Champions League final chaos shows France in bad light, say opposition leaders

Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticises ‘confrontational policing’ at Paris final, saying country seems ill-prepared for future events

French opposition politicians have criticised the government over policing at the Champions League final in Paris on Saturday night, saying the chaotic scenes showed a poor image of France.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the radical left leader, whose left alliance is seeking to win seats in forthcoming parliament elections, said the “lamentable” and “worrying” scenes suggested France and its security services were not prepared for sports events such as next year’s Rugby World Cup or the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Continue reading...

Liverpool fans liken ‘terrifying’ treatment in Paris to Hillsborough

Witnesses say they feared for their lives as French police fired teargas into the crowds ahead of Champions League final

Families affected by the Hillsborough disaster have compared the “terrifying” treatment of Liverpool fans at the Champions League final to the crush that led to the deaths of 97 supporters in 1989.

Witnesses described seeing children “trembling with fear”, and adults scared for their lives, as French police fired teargas into crowds outside the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night.

Continue reading...

Australia players raise ethical concerns over cricket tour to Sri Lanka

  • Country in midst of economical crisis and political unrest
  • Australia due to play two Tests, five ODIs and three T20s

Australia’s cricketers have raised ethical concerns about touring Sri Lanka but will support a decision from officials to precede with next month’s tour. Australia are due to fly out to Sri Lanka next week, with the island country in the midst of an economical crisis and political unrest.

Sri Lanka was placed under a curfew early this month after protests turned deadly, and while those have been lifted rising inflation and shortages of key resources remain problematic.

Continue reading...

Birmingham communities feel ‘ignored’ by Commonwealth Games bosses

Exclusive: panel says organisers have failed to engage city’s diverse groups in a meaningful way

Organisers of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have left diverse communities feeling “largely ignored” and have failed to engage them in a meaningful way, according to a report.

The Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) commissioned a panel of race equality practitioners and consultants to assess the Games in a number of areas including legacy, community engagement and procurement.

Continue reading...

Harry Kane exhibition aims to spur children on to success

Family photos, personal items and sporting memorabilia to go on display at Museum of London

Never-before-seen family photos, personal items and sporting memorabilia highlighting the England captain Harry Kane’s journey from grassroots football to professional player are to go on display at the Museum of London, with the hope of inspiring young people.

The exhibition will celebrate Kane, who grew up in east London just a few miles from Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in north London.

Continue reading...

World record remains just outside reach of Ariarne Titmus at Australian swim trials

  • Titmus wins 200 metres freestyle at championships in Adelaide
  • Olympic champion targeting Federica Pellegrini’s benchmark

Ariarne Titmus is happy at swimming fast again but annoyed she cannot yet break the longest-standing women’s world record. Titmus won the 200 metres freestyle at the Australian championships on Friday night, swimming faster than when she won Olympic gold in the event last year.

Titmus clocked one minute 53.31 seconds in Adelaide, some 0.19 seconds quicker than when she won the event at the Tokyo Games. The dual Olympic champion was eyeing the world record of 1:52.98 set by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini in 2009 during the super-suit era, the longest-standing benchmark in women’s swimming.

Continue reading...

Robbie McEwen apologises for using ‘offensive phrase’ during Giro d’Italia broadcast

Robbie McEwen, the former cyclist and now commentator, says he’s ‘genuinely sorry’ for using a homophobic slur during a broadcast, which he says was ‘unintentional’

Robbie McEwen, the former cyclist and now commentator, has apologised for using a homophobic slur during a broadcast of stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia.

The Australian three-time Tour de France points classification winner, who retired from professional cycling in 2012, said he “unintentionally” used the phrase during commentary on Eurosport and GCN+ earlier this week.

Continue reading...

Pop star Cody Simpson qualifies for Commonwealth Games at Australian swim trials

  • Simpson impresses with PB at national championships
  • Shayna Jack gets national team recall after doping ban

Singer-turned-swimmer Cody Simpson qualified for this year’s Commonwealth Games after finishing third in the 100 metres butterfly final at the national championships in Adelaide, while Shayna Jack secured selection on her comeback from a doping ban.

Simpson, 25, turned heads earlier on Wednesday when he upstaged Olympic freestyle gold medallist Kyle Chalmers and won his heat in a personal best time of 51.79 seconds behind defending champion Matt Temple (51.64).

Continue reading...

Western United confident of fightback in A-League Men semi-final

  • Melbourne Victory take slender 1-0 advantage into second leg
  • Jake Brimmer’s strike at AAMI Park the difference on Tuesday

Melbourne Victory have one foot in their first A-League Men grand final in four years, but Western United remain confident of turning around a 1-0 first-leg deficit. Jake Brimmer’s strike gave Victory a one-goal lead on Tuesday, with the Saturday’s semi-final second leg also at AAMI Park.

“To be honest, we’re well and truly in this tie. This is the first-half, we’re 1-0 down,” United coach John Aloisi said. “We’re back here. We don’t have to go away, we don’t have to play away from home. We’re back here so pleased with the performance.

Continue reading...

Woman alleges Cavaliers’ Rajon Rondo threatened her with gun in front of children

  • Woman granted emergency protective order in Kentucky court
  • Cleveland player allegedly became angry over laundry request

A woman has filed for an emergency protective order (EPO) against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Rajon Rondo and alleges he brandished a gun and threatened her life.

The woman alleges Rondo “became enraged” last week and she filed for the order in family court in Louisville, Kentucky. She claimed in the order that Rondo was playing video games with a child when she asked the child to finish separating his laundry so she could wash the family’s clothes.

Continue reading...

Jack Nicklaus says he turned down $100m to be face of Saudi-backed golf tour

  • American remains loyal to PGA Tour, which he helped found
  • Nicklaus offers advice to under-fire Phil Mickelson

Greg Norman was not the first choice to be the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, whose Saudi Arabian organizers pursued and preferred Jack Nicklaus, according to the 73-time PGA Tour winner.

“I was offered something in excess of $100m by the Saudis, to do the job probably similar to the one that Greg is doing,” Nicklaus said in a story with Fire Pit Collective. “I turned it down. Once verbally, once in writing. I said, ‘Guys, I have to stay with the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour.’”

Continue reading...

Rebekah Vardy’s WhatsApp messages ‘just evil’, Coleen Rooney tells court

Rooney says she did not tell anyone about months-long sting operation on Instagram

Coleen Rooney has said Rebekah Vardy’s private WhatsApp messages were “just evil”, as she finished giving evidence in the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.

The court has previously heard that Vardy and her agent, Caroline Watt, had lengthy WhatsApp exchanges about Rooney’s personal life, in which Rooney was allegedly branded a “nasty bitch” and a “cunt”.

Continue reading...

Trent Barrett quits Bulldogs after coach’s poor NRL record continues

  • Barrett leaves Belmore having won just five of 34 matches
  • Quits before emergency board meeting on Monday

Trent Barrett has quit as Canterbury coach after the Bulldogs’ poor start to the season which has them bottom of the NRL ladder. A 16-6 loss to Newcastle on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium in the Magic Round opener proved the final straw for Bulldogs officials, who spent the weekend discussing Barrett’s future.

Barrett took the decision out of the board’s hands, stepping down from the role effective immediately on Monday morning. A three paragraph statement from the Bulldogs confirmed the news but gave no indication of the club’s future plans.

Continue reading...

‘She is ridiculous’: Sam Kerr earns yet more plaudits after match-winner in FA Cup final

  • Striker scores twice as Chelsea secure double with 3-2 win
  • Australian ‘an amazing centre forward’, says Emma Hayes

Sam Kerr has been labelled the complete centre forward by the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, after the Australia captain netted another double to help her side to a second piece of silverware in the space of a week.

Having scored two sensational volleys last weekend to help secure the Women’s Super League title with victory over Manchester United, Kerr was again on the scoresheet twice on Sunday as Chelsea won the Women’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Continue reading...

Former Australian Test cricketer Andrew Symonds killed in Queensland car crash

Symonds, 46, in single vehicle collision late on Saturday, report says, citing statement from family confirming death

World cricket is mourning the shock loss of another Australian great after Test star and two-time World Cup winner Andrew Symonds was killed in a car crash in Queensland.

Former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor says the man known as ‘Roy’ will be remembered as an entertainer who played the game with a carefree approach and disdain for rules and regulations.

Continue reading...

Greg Norman says ‘we all make mistakes’ when asked about Khashoggi killing

Australian golf champion makes remarks about journalist’s murder at Saudi-backed league event

The golf champion Greg Norman has attempted to dismiss questions over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate as a “mistake,” adding the Saudi government “wants to move forward”.

Norman was speaking at a promotional event in the UK for a Saudi-backed golf tournament, the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The 67-year-old is chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, funded primarily by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Continue reading...

Former cricketer Ryan Campbell given just 7% chance of survival after cardiac arrest

  • Australian international now expected to make full recovery
  • Cause of collapse unknown with heart attack ruled out

Former Australian cricketer Ryan Campbell says he was only given a 7% chance of survival after suffering a cardiac arrest in April. Campbell, who played two ODIs and three T20s for Australia and is now the national coach of the Netherlands, was at an England playground with his two children when he suddenly felt ill.

He was given CPR at the scene before being rushed to the NHS Royal Stoke University Hospital, where he spent seven days in an induced coma. The 50-year-old has now been discharged and is expected to make a full recovery. Tests have ruled out a heart attack as the cause of the cardiac arrest, and tests also show no damage to the heart.

Continue reading...

Diego Maradona ‘hand of God’ shirt sold for record £7.1m at auction

Blue Argentina No 10 jersey kept by England player Steve Hodge beats mark set by 1892 Olympic manifesto

The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored twice – including the “hand of God” goal – to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup has sold for a record-breaking £7.1m at auction.

The late Argentinian player described his opening goal in the quarter-final as “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”. He and the England goalkeeper Peter Shilton leapt to reach the ball, which touched Maradona’s left hand and bounced into the net. The referee did not have a clear view and allowed the goal to stand.

The last violin played on the Titanic was sold at auction for $1.7m in less than 10 minutes in 2013. The instrument belonged to Wallace Hartley, an English musician whose eight-piece band played as the ship sank into the frozen waters of the Atlantic in April 1912. According to reports, Hartley’s body was pulled from the water days afterwards with his violin case still strapped to his back.

John Lennon’s flowered porcelain toilet sold for almost $15,000 (£9,500) – about 10 times the estimate – in 2010. The toilet came from Tittenhurst Park, an English estate owned by Lennon and Yoko Ono, where the former Beatle recorded his Imagine album and film. When Lennon had the toilet replaced, he told builders to “put some flowers on it or something”. Sale organisers called it the most unusual item they had ever handled.

An oak chair that JK Rowling used while writing the first two books of the Harry Potter series sold for $394,000 (£278,000) in 2016. The 1930s chair was one of four mismatched chairs given free to the then little-known writer for her council flat in Edinburgh. Before she donated it for auction in aid of the NSPCC in 2002, Rowling painted on the chair: “You may not/find me pretty/but don’t judge/on what you see.”

Marilyn Monroe’s white halter dress that she wore in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch sold for $4.6m in 2011. “Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway? Isn’t it delicious?” Monroe famously says in the film as the dress is blown up by air from a New York subway grate. That image become one of the most memorable in film history. The dress was designed by William Travilla and made from rayon-acetate to give it sharp pleats.

A copy of the Bible used by Elvis Presley sold for £59,000 in 2012. A pair of Presley’s unwashed and soiled underpants worn underneath his famous white jumpsuit during a 1977 concert performance went unsold after bids failed to meet the £7,000 reserve price.

False teeth belonging to Winston Churchill were sold for £15,200 in 2010. The upper dentures, one of several sets made for the wartime prime minister, were specially constructed to preserve his natural lisp and were so important to him that he carried two pairs at all times. They were designed to be loose-fitting so that Churchill could preserve the diction famous from his radio broadcasts during the second world war.

Continue reading...

AFL accepts it could have made public its report on female umpire abuse

  • Leaked report contained allegations of sexual harassment
  • League wanted to take private steps to remedy problematic culture

The AFL has acknowledged it “could have” publicly shared a leaked report detailing what it called “unacceptable experiences” of sexual harassment alleged by female umpires across Australia.

Acting chief executive, Kylie Rogers, has written to stakeholders amid the fallout of the now-public report to explain that, despite receiving it in late 2021, the AFL had chosen not to publish it in favour of taking private steps to remedy the problematic culture surrounding women and girls in umpiring.

Continue reading...