Three years after Covid began, Japan is welcoming tourists June 5, 2023 Just hours after arriving in Japan from London, a geisha girl is teaching me a drinking game. She sings a lilting, nursery rhyme-style tune as we take turns tapping the small wooden box between us, trying to catch each other out by whipping the box away so the other person must lay a closed fist on the [...]
What we’ve learned from England’s last cricket Test before the Ashes June 5, 2023 England quite simply swept aside Ireland at Lord’s this weekend. Their 10-wicket win came inside three days and showed how impressive England are right now. But with the Ashes on the horizon, what did we learn? Records for stokes There will come a point where we must simply stop calling the current England Test regime [...]
LaLiga unveil new branding as Spanish football league looks to future June 5, 2023 Spanish football’s LaLiga has today announced a rework of their branding as the domestic competition steps up efforts to capitalise on global opportunities. The league, which has traded in former sponsor Santander for EA Sports, has unveiled a new brand identity which sees a pair of Ls take the place of the old logo, which [...]
Man City vs Man United 1999: How would 2023 treble stack up? June 4, 2023 As the result of a match, where a trophy was up for grabs, turned Manchester blue yet again, City went within one win of an iconic treble – something English football has not seen since United’s feat in 1998-1999. So with their 2-1 FA Cup final win over United leaving Pep Guardiola’s side two thirds [...]
French Open on course for Djokovic and Alcaraz clash in semis June 4, 2023 The hotly anticipated first Grand Slam meeting between world No1 Carlos Alcaraz and 22-time major winner Novak Djokovic is just one match away after both players dispatched their third round opponents and reached the last eight in Paris. Serbian Djokovic beat Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-2 6-2 to earn a quarter-final tie against Karen Khachanov [...]
Formula 1: Hamilton ‘flat out’ motivated at Mercedes despite Red Bull win June 4, 2023 Seven-time world champion Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has said he is “flat out” motivated at Mercedes despite Max Verstappen winning his third consecutive F1 race yesterday in Barcelona. The Dutch reigning world champion Verstappen’s win ensured that Red Bull maintained their 100 per cent winning record so far this season after seven races. The [...]
England dealt Ashes blow as spinner Leach to miss series with injury June 4, 2023 England’s Test team have been dealt another major bowling blow ahead of this month’s Ashes series with leading spinner Jack Leach pulling out of the famous five-Test competition against Australia. Leach played in England’s 10-wicket victory against Ireland over the weekend but has since pulled out of the squad due to a lower back stress [...]
FA Cup final: Man charged for ’97’ shirt referencing Hillsborough June 4, 2023 A man has been charged for wearing a shirt at the FA Cup final on Saturday which appeared to be a reference to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. The fan, a 33-year-old male from Warwickshire, was charged with displaying abusive or threatening writing likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress after he was pictured with a [...]
Joining the Premiership XV: The rugby talent coming to England June 3, 2023 Last month we put together a XV of players leaving the Premiership so we thought we’d look at some of the stars joining England’s top flight to distract from the financial woes that the league is facing. Where we could we’ve left out players who have joined from temporary clubs following the fall of both [...]
‘Quality of rugby incredible but off field the sport is a total mess’ June 2, 2023 It has been a totally infuriating season as a rugby fan. There’s no denying the product on the field is outstanding – last week’s Premiership final showed that – but the sport needs to be honest with itself off the field and sort itself out. Rugby union as we know it is in bedlam; broadcast [...]