1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état, The coup
Obiang, who also served as deputy defense minister, overthrew his uncle on August 3, 1979. The coup was backed by the nation's military and Macías' Cuban palace guard; several foreign embassies, including those of Spain and the United States, were aware of the plot in advance and provided financial humanitarian aid in its aftermath. Upon his ouster, Macías and his personal bodyguard fled to Macías' home village of Nzeng-Ayong and took up residence in a fortified bunker protected by military loyalists.


1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état, The coup
The ensuing conflict between Obiang and Macías' forces killed 400 people; it ended when Macías burned his personal treasury and fled toward the Cameroon border. A force led by naval commander Florencio Mayé captured Macías on August 18, and he and six of his allies were executed on September 29. Obiang has remained president of Equatorial Guinea since the coup.


1979 Erewash Borough Council election
Elections to Erewash Borough Council were held on 3 May 1979 as part of nationwide local elections.


1979 Estonian SSR Football Championship
The 1979 Estonian SSR Football Championship was won by Norma.


1979 EuroHockey Club Champions Cup
The 1979 EuroHockey Club Champions Cup, taking place in The Hague, was the sixth edition of Europe's premier field hockey club competition. The format was changed - standings would be determined by a group stage in four triangular groups and subsequent play-offs.


1979 EuroHockey Club Champions Cup
It was won by HC Klein Zwitserland in their second participation, becoming the first Dutch team to win the competition in a final match against the Real Club de Polo from Barcelona.


1979 European Amateur Boxing Championships
The Men's 1979 European Amateur Boxing Championships were held in  Cologne, West Germany from May 5 to May 12, 1979. The 23rd edition of the bi-annual competition was organised by the European governing body for amateur boxing, EABA. There were 146 fighters from across many European countries participated in the competition.


1979 European Amateur Boxing Championships
The Heavyweight (– 91 kilograms) and Super Heavyweight (+ 91 kilograms) categories were contested for the first time.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
The 1979 European Amateur Team Championship took place 27 June – 1 July at Esbjerg Golf Club, 15 kilometres north of Esbjerg, Denmark. It was the 11th men's golf European Amateur Team Championship.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
The tournament was played at the club's Marbæk Course, built in 1975. There were hard winds blowing during the whole tournament on the par 71 course, not far from the North Sea.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
Each team consisted of 6 players, playing two rounds of stroke-play over two days, counting the five best scores each day for each team.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
The eight best teams formed flight A, in knock-out match-play over the next three days. The teams were seeded based on their positions after the stroke play. The first placed team were drawn to play the quarter final against the eight placed team, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. Teams were allowed to use six players during the team matches, selecting four of them in the two morning foursome games and five players in to the afternoon single games. Games all square at the 18th hole were declared halved, if the team match was already decided.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
The eight teams placed 9–16 in the qualification stroke-play formed flight B and the three teams placed 17–19 formed flight C, to play similar knock-out play to decide their final positions.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
Team England won the gold medal, earning their fifth title, beating Wales in the final 5.5–1.5. Team Ireland earned the bronze on third place, after beating host nation Denmark 5.5–1.5 in the bronze match.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
There was no official award for the lowest individual score in the opening 36-hole stroke-play qualifying competition, but individual leader was Paul Downes, England, with a score of 5-over-par 147, three strokes ahead of nearest competitors, his two teammates Peter McEvoy and Michael Kelley.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship
Björn Svedin, Sweden, shot a new course record 72 over 18 holes on the first day of competition. The course record was equaled by Michael Kelley, England, in the second round the next day, also scoring 72.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship, Teams
19 nation teams contested the event. Each team consisted of six players.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship, Results
* Note: In the event of a tie the order was determined by the best total of the two non-counting scores of the two rounds.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship, Results
Note: There was no official award for the lowest individual score.


1979 European Amateur Team Championship, Results
* Note: Games declared halved, since team match already decided.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships
The 10th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Vienna, the capital city in Austria, on 24 and 25 February 1979. It was the second time the championships had been held in that city.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres
The men's 1500 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 and 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres, Results, Heats
First 4 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 3000 metres
The men's 3000 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres
The men's 400 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 and 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres, Results, Heats
First 2 from each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres, Results, Semifinals
The winner of each heat (Q) and the next 1 fastest (q) qualified for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres
The men's 60 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres, Results, Heats
First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres, Results, Semifinals
First 2 from each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres hurdles
The men's 60 metres hurdles event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 and 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres hurdles, Results, Heats
First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 60 metres hurdles, Results, Semifinals
First 3 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 800 metres
The men's 800 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 and 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 800 metres, Results, Heats
First 2 from each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's high jump
The men's high jump event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's long jump
The men's long jump event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's pole vault
The men's pole vault event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's shot put
The men's shot put event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's triple jump
The men's triple jump event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 1500 metres
The women's 1500 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 400 metres
The women's 400 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 and 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 400 metres, Results, Heats
First 2 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres
The women's 60 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres, Results, Heats
First 2 from each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres, Results, Semifinals
First 2 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres hurdles
The women's 60 metres hurdles event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres hurdles, Results, Heats
First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 60 metres hurdles, Results, Semifinals
First 3 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 800 metres
The women's 800 metres event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's high jump
The women's high jump event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's long jump
The women's long jump event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 24 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's shot put
The women's shot put event  at the 1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 25 February in Vienna.


1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's shot put
There were only three athletes contesting the title which raised suspicions that this may be due to the new, more advanced drug tests that were announced before the competition. Third place finisher, Judy Oakes of Great Britain, reportedly did not show up to receive her bronze medal as she deemed herself unworthy having won it in such circumstances.


1979 European Athletics Junior Championships
The 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships was the fifth edition of the biennial athletics competition for European athletes aged under twenty. It was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland between 16 and 19 August.


1979 European Baseball Championship
The 1979 European Baseball Championship was held in Italy and was won by Italy for the third time in a row. The Netherlands finished as runner-up.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football
The 1979 European Competition for Women's Football was a women's football tournament contested by European nations. It took place in Italy from 19 to 27 July 1979.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football
The tournament featured 12 teams, with games staged in Naples and Rimini. Considered unofficial because it was not run under the auspices of UEFA, it was a precursor to the UEFA Women's Championship. Denmark won the tournament, beating hosts Italy 2–0 in the final at Stadio San Paolo.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Tournament review
The 1979 Italian tournament is often cited as being financially disastrous, but it was not so for the participating teams. Rather, the hosts bore the costs, but the financial problems affected the organization of the competition.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Tournament review
In the late 1970s the issue of international tournaments for women's football teams was contentious. The international governing body International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) refused several requests to sanction independently organised tournaments, declaring that such matters "were only possible through the National Association and the Confederations." Writing in 2007, Jean Williams observed that "The fact that they had been busy not organising these events seems to have escaped [FIFA's] notice. According to Williams, FIFA's bureaucratic suppression of women's football was becoming unsustainable: "By the 1970s it simply wasn't a viable option for FIFA to ignore women playing the game and hope that they would go away."


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Tournament review
The European Confederation, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), displayed little enthusiasm for women's football and were particularly hostile to Italy's independent women's football federation. Sue Lopez, a member of England's squad, contended that a lack of female representation in UEFA was a contributory factor:


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Tournament review
In 1971, UEFA had set up a committee for women's football, composed exclusively of male representatives, and by the time this committee folded in 1978 they had failed to organise any international competitions.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Tournament review
At a conference on 19 February 1980 UEFA resolved to launch its own competition for women's national teams. The meeting minutes had registered the 1979 competition as a "cause for concern".


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Results, First round
The top team in each group advanced to the semi-finals.


1979 European Competition for Women's Football, Results, Knockout stage, Final
After a goalless first half, Denmark took the lead 10 minutes into the second period through 18–year–old striker Lone Smidt Hansen (who later became Lone Smidt Nielsen through marriage). Inge Hindkjær secured Denmark's victory with her fourth goal of the tournament, four minutes from full-time. After the tournament, the Danish Football Association (DBU) were subject to media criticism for their failure to properly develop women's football.


1979 European Cup (athletics)
The 1979 European Cup was the seventh edition of the European Cup of athletics.


1979 European Cup (athletics)
The Super League Finals were held in Turin, Italy between 4-5 August 1979.


1979 European Cup Final
The 1979 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Olympiastadion, Munich, on 30 May 1979. Trevor Francis scored the only goal of the match, as Nottingham Forest of England defeated Malmö FF of Sweden 1–0 to become European champions for the first time in club history. The win represented a third successive victory for an English side in the European Cup, after Liverpool's victories in 1977 and 1978.


1979 European Cup Final, Background
The competition had provided many great stories and had thrown up a final that no-one could have predicted when it had started the previous August. Unfortunately, with two of their best players – midfielder Bo Larsson and defender Roy Andersson – already ruled out with injury and with their captain and key midfielder – Staffan Tapper – breaking his toe in training on the eve of the final, Malmö resorted to the same defensive tactics that Belgian team Club Bruges had used at Wembley in the final twelve months earlier.


1979 European Cup Final, Background
With neither of the finalists being one of Europe’s major clubs, Munich’s Olympiastadion was far from full for the Final, and the game itself was something of an anti-climax. There was, however, one memorable story still to be told. Back in February, Brian Clough had elected to spend the money that Forest had made from winning the league title in 1978 on a forward from Birmingham City. Clough made Trevor Francis Britain’s first £1 million footballer when he took him to Nottingham, but UEFA rules stipulated that he could not play European football for another three months. Therefore, the first game that Francis was eligible for was the final itself and, with Martin O'Neill injured and Archie Gemmill not selected by Clough, Francis was picked to play his first ever European club game, albeit out on the right wing.


1979 European Cup Final, Match summary
With Malmö opting to sit back in defence for the duration of the match, the game was merely about whether Forest could break through. Despite constant pressure, the English side had still failed to score as first half injury time began, but then John Robertson, a man who was now one of the most feared wingers in European football, beat two Swedish defenders on the left hand side before whipping in a cross.


1979 European Cup Final, Match summary
Goalkeeper Jan Möller, who had been solid up to this point, did not come out to clear the ball, and at the far post was none other than Trevor Francis to head the ball into the roof of the net. That was effectively the end of the match. Both Garry Birtles and Robertson missed good chances in the second half, but it did not matter, as Malmö never looked likely to score.


1979 European Cup Final, Match summary
It may have been an unremarkable final, but the result certainly made for a remarkable overall story. Under their maverick manager Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest–– a relatively small English provincial club–– had won European club football’s biggest prize, knocking out two-time defending champions Liverpool along the way. Just two years earlier, Forest had been in English football's second tier, and yet they now found themselves at the zenith of European club football.


1979 European Cup Winners' Cup Final
The 1979 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match contested between Barcelona of Spain and Fortuna Düsseldorf of West Germany. It was held at St. Jakob Stadium in Basel on 16 May 1979. The venue was decided in Bern by the UEFA Executive Committee on 27 September 1978. It was the final match of the 1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 19th European Cup Winners' Cup final. Barcelona won 4–3 after goals from Tente Sánchez, Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach, and Hans Krankl, conquering the first UEFA-sanctioned trophy in its history.


1979 European Figure Skating Championships
The 1979 European Figure Skating Championships was a senior-level international competition held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia from January 30 to February 4. Elite senior-level figure skaters from European ISU member nations competed for the title of European Champion in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


1979 European Formula Two Championship
The 1979 European Formula Two season was contested over 12 rounds. Polifac BMW Junior driver Marc Surer clinched the championship title.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary
Champions in 1978, March expanded to seven works cars, all new ground effects 792 models powered by BMW 4-cylinder engines and running on Goodyear tyres. 1978 runner-up Marc Surer started as pre-season favourite; his team-mates would include Beppe Gabbiani, Ricardo Zunino, Miguel Ángel Guerra and Teo Fabi. Others were provided for guest drivers, ranging from Formula One stars like Clay Regazzoni and Hans-Joachim Stuck or promising Formula Three stars like Andrea de Cesaris or Stefan Johansson. ICI Racing's cars were looked after by Ron Dennis' Project 4 outfit, with Derek Daly and Stephen South driving while Bob Salisbury entered a car for Juan María Traverso.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary
Ralt had handed over their team to Toleman. They struck a deal with Brian Hart to run his 420R 4-cylinder engine for the experienced Brian Henton and Rad Dougall. Osella would be running a BMW-engined in-house car (albeit using a four-year-old design penned by Giorgio Stirano, renamed the FA2/79) for Eddie Cheever; their main strength was an exclusive deal for Pirelli tyres. Chevron hired experienced Formula 1 designer Tony Southgate to create the B48 ground effects car with Paul Owens, based on the 1978 B42 chassis.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary
Bobby Rahal drove the works car (with a Hart engine) with machines also sold to privateers Siegfried Stohr (BMW engine) and Huub Rothengatter (also Hart). AGS continued to run their 1977 car, with Alain Couderc driving; Pilbeam's MP42 would be driven by Patrick Nève, Maurer employed Armin Hahne and AMS ran Piero Necchi.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary
Privateers included Derek Warwick in a Theodore March-Hart, Alberto Colombo in a March-BMW and Eje Elgh in Tiga's March-BMW.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 1 - Silverstone
The race - now bearing the BRDC International Trophy name - took place in heavy rain, allowing Cheever to demonstrate Pirelli's wet weather superiority in the well-tested Osella-BMW. He dominated until a multiple accident involving Stohr at the Woodcote chicane caused a race stoppage after two laps. After the restart Henton and Daly pushed the American hard until Henton suffered gear selection problems and Daly span.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 1 - Silverstone
The latter recovered strongly after the rain stopped and the track dried out to take the lead, only to suffer gear linkage problems, allowing Cheever through to take victory on the last lap by only three-tenths of a second. Henton held on to take 3rd ahead of Rahal, with South (despite twice leaving the track at Woodcote) and Columbo completing the top six. The fancied March cars proved a disappointment - the 792 was overweight and generated too much grip, resulting in a machine with heavy handling. Surer failed to start the race after sliding off on the parade lap and being hit by team-mate Gabbiani.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 2 - Hockenheim
The two-heat race was named as the Jim Clark Memorial Race in honour of the Scottish legend killed at the circuit in 1968. Standing in for the absent Daly (driving for Ensign at the US West Grand Prix), Keke Rosberg started 3rd and took a dominant win some 27 seconds ahead of Dougall, Guerra, Henton (struggling with damaged rear suspension), Cheever (having chosen the wrong tyre compound) and Fabi; . Surer span out after dicing with Rosberg early on in the first heat as dislodging a skirt from his car. South set fastest lap but retired with a puncture.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 3 - Thruxton
Dougall took a shock victory in the BARC Philips Car Radio International - and the points lead of the series  - despite having to switch to the Toleman team's old March 782 after problems with the new Ralt. The other scorers were Daly, Columbo, Guerra, Rahal and Rothengatter in a race that only yielded eight classified finishers. Five of the front-runners - Henton, South, Warwick, Gabbiani and Fabi - were eliminated in a pile-up at the first corner. Cheever led until retiring mid-distance, while Surer dropped out with engine trouble.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 4 - Nürburgring
At the ADAC Eifelrennen, Surer scored his first points of the season with a daring victory, having started on slicks despite half of the daunting 14-mile circuit still being wet when the race started. A late challenge was mounted by spirited pole-sitter Rosberg (again covering Daly's F1 commitments), who approached the track's F1 lap record before his throttle jammed open and his ICI March was destroyed at the same corner which claimed team-mate South. Instead Henton took 2nd in another old March, Manfred Winkelhock (making a one-off appearance in a BMW-engined Ralt) took 3rd ahead of Stohr, Rothengatter and Dougall.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 5 - Vallelunga
Surer won a second successive race in the troublesome March to join Dougall at the top of the championship table. Stohr came 2nd in one of the equally difficult Chevron cars, guest driver Maurizio Flammini was 3rd, Rahal 4th, Dougall 5th and another guest - Italian Formula Three star Andrea de Cesaris - 6th. Henton had led in the March before picking up a puncture. He lapped swiftly after getting repairs only to collide with an abandoned car which had not been removed correctly by the marshals.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 6 - Mugello
The Ralt finally worked properly, getting Henton through to victory, allowing 'Superhen' to take the series lead. Gabbiani came home 2nd and Elgh 3rd - their first points of the year - ahead of Fabi, Warwick and the consistent Rahal. Daly qualified on the front row alongside Henton but was taken off in a first-corner collision with Surer and guest-driver Regazzoni.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 7 - Pau
Wet weather again allowed Cheever's skill and Pirelli's grip to come to the fore, the American taking a comfortable victory after colliding with Daly when challenging the Irishman on lap 30; the March was forced into retirement. Stohr took 2nd while 3rd for Surer saw him share the title lead with Henton (who retired on the first lap, sliding off the wet track). Gabbiani, Patrick Gaillard and Guerra completed the top 6.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 8 - Hockenheim
The second visit to Hockenheim saw an impressive lights-to-flag victory for South in both heats, ahead of ICI team-mate Daly. Gabbiani finished 3rd from Gaillard, Surer (two points seeing him move ahead of Henton in the table; the British driver fell out of contention in the race with gearbox trouble) and Rahal. Guest driver Stuck had pushed South hard in the first heat before engine failure.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 9 - Zandvoort
Hastily arranged as a replacement for the cancelled race at Nogaro, the Dutch track's abrasive surface handed an advantage to the Pirelli-shod Cheever, who promptly won his 3rd victory of the year to leapfrog to the top of the table. Fabi took his best result yet in a strong 2nd place, while 3rd for team-mate Surer kept the Swiss firmly in title contention. Columbo finished 4th with a tyre-troubled Henton 5th and Elgh 6th.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 10 - Enna
Toleman's Rory Byrne had substantially revised the Ralt over the summer break between rounds 8 and 9, and it looked like his work had borne fruit with Henton winning at Enna after a furious battle with Elgh. However, Tiga protested the result as Henton had used an escape road on the first lap avoiding a crash. The race organisers agreed and disqualified the British driver; his appeal would not be concluded until after the season had finished. Elgh was followed home by Daly (delayed by the first corner incident), South (despite a stop to replace a damaged nosecone), Fabi, Cheever and Dougall promoted to 6th after Henton's disqualification.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 11 - Misano
The modified Ralt once again starred, Henton this time taking victory without controversy from Gabbiani, Surer, Traverso, Stohr (now in a March) and Cheever. Daly had provided the strongest challenge to Henton before his gear linkage fell apart. The race was marred by a poor track surface.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 12 - Donington
The championship was finely balanced ahead of the final race. Henton led by a single point with his appeal against the Enna disqualification still to be heard, with Surer and Cheever equal 2nd. Fabi and Daly took the front row of the grid. Henton was 3rd after crashing twice in practice, with Surer - also suffering an accident - 4th. Cheever could only manage 10th. Daly dominated much of the race, chased hard by Henton, leaving Surer to battle over 3rd place with South.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Season Summary, Round 12 - Donington
Cheever, struggling in the heavy Osella with Pirelli tyres that didn't suit the warm conditions, was never a factor, eventually finishing 7th. The title looked like it was Henton's until two laps from the end when he suffered brake failure at the Old Hairpin and slid off the track, allowing Surer and South through. The Swiss took the title by two points, a result confirmed when Henton's appeal was thrown out a few weeks later. Daly's victory was enough to take him to 3rd overall ahead of Cheever despite the Irishman only contesting nine of the twelve rounds.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Calendar
Race 2 and 8 were held in two heats, with results shown in aggregate.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Calendar
Race 1 originally scheduled over 47 laps, but stopped after 2 laps and restarted due to an accident involving Siegfried Stohr.


1979 European Formula Two Championship, Drivers' Championship
For every race points were awarded: 9 points to the winner, 6 for runner-up, 4 for third place, 3 for fourth place, 2 for fifth place and 1 for sixth place. No additional points were awarded. The best 10 results count. No driver had a point deduction.


1979 European Judo Championships
The 1979 European Judo Championships were the 29th edition of the European Judo Championships, and were held in Brussels, Belgium on 26 May 1979.


1979 European Junior Badminton Championships
The 1979 European Junior Badminton Championships was the 6th tournament of the European Junior Badminton Championships. It was held in Mülheim, Germany, in the month of April. Danish players won four titles, both the singles and Mixed doubles and Mixed team championships. While Sweden bagged boys' doubles title and England the girls' doubles gold.


1979 European Karate Championships
The 1979 European Karate Championships, the 14th edition, was held  in Helsinki, Finland from May 4 to 6, 1979.


1979 European Parliament election
The 1979 European elections were parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the European Parliament, and also the first international election in history.


1979 European Parliament election
Seats in the Parliament had been allocated to the states according to population, and in some cases were divided into constituencies, but members sat according to political groups.


1979 European Parliament election, Background
The Treaty of Rome which established the Communities specified that the European Parliament must be elected by universal suffrage using a common voting system. The Council of the European Union was responsible for setting up the elections but it had procrastinated. As a stop-gap measure, members were appointed to the Parliament by the member states from their own national parliaments, as they had done since the Common Assembly. The Parliament was unhappy with this and threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice.


1979 European Parliament election, Background
The Council eventually agreed to elections and the first European Parliament elections were held in 1979 after proposals were put forward in the mid 1970s. The issue of a common voting method was left undecided, and even to this day the voting methods vary from member state to member state, although all have used some form of proportional representation since 1999.


1979 European Parliament election, Campaigns
The campaigns varied. The former Social Democrat German Chancellor Willy Brandt took an international campaign to France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to boost the Socialist group. On the other hand, the former Prime Minister of France Jacques Chirac used the election to gauge his popularity against the then-President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in anticipation of a presidential bid in 1981.


1979 European Parliament election, Election
In June, the 410 members were elected by universal suffrage. At the time there were no rules on the system of election to be used. The United Kingdom used a plurality voting system for multiple small constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland but the other member states used proportional representation for fewer larger constituencies (usually the member state itself as a single constituency), albeit with different methods of seat allocation.


1979 European Parliament election, Election
The electorate took little interest but average voter turnout was 63%. The lowest turn out was in the United Kingdom with 32.2%: all others were above 50% apart from Denmark. Aside from Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory, the highest turnout was in Italy with 84.9%.


1979 European Parliament election, Final results
Socialist parties working together under the Europe-wide Confederation of Socialist Parties won the most seats: the resultant Socialist group had 113 MEPs. Christian Democrat parties united within the pan-European European People's Party came second, with the resultant group having 107 MEPs. The largest third force was the Conservative European Democrats with 64, followed by Communists with 44. The Liberal Democrats had 40 seats, although their candidate was elected as President.


1979 European Parliament election, Final results
The groups formed were loose coalitions based on the groups founded in previous years, but they soon became the basis for modern European political parties.


1979 European Parliament election, Post election
Louise Weiss, who was 86 at the time, was found to be Parliament's oldest member and hence presided over the chamber while the election of the President took place (July 1979). Before that could happen however, she immediately had to deal with Ian Paisley MEP who, in the first speech of the session, protested that the British flag outside the building was flying upside down. She dealt with the interruption swiftly. The confrontation was seen as one of her finest hours and she later confided that, as a grandmother, she was used to dealing with "recalcitrant youngsters".


1979 European Parliament election, Post election
There were five candidates for President of the European Parliament: Giorgio Amendola, Italian Communist; Emma Bonino, Italian Technical Independent; Christian de La Malène, French Progressive Democrat; Simone Veil, French Liberal, and Mario Zagari, Italian Socialist.


1979 European Parliament election, Post election
In the first ballot, Veil secured 183 of the 380 votes cast – eight short of the absolute majority needed. The next closest contender was Zagari with 118 votes, then Amendola with 44, de la Malène with 26 and Bonino with 9. Bonino and de la Malène dropped out and Veil secured an absolute majority in the second ballot with 192 of the 377 votes cast (Zagari gained 128 and Amendola 47). Veil was elected as the first President of the elected Parliament, and first female President of the Parliament since it was founded in 1952.


1979 European Parliament election, Post election
The following were elected as Vice-Presidents: Danielle De March, Basil de Ferranti, Bruno Friedrich, Guido Gonella, Gérard Jacquet, Hans Katzer, Poul Møller, Pierre Pflimlin, Bríd Rodgers, Marcel Albert Vandewiele, Anne Vondeling and Mario Zagari.


1979 European Parliament election, Post election
Previously the Parliament was a weak consultative assembly, the members of which were part-time. With the elections the new body of MEPs were full-time, energetic and more diverse. As soon as the Parliament was established the "old guard" MEPs of the larger parties sought to raise the bar at which a European Parliament political group could be formed (the status gave financial support and representation in committees). This move was quickly blocked by smaller groups working together and filibustering the proposal. The ties formed at this time laid the foundations of the Rainbow group: an alliance of left-wing and green parties which later became the European Greens–European Free Alliance group.


1979 European Parliament election in Belgium
Elections to the European Parliament were held in Belgium on 10 June 1979. The Dutch-speaking electoral college elected 13 MEPs and the French-speaking electoral college elected 11 MEPs.


1979 European Parliament election in Denmark
The European Parliament election of 1979 in Denmark was the election of the delegation from Denmark to the European Parliament in 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in France
In 1979 the first direct elections to the European Parliament were held in France. Four parties were able to win seats: the centre right Union for French Democracy the Gaullist Rally for the Republic, the Socialist Party and the French Communist Party. 61.7% of the French population turned out on election day.


1979 European Parliament election in France, Results
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1979 European Parliament election in Greenland
The European Parliament election of 1979 in Greenland was the election of the delegation from the constituent country Greenland of the Kingdom of Denmark to the European Parliament in 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in Ireland
The 1979 European Parliament election in Ireland was the Irish component of the 1979 European Parliament election. These were the first direct elections to the European Parliament. The election was conducted under the single transferable vote.


1979 European Parliament election in Italy
The first elections for the European Parliament in Italy were held on 10 June 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in Italy
A week before Italy had voted for its general election: the lack of matching between the two elections caused much controversy for wasting public money.


1979 European Parliament election in Italy, Electoral system
The pure party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic since its foundation in 1946, so it was naturally adopted to elect the Italian representatives to the European Parliament. Two levels were used: a national level to divide seats between parties, and a constituency level to distribute them between candidates. Italian regions were united in 5 constituencies, each electing a group of deputies. At national level, seats were divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. All seats gained by each party were automatically distributed to their local open lists and their most voted candidates.


1979 European Parliament election in Italy, Results
This election taking place just a week after the general election, it obviously gave a similar result. However, the minor importance of the European ballot caused a lower turnout, which particularly punished the two major parties, the Christian Democracy and the Italian Communist Party. The small Italian Liberal Party had a breath of fresh air from this vote, doubling its percentage compared to seven days before.


1979 European Parliament election in Luxembourg
The 1979 European Parliament election in Luxembourg was the election of the delegation from Luxembourg to the European Parliament on 10 June 1979. It was held on the same day as the legislative elections, which elected members to Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies.


1979 European Parliament election in Luxembourg, Footnotes
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1979 European Parliament election in Sardinia
The European Parliament election of 1979 took place on 10 June 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in Sardinia
Christian Democracy was by far the largest party in Sardinia, with the Italian Communist Party trailing by 7%.


1979 European Parliament election in Veneto
The European Parliament election of 1979 took place on 10 June 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in Veneto
Christian Democracy was by far the largest party in Veneto with 49.1%, while the Italian Communist Party came distant second with 20.3%


1979 European Parliament election in West Germany
The European Parliament election of 1979 in West Germany was the election of the delegation from West Germany to the European Parliament in 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands
The European Parliament election of 1979 in the Netherlands was the election of MEPs representing Netherlands constituency for the 1979–1984 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1979 European election and was held on 7 June 1979.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands, Electorate system
The ten seats were elected using proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands, Electorate system
Voting rights were given to all citizens who were allowed to vote in Dutch parliament elections, Dutch citizens resident in other member states and did not already have voting rights for the Dutch Parliament elections and citizens of other member states who lived in the Netherlands, provided their home country granted similar rights.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands, Campaign
The Labour Party and Political Party of Radicals formed an electoral alliance.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands, Results, Dutch political parties
Four parties were able to win seats: the conservative liberal VVD, the progressive liberal D66, the Christian-democratic CDA and the social-democratic Labour Party. Five other nationally represented parties compete but are unable to win seats. 58.12% of the Dutch population turned out on election day.


1979 European Parliament election in the Netherlands, MEPs period 1979–1984
Below is a complete list of members of the European Parliament for the period 1979–1984 as a result of this election.


1979 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom
The European Assembly Election, 1979, was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom after the European Communities (EC) decided to directly elect representatives to the European Parliament. It was held on 7 June. Elections were also held in eight other EC states. European elections were incorporated into UK law by the European Assembly Elections Act 1978. Out of the 410 members of the European Parliament, 81 were elected from the UK. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales (electing 78 MEPs in total) and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland (electing 3 MEPs).


1979 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom
The result was a landslide victory for the Conservative Party, which won 60 of the 78 seats available in England, Wales and Scotland. Their decisive victory in the general election of the previous month and divisions within the Labour party on whether to stay in the EC probably helped the Conservatives to such a comprehensive victory. There was a very low turnout in the election compared with other states, the lowest in Europe. Voter apathy was an explanation, but it is likely the large number of elections in 1979 had a significant negative effect on turnout. There were referendums in Scotland and Wales on devolution in March and the general election in May, as well as local elections in England (not including London) and Wales.


1979 European Rugby League Championship
The 1979 European Rugby League Championship was a three-way tournament between the national rugby league football teams of England, France and Wales.


1979 European Super Cup
The 1979 European Super Cup was played between Nottingham Forest and Barcelona, with Nottingham Forest winning 2–1 on aggregate.


1979 European Tour
The 1979 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) European Tournament Players' Division (ETPD) run PGA European Golf Tour. It was the first time the circuit carried the European Tour name and is officially recognised as the eighth season of the PGA European Tour.


1979 European Tour
Historically, the PGA's Order of Merit only included tournaments in Great Britain and Ireland, but in 1970 events in continental Europe were included for the first time. The circuit and organisation evolved further over the following years, and adopted the title PGA European Golf Tour for the 1979 season. Also for the first time in 1979, players from continental Europe were eligible for the Ryder Cup.


1979 European Tour
The Order of Merit was won by Scotland's Sandy Lyle.


1979 European Tour, Schedule
The table below shows the 1979 European Tour schedule which was made up of 23 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and some non-counting tournaments that later became known as "Approved Special Events". It included the major national opens around Europe, with the other tournaments mostly being held in England, Wales and Scotland. There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Welsh Golf Classic and Lada English Golf Classic. A new team event was also planned for France, replacing the Sumrie Better-Ball, but it was not held.


1979 European Tour, Order of Merit
The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was based on a points system, which meant that some players could finish lower than others despite accumulating more prize money.


1979 European Weightlifting Championships
The 1979 European Weightlifting Championships were held in Varna, Bulgaria from May 19 to May 27, 1979. This was the 58th edition of the event. There were 140 men in action from 24 nations.


1979 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 12th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Copenhagen.


1979 European Wrestling Championships
The 1979 European Wrestling Championships  was held from 16 to 21 April 1979 in Bucharest, Romania.


1979 FA Charity Shield
The 1979 FA Charity Shield was the 57th Charity Shield, an annual English football match played between the winners of the previous season's Football League and FA Cup. It was held at Wembley Stadium on 11 August 1979. The match was contested by Liverpool, champions of the 1978–79 Football League and Arsenal, who beat Manchester United in the final of the 1978–79 FA Cup. Watched by a crowd of 92,800, Liverpool won the match 3–1.


1979 FA Charity Shield
This was Arsenal's tenth Charity Shield appearance and Liverpool's ninth. Arsenal made no changes to the first team which played in the FA Cup Final the previous season, whereas for Liverpool new signing Avi Cohen started on the bench. In the match Liverpool took the lead in the 38th minute when Terry McDermott scored past goalkeeper Pat Jennings. They extended their lead through Kenny Dalglish in the 63rd minute before McDermott added his second two minutes later. Alan Sunderland scored a consolation for Arsenal late on.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Background and pre-match
The FA Charity Shield was founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. It was a contest between the respective champions of the Football League and Southern League, and then by 1913 teams of amateur and professional players. In 1921, it was played by the Football League champions and FA Cup winners for the first time. This was the fifth year that Wembley Stadium played host to the Shield.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Background and pre-match
Liverpool qualified for the 1979 FA Charity Shield as winners of the previous season's First Division. Under manager Bob Paisley, the team amassed a then-record points total of 68 and conceded the fewest goals in a 42-game Football League season with 16. The other Charity Shield place went to Arsenal who beat Manchester United to win the final of the 1978–79 FA Cup. Arsenal led the game 2–0, but conceded twice late into the match before retaking the lead in the 89th minute; the final score was 3–2. The game is referred to as the "Five-minute final" as three goals were scored in that time frame.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Background and pre-match
Liverpool had won three previous Shields outright (1966, 1974, 1976), shared two with Manchester United (1965 and 1977) and one apiece with Everton (1986) and West Ham United (1964). The club lost one Shield contest – against Leicester City in 1971. This was Arsenal's first appearance in the Charity Shield in 10 years; prior to the game they had won seven Shields (1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948 and 1953), and lost two (1935, 1936). Before the match Paisley told reporters, "Basically it is a conditioning game, part of the process of getting the players fit".


1979 FA Charity Shield, Match
Liverpool employed a traditional 4–4–2 formation, with David Johnson playing alongside Kenny Dalglish up front. Defender Avi Cohen was named on the substitutes' bench, whereas Frank McGarvey – signed from St Mirren in the close season – was omitted from the matchday squad. Arsenal organised themselves similarly to their opponents and named an unchanged team from the one which won the FA Cup.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Match, Summary
Liverpool dominated the opening exchanges, but struggled to create clear-cut chances. They almost went a goal behind when Frank Stapleton's header forced goalkeeper Ray Clemence into action. Seven minutes before the interval, Terry McDermott scored for Liverpool. The midfielder collected a pass from Ray Kennedy who surged through the centre, turned left and from outside the penalty area struck the ball low into the bottom left-hand corner. Arsenal began the second half with more vigour, but struggled to suppress Liverpool's attacks. Alan Kennedy found space to shoot after a one-two with Ray, but his effort went over the post.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Match, Summary
Arsenal were forced to make a substitution around the hour mark after Sammy Nelson collided with McDermott and was concussed; Willie Young replaced him. Liverpool extended their lead minutes later. Alan Hansen intercepted an Arsenal attack, strode forward and passed the ball to Dalglish. The striker approached the penalty area, cut inside Steve Walford and curled the ball into the right-hand corner. John Hollins came on for David Price, at which point Liverpool scored their third. Dalglish dispossessed Liam Brady, but tripped himself in the process.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Match, Summary
Johnson collected the ball and played it back to Dalglish, who charged forward and sprayed a pass towards McDermott, the furthest forward player on the right. The midfielder's shot went under the legs of Pat Jennings and into the goal. Alan Sunderland scored a late goal for Arsenal having combined well with Stapleton. This did not dampen the spirits of the Liverpool spectators, who chanted, "What's it like to be outclassed?" and, "Why are we so great?" during the course of the 90 minutes.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Post-match
Liverpool's performance was greeted with applause from both sets of supporters as Phil Thompson led his team up to the Royal Box to receive the Charity Shield. Paisley was delighted with the manner of his team's win and quipped, "I am just sorry we didn't get two points for it!" He praised the Wembley surface and said of McDermott's first goal "[ It] captured what we are looking for – the run, the control and the finish were perfect." Arsenal manager Terry Neill described the match as a "great advertisement for football" and felt his side contributed greatly in periods.


1979 FA Charity Shield, Post-match
Of his opponents, he said: "Liverpool are a smashing side and I don't expect to meet anyone better this season." Indeed, Liverpool went on to retain the First Division title, withstanding pressure from Manchester United and ending their league campaign on 60 points. Arsenal finished three places behind in fourth, and reached the finals of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, only to end the season empty-handed.


1979 FA Cup Final
The 1979 FA Cup Final was a football match played on 12 May 1979 at Wembley Stadium. The match was contested by Arsenal and Manchester United. It is regarded as one of the greatest-ever finishes in an FA Cup final. For over 85 minutes the game had been unremarkable, with Arsenal taking a 2–0 half time lead through goals from Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton. In the 86th minute, however, Gordon McQueen scored following a set-piece, and two minutes later Sammy McIlroy dribbled past two Arsenal players to score a dramatic equaliser. With the game poised for extra time, United's celebrations proved short-lived, as Alan Sunderland scored a last-minute winner, making the final result Arsenal 3–2 Manchester United. This match is often referred to as the "Five-minute Final".


1979 FA Cup Final
The 1979 FA Cup was the only major trophy that Arsenal won during the seven-year management of Terry Neill, who was appointed in 1976 after Bertie Mee's retirement. He was dismissed in 1983.


1979 FA Cup Final
It was also the only cup final that Manchester United reached under the management of Dave Sexton, who had been appointed as manager in 1977 and remained there until 1981 when he was sacked having failed to bring a major trophy to the club.


1979 FAI Cup Final
The 1979 FAI Cup Final was the final match of the 1978–79 FAI Cup, a knock-out association football competition contested annually by clubs affiliated with the Football Association of Ireland. It took place on Sunday 22 April 1979 at Dalymount Park in Dublin, and was contested by Dundalk and Waterford. The competition was sponsored by Mitre. Dundalk won the match 2–0 to win the cup for the sixth time, and, in so doing, won their first League and Cup Double.


1979 FAI Cup Final, Background
Dundalk had already been confirmed League of Ireland Champions for 1978–79, and they were chasing their first League and Cup Double. The two sides' two previous meetings that season had been in the League, with Waterford winning both matches. The second of these was in Oriel Park, the night Dundalk had received the league trophy. Dundalk had won the cup in 1977. To reach the final they defeated St Patrick's Athletic (1–0), Finn Harps (2–0), and Cork Alberts (2–1).


1979 FAI Cup Final, Background
Waterford had finished fourth in the League, three points behind Dundalk. They had not won the cup since their first victory in 1937 and had been defeated in their four previous appearances in the final, two of which had seen them miss out on League and Cup Doubles of their own, during a dominant period when they had won six league titles in eight seasons between 1964 and 1973. They overcame Bohemians (1-0 in a second replay following two 1–1 draws), Galway Rovers (1–0), and Shamrock Rovers (2–1).


1979 FAI Cup Final, Background
The match was not broadcast live. Highlights were shown that evening on the RTÉ show Sports Scene.


1979 FAI Cup Final, Match, Summary
Dundalk went into the match as most pundits' tip to win, although Waterford were confident given the manner in which they had dispatched Shamrock Rovers in the semi-final and defeated Dundalk in the League. But Dundalk shocked their opponents by taking the lead after four minutes. There was controversy about the build up, as the linesman had flagged Hilary Carlyle as being offside, but was overruled by referee Daly.


1979 FAI Cup Final, Match, Summary
Carlyle crossed to Sean Byrne, who slipped as he lined up a left-foot, near post shot only to see the ball fly across the goal and into the net at the far post. Thereafter Dundalk attempted to play on the break and fashioned the better chances despite Waterford having more possession. Richie Blackmore was still required to make a number of good saves, including one from a Sid Wallace shot that seemed destined for the net.


1979 FAI Cup Final, Match, Summary
As the clock reached the 90 minute mark, Carlyle picked up a pass out of defence from Tommy McConville, shrugged off Waterford's player-manager, Tommy Jackson, and fired home to seal the victory, and the club's first Double. In the aftermath Jackson refused to complain about the referee, noting instead that his side had not responded well to going behind. Dundalk manager Jim McLaughlin said that Richie Blackmore's save from Sid Wallace convinced him that Dundalk were going to win.


1979 FAMAS Awards
The 27th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards Night was held in 1979 in the Philippines . This is for the Outstanding Achievements of the different  films for the year 1978.


1979 FAMAS Awards
Pagputi ng Uwak, Pagitim ng Tagak of VS Films was the most awarded film of the 27th FAMAS Awards winning the top prize for FAMAS Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Story, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score and Best in Production Design.


1979 FIA European Formula 3 Championship
The 1979 FIA European Formula 3 Championship was the fifth edition of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. The championship consisted of 12 rounds across the continent. Future Formula One world champion, Alain Prost took overall victory in five of these rounds which, among other results, made him the drivers champion for 1979, with Michael Bleekemolen finishing in second and Slim Borgudd third.


1979 FIBA Africa Championship for Women
The 1979 FIBA Africa Championship for Women was the 6th FIBA Africa Championship for Women, played under the rules of FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, and the FIBA Africa thereof. The tournament was hosted by Somalia from December 31, 1978 to January 2, 1979.


1979 FIBA Africa Championship for Women
Senegal ended the round-robin tournament with a 2–0 unbeaten record to win their third title  and qualify for the 1979 FIBA Women's World Championship.


1979 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship
The 1979 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship (known at that time as 1979 European Championship for Cadets) was the 5th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. The city of Damascus, in Syria, hosted the tournament. Yugoslavia won the trophy for the second time and tied with the Soviet Union as the most winning countries in the tournament.


1979 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, Preliminary round
The eleven teams were allocated in two groups (one of five and one of six teams).


1979 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, Final standings
Srđan Dabić, Nebojša Zorkić, Marko Ivanović, Matej Janžek, Milan Benčić, Zoran Čutura, Dragan Zovko, Tomislav Tiringer, Jurica Kos, Robert Medved, Željko Mrnjavac, and Jurid Kebe. Head Coach: Luka Stančić.


1979 FIBA Intercontinental Cup
The 1979 FIBA Intercontinental Cup William Jones was the 13th edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup for men's basketball clubs. It took place at Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil.


1979 FIBA Oceania Championship
The FIBA Oceania Championship for Men 1979 was the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The tournament, a best-of-three series between  Australia and  New Zealand, was held in Sydney and Melbourne. Australia won the series 3–0 to win its fourth consecutive Oceania Championship.


1979 FIBA Under-19 World Championship
The 1979 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Portuguese: 1979 Campeonato Mundial FIBA Sub-19) was the maiden edition of the FIBA Under-19 World Cup and was held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil from August 15 to August 25, 1979.


1979 FIBA Under-19 World Championship
The United States notched their first-ever world juniors championship by sweeping both the preliminary round and the championship round, winning the Gold Medal against the hosts Brazil in the final day of the tournament, 75–55.


1979 FIBA World Championship for Women
The 1979 FIBA World Championship for Women (Korean: 1979 FIBA 세계 여자 선수권 대회) was hosted by South Korea from 29 April to 13 May 1979; the United States won the tournament.


1979 FIBA World Championship for Women, Final round
The United States qualified outright for the final round of the tournament by the virtue of silver medal finish at the 1976 Olympic Games.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place in four cities — Kobe, Omiya, Tokyo and Yokohama — where a total of 32 matches were played, four more than in the previous edition due to the addition of a quarterfinal round in the knockout stage.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
Argentina won the trophy after beating holders Soviet Union 3–1, in a final held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Argentina fielded an attack-minded high-scoring team, averaging 3.33 goals per game. They were led by the powerful duo of Diego Maradona and Ramón Díaz, who were the tournament's best player and top scorer respectively. Between the two of them, they scored 14 of Argentina's 20 goals (70%).


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, Squads
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, Goalscorers
Ramón Díaz of Argentina won the Golden Shoe award for scoring eight goals. In total, 83 goals were scored by 48 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final
The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final was a football match that was played on at the National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan on 7 September 1979 to determine the champions of the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. The final was contested by Argentina and the Soviet Union. Argentina won the match 3–1, winning the title for the first time.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final
Argentine raising superstar Diego Maradona, who scored a goal, was named the best player of the competition.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Background
Argentina had won its first FIFA World Cup just one year before. César Luis Menotti, who had managed the senior squad that crowned champion in Argentina, coached the team. Ernesto Duchini –who was part of the coaching staff to discover new talents around the country– had selected the players that were then under the guidance of Menotti to win the title.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Background
Duchini had been in charge of Argentine youth teams since 1954, and was a cornerstone of the coaching staff that led that group of players to achieve their first title. Some of the players discovered by Duchini were Roberto Perfumo, Carlos García Cambón, Oscar Más, Rubén Ayala, Oscar Ortíz, Jorge Olguín, Raúl Savoy, among others.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Background
Duchini worked side-by-side with Miguel Gitano Juárez, former player of Rosario Central and very close to Menotti. Juárez suggested some players for the youth team, such as Juan Simón, Rubén Rossi, Rafael Seria and Daniel Sperandío, all of them playing in Rosario-based clubs.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Background
The players selected to play the tournament were goalkeepers Sergio García (Flandria) and Rafael Seria (Central Córdoba); defenders Juan Simón (Newell's), Rubén Rossi (Colón), Abelardo Carabelli (Argentinos Juniors), Hugo Alves (Boca Juniors), Marcelo Bachino (Boca Juniors), Jorge Piaggio (Atlanta); midfielders Daniel Sperandío (Rosario Central), Juan Barbas (Racing), Osvaldo Rinaldi (San Lorenzo), Juan José Meza (Central Norte de Tucumán); Diego Maradona (Argentinos Juniors); forwards Osvaldo Escudero (Chacarita), Alfredo Torres (Atlanta), Ramón Díaz (River Plate), Gabriel Calderón (Racing), José Luis Lanao (Vélez).


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Background
Diego Maradona was the playmaker and leader of that team. His performance in the competition was so stunning that was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament. He also won the Silver Boot as the second topscorer behind teammate Ramón Díaz.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Aftermath
The second world title within two years were widely celebrated by people throughout the country, as they had done the previous year after the win against the Netherlands.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Aftermath
The media also praised the team's style of play, attributed to Menotti's philosophy toward the game.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Aftermath
Beyond the great performance of the team in general, media focused on the performances of Argentinos Juniors' star Diego Maradona (highlighting his control of the ball, passing and dribbling) and Ramón Díaz's scoring prowess at the tournament.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final, Aftermath
At their returning from Japan, the players were carried in helicopter to the Atlanta stadium, where the flagship landed on the field as part of the celebrations for the championship won in Tokyo.


1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squads
Below are the rosters for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship tournament in Japan. Those marked in bold went on to earn full international caps.


1979 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup
The 1979 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup was held in Tokyo, Japan in 1979.


1979 FIM Motocross World Championship
The 1979 FIM Motocross World Championship was the 23rd F.I.M. Motocross Racing World Championship season.


1979 FIM Motocross World Championship, Summary
Graham Noyce won the 1979 500cc world championship for the Honda factory racing team, marking Honda's first ever motocross world championship as well as the first motocross world championship for a British rider since Jeff Smith in 1965. Yamaha's defending champion Heikki Mikkola struggled to recover from a broken leg suffered in preseason. Noyce's consistent results earned him the championship points lead at the midpoint of the season with Suzuki's Gerrit Wolsink, Mikkola and Kawasaki's Brad Lackey within reach of the points lead.


1979 FIM Motocross World Championship, Summary
Wolsink won his fifth 500cc United States Grand Prix in six years and followed that with another victory at the Canadian Grand Prix to narrow the points lead. Mikkola then suffered another injury at the Canadian Grand Prix and his injuries forced him to sit out the West German Grand Prix. Former Honda factory rider, Lackey, won 6 individual moto victories, more than any other rider in the championship yet, his factory sponsored Kawasaki proved to be unreliable as the team struggled through development issues on a new motorcycle. Noyce then took command of the championship by posting a series of top five finishes to win the title for the Honda team.


1979 FIM Motocross World Championship, Summary
Håkan Carlqvist won the 250cc world championship for Husqvarna while Harry Everts dominated the 125cc world championship for the Suzuki factory racing team.


1979 FIM World Motorcycle Trials Season
The 1979 World trials season consisted of twelve trials events. It began on 10 February, with round one in Newtownards, Ireland and ended with round twelve in Ricany, Czechoslovakia on 16 September.


1979 FIM World Motorcycle Trials Season, Season summary
Bernie Schreiber would claim his first World trials championship in 1979, the first American to win the FIM World Trials Championship.


1979 FIM World Motorcycle Trials Season, 1979 World trials season calendar, Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top ten finishers. All twelve rounds counted for the World Trials class.


1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup
The 1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup was the first edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in Rijeka and in the Tašmajdan Swimming Pool in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.


1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup
Participating teams were the eight best teams from the last World Championships in Berlin, West Germany (1978). The teams played a round robin to decide the first ever winner of what would be a bi-annual event until 1999.


1979 FINA Synchronised Swimming World Cup
The 1st FINA Synchronised Swimming World Cup was held 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. It had swimmers from eight nations, swimming in three events: solo, duet and team.


1979 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup
The 1979 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup was the first edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in Merced, United States, from June 29 to July 1, 1979. The five participating teams played a round robin to decide the first ever winner of the event.


1979 Family Circle Cup
The 1979 Family Circle Cup was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina in the United States. The event was part of the AAAA category of the 1979 Colgate Series. It was the seventh edition of the tournament and was held from April 10 through April 15, 1979. Second-seeded Tracy Austin won the singles title and earned $30,000 first-prize money.


1979 Family Circle Cup, Finals, Doubles
Rosie Casals /  Martina Navratilova defeated  Françoise Dürr /  Betty Stöve 6–4, 7–5


1979 Fastnet race
The 1979 Fastnet Race was the 28th Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race, a yachting race held generally every two years since 1925 on a 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via south of the Isles of Scilly. In 1979, it was the climax of the five-race Admiral's Cup competition, as it had been since 1957.


1979 Fastnet race
A worse-than-expected storm on the third day of the race wreaked havoc on over 303 yachts that started the biennial race, resulting in 19 fatalities (15 yachtsmen and four spectators). Emergency services, naval forces, and civilian vessels from around the west side of the English Channel were summoned to aid what became the largest ever rescue operation in peace-time. This involved some 4,000 people, including the entire Irish Naval Service's fleet, lifeboats, commercial boats, and helicopters.


1979 Fastnet race, Build-up
The 1979 race started on 11 August. BBC Radio shipping forecast, broadcast at 13:55 that day predicted "south-westerly winds, force four to five increasing to force six to seven for a time." By 13 August, winds were reported at Force 6, with gusts of Force 7. Forecasters were predicting winds of Force 8. The leading boat, Kialoa, trailed closely by Condor of Bermuda, was on course to break the Fastnet record set eight years earlier.


1979 Fastnet race, Meteorological history
A large depression, known as "low Y", formed over the Atlantic Ocean during the weekend of 11–12 August. On 13 August it began to intensify rapidly and turn northeastwards, reaching about 200 nautical miles southwest of Ireland. By the 14th, the low was centred over Wexford. Land-based weather stations reported gale-force winds, with the strongest winds out to sea over the race area. The Meteorological Office assessed the maximum winds as force 10 on the Beaufort scale; many race competitors believed the winds to have reached force 11. The lowest pressure was 979 hPa.


1979 Fastnet race, Disaster and rescue mission
Over 13–14 August, of the 303 yachts that started, 24 were abandoned, of which five were lost and believed to be sunk, due to high winds and severe sea conditions. The Daily Telegraph (15 August 1979, p. 1) described the situation, where "Royal Navy ships, RAF Nimrod jets, helicopters, lifeboats, a Dutch warship Hr MS. Overijssel and other craft picked up 125 yachtsmen whose boats had been caught in force 11 violent storm strength gusts midway between Land's End and Fastnet". The effort also included tugs, trawlers, and tankers. Rescue efforts began after 6:30 am on 14 August, once the winds had dropped to severe gale Force 9.


1979 Fastnet race, Disaster and rescue mission
15 sailors died, at least 75 boats capsized and five sank. Adopting heaving to as a storm tactic proved to be a good preventive of capsize and turtling during the race. Lin Pardey wrote that none of the yachts which hove to were capsized or suffered any serious damage, but the official inquiry makes no such conclusion. One Fastnet participant, John Rousmaniere, wrote that


1979 Fastnet race, Disaster and rescue mission
If there is a fault in this debate, it is that the factions sometimes say that one tactic or piece of gear is always right, regardless of the boat and the conditions. There is nothing always about a storm at sea except its danger.


1979 Fastnet race, Disaster and rescue mission
The disaster resulted in a major rethink of racing, risks and prevention.


1979 Fastnet race, Disaster and rescue mission
The coastguard requested support resulting in a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss being ordered to the scene to act as the Scene of Search Coordinator. As the scale of the disaster became apparent other rescue assets were requested and HMS Broadsword was ordered to the scene taking over as the Scene of Search Coordinator on arrival 17:30 on 14 August.


1979 Fastnet race, Finishing yachts
The handicap winner was the yacht Tenacious, designed by Sparkman & Stephens, owned and skippered by Ted Turner. The winner on elapsed time in the race was the 77-foot SV Condor of Bermuda, skippered by Peter Blake, which gained around 90 minutes on the leader at the Fastnet rock, the SV Kialoa by chancing a spinnaker. Jim Kilroy of the Kialoa had broken his ribs and there was damage to the yacht's runners. SV Condor of Bermuda broke the Fastnet record by nearly eight hours (71h 25m 23s).


1979 Fastnet race, Vessels that did not finish
Of the 303 starters, only 86 finished. There were 194 retirements and 24 abandonments (five of which were "lost believed sunk").


1979 Fastnet race, Vessels that did not finish
Early press reports were often confused. The Daily Telegraph (16 August 1979, p. 3) reported that 69 yachts did not finish.


1979 Fastnet race, Vessels that did not finish
Polar Bear was abandoned but remained afloat and raced again. She is berthed in Plymouth.


1979 Fastnet race, Vessels that did not finish, Craft that assisted the rescue mission
Over 4000 people aided in the rescue efforts. The Royal Navy coordinated efforts to find around 80 vessels and rescue 136 crew members.


1979 Fastnet race, Vessels that did not finish, Craft that assisted the rescue mission, Key contributors to the rescue
These RNLI lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60-knot (110 km/h) winds:


1979 Fastnet race, Yachtsmen killed
The Fastnet Race Memorial at Holy Trinity Church, Cowes, Isle of Wight lists 19 fatalities; the 15 above and Olivia Davidson, John Dix, Richard Pendred, and Peter Pickering who were aboard Bucks Fizz, a yacht shadowing the fleet to view the race. Denis Benson and David Moore were lost from Tempean, which was not a competitor. Their names were added to the Fastnet memorial at Cape Clear Island harbour.


1979 Federation Cup (tennis)
The 1979 Federation Cup was the 17th edition of the most important competition between national teams in women's tennis. The tournament was held at the RSHE Club Campo in Madrid, Spain, from 30 April – 6 May. The United States won their fourth consecutive title, defeating Australia in their ninth final.


1979 Federation Cup (tennis), Draw
All ties were played at the RSHE Club Campo in Madrid, Spain, on clay courts.


1979 Fenland District Council election
The 1979 Fenland District Council election took place on 3 May 1979 to elect members of Fenland District Council in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. This was on the same day as the 1979 General Election and other local elections however the town and did parish council elections were pushed back to 24 May 1979 and  may well have affected both sets of local elections. Despite a net loss of 3 seats the conservatives retained overall control of the council. Sitting town mayors and deputy mayors were particularly unsuccessful, in Wisbech Labour mayor Charles Bowden and his conservative deputy Feodor Rikovski failed to win seats and in March Labour mayor Don Dagless lost his seat. The Liberals gained two seats in Wisbech. 1983 Fenland District Council election is next election.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election
The 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election began in December 1979, when Jack Lynch resigned as party leader and Taoiseach. Lynch had been party leader for thirteen years and Taoiseach for over nine years. His successor was elected by the members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on 7 December 1979. After one ballot the election was won by Charles Haughey.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
Following a landslide election victory at the 1977 general election the fortunes of Jack Lynch had turned around completely. The economy began to deteriorate, internal divisions within Fianna Fáil became apparent, party discipline and morale was beginning to break down as pressure mounted on Lynch to step aside. Perhaps the biggest blow to the Taoiseach's confidence came when the party lost two by-elections in November 1979; one of which was in Lynch's native city of Cork and the other Cork North-East.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
Upon hearing this, Lynch decided that the time was right for him to resign. It is believed that he had intended to resign in any case, with the date of January 1980 pencilled in. This would certainly seem plausible as it would allow him to fulfill his term as President of the European Economic Community. However, nothing had been made definite. It is also believed that Lynch's favoured successor and Tánaiste, George Colley, went to Lynch and urged him to resign early.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
Colley, and his supporters, believed that he had enough votes to win a leadership contest, and they thought that the unexpected resignation of the Taoiseach would catch any other potential candidates off guard. Lynch agreed to this measure as he believed that Colley would succeed him. As a result of this, Jack Lynch resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil and Taoiseach on Wednesday, 5 December 1979. The election to decide his successor was planned to take place two days later.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
The contest that developed was a two-horse race between the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, George Colley, and the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Charles Haughey. Both men were like chalk and cheese. Colley came from the traditional wing of Fianna Fáil. His father, Henry, had been a founder-member of the party and Colley was concerned with the fundamental aims of the party, such as the restoration of the Irish Language. Haughey on the other hand was a self-made politician.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
He was a prominent cabinet minister in the 1960s and was very much the representative of the new wing of Fianna Fáil. In spite of these differences the two main had some similarities. Both Colley and Haughey were in the same class at school, they attended the same university, they both became members of Fianna Fáil at the same time and they both represented the same constituency at one time.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
The support for both candidates was about even up until the very end, however there was one vital difference. Colley had the support of virtually the entire Cabinet, while Haughey had the support of the majority of backbench TDs. While Colley believed that a short campaign would take his opponent by surprise, Haughey had been anticipating this moment for many years. A group known as the "gang of five", which consisted of Tom McEllistrim, Mark Killilea Jnr, Seán Doherty, Jackie Fahey and Albert Reynolds, had tried to whip up support for Haughey within the party for the previous few months, as they had anticipated that a change of leadership was imminent.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
The secret ballot to decide the new leader took place on Friday, 7 December 1979 in the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party room at Leinster House. On the night before the vote the candidates were neck and neck, and both Colley and Haughey were confident of success. However, at the eleventh hour the Foreign Minister, Michael O'Kennedy, who up until then had supported Colley, switched sides and was now advocating Haughey for the leadership. This was a major blow to Colley's campaign. When the votes were counted Haughey emerged as the victor with 44 votes to Colley's 38 votes. Nine years after the Arms Crisis nearly destroyed his political career, Charles Haughey was elected leader of Fianna Fáil in a backbench revolt.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
The transition of power from Lynch to Haughey was not a smooth one however. Colley was hugely disappointed, having failed in his second attempt to become leader of Fianna Fáil. He demanded, and was granted, a veto from Haughey over the new Taoiseach's appointments to the posts of Minister for Defence and Minister for Justice. However, Colley, while retaining the post of Tánaiste, was moved from his position as Minister for Finance. Some of Colley's supporters were also disillusioned at the outcome. Martin O'Donoghue and possibly Desmond O'Malley even considered voting against Haughey for the position of Taoiseach, however, they accepted that he had won for the time being.


1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Campaign
Four days after the ballot, on 11 December Haughey was elected Taoiseach by Dáil Éireann, however, he had to endure six hours of criticism from other TDs, including Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald who complained about Haughey's "flawed pedigree." In spite of this, Haughey had been elected to the position he had coveted for the last ten years. However, his victory came at a price, as it would lead to almost two decades of party in-fighting, leadership challenges and the need for political power at all costs. However, Haughey's leadership is also associated with the revival of the Irish economy from near extinction the late 1980s.


1979 Fiesta Bowl
The 1979 Fiesta Bowl was the ninth edition of the college football bowl game, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona on Tuesday, December 25. Part of the 1979–80 bowl game season, it matched the tenth-ranked independent Pittsburgh Panthers and the unranked Arizona Wildcats of the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10). Favored Pittsburgh never trailed and won 16–10.


1979 Fiesta Bowl
This was the last of four consecutive Fiesta Bowls played on Christmas Day.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Teams, Pittsburgh
This was Pittsburgh's second Fiesta Bowl appearance; the first was six years earlier.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Teams, Arizona
Despite finishing third in the Pac-10 with an overall record of 6–4–1, Arizona was invited; it was their first bowl appearance in eleven years.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary
Televised by NBC, the game kicked off on Christmas Day shortly after 1:30 p.m. MST.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary
Pittsburgh kicker Mark Schubert gave his team a lead they never relinquished with two field goals for a 6–0 lead at halftime. Arizona responded with a Brett Weber field goal, but Panther tight end Benjie Pryor caught a touchdown pass from true freshman quarterback Dan Marino to increase the lead to 13–3 at the end of three quarters.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary
Schubert added a third field goal, but Arizona halfback Hubert Oliver scored from a yard out to close the margin to six points at 16–10. After Pittsburgh punted the ball back, the Wildcats looked to drive for the winning points with 1:05 left. But just seven seconds later, quarterback Jim Krohn's pass was intercepted by Terry White and the Panthers won their first Fiesta Bowl.


1979 Fiesta Bowl, Aftermath
Pittsburgh returned to the Fiesta Bowl four years later, but as of 2020 have yet to win another. Arizona finally won a bowl game in 1986, and returned to the Fiesta Bowl in 1994.


1979 Finnish motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1979 Finnish motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 27-29 July 1979 at the Imatra Circuit.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 18 and 19 March 1979.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Background
Prime Minister Martti Miettunen's centrist minority government (Centre Party, Swedish People's Party and Liberal Party) resigned in May 1977, and Social Democrat Kalevi Sorsa returned to office as Prime Minister after having served two years earlier. He formed a centre-left majority government, which stimulated the economy by deficit spending, tax cuts to businesses and some public works projects. The economy started to grow again in 1978, after a two-year recession; unemployment peaked at 8.5% (about 200,000 unemployed) in 1978 and inflation remained high.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Aftermath
The National Coalition Party had conducted a vigorous election campaign, demanding to be allowed to re-join the government after thirteen years in the opposition. They reaped the benefits of this campaign, and of the usual decrease of long-time governing parties' support, by picking up twelve seats and becoming the second-largest party.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Aftermath
Their leader, Harri Holkeri, negotiated with the various parliamentary parties and concluded in April 1979 that no stable majority centre-right government could be formed, because the traditional bourgeois parties (the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Liberal People's Party) considered the Finnish Christian League and Finnish Rural Party too ideologically extreme or old-fashioned to become reliable coalition partners.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Aftermath
Holkeri declined to form a government, but Sorsa refused to continue as Prime Minister, due to the unpopularity that he had suffered amid the recession's lingering effects, his role in the establishment of the soon-to-be-bankrupt television cathode-ray tube factory Valco, his alleged belittling of family violence in a television interview, and his health problems (back pain).


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Aftermath
Trade and Industry Minister Pirkko Työläjärvi refused President Urho Kekkonen's offer to become Prime Minister, because she claimed to be unprepared for such a large task. Kekkonen finally turned to Governor of the Bank of Finland Mauno Koivisto of the Social Democrats, who managed to form a centre-left majority government in late May 1979.


1979 Finnish parliamentary election, Aftermath
The veteran Centrist politician Johannes Virolainen claimed in his memoirs that Kekkonen had appointed Koivisto as Prime Minister on the advice of former Prime Minister Miettunen, who claimed that the Finnish people would then see that Koivisto was not as intelligent as they had believed him to be. Kekkonen's official biographer, historian Juhani Suomi, disagreed, and claimed that Koivisto was Kekkonen's last remaining choice as Prime Minister – unless Kekkonen had intended to appoint a caretaker government. Koivisto's second – and final – government would last, despite frequent internal disagreements (their background was Kekkonen's imminent resignation as President and Koivisto's supreme popularity as his successor), until February 1982.


1979 Firecracker 400
The 1979 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1979, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.


1979 Firecracker 400, Race report
There were 41 drivers on the starting grid of this race; Bruce Hill was credited with the last-place finish due to an engine problem on the first lap. Fifteen drivers would fail to finish the race with problems varying from engine trouble, blown tires, and crashes. Claude Ballot-Léna from France would make his final NASCAR Cup Series appearance here; winning $1,130. ($4,029.35 when adjusted for inflation). His race ended on lap 83 of 160 with engine problems.


1979 Firecracker 400, Race report
Forty-five thousand fans were in attendance. The average speed was a record 172.89 miles per hour (278.24 km/h). The green flag waved at 10 a.m. Buddy Baker earned the pole position during qualifying with a speed of 193.196 miles per hour (310.919 km/h). Darrell Waltrip would become a frequent contender for the first-place position along with Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnett. Bonnett would go on to defeat Benny Parsons by a single second.


1979 Firecracker 400, Race report
Terry Labonte went head on into the outside wall in one of the corners just past the halfway point and was sliding back down the track when Bobby Allison suddenly spun sideways and clobbered the #44 right in the door. Neither driver was hurt but the heavy crash put both drivers out of the race.


1979 Firecracker 400, Race report
Notable crew chiefs who participated in the race include Buddy Parrott, Joey Arrington, Kirk Shelmerdine, Darrell Bryant, Dale Inman, Harry Hyde, Waddell Wilson, Bud Moore, Tim Brewer, and Jake Elder.


1979 Firecracker 400, Race report
A souvenir program was sold for $3 USD ($10.7 when adjusted for inflation). Kyle Petty attempted to qualify for this race, but crashed during qualifying with the consequence of having to work on his father's pit crew. He would make his NASCAR debut at Talladega.


1979 Firecracker 400, Qualifying
Buddy Baker would score the pole, averaging 193.196 miles per hour (310.919 km/h), a new track record at the time.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix
The 1979 Fischer-Grand Prix was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria that was part of the 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix. It was the fifth edition of the tournament and took place from 22 October until 28 October 1979. Stan Smith won his second consecutive singles title at the event.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix, Finals, Doubles
Bob Hewitt /  Frew McMillan defeated  Brian Gottfried /  Raúl Ramírez 6–1, 6–4


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix – Doubles
Victor Pecci and Balázs Taróczy were the defending champions but did not compete that year.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix – Doubles
Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan won in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–1 against Brian Gottfried and Raúl Ramírez.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix – Doubles, Seeds
The draw allocated unseeded teams at random; as a result two seeded teams received byes into the second round.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix – Singles
Stan Smith was the defending champion and won in the final 6–4, 6–0, 6–2 against Wojciech Fibak.


1979 Fischer-Grand Prix – Singles, Seeds
The draw allocated unseeded players at random; as a result five seeds received byes into the second round.


1979 Five Nations Championship
The 1979 Five Nations Championship was the fiftieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 20 January and 17 March.


1979 Five Nations Championship
Wales were the champions for the second consecutive season, winning a record twenty-first outright title. They had also shared the championship on nine other occasions. In beating Scotland, Ireland and England they also won the Triple Crown for a record fourth successive season and extended their record number of Triple Crown wins to sixteen. This would be the last time that Wales won back-to-back championships until 2013.


1979 Florida Federal Open
The 1979 Florida Federal Open was a women's singles tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at East Lake Woodlands Country Club in Oldsmar, Florida in the United States. The event was part of the AAA category of the 1979 Colgate Series. It was the seventh edition of the tournament and was held from October 22 through October 28, 1979. Third-seeded Evonne Goolagong Cawley won the title, defeating defending champion Virginia Wade in the final, and earned $20,000 first-prize money.


1979 Florida Federal Open, Finals, Doubles
Anne Smith /  Virginia Ruzici defeated  Ilana Kloss /  Betty-Ann Stuart 7–5, 4–6, 7–5


1979 Florida Gators football team
The 1979 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Charley Pell's first of six as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Pell arrived in Gainesville with a new plan for building the Gators football program—new offensive and defensive schemes, new assistant coaches, a new attitude and new boosters fund-raising model to support the program and improve the stadium and training facilities.


1979 Florida Gators football team
Pell's plan would produce many on-the-field victories over the next five years, but his first campaign as the Gators coach produced the most losses in any single season in Gators football history, ending with a winless 0–10–1 overall record and a 0–6 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team, which was plagued by injuries, placed dead last among ten SEC teams. This was the last time until 2013 that Florida fielded a team with a losing record.


1979 Florida Gators football team
The 1979 Florida team had 4 starting quarterbacks: Tim Groves, Tyrone Young, John Brown and Larry Ochab, and John Brantley also played at quarterback, though he did not start. Brantley was projected to start at quarterback, but he was injured in the preseason.


1979 Florida Gators football team, Postseason
The next year, in 1980, the Florida Gators made a remarkable turnaround. They won the first three games of that season before a loss to Louisiana State crushed Florida's hopes of being undefeated, but they ended the regular season with 7 wins and 4 losses, and in the Tangerine bowl they defeated Maryland 35-20 to improve to 8-4. At the time, this Florida season was an NCAA record turnaround, and this was the first team to make a bowl game after being winless the previous season.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team
The 1979 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bobby Bowden and played their home games at Doak Campbell Stadium.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team
Florida State finished #6 in the AP poll and #8 in the UPI poll with an 11–1 record. The Seminoles' offense scored 326 points while the defense allowed 160 points. The Seminoles finished the regular season unbeaten for only the second time in program history and played in the Orange Bowl.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary
Mark Lyles led the team in rushing with 1011 yards and 8 touchdowns. Jimmy Jordan led the team in passing with 1173 yards and threw 13 touchdown passes. Jackie Flowers led the team in receiving with 37 catches for 622 yards and 7 TD receptions. Monk Bonasorte led the team with 8 pass interceptions. Bonassorte {DB}, Bobby Butler {DB}, Jackie Flowers {TE}, Mike Good {G}, Ken Lanier {OT}, Ron Simmons {NG} and Scott Warren {DE} were selected to the First team All-South Independent team. Ron Simmons was selected as a First team All-American. Bonasorte was a 3rd team AP All-American. Bobby Butler {DB}, Jackie Flowers, Mike Good, Jimmy Jordan {QB} and Ken Lanier were named as Honorable Mention All-Americans by the Associated Press and/or The Sporting News. Mark Lyles {RB} {Cincinnati}, Flowers {Dallas}, Walter Carter {DT} {Oakland} and Jordan {New England} were selected in the 1980 NFL draft.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Southern Miss
Behind 14-3 with 10 minutes left in the last quarter, Florida State struck for two quick touchdowns and overtook Southern Mississippi 17-14 before 45,467 fans at Doak Campbell Stadium. Jimmy Jordan threw an 8 yard TD pass to Jackie Flowers, then a 65 yard punt return for a touchdown by Gary Henry with 6:28 put the Seminoles in front to stay.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Arizona State
Florida State romped to an easy 31-3 football victory over Arizona State. It was 24-0 at halftime. Monk Bonasorte helped to provide 10 first half points with two interceptions. Wally Woodham threw 18 yards to Jackie Flowers for a touchdown. Mark Lyles ran 1 yard for a touchdown to give FSU a 14-0 lead. Dave Cappelen kicked a 42 yard field goal and Jimmy Jordan threw his first of two touchdown passes, an 8 yard pass to Grady King. In the 4th quarter he threw 15 yards to Ricky Williams for the final Seminole touchdown.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Miami (FL)
Miami jumped out to an early lead after the first quarter, but that would pretty much be all they could celebrate during this day in the Capital City. Two Mark Lyles touchdowns in the second quarter helped the Seminoles take a 19-7 lead at the half, while Greg Ramsey would add two rushing scores in the third quarter and the route was on.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Miami (FL)
The Hurricanes scored a touchdown to open the fourth quarter, but Gary Henry’s return of a blocked punt cemented the outcome and Florida State was able to celebrate in their own locker room after defeating the Hurricanes at home for the first time, 40-23, pacing the Noles to the first undefeated regular season under Bobby Bowden.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Virginia Tech
It was Virginia Tech's last chance to win. Fourth down and 13 at its 17. As Steve Casey rolled to pass, Seminole linebacker Paul Piurowski was bearing down on him. Casey slipped as he tried to maneuver, and Piurowski was on top of him at the 12 and the Florida State held on for a 17-10 victory. Trailing 7-0 in the 2nd quarter, the Seminoles struck on a Greg Ramsey 16 yard run and Jackie Flowers 18 yard TD pass from Jimmy Jordan. Dave Cappelen added a 20 yard field goal in the 3rd quarter. Wally Woodham and Jimmy Jordan combined for 322 yards passing, but threw 4 interceptions.


1979 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season summary, Louisville
Blocking two punts, holding Louisville to just two first downs until 7:30 was left on the clock, Florida State's defense was again the dominant show as the unbeaten Seminoles won 27-0. FSU did it on two touchdowns, a couple of safeties and a field goal before 27,306 fans at Fairgrounds Stadium. Wally Woodham threw two touchdowns, one to Sam Platt (5 yards) and one to Sam Childers (1 yard). Bobby Butler fell on a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown.