This was a title win that has felt inevitable since December, at which point Chelsea had won their first nine Women’s Super League matches of the season. In truth, it had felt likely long before that, in a campaign where one squad has looked uncatchable and – unbeaten with just two more games to go … Read more
This column begins with a confession. One I am afraid and not a little ashamed to make. One that my instincts tell me I should be taking to a priest who is bound to silence, or at the very least an understanding therapist. Certainly not to a forum of sports fans with strong opinions and … Read more
The Football Association has announced that it will ban transgender women from playing in women’s football from 1 June. It follows the ruling from the supreme court that the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman. The decision comes barely a month after the FA ruled that transgender women could … Read more
North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick defended his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, for interjecting during a CBS interviewer’s questions about their relationship and said she was “simply doing her job”. The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach and first-time college coach at UNC issued a statement through the school Wednesday, which followed an appearance on CBS News … Read more
The Fifa ethics committee process for investigating sexual misconduct has been described as “broken” and guilty of failing athletes “big time” after a report made to its investigatory chamber was marked “case closed” without the alleged victim being contacted nor any witnesses being interviewed. The report, made to Fifa’s ethics committee in November 2024, contained … Read more
To paraphrase Bishop Berkeley’s famous empiricist thought-experiment: if a legendary over is bowled in a game that isn’t televised, did it really happen? The answer is: yes, Bish, it happened. In fact, Geoffrey Boycott still remembers punching a 150kph throat ball toward Joel Garner in the gully. But, unless you happened to have been watching … Read more
For over a century, Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary was the end of the line. Built in the shape of a Greek cross, the pale limestone structure had housed the worst of the worst – murderers, madmen, monsters – its bulk hunched beneath a crown of scarred mountains the guards called the fifth wall. Now it … Read more
In a major milestone, scientists working on the world’s largest nuclear fusion project have completed its main magnet system with India playing a key role in building critical infrastructure. This system will power the core of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokamak reactor, which aims to demonstrate that fusion, the energy source of the sun … Read more
Goalkeepers Hannah Hampton The 24-year-old has made the No 1 shirt her own this season. Ever present in goal, she is second for clean sheets in the league and her distribution is a key asset. She might not always be the busiest given the team in front of her but, more often than not, she … Read more
Harry Redknapp says his description of England’s head coach, Thomas Tuchel, as a “German spy” was a “joke that badly backfired”. The 78-year-old former manager, who had successful spells at Spurs, West Ham and Portsmouth but never landed the England job, also talked up Eddie Howe’s credentials as the best man to lead the Three … Read more