Four of the biggest typos in sporting history

The theme of the newest edition of The Question of Sport Podcast is Letters and Numbers, so regular Michael Bryan-Jones has picked out some examples of written errors from the world of sport. Some of these are ridiculous.

1. Ashley Giles: 'King of Spain'

Ashley Giles was one of England's cricketing heroes in the summer of 2005, helping the nation to the first Ashes triumph over Australia in 18 years. However, the year before, Giles had gained a nickname which would suggest he wouldn't qualify to play for England: The King of Spain.

'King of Spain' Ashley Giles during the 2005 Ashes (image: Getty)

The title had been bestowed on him not, as is traditional, through hereditary succession, but rather via a typo on some souvenir mugs which were produced in his honour the previous year. In 2004 Giles celebrated a decade in the first XI at his county club, Warwickshire. The mugs should have been printed with the words 'The King of Spin'. You can see where the error occurred.

To his credit Giles embraced the title, keeping one of the mugs and accepting the nickname in good humour. The same cannot be said of the actual King of Spain, Juan Carlos who apparently stated: "I do not know who this Ashley Giles is, but I can assure him that I am the King of Spain".

2. The 1968 Masters playoff that never happened

Argentinian golfer Roberto De Vicenzo was the 1967 Open Champion and the following year he was right at the top of the leaderboard at the illustrious Masters in Augusta. After the final round of golf was completed he and American Bob Goalby were level on shots played. They shared the lead of 11 under par and were all set to go into a playoff to see who would become champion.

Or at least they should have been. Unfortunately for De Vicenzo, a tiny error would see Goalby awarded the championship without another shot taken.

The tournament rules were that golfers marked their playing partner's scores down on a card and at the end of the round each of the players would sign the card to confirm their score. That was then taken to be their official score. However, De Vicenzo's pair, Tommy Aaron, had accidentally made a mistake on the scorecard. He'd marked De Vicenzo down for a par four at 17th hole, rather than the brilliant birdie three De Vicenzo had actually shot.

Due to the error, the score card showed De Vicenzo down for a final round of 66, not the 65 he had actually shot. The rules stated that "once a player has signed their score card, the score must stand" and the unfortunate Di Vicenzo had simply signed without checking the score. Thus he was stuck in second place with a round of 66 and watched as Goalby collected the coveted Green jacket worn by Augusta winners.

Not all was lost, though; had De Vicenzo signed for a score that was lower than the real one it would have meant immediate disqualification. At least he was allowed to finish second and win the $15,000 prize. Small consolation perhaps...

3. Stanley Cup winners J. Plante, Jac Plante, Jacq Plante, and Jaques Plante

As previously discussed on The Question of Sport Podcast, the biggest prize in professional ice hockey is the Stanley Cup. It is a giant trophy with layers of engravings of winners' names on an ever-increasing series of metal bands wound around its base.

Those names are speedily engraved after the game and there have been a few examples of typos as a consequence. 1981 winners, the New York Islanders, are commemorated as the "New York Ilanders". But perhaps the daftest error is the various spellings of Jacques Plante, famed as one of the NHL's all-time great goaltenders.

When playing for the Montreal Canadiens, Plante won the Cup an impressive six times, including a run of five wins in a row between 1956 and 1960. During that five year spell, Plante's name was spelt differently every single time. The engravers had him down as J. Plante, Jac Plante, Jacq Plante, and Jaques Plante. So yes, they managed five spellings and none of them were correct.

4. The Manchester United v Bolton Wanderers FA Cup Final that never happened

The 2011 FA Cup Final was contested by Manchester City and Stoke City. City had beaten local rivals Manchester United in the semis while Stoke had thumped Bolton. The bookies favourites had been beaten in both semi finals.

At the final fans are usually given a free flag to wave. It's placed at their Wembley Stadium seat and is meant to add atmosphere and colour at the match.

The FA arranged for this in 2011 but the flag printers must have got ahead of themselves and been confident about the results going into the semis. The flag given to Stoke fans said "in the FA Cup final against Manchester United", while the Manchester City version had "against Bolton Wanderers" on it.

The FA rectified mistake simply by cutting the typed sections off the flags.

Hear more textual tales on the latest episode of The Question of Sport Podcast