Category Archives: Sport

Uefa forced into stalling plans to reintegrate Russia’s under-17 teams

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  • Blanket ban on Russian sides ended after vote in September
  • However at least 12 federations will not play against Russia

Uefa has been forced to stall plans to reintegrate Russia’s under-17 teams into its competitions after widespread opposition rendered them unworkable.

The surprise decision to accept junior teams and end a blanket ban on Russian sides, in place since the country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, came when a vote was passed on 26 September. A Uefa executive committee meeting in Nyon on Tuesday had been due to discuss the issue again, with suggestions beforehand that it could be brought to a fresh vote, but the topic was pulled after the governing body accepted its efforts had hit a dead end.

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Goalkeepers perceive the world differently, study suggests

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Goalies’ brains appear able to merge signals from different senses more quickly, say researchers

The former Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel once said that to be able to work well in the box, you have to be able to think outside the box.

Now scientific data supports the idea that goalies’ brains really do perceive the world differently – their brains appear able to merge signals from the different senses more quickly, possibly underpinning their unique abilities on the football pitch.

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Hull City ‘appalled’ by alleged racist abuse of player as Millwall fan arrested

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  • Fan detained over incident during 2-2 Championship draw
  • Millwall ‘working with police, security staff and Hull City’

Hull said they were “appalled” after one of their players was the subject of alleged racist abuse during their 2-2 draw with Millwall at the Den.

Joe Bryan secured the Lions a point with a 54th-minute equaliser, but the Championship game was overshadowed by the incident, which led to a Millwall fan being arrested.

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UK government pressed for answers on Sheikh Mansour and Russians

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  • Ukrainian activist urges government to investigate City owner
  • ‘Many oligarchs appear to have found home for wealth in UAE’

The UK government has been asked to reveal what steps it has taken to investigate whether Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, assisted wealthy Russians on whom it has imposed sanctions in moving their assets to the United Arab Emirates.

Lawyers acting on behalf of a Ukrainian activist – who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from Russia – have written to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to ask whether investigations have been carried out to determine whether Mansour, the UAE’s deputy prime minister, should be identified as a “designated person” subject to financial sanctions under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

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Chinese censors block ‘Tiananmen’ image of athletes hugging

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Picture of athletes’ ‘6/4’ race numbers erased in perceived reference to 1989 massacre

A photograph of two Chinese athletes hugging after a race has been censored on Chinese social media because the women’s race numbers inadvertently formed a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Lin Yuwei and Wu Yanni, China’s entrants in the women’s 100m hurdles final, embraced after the race at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Lin won gold in the race with a time of 12.74 seconds. A photograph of the two women in profile showed Lin’s lane number, 6, next to Wu’s lane number, 4.

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Police investigate after football fans appear to mock death of Bradley Lowery

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  • Sheffield Wednesday condemn ‘deplorable’ behaviour
  • Sunderland and England mascot died aged six in 2017

Police are investigating after two Sheffield Wednesday fans appeared to mock the death of football mascot Bradley Lowery during a match against his favourite team.

The six-year-old Sunderland fan, who struck up a close friendship with the team’s striker Jermain Defoe after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma, died in 2017 having helped raise more than £1m for charity.

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Everton owner received £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies, documents suggest

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Exclusive: Questions mount over ties between Farhad Moshiri and tycoon, before he was put under sanctions

The Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, received more than £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies in the run-up to the Russian billionaire being placed under sanctions, documents suggest, raising fresh questions about the financial ties between the two men.

Records seen by the Guardian appear to show that Moshiri borrowed £145m from a company wholly owned by the Russian-Uzbek tycoon from about 2020.

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Gymnastics Ireland fails to apologise despite row over medal snub for black girl

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Governing body suppressed personal apology from judge in question following incident 18 months ago

Gymnastics Ireland suppressed a personal apology letter to a young gymnast whose treatment at a medal ceremony sparked international outrage, and have refused to acknowledge or tackle systemic racism in the sport, her family say.

Video of the event in March 2022 shows a judge handing out participation medals to a line of young gymnasts, but ignoring the only black girl. A photographer, coach and other officials look on without intervening, with an audience of hundreds in the stands.

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Mohammed bin Salman says he will ‘continue doing sport washing’ for Saudi Arabia

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  • Crown prince ‘doesn’t care’ about claims against country
  • Saudis have invested heavily in football, golf and other sports

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has said he “doesn’t care” about accusations of sportswashing against his country.

Bin Salman, known as MBS, has presided over unprecedented spending on sport since becoming Saudi’s de facto ruler in 2017. Critics argue the investment is intended to distract attention from his country’s human rights abuses. But in a rare interview Bin Salman said he was not troubled by the accusations.

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Football fans received 11,000 gambling messages in Premier League opening weekend

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Study for 5 News warns of ‘overwhelming and inescapable’ betting imagery in the game

Football fans were bombarded with 11,000 gambling messages during the opening weekend of the latest Premier League season, according to a study that warns of “overwhelming and inescapable” betting imagery in the game.

Clubs in the top flight agreed earlier this year to ban gambling firms from sponsoring the front of players’ shirts from 2025, but the research – which analysed social media posts alongside hours of TV and radio – cast doubt on the likely effect of that measure, given the saturation of football with other gambling messages.

the sheer volume of gambling messages;

social media content not clearly labelled as ads; and

insufficient safer gambling messaging.

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Singing the Blues: Robbie Williams’s musical tribute to Carlton player after AFL win

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‘De Koning’s in the air, everywhere I look around,’ Williams sang to tune of Love Is In The Air

Lying in bed, Robbie Williams expressed shock after Carlton’s last-gasp victory over Melbourne in their AFL semi-final on Friday night.

“Wow! Is it like this every year?” asked the singer in a video he posted on social media.

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AFLW game delayed by snake lying on field in western Sydney

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Match between the Giants and Richmond pushed back by about 30 minutes due to red-bellied black snake

An AFLW match between Greater Western Sydney and Richmond in Blacktown was delayed after a snake was spotted sunning itself in the grass.

The red-bellied black snake appeared to be taking advantage of the hot weather that parts of Australia’s south-east have been experiencing.

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Spanish court imposes restraining order on Rubiales after kiss allegations

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Former Spanish football federation president prevented from approaching World Cup-winning player Jenni Hermoso

A Spanish court has imposed a restraining order on the former president of the country’s football federation, forbidding him from communicating with, or coming within 200 metres of, the female player he controversially kissed after Spain’s World Cup victory last month.

Luis Rubiales – whose decision to kiss Jenni Hermoso prompted a national and international debate on sexism and eventually led him to resign five days ago – was handed the order on Friday by a judge at the audiencia nacional, Spain’s highest criminal court.

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Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus shares relief after benign tumours removed from ovary

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Swimming great describes ‘scary time’ after chance discovery during MRI scan for hip injury

Australian swimming champion Ariarne Titmus has had surgery to remove benign tumours from an ovary.

The women’s 400 metres freestyle world record holder discovered the tumours by chance when having an MRI scan on a sore hip.

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Former Spain captain says Luis Rubiales row felt like ‘going to war’

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Verónica Boquete alleges Jenni Hermoso’s phone was hacked after kiss by football boss at World Cup

A former captain of Spain’s women’s national football team has described the weeks-long standoff over the fate of Luis Rubiales as a “war” that has pitted more than 100 of the country’s top female players against certain members of the Spanish football establishment.

In an interview published on Monday, Verónica Boquete even went so far as to claim that Jenni Hermoso’s phone had been hacked, which may have been an attempt to discredit Hermoso in the wake of the unsolicited kiss by Rubiales.

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Luis Rubiales quits in wake of World Cup kiss scandal

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Spanish football boss forcibly kissed Jenni Hermoso after the final and had previously refused to step down

Luis Rubiales has resigned as the head of Spain’s football federation almost a month after he grabbed and kissed the midfielder Jenni Hermoso during the celebrations of the country’s victory in the Women’s World Cup, sparking fury, incredulity and a national and international debate on sexism.

Rubiales had initially attempted to brush off the controversy over the unsolicited kiss after the team’s 1-0 victory over England in Sydney. He dismissed critics of his actions as “idiots and stupid people” as the incident provoked global outrage, led to his being provisionally suspended by Fifa, and prompted Hermoso to make a criminal complaint accusing him of sexual assault.

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Manchester United’s Antony appears on Brazilian TV to deny assault allegations

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  • Footballer denies allegations on Brazil’s SBT network
  • Three women have accused Brazil forward of assaulting them

The Manchester United winger Antony has spoken on Brazilian television denying allegations made against him of violence towards women. The 23-year-old was dropped this week from the Brazil squad after accusations were made of physical aggression on a number of occasions since January towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin, which are being investigated by police and which he denies.

Since then, the Brazilian newspaper Extra has reported that the influencer and law student Rayssa de Freitas filed a police report in May 2022 against Antony alleging she sustained injuries in an incident involving the player and another woman after a night out in São Paulo. Meanwhile, the banker Ingrid Lana told Brazil’s RecordTV that in an incident at Antony’s home in Manchester in October 2022 he “pushed me against the wall, and I hit my head”.

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Mexico City Marathon expels 11,000 runners for cutting sections of course

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  • Trackers suggest many participants did not run full course
  • Some athletes have said technology was not working properly

More than a third of runners at this year’s Mexico City Marathon have been expelled after organisers say they cut out sections of the 26.2 mile course.

An investigation was launched after complaints that runners had used cars, public transport and bikes to cheat during the race on 27 August. Tracking data then showed that thousands of participants had not passed some of the 5km checkpoints that monitor whether runners have completed the entire race.

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Manchester United shares in record fall after report of sale U-turn

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Drop on New York stock exchange comes amid claims Glazer family have taken club off market

Manchester United shares have suffered their steepest single-day fall in price after a report claimed the Glazer family was considering a U-turn on plans to sell the club.

Shares in the Premier League club dropped by 18.2% on Tuesday to $19.35 (£15.40), the biggest daily drop since they were listed the New York stock exchange in 2012.

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South Sudan headed to Paris Olympics as best African team at Fiba World Cup

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  • South Sudan clinch berth at Paris Summer Olympics
  • World’s youngest state is automatic qualifier from Africa
  • Bright Stars beat Angola to finish 3-2 at Fiba World Cup

It was a chant that Luol Deng waited years to lead. He stood along the side of the South Sudan locker room after their run in the World Cup was over, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled the same thing, over and over.

“Where we goin’?” he shouted.

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