Indian cricketers, he scored 3,798 runs at an average of 56 in his 44 Tests. He went on to become manager of the West Indies World Cup-winning teams of 1975 and 1979 and the first non-English president of the International Cricket Council.

Record breakers

1 Who announced British record losses of £140m, beating their own previous mark of £88m?

2 Who broke record unbeaten runs established by Bjorn Borg and Guillermo Vilas?

3 How did Paul Collingwood join Walter Hammond and "Tip" Foster in the England record books and move ahead of Jack Hobbs?

4 Who moved past Gerd Müller's record of 14 goals?

5 Which runner equalled his own world record on tracks in Gateshead and Zurich?

6 Who became the first bowler to take 1,000 international wickets?

7 Who broke his club's all-time goal-scoring record by striking his 201st goal in his new manager's first match in charge?

8 Who set a world Test record of 1,702 runs, bettering the previous record by 117 runs?

9 Who set a Champions' League record by keeping their eighth consecutive clean sheet?

10 What feat did Mark Ramprakash achieve that has been matched by only three other players since the war - Geoff Boycott (in 1971 and 1979), Graham Gooch (in 1990) and Damien Martyn (in 2001)?

The global game

1 Who was named as the highest-earning sportswoman in the world?

2 How did Hollywood come to Merseyside?

3 What did the Russians Nikolai Valuev, Vladimir Klitschko, Sergei Liakhovich and Oleg Maskaev have in common with each other?

4 Which Frenchwoman won her first major title at the 32nd attempt?

5 Which American confessed in his autobiography to an addiction to gambling that had cost him more than £30m over the last 12 years?

6 Who followed her conquest of Europe by finishing on top of the world, an achievement matched previously only by Mary Gordon-Watson and Virginia Leng?

7 Who beat Lleyton Hewitt in Miami, having lost in all eight of their previous meetings?

8 Which trainer triumphed in Paris for the seventh time?

9 Who shocked Spain by scoring the first home hat-trick since George Best in 1971?

10 Which Serb was alleged to have threatened to kidnap his daughter, kill an Australian and "drop a nuclear bomb on Sydney" as revenge for her decision to play as an Australian again?

Who said?

1 "She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that."

2 "Dad would have been very proud. He was always on my case about thinking my way round a course and not letting emotions get the better of you. I think I succeeded on both counts today."

3 "It was just an absolute freak and there's nothing you can do about it. It was a routine clearance but it's hit a bobble, it's gone over my foot and there's nothing you can do about it."

4 "Free flights for everyone tonight!"

5 "I think we will win it, of course. But you know that you have huge opponents as well. We need no more injuries, a little bit of luck and good referees. It says everything about how difficult it is to win the World Cup that we have to go back so far."

6 "For me, pressure is bird flu. I am feeling a lot of pressure with the swan in Scotland. I am serious. I am more scared of bird flu than football. What is football compared with life? A swan with bird flu - for me that is the drama of the last two days. I have to buy some masks, maybe for my team as well."

7 "I want to ask for forgiveness from all the children who watched that. There was no excuse for it. I want to be open and honest about it because it was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children were watching."

8 "I met him three times: once in a flat in London, once when he flew in from Brazil to Oxfordshire for a formal interview and then last week in Lisbon. That was part of the process. We went to discuss his potential involvement. He was not my first choice and he was not offered the job. Steve was my first choice. He did two fantastic interviews. I believe we have got the best man for the job."

9 "So far his captaincy is the most pathetic I've known... I found out that I was not in through watching television. How can that be right? Ian has put a lot of people through misery because he just hasn't done the right thing."

10 "You're not telling me that the only person guilty of taking a bung in the last decade is George Graham. I don't believe it."

Into the sunset ... who retired during 2006?

1 He quit at the age of 24, having won five Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles and established 13 individual world records. He first represented his country, Australia, when he was 15.

2 He scored 36 goals in 79 appearances for his country, which he left in 1993. He then spent two years in Italy before moving to England.

3 He trained 4,180 winners, his first in the 1974-75 season, and broke the 200 mark in a season on eight occasions.

4 He made his debut for Southampton in the 1987-88 season. He won the Premier League with his next team before playing for his home town club over the course of the next 10 seasons.

5 This runner claimed seven world titles and won 84 of his 89 races between 1996 and 2004, but had failed to win his sport's greatest prize until his double triumph in Athens two years ago.

6 He won seven world titles, but his chances of winning an eighth were scuppered when he suffered a puncture in his final race.

7 He won Olympic gold medals for Britain alongside three colleagues in both 2000 and 2004 and in addition won six world titles.

8 He played for club teams in London and the east Midlands, made his international debut in 1997, won 55 England caps and helped to conquer the world in Sydney three years ago.

9 This formidable striker began his career at Dundee United before moving to Rangers. The last 12 years of his career were spent south of the border.

10 Born in Las Vegas, he won the first of his 60 career titles in 1987 and went on to become the world No 1.

Fifteen minutes of fame ... how did the following briefly hit the headlines?

1 Shelley Rudman

2 Juliano Belletti

3 Graeme McDowell

4 Carlos Gamarra

5 Deena Kastor

6 Fabio Grosso

7 Scott Johnson

8 Henrik Stenson

9 Benjamin Becker

10 Geoff Ogilvy

Just fancy that

1 Why was Josip Simunic surprised to see yellow three times?

2 Whose chances of playing on the biggest European stage were wrecked by food poisoning?

3 Who triumphed by spending 180 days going the wrong way round?

4 Who caused a stir by taking a bite of Argentine beef in London?

5 Which 17-year-old was named in his country's World Cup squad despite the fact that he had still to start a match for his club?