While England’s football team couldn’t claim any victory in the World Cup, there was better news for their cricket team who had their first Test series win in Pakistan in 22 years, as they beat Pakistan by 74 runs.
Sadly, as the year drew to a close, the news of Pele’s passing broke. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, his memory will live on in the game for years to come.
-Zahra Hanif
Notably, the year opened with the World Darts championship final taking place on January 3rd in London. The English Michael Smith won his first World Darts Championship, becoming the World Number 1, defeating the Dutch Michael van Gerwen 7-4 in what has been called "the performance of his career".
Later on, from January 13th, the Indian state of Odisha hosted the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup with the final taking place on the 29th where Germany won their third title, defeating the Belgian defending champions.
As a main event of January, one will mostly remember the Tennis Australian Open in Melbourne from the 9th to the 28th. For the men, the Serbian Novak Djokovic won, tying with the Spanish Rafael Nadal’s 22 titles. The Belarusian (although banned from representing her country after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022) Aryna Sabalenka won, earning the first major title of her career.
-Margaux Martinez
Across the Atlantic the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII (12th February); the Chiefs claimed a second victory in just four years. South Africa played host to the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup across 10th to 26th February which saw Australia win an astounding third consecutive title. In another landmark for women’s cricket there were 192 million hours viewed globally, a 790% increase on the previous tournament in 2020. Newcastle United also played their first major final in 3 decades on 26th February, making the trip down to Wembley to face Manchester United in the Carabao Cup Final. Eddie Howe’s men couldn’t complete their fairy-tale and lost the game 2-0 to a much higher quality Man United side.
-Tom Atkinson
Kicking off on one of the most watched seasons in history, Max Verstappen was coming off a double world championship in 2021 and 2022, and started the year in the same form, winning the first Grand Prix. Later in the month, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, claimed his first win of the year in Saudi Arabia. Their biggest challenger proved to be the surprise contender of Aston Martin, with their lead driver and fan favourite Fernando Alonso taking a podium in both March races. Apart from F1, some other large sporting events in March included ‘March Madness’ - the NCAA basketball tournament, and the extravagant Dubai World Cup for horse racing.
-Marina Snyder
On the international stage, England’s Lionesses won the Finalissima on home turf, drawing 1-1 in front of a packed Wembley Stadium before going on to win the penalty shootout 4-2, with Chloe Kelly smashing the winning penalty past Letícia Izidoro to bring football home again.
In other news, the Grand National was won by Corach Rambler, a World Snooker Championship match was disrupted by Just Stop Oil protestors, and the Miami Heat defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in what has been hailed as one of the greatest upsets in NBA playoffs history.
Formula One’s least interesting season was at its boring best, as Red Bull claimed its third and fourth race victories of the season.
-Arthur Ferridge
In this exciting season, St James’ Park has been bouncing as fans supported the women’s team crawl up the league table. It wasn’t such an easy run, with their last match gaining all the pressure for the win.
They now play in the Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, and with the support from the men’s team manager Eddie Howe, let’s support the girls for the next year of sport!
-Imogen Smillie
It saw the champions league final in which Manchester City saw off Inter Milan to secure the jewel in their treble winning crown, but far more importantly, it saw West Ham lift their first trophy in decades. Jarrod Bowen nipped behind the Fiorentina back line to send the stadium, the city of Prague, the east end, and the Hackney Wick warehouse where my family and I watched with so many other fans, into rapture. Eternal memories were made that night and for me, my brother and my dad it is probably the biggest sporting moment of our lifetimes, so it felt only right it made it in for the month of June as well.
-Mitchell Hall
England had already lost their first two matches in the Ashes series. With the pressure on, the hosts outstandingly turned the series around to record a 2-2 series draw, with their long-standing rivals having the rain gods on their side to prevent them from losing the series 3-2 overall.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club would see a brand-new champion crowned, as Carlos Alcaraz Garfia would go onto defeat the four-time defending champion, Novak Djokovic, arguably ushering in a new era for Tennis.
Finally, the FIFA Women’s World Cup kickstarted with this edition being the first World Cup to be held across multiple confederations (AFC and OFC). The tournament began with the co-hosts New Zealand defeating Norway 1-0. The Lionesses sought to recapture their glory from the Euros in the previous summer, as they went onto achieve a 100% record in the group stages.
-James Kellett
Messi won the Leagues Cup for Inter Miami, as a result transforming one of America's worst teams into their best, in a matter of only a few weeks. A lot happened, a huge win, a few losses for England, and a very strange interruption from Just Stop Oil in the World Snooker Championship.
-Libby Griffiths
Taylor Swift put Super Bowl LVII Champions Kansas City Chiefs on the non-football map, but it was Travis Kelce's team that lost out to visitors Detriot Lions in the first game of the season. The US team who took the most medals at the Artistic Gymnastics Championships, with the heavily decorated Simone Biles at the helm. Lastly, the Rugby World Cup stretched from early September to late October, where defending champs South Africa beat New Zealand to keep their title a second year.
-Castor Chan
St. James’ Park was lit up for the first Champions League match there in 20 years, drones decorated the sky on what ended as a historic match. A Fabian Schar stunner helped Newcastle secure a 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, which left them sat top of the table - a match not many will forget in a while.
Things heated up in the Qatar GP, which saw multiple drivers suffer from heat exhaustion due to the extreme conditions. Logan Sargeant retired from the race due to feeling sick, with drivers having to be helped from their cars and Ocon revealing he had been sick during the race. To no surprise Max Verstappen went on to secure victory in all the October GP’s.
-Paige Rutter
I think the most memorable - or maybe not so memorable - F1 race of November is the Las Vegas GP. This was the first time that this particular GP took place and though the build up was phenomenal, the track is something no one would desire. Most famously described as an "upside down pig," the Las Vegas GP saw Charles Leclerc take pole position. Unfortunately for Ferrari fans, Leclerc couldn't hold pole and finished second by 0.171s in front of Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
On the same day, we also saw Australia win their sixth Cricket World Cup by six wickets (with 42 balls left). The highlights of the match were: Travis Head batting a century, Marnus Labuschagne hitting 58 and, obviously, India's batting collapse which led them to a total of 240 runs. Very few saw these highlights coming, especially India's collapse happening so fast, but fewer saw England (the previous World Cup winners) not being able to qualify for the group stages.
-Katie Siddall
