English rugby chief Bill Sweeney defends bonus as critics call for his head January 22, 2025 Bill Sweeney, the embattled president of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), insists he tried to defer his controversial bonus but has defended his acceptance of the six-figure payment. Sweeney is facing a vote of no confidence after the bonus took his overall pay to £1.1m in 2023-24, a year in which the RFU made 42 [...]
Ambani family on course for £100m London Spirit in Hundred auction January 22, 2025 The likely destinations of English cricket’s crown jewels in the Hundred auction are taking shape, with the Ambani family’s determination to buy 49 per cent of the London Spirit in a deal expected to exceed £100m forcing other bidders to look elsewhere. A consortium of Californian investors led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo [...]
‘A fantastic milestone’: Haas appoints F1’s first female race engineer January 21, 2025 Equality in motorsport campaigners have welcomed Laura Muller’s appointment by Haas as the first female race engineer in Formula 1. German Muller, who has previously held other engineering roles with Haas, will work closely with French driver Esteban Ocon, including advising him during races on the team radio. Team principal Ayao Komatsu said: “Her work [...]
Paris 2024 Olympic medals to be replaced after they flake and rust January 21, 2025 Red-faced Olympics chiefs have pledged to replace defective medals from the Paris 2024 Games after more than 100 athletes complained that they have begun to flake and rust. Just days after the closing ceremony, disgruntled athletes began sharing pictures of their damaged medals on social media and demanding they be replaced. American skateboarder Nyjah Huston [...]
Football regulator: Tory peers right to question changes, says Collins January 20, 2025 Former Culture, Media and Sport select committee chair Damian Collins has defended Conservative peers’ thorough questioning of the Labour government’s beefed-up plans for an independent football regulator. Sport Minister Stephanie Peacock last week accused some Tory peers of submitting amendments “cynically designed to dither, delay and block” the progress of the Football Governance Bill through [...]
Fifa boss Infantino on Trump: ‘We will make entire world great again’ January 20, 2025 Fifa chief Gianni Infantino has hailed his “great friendship” with US president-elect Donald Trump and vowed that they will “make the entire world great again”. Infantino has forged close connections with Trump and the US, which will host the first edition of the expanded Club World Cup this summer and co-host the men’s World Cup [...]
Matt Dawson joins Clive Woodward-backed Seat Unique January 19, 2025 England’s Rugby World Cup winning scrum-half Matt Dawson has joined premium ticketing firm Seat Unique, which is backed by his former coach Sir Clive Woodward. Seat Unique have tapped up the former international as a business advisor to help the start-up penetrate into new markets, including the English rugby space and beyond. The platform has [...]
English football’s record year for legal spending – can it stay secret? January 19, 2025 Before the Christmas break the Premier League published an article posing the question: what Premier League records for a calendar year can still be broken? While fans watched the glut of fixtures over Christmas, another record had already been set: 2024 was the year that English football was dominated by legal disputes. The Premier League [...]
Destination Calcio: Why a little-known website bought Serie B media rights January 18, 2025 Destination Calcio only popped up last summer and has a modest audience but has snapped up the live rights to Italian football’s Serie B in the UK and US until 2027. What’s going on? Serie B may be at the niche end of football fandom, especially for British lovers of the game, but the Italian [...]
Why the football regulator shouldn’t ignore clubs below National League January 18, 2025 The case of Ebbsfleet United shows why the incoming football regulator’s powers are needed throughout the English game, says Damian Collins. The deeply entwined relationship between English football clubs and the communities they serve is never more evident than at the midpoint of the season and the turn of the year. Whilst most Europeans enjoy [...]