- Chris Kamara
-
Chris Kamara 
Personal information Full name Christopher Kamara Date of birth 25 December 1957 Place of birth Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Playing position Defender/Midfielder Youth career 1975 Royal Navy Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1975–1977 Portsmouth 63 (7) 1977–1981 Swindon Town 147 (21) 1981 Portsmouth 11 (0) 1981–1985 Brentford 152 (28) 1985–1988 Swindon Town 87 (6) 1988–1990 Stoke City 60 (5) 1990-1991 Leeds United 20 (1) 1991–1993 Luton Town 49 (0) 1992–1993 → Sheffield United (loan) 8 (0) 1993 → Middlesbrough (loan) 5 (0) 1993–1994 Sheffield United 16 (0) 1994–1995 Bradford City 23 (3) Total 641 (71) Teams managed 1995–1998 Bradford City 1998 Stoke City * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Chris Kamara (born 25 December 1957 in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire) is a retired English footballer. He ended his playing career in 1995 and last managed a club in 1998. He is now a presenter and football analyst on Sky Sports.
Contents
Playing career
Kamara was born in Middlesbrough to a father of Sierra Leonean roots. After serving with the Royal Navy, Kamara joined Portsmouth in 1975, beginning a professional footballing career that saw him move between nine clubs, scoring 71 goals in 641 league appearances. The clubs he played for included Brentford, Luton Town and Leeds United - where he won the Division 2 Championship title.
Kamara was the first English player to be convicted of assault, after breaking Shrewsbury Town player Jim Melrose's cheekbone with a punch straight after the final whistle in 1988.[1]
Kamara spent short spells as manager of Stoke City and Bradford City, which saw him nearly relegated with the former but gaining promotion with the latter. He steered The Bantams to promotion in the 1995-96 season after winning 2–0 in the play-off final against Notts County.
Chris is a great friend of Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson whom he grew up with on Middlesbrough's Park End council estate. He and Gibson regularly attended matches together.[2]
Career statistics
Team From To Record G W D L Win % Bradford City 27 November 1995 6 January 1998 122 40 26 46 32.79 Stoke City 22 January 1998 8 April 1998 14 1 5 8 7.14 Total 136 41 31 54 30.15 Commentator and presenter
Kamara presents Sky Sports' Goals On Sunday show and provides additional commentary on some of Sky's televised matches. He also appears on the Soccer Saturday programme, where he usually appears over live video link providing brief updates on whichever match he is watching. He is well-known on the programme for his highly excitable nature, propensity for comical gaffes and tendency to come out with unusual sayings that baffle host Jeff Stelling and the other studio pundits, such as his observation that the Tottenham players were "fighting like beavers" in their match against Arsenal. In one of his more famous on-air gaffes, he failed to realise that Anthony Vanden Borre had been sent off in the game he was watching between Portsmouth and Blackburn.[3] He has also coined the popular phrase "Unbelievable Jeff!".
Kamara also guest-stars on Soccer AM where he brings live link ups hours before games from various stadia. Since the beginning of the 2010-2011 season he has appeared weekly on Soccer AM fronting a challenge sketch titled "Kammy do it". This involves him going on various challenges, at the request of the viewers, across the UK against professionals or other celebrities. So far his activities have included Clay pidgeon shooting, weight lifting and challenging Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle to a game of table tennis. Kamara was formerly the chairman of the panel which chooses the Football League Championship Manager of the Month award,[4] but left the role for the beginning of the 2009-2010 season.
Kamara became an Ambassador of the Special Olympics Great Britain Organisation in April 2011[5] after taking part in the Special Olympics Unity Cup[6] as a celebrity partner before the Germany v Argentina quarterfinal match in Cape Town, during the 2010 World Cup.
Change of surname
Before the 2010 World Cup, Kamara changed his name by deed poll to Chris Cabanga in response to a Facebook campaign supported by 20,000 people.[7][8][9] Cabanga is an African word meaning ‘to think’ or ‘imagine’. Before the World cup UK-based neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis conducted a number of experiments into the field of positive thinking. In the experiments, conducted at Sussex University March 2010, Dr Lewis found ‘Cabanga’ to be a particularly resonant word. Many England fans supported the Facebook campaign in the hope that it could help England win the World Cup.[10]
Computer Games
In September 2000 Chris Kamara's Street Soccer was released on the original PlayStation format.[11] The game is seen as the inspiration for the FIFA Street series by EA Sports, this is due to the game allowing you to play on pitches inside of a volcano or on top of a skyscraper.[citation needed] He was also the commentator for This Is Football 2005 along with Peter Drury.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Kamara My race hate hell". The Sun (London). 29 April 2010. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2951945/Chris-Kamara-reveals-his-race-hate-hell.html.
- ^ Guardian Football "InterView with Chris"
- ^ Chris Kamara gaff on Portsmouth v Blackburn sending off on Soccer Saturday becomes YouTube hit Metro
- ^ Young, Colin (2 March 2007). "Boss of the month, but Keane says its rubbish". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-439496/Boss-month-Keane-says-rubbish.html.
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://sinkusphotography.com/kickabout/?p=2502
- ^ "Whats in a name". Sky Sports. 9 June 2010. http://www.skysports.com/tv_show/story/0,20144,12975_6197087,00.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
- ^ "Chris Cabanga". http://www.bristolcity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=200392. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
- ^ "When vital met Cabanga". http://www.england.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=201079.
- ^ "Cabanga chant to help England win world Cup". http://newslite.tv/2010/05/03/cabanga-chant-to-help-england.html.
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Kamaras-Street-Soccer-Value/dp/B00004ZCVH
External links
- Chris Kamara career stats at Soccerbase
- Chris Kamara management career stats at Soccerbase
- Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
- Chris Kamara's funniest moments
- Chris Kamara at the Internet Movie Database
Bradford City A.F.C. – managers Campbell (1903–05) · O'Rourke (1905–21) · Menzies (1921–26) · Veitch (1926–28) · Foster (1928) · O'Rourke (1928–30) · Peart (1930–35) · Ray (1935–37) · Westgarth (1938–43) · Sharp (1943–46) · Barker (1946–47) · Milburn (1947–48) · Steele (1948–52) · A. Harris (1952) · Powell (1952–55) · P. Jackson (1955–61) · Brocklebank (1961–64) · B. Harris (1965–66) · Watson (1966–67) · Hair (1967–68) · McAnearney & Hallett (1968) · Wheeler (1968–71) · Wilson (1971) · Edwards (1971–75) · Kennedy (1975–78) · Napier (1978) · Mulhall (1978–81) · McFarland (1981–82) · Cherry (1982–87) · Dolan (1987–89) · Yorath (1989–90) · Docherty (1990–91) · Stapleton (1991–94) · Lawrence (1994–95) · Kamara (1995–98) · Jewell (1998–2000) · Hutchings (2000) · McCall (2000) · Jefferies (2000–01) · Smith (2001) · Law (2002–03) · Atherton, Jacobs, Wetherall and Windass (joint caretakers) (2003) · Robson (2003–04) · Todd (2004–07) · Wetherall (2007) · McCall (2007–10) · Jacobs (2010) · Taylor (2010–11) · P. A. Jackson (2011) · Cooper (2011) · Parkinson (2011–)
Stoke City F.C. – managers Slaney (1874–83) · Cox (1883–84) · Lockett (1884–90) · Bradshaw (1890–92) · Reeves (1892–95) · Rowley (1895–97) · Austerberry (1897–1908) · Barker (1908–14) · Hodge (1914–15) · Schofield (1915–19) · Shallcross (1919–23) · Rutherford (1923) · Mather (1923–35) · McGrory (1935–52) · Taylor (1952–60) · Waddington (1960–77) · Eastham (1977–78) · A'Court (1978) · Durban (1978–81) · Barker (1981–83) · Asprey (1983–85) · Lacey (1985) · Mills (1985–89) · Ball (1989–91) · Paddon (1991) · Macari (1991–93) · Jordan (1993–94) · Hartford (1994) · Macari (1994–97) · Bates (1997–98) · Kamara (1998) · Durban (1998) · Little (1998–99) · Megson (1999) · Thordarson (1999–2002) · Cotterill (2002) · Kevan (2002) · Pulis (2002–05) · Boskamp (2005–06) · Pulis (2006–)
Stoke City F.C. – Player of the Year 1978: Kendall • 1979: Doyle • 1980: Dodd • 1981: Fox • 1982: Fox • 1983: Thomas • 1984: Bould • 1985: McIlroy • 1986: Bertschin • 1987: Dixon • 1988: Parkin • 1989: Kamara • 1990: Fox • 1991: Thomas • 1992: Biggins • 1993: Stein • 1994: Cranson • 1995: Sigurðsson • 1996: Wallace • 1997: Griffin • 1998: Whittle • 1999: Keen • 2000: O'Connor • 2001: Gunnarsson • 2002: Thomas • 2003: Shtanuk • 2004: Akinbiyi • 2005: Hill • 2006: Hoefkens • 2007: Higginbotham • 2008: Lawrence • 2009: Faye • 2010: Etherington • 2011: Huth
Categories:- 1957 births
- People from Middlesbrough
- People from North Yorkshire
- Living people
- Black English sportspeople
- English footballers
- Portsmouth F.C. players
- Brentford F.C. players
- Swindon Town F.C. players
- Stoke City F.C. players
- Leeds United A.F.C. players
- Luton Town F.C. players
- Sheffield United F.C. players
- Middlesbrough F.C. players
- Bradford City A.F.C. players
- English football managers
- British people of Sierra Leonean descent
- Bradford City A.F.C. managers
- Stoke City F.C. managers
- The Football League players
- Premier League players
- The Football League managers
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
