Cricket’s – finally – coming home
Well, you have come a long way baby. As the whizz-bang hoopla of the cricket World Cup strides into view…
The fans make British football what it is – stop fleecing them
It is always possible to tell the difference between a bunch of Manchester City fans and auditions for the latest…
Leeds United is the soap opera which keeps on giving
Say what you like about Elland Road — and in my experience it is not a place to linger —…
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, master of the seas and model Englishman
Something very odd happened on the Today programme the other morning. Amid the mountains of bombast that usually fill the…
Have referees just given up?
Sometimes you fear for Neil Warnock. The embattled Cardiff manager is 70 and operates at level 11 all the time;…
How Scotland humiliated England in the Six Nations
Outside the rugby superhighway of the A316, linking Richmond, Rosslyn Park, the Quins and HQ, it’s hard to imagine anyone…
Meet Chris Gayle, the coolest man in sport
It can’t be a coincidence that two of the coolest sportsmen on the planet are from the same place, Jamaica.…
We football romantics love the fifth round of the FA cup
And so we say farewell to the round of 16 in the FA Cup, traditionally a viscerally thrilling process that…
If England play like they did against Ireland, they’ll be formidable at the Rugby World Cup
At the same time as England’s rugby union players delivered a magnificent hearts-of-oak performance to humble a very good Irish…
When trans sportsmen and women compete, can it ever be a level playing field?
Amid the many splendours of West Side Story is this lyric: ‘My sister wears a moustache, my brother wears a…
If ever a man deserved his gong, it’s Sir Alastair Cook
Here’s a date for the diary: if you’re in south London on 11 April, head for the Oval. It’s going…
Why the end of 2018 is also the end of a sporting era
It may be the end of the year but it’s also the end of some major sporting eras. Alastair Cook…
Talksport, cricket’s new radio stars
‘And I need a wee,’ said the former England fast–bowling legend Darren Gough, as tension built up during the Sri…
The All Blacks: world-class time-wasters
Marvellous team, the All Blacks, of course. But they certainly know how to waste some time. Here are some things…
Rugby union vs league – or Barbour-clad southerners vs the whippet brigade
Leader in the clubhouse for top rugby try by an Englishman in 2018: Oliver Gildart. Oliver who? Oliver Gildart, only…
The terrible injury toll of modern rugby
Eddie Jones’s sorrows as England’s rugby coach certainly keep coming in big battalions. Now the giant battered No 8 Billy…
Teamwork? It’s not the American way, even in the Ryder cup
For a nation which gave us a brilliant TV show called Band of Brothers, the Americans find it hard to…
Is there a limit to what the human body can do?
Has the world gone mad? There’s Beauden Barrett, the world’s best stand-off, and rugby player of the year seemingly by…
So farewell, Alastair Cook: a wonderful cricketer and exemplary sportsman
I first became aware of Alastair Cook in the Ashes summer of 2005 when he was named the Young Cricketer…
The baby who could transform English cricket
Alice Cook’s impending third child could turn out to be the perfect delivery for England. Already the expectant father Alastair…
Sport will not survive if it keeps being sold to the highest bidder
It’s just too hot and too early to get worked up about football, so the two highlights of the late-summer…
A friendly purr from a fallible Tiger Woods
So in the end it was a fallible Tiger that won all hearts at the Open, not the glowering, red-shirted…
The true winner of this World Cup? Russia
Like most people with any taste, I like the odd vodka, I love Crime and Punishment, I enjoy Turgenev and…
Never mind VAR – this is a fabulous World Cup
Let’s talk about VAR, why don’t we? We love the World Cup though the football is getting bonkers. The scoring…
As our World Cup hopes grow, let’s not fret about the brilliant Belgians
Here’s a question: name some famous Belgians. Well there’s Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, and Eden Hazard. And if that’s…
