Sports tournaments are meant to be celebrations of youth. But last night’s World Cup final made me feel very old. First, there was the sight of poor old Nelson Mandela being trundled around the pitch – he’s about to turn 92 and I’m afraid he looks a little, how shall we say, past it. And then the cameras zeroed in on Jack Taylor, the last Brit to referee a World Cup final: the 1974 game between the Dutch and the Germans. I’m afraid, I remember that game with crystal clarity – as if it were yesterday, in fact. But the fact that Mr Taylor is now in his eighties, is a reminder that it was all a very long time ago – and I’m also getting old. Read more