Sporting history is not geeky, incidental stuff - it's what gives it meaning

Rory McIlroy claimed his first tournament victory in 19 months at the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday and the Northern Irishman also gave a winning performance during his round of pre-tournament interviews.

Asked about the Saudi-backed Super Golf League, a proposed breakaway series, McIlroy said: "It is fine if what you're playing golf for is to make as much money as possible. But I'm playing this game to try to cement my place in history and to win Major championships.

"We still talk about Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen and Ben Hogan and all those guys because that's what this game is. It's steeped in history."

Hopefully the farcical collapse of football's European Super League will embolden McIlroy, and other top stars, to speak out against lucrative but potentially destructive ventures in their own sports.

In praising the "structure" of top-level golf, as well as highlighting the motivations driving his career, McIlroy touched on one of the cornerstones of sport, which the forces behind breakaway leagues and splinter groups do not seem to comprehend.

Admittedly, a schism in the golfing world may not have as much emotional resonance as its footballing equivalent. If you're a fan of Justin Thomas or Jon Rahm it's unlikely to be because your grandpa used to bunk off early from his Saturday job to stand on a crate outside the driving range, hoping to get a glimpse of them in the flesh.

But ripping up the fabric of a sport just so that rich people can get richer should make us all angry. Sporting history is not geeky, incidental stuff – it is the framework that holds the whole thing together and gives it meaning.

We need the Major tournaments, the Grand Slam events, the World Cups, the league seasons, the playoff schedules, the world rankings.

We need the comparisons between today's heroes and those of previous generations – those pointless yet compelling debates about whether Muhammad Ali or Juan Manuel Fangio or Martina Navratilova could, so to speak, do it on a wet Wednesday night at Stoke.

And we need statistical and historical context in order to measure sporting greatness. If iconic achievements such as Don Bradman's Test average of 99.94 or Jack Nicklaus's 18 Major titles are to retain their magic, the parameters of their respective sports must remain consistent.

What becomes of the record books if players and clubs swan off to new competitions launched by the highest bidder every few years? A mess, that's what.

It's painful enough to hear about Harry Kane chasing down Alan Shearer's record of 260 Premier League goals, as if Shearer's 23 First Division goals for Southampton have somehow melted away into the mists of time.

Naturally, sports evolve and priorities change. Take cricket, for example. The Indian Premier League and the Big Bash, first held in 2008 and 2011-12, are now well established and young players make their England debuts without first having to serve damp summers of county apprenticeship at Northampton, Chester-le-Street or Hove.

But these shifts are, if not quite organic, then at least gradual. Seasons still come and go with reassuring regularity. The same events take place at the same time of year with the same trophies up for grabs and the same complaints that 'this lot aren't fit to lace the boots' of their predecessors.

If, suddenly, the top clubs are removed from domestic competitions and the best players are lured away with promises of dollar-laden exhibitions, then what exactly is the point of it all?

I'm reminded of an Alan Partridge sports bulletin from 'On The Hour' in which Nick Faldo is preparing to putt on the 17th green at the Open when a child steps forward from the gallery and shouts: "What a swizz! This is just a load of old blokes in sweaters knocking a ball about with a stick!"

What a swizz, indeed.

Handicap heats tell true story of the season

Forget Manchester City versus Chelsea or Bruno Fernandes versus Ruben Dias – the most significant end-of-term prizes should go to those clubs who triumphed in their divisional season handicaps.

These heats provide a fascinating insight into the moral victors and villains of the campaign. Which teams fearlessly punched above their weight and which flopped to the canvas under the burden of expectation?

It's hard not to sound patronising when praising some of these 'underdogs', 'surprise packages' or 'overachievers'. Instead, then, let's hail them as the heroes who pinned bookmakers' ante-post coupons to the dressing-room wall and defaced them with priapic graffiti before flushing them down the toilet bowl.

In the Championship, winners Norwich – bottom of the Premier League last season but top boys this term – just pipped Barnsley who, remarkably, reached the playoffs having avoided relegation by just one point in 2019-20.

League One champs Hull also took the handicap honours but League Two produced an epic duel between runners-up Cambridge United and fourth-placed Morecambe.

Only two clubs received a more generous start than the pair's +25 on bet365's market while Morecambe's 30-point advantage helped them win the heat with Coral, Ladbrokes and Sky Bet.

Of course, this will provide Barnsley or Morecambe with little solace if their playoff campaigns end in disappointment so I'll be cheering them on for promotion.

And hopefully 66-1 ante-post shots Lille can seal the Ligue 1 title at the expense of a pretty dislikeable Paris St-Germain side. After all, who doesn't like to see a victory for the Lille guys once in a while?

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