What English cricket needs now
You couldn’t ask for a more amiable man than Rob Key to run English cricket: affable, shrewd and universally liked,…
Pep and Klopp, kings of England
It’s a game for the ages all right, City againstLiverpool on Sunday as the Premier League moves to its most…
Where Eddie Jones is going wrong
Rugby Union, bloody hell. We’ve got to talk about Eddie, but before that, what about something much cheerier? Just when…
Let’s scrap the Six Nations
If you were one of the sharp-suited head honchos at CVC Capital Partners, the private equity megalith that has ploughed…
Is football hooliganism on its way back?
Forty-odd years ago a friend, a Liverpool supporter, somewhat unwisely took his girlfriend to Elland Road for a Leeds match…
Mason Greenwood and football’s obsession with prodigies
Well, there’s a surprise: Nike have cancelled their sponsorship of the Manchester United and England footballer Mason Greenwood, who is…
Why everyone should be shouting about Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding
As we digest another Ashes thrashing for England’s cricketers in Australia, and wonder whether the 1966 World Cup victory will…
The BBC is killing cricket
Full homage to the nail-biting cricketing miracle in Sydney, while bearing in mind that miracles, like lightning, rarely strike twice…
The year sport and politics became inseparable
Sport and politics have always been intertwined, but this was the year they became joined at the hip. Yorkshire racism;…
Has Formula 1 ever been this exciting?
The good citizens of Stevenage would be well advised to prepare extensively for the likely open-top bus parade of their…
Poor Ole wasn’t cut out for Man U
Manchester United have ended up with a temporary coach before they look for an interim manager. Haven’t we heard that…
Yorkshire cricket: the long view
The new chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club played a blinder in his first innings, consistently hitting the boundary and…
Why the Reds have got the blues
Not so much the hair dryer: more a gentle home perm. Contemplating the increasingly less youthful visage of Ole Gunnar…
Where did all of rugby’s fans go?
Could rugby union get any better? The entertainment in the Premiership is breathtaking and the overall product as good as…
England’s shameful betrayal of Pakistan
Any English person with a love of cricket knows life has its ups and downs. But until now we have…
The other winner of Emma Raducanu’s stunning victory
Not many people would have seen that coming. I’m talking of course of last Saturday evening and the women’s final…
The absurdity of tennis players’ toilet breaks
Forgive the personal question, but how long does it take you to, you know, go to the gents, ladies, non-binary?…
Can cricket go on like this?
‘Fifty years from now Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green…
What would Avery Ice Age have made of the Tokyo Olympics?
Avery Brundage was known to his enemies as Avery Ice Age — and to quite a few of his friends…
Can the Lions prise open the strong Boks?
You would need a digger to explore the levels of irony in a Springbok chief slagging off an opponent’s dirty…
The real sporting star of this summer
Think of a punishing distance for a bike race. Double it, multiply by ten, throw in two of the world’s…
Forget football – rugby is the real beautiful game
The question is surely destined to become a pub quiz staple: ‘Who moved a bottle 18 inches across a table…
Ollie Robinson’s ritual humiliation
One of the more egregious innovations of Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution was something called the ‘struggle sessions’. This involved the…
For the sake of athletics, the Olympics must not be delayed again
Whatever became of athletics? It’s fallen nearly as far as show jumping and that is a long way. But the…
Thoughts on a foreign clash of the English titans
Thank heavens the Champions League final is being played in Portugal, now Turkey’s off the menu (sorry). It will certainly…