Football’s new arms race: leading clubs looking to sell shirt sleeve sponsorship for £10m a year ahead of Premier League rule change December 14, 2016 They routinely adorn the biceps of Lionel Messi and Neymar and flutter on the jerseys of Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, yet until now they have been forbidden in the Premier League. Sponsors’ logos on football clubs’ shirt sleeves are on their way to England’s top division from next season, however, as teams look to [...]
England captain Dylan Hartley free to play in Six Nations after receiving six-week ban December 14, 2016 England captain Dylan Hartley is free to play in the Six Nations after receiving a six week ban for striking Sean O'Brien in Northampton Saints' European Champions Cup clash with Leinster last week. Hartley will be permitted to play from 23 January — just under a fortnight before England begins their Six Nations defence against France at [...]
The doom-mongers are wrong, it’s not all gloomy for England December 14, 2016 There seems to be quite a lot of negativity being written and spoken about English cricket at the moment and quite honestly a lot of it is a load of rubbish. Yes, England have been hammered by India and defeat in Mumbai was their seventh Test loss of 2016. A further setback during the fifth [...]
Love at the National Theatre: an important play about welfare in Britain that’s appropriately unenjoyable December 14, 2016 Love, at the National Theatre, is not the poverty porn that so often clutters the London stage, but a powerful indictment of the shocking state of social housing, social care, and social welfare in Britain today. Writer-director Alexander Zeldin presents a group of disparate people forced to live side-by-side in emergency housing, and the grinding [...]
Anthony Joshua: Beating Wladimir Klitschko will upgrade me from a champion to a legend December 14, 2016 Anthony Joshua believes he will evolve from a champion into a boxing legend if he beats Wladimir Klitschko in their heavyweight clash at Wembley. Up to 90,000 people are expected to attend the blockbuster bout on April 29th and Joshua believes both the size of the event and legacy of his opponent will lend a [...]
Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre review: Ruth Wilson is deliciously neurotic in this stylish retelling of Ibsen’s classic play December 14, 2016 It’s astonishing to think this painfully raw, searingly relevant play was first performed 125 years ago. There are moments in this symbolism-heavy production directed by Ivo van Hove that could have crawled from the mind of that enfant terrible of the 1990s Sarah Kane. The world gets older; Ibsen stays the same age. It’s one [...]
Le Col: Can this premium cycling brand designed by riders be the next Rapha? December 14, 2016 "I'm convinced that cycling isn't going to go away," says Yanto Barker, a retired British pro cyclist now whose ambitious apparel brand Le Col is currently looking to secure £1m worth of funding from investors via Crowdcube. Le Col is entering the home straight of its crowdfunding campaign with 23 days left for budding investors to join the 117 people who [...]
Wimbledon tops most-attended list as British fans continue to flock to live sport December 14, 2016 Britons snapped up tickets for live sporting events at a rate of more than one for every person in the country this year, according to research published today by Deloitte. Attendances reached 69.8m in 2016 and were only 700,000 down on last year’s figures, despite the lack of a major showpiece event such as the 2015 [...]
Everton 2, Arsenal 1: Lack of steel cost Gunners, admits Wenger as defeat paves way for Chelsea to open up six-point lead December 13, 2016 Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted his side were guilty of wilting under Everton’s physicality after his side wasted the opportunity to return to the Premier League summit at Goodison Park. Centre-half Ashley Williams handed Everton only their second league win in 11 matches with a late header after Seamus Coleman nodded home to cancel out Alexis [...]
Yaya Toure accepts drink-driving charge but denies intentionally consuming alcohol December 13, 2016 Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure pleaded guilty to drink-driving and has apologised to the club’s supporters despite insisting he did not intentionally consume alcohol. The 33-year-old, a practising Muslim, was fined £54,000 and banned from driving for 18 months after admitting the charge at Barkingside Magistrates Court, having been arrested on 28 November while more than two [...]