Whenever you hear of a sportsman being struck down by a debilitating illness, the mind drifts back to when they were in their pomp.

There was such an occasion last week when hearing about former Cumbrian rugby star Dave Robinson being severely restricted by Alzheimer’s.

Dave, who started playing his rugby at Cockermouth Grammar School, went on to represent England after particularly sterling service with Gosforth. But his place among the game’s immortals was assured after helping the North West Counties to a 16-14 victory over the All Blacks of 1972.

Yet when I cast the mind’s eye back to those early days at Grammar School, it was not his exploits on the rugby field (and there were many) which first spring into view.

No, it was his expertise as a high jumper, using the old Western Roll style, which I recall immediately.

He was the school record holder but it was the power and grace of his bar clearance – well before the arrival of the Fosbury Flop – which was a sight to behold.

Rugby, though, was where his sporting talents took him and the Omar Sharif looks made him a recognisable figure in some pretty doughty back-rows.

When his playing days were over he took up coaching and he had some pretty strong views on how the introduction of League rugby should be tackled.

‘Robbo’ wanted a West Cumbrian district side to be developed, using the best players from the various clubs but to be set up in the league structure on their own merits.

It was never taken up, largely because of the parochialism and fierce club loyalties throughout the area, but it would have been interesting to see how far up the league pyramid a team picked from the best in the District could have gone.

Finally, and sadly it might be too late now for him to recall, but I’d love to hear his account of the post-match celebrations after the Counties side had become the first from the regions to beat a touring All Blacks team.

Apparently both teams were together when they couldn’t agree what to watch on the TV – with one channel showing the North West Counties victory.

Apparently things got a little juicy.

And I’d love to have heard Robbo’s take on that!

* Sergio Aguero’s finish to beat QPR and earn the most dramatic of Premier League titles is one of football’s great iconic moments.

I was covering a Workington Town rugby league game for Radio Cumbria and had just started to interview coach Gary Charlton when James Phillips announced in my ear that City had just equalised.

After giving out that particular scoreline I continued to talk to Charlo about the game, when a breathless Mr Phillips butted in to exclaim that Aguero had scored a sensational winner.

My response was to tell the listeners: “I have just kissed Gary Charlton” and finished the interview in light-hearted fashion.

It was only later that night, watching the highlights on Match of the Day that the drama of the occasion really sank in as the BBC cleverly interplayed the City game with what had been happening in the Sunderland v Man United match.

The City coverage virtually ended with probably the most remembered commentary line since Kenneth Wolstenholme’s: “There’s some people on the pitch. They think it’s all over. It is now!”

That was Martyn Tyler’s “Agueroooooo!” – which now adorns the back of one of my favourite shirts, and which has become a popular cry from the Etihad faithful.

On Sunday, in the destruction of Aston Villa his hat-trick took him above Alan Shearer in that category, while his total of 177 Premier League goals took him past Thierry Henry as the highest scoring foreign player. He is an incredible goal-scorer and, hopefully, he will have time to knock in a few more for City before he returns to Argentina and his boyhood club Independiente, his place in the history of club and league secure.

* Quote of the week has to come from Quique Setien, the new manager of Barcelona.

“Yesterday I was walking around at home with cows all round me and today I am at Barcelona managing the best players in the world,” was his slant on his left-field appointment.

It’s been a strange old time at the Nou Camp with Ernesto Valverde only the second manager in Barcelona’s history to be sacked mid-season, yet with the team top of the league.

Thierry Henry, Ronald Koeman, Xavi and Mauricio Pochettino were all said to have been approached and knocked them back, it is said because of the current poisonous atmosphere at the club and that changes are expected at the top in the summer.

So, Setien was appointed, and you can’t help feel that it is just a seat-warming exercise until those changes have been made and Xavi is more comfortable about who he will be working for.

In the meantime, Setien will be expected to keep Barcelona at the top and win the Champions League.

But at least he likes to play the Barcelona way and has a reputation with Real Betis and previous clubs from lower leagues of producing attractive sides.

Whether he’s still around next season to build on his early work is one of football’s current guessing games.