Rugby Europe Super Cup: New second-tier competition for clubs from Israel, Belgium and Russia kicks off effort to raise standard in emerging nations September 23, 2021 It largely slipped under the radar here but across the continent last weekend the Rugby Europe Super Cup kicked off its inaugural season. The competition for emerging rugby nations saw teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Russia clash in the opening round. But just what is the Rugby Europe Super Cup, and why [...]
Whistling Straits: the Ryder Cup course explained September 22, 2021 Whistling Straits will host the 43rd Ryder Cup this weekend, a year later than planned due to the pandemic. It’s the first time the course, in Wisconsin, has hosted the tournament. Where is it? Whistling Straits resort in Haven, Wisconsin, was established in 1998 after plans for a nuclear power plant on the site, an [...]
Good day: Dapper Labs raises $250m and strikes deal with La Liga September 22, 2021 The company behind NBA Topshot, Dapper Labs, has closed a $250m (£183m) funding round and announced a new deal with the Spanish football league. In addition to creating some of the NFT world’s most popular games Dapper Labs has built its own blockchain, known as Flow, to process high transaction volumes at speed. Today’s funding [...]
Ryder Cup 2021: History shows that being the underdog has never stopped Europe, who have upset the odds in five of the last nine matches with the USA September 22, 2021 Anyone paying even the slightest attention to this week’s Ryder Cup cannot have missed the fact that the USA are red-hot favourites. Steve Stricker’s team boast eight of the world’s top 10 players and have home advantage,a factor likely to be amplified by the Covid-enforced absence of many European fans. Listen to some of the [...]
Lend your support to City A.M.’s London Marathon runner and help charity Give Them A Sporting Chance September 22, 2021 City A.M. hit the streets again this week and thousands of runners are preparing to do the same at the London Marathon next month. Among them will be City A.M.’s own representative George Reed, who is raising money for Give Them A Sporting Chance, a charity that helps carers and those with disabilities of all [...]
Oasis Knebworth 96 review: recapturing music history September 22, 2021 There was a time when the band Oasis and nostalgia seemed like a contradiction. While certainly inspired by the past, their meteoric 1990s rise was fuelled by songs about feeling young and invincible, with nothing mattering beyond this moment. It captured the spirit of a country propelled by a rare case of self-confidence that peaked [...]
The Green Knight review – a stunning medieval fantasy September 22, 2021 Director David Lowery may not be as familiar a name as The Russo Brothers or Christopher Nolan, but in less than a decade he has already put together a string of quietly successful productions, including the critically acclaimed Aint These Bodies Saints. Working with Red Redford on Disney’s remake of Pete’s Dragon convinced the screen [...]
Eddie Jones’ squad offers glimpse into England’s World Cup future September 21, 2021 Eddie Jones has given a glimpse of his plans for the Rugby World Cup in 2023 after England’s head coach excluded several senior players from his autumn training squad. The Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako, plus George Ford, Jamie George and the injured Elliot Daly were omitted from the 45-man squad, who are set to [...]
Legal Q&A: What uncertainty around the Ashes means for England, the players, contracts, sponsors and broadcasters September 21, 2021 Lawyer Jamie Horner examines the legal issues around this winter’s Ashes series between England and Australia, which remains in the balance due to Covid-19 restrictions Down Under. What are some of the key legal issues around this Ashes series? The key issue is the difference between Covid-19 restrictions in the UK and the more draconian [...]
The Many Saints of Newark review: The Sopranos makes its long-awaited return September 21, 2021 * This review contains spoilers for The Sopranos TV show * The Sopranos was a near-perfect TV show, a Shakespearean epic that took the gangster movies of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese and shaped them into a surreal, psychological soap opera. Where other shows have aged, the Sopranos is as fresh today as when [...]