A lot of bottle
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…
Athletics is running on empty
Whatever became of athletics? It’s fallen nearly as far as show jumping and that is a long way. But the…
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…
The problem with football
Anything been happening in football in the past couple of weeks? No? Moving on then… Hang about though. The doomed…
A strange and beautiful language
So wickets are out and outs are in for the new Hundred competition. But why? The language of sport is…
A glimpse into cricket’s future
After the thrills and spills and last-gasp excitements of England’s triple-headed series in India, the attention of the cricket fan…
Breaking the cycle
For those with neither the time nor inclination to plough through a PhD in the intricacies of the scandals surrounding…
Cut the poor ref some slack
Rugby has enough problems — from baffling rule changes to concussion — without the referees muddying the pitch even more.…
How to tackle rugby’s doldrums
French rugby has always been well stocked with boeuf but now it has added lashings of exceptionally tangy moutarde and…
The BBC is failing the Test
Michael Vaughan might disagree but — putting aside 2005 and all that — was there a more thrilling and satisfying…
Will Britannia rule the Auckland waves?
Alan Bond was a rogue and a rich man, in every way your typical Aussie larrikin. In 1983 he bankrolled…
Pig in the middle
It’s the Portuguese piglet you feel really sorry for. The diminutive (ready cooked) porker — a festive delicacy all over…
Empty seats and silver linings
The best thing about sport in 2020 was that any happened at all. And how good much of it was.…
Rugby must try harder
Remember those lazy, hazy, crazy days of last year’s rugby World Cup, when as perfect a performance by England as…
Farewell to four of the finest
So the Good Lord really wants to fill out his team: how else to interpret the passing in recent months…
Sit back and enjoy the spectacle ahead
‘At least there’s sport,’ said the woman in the supermarket queue. True enough, and in a welcome sop to an…
Thanks for nothing, Pickford
You might hate the Premier League for its determination to suck all the money out of football, but at least…
Football without the crowds is a winner
The Liverpool defence might have decided in a rare show of togetherness to demonstrate what the word ‘appalling’ means, and…
A scene with Harry and Son
José Mourinho, it was surprising to read, recently said how relieved he was that the Amazon Prime cameras were out…
In praise of today’s young footballers
You suspect that a bar of duty-free Toblerone, no matter how supersized, wouldn’t really do the trick when hapless England…
Sport as a TV event
Crowds, Covid and sport: could it get any crazier? I don’t mind about golf: no idiots yelling ‘Get in the…
Test of character
You are, shall we say, a famous commentator, one of a tiny elite in the British media. You are paid…
Carlos the magnificent
We know about the endlessly jaw-dropping greatness of Ben Stokes (a peerage soon, surely), the furious power of a supercharged…
The ugly side of the beautiful game
So all that sound and fury about Manchester City’s sins signified precisely nothing. Well, a €10 million fine isn’t nothing,…
