This day in history: 19th August

Zinedine Zidane head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi

Football

2007: Arsenal played their first competitive game at the new Emirates Stadium, drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

1973: Birthday of Italian defender Marco Materazzi. He won the World Cup in 2006 with his national side and is known for infamously getting head-butted by France captain Zinedine Zidane in the finals.

1984 - Ryan Taylor, English footballer, was born today. He currently plays for Newcastle United in the Premier League.

Cricket

1900 - Start of the one and only Olympic cricket match in Paris. The match was played between teams representing Great Britain and France. Great Britain won that contest by 158 runs in this two-day game.

1992 - Sri Lanka post their highest total against Australia ever – 8-547 .

1957 - Birthday of former England cricketer and ICC Umpire Ian Gould.

1975- Australia needed 225 runs to win with seven wickets left on the last day of the Headingley Test match. Unfortunately, not a single ball was bowled after a mob vandalized the pitch, making it unplayable.

Boxing

1992 - Legendary boxer Mike Tyson returned to professional boxing after over four years away due to his arrest and subsequent conviction for rape.

Do check out the rest of the ‘This day in history’ series.