Ed Warner: Docuseries triumph may drive wedge between media and sport April 14, 2022 “Please please please please just go away!” The letter writer signed off with his PS in green ink, only months into my stint as chair of UK Athletics in the days before tweets were a thing. I wish I’d kept it, the only time I’ve seen green ink scrawled in cliched anger. Sports leaders are [...]
Victoria to become first regional host of the Commonwealth Games in 2026 April 12, 2022 The Australian state of Victoria has been selected to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The Games, to be staged in Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland, will be the first to take place predominantly in a region rather than a single city. The last edition took place in Australia four years ago and organisers have [...]
Ed Warner: Commonwealth Games should consider dropping restrictive colonial ties March 31, 2022 This week, Ed Warner argues that the Commonwealth Games must adapt if it’s to survive, ponders English cricket’s leadership vacuum and hopes Russia remains in exile. Depending on your media outlet of choice, Wills and Kate’s Caribbean sojourn was either a triumph of charming diplomacy or another nail in the coffin of empire – as [...]
Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Amanda Staveley should have waited to buy Chelsea instead March 10, 2022 I can’t help thinking that Amanda Staveley and her consortium have bought the wrong football club. Had they waited just five months they could have had Chelsea FC rather than Newcastle United. A mooted £3bn price tag may be 10 times the price paid for the Magpies, but still well within the means of Saudi [...]
Russian athletes banned from Winter Paralympics after rivals threaten boycott March 3, 2022 Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from the Beijing Winter Paralympics after other nations, including Britain, threatened a boycott. The move represents a swift U-turn from International Olympic Committee, which had on Wednesday said they could compete as neutrals when the Games begin on Friday. It is the latest sporting sanction to hit [...]
Ed Warner: Sport needs a united front against Russia, not patchwork of policies March 3, 2022 On the opening day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the Polish wheelchair rugby team decided not to take to the court in their Euros group match against Russia in Paris. A classy move. If only others were so decisive. The leaders of world sport are already divided in their response to Vladimir Putin’s war. It [...]
Russian athletes set for Winter Paralympics ban decision March 2, 2022 Winter Paralympics organisers will decide today whether to ban Russian athletes just 48 hours before the Games are set to begin in Beijing. All Russian competitors have already arrived in China but the International Paralympic Committee is under pressure to stop them taking part in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Olympic [...]
Sir Ben Ainslie on sailing, management and when he plans to stop racing March 1, 2022 The acronym GOAT often gets bandied around in sport, usually unwarranted, but when it comes to British sailors, British Olympians and British sportspeople, Sir Ben Ainslie truly is up there with the Greatest Of All Time. The most successful sailor in Olympic history, an America’s Cup winner and multiple competitor, and now the man in [...]
Fifa, Uefa and IOC heed calls to ban Russia from international sport February 28, 2022 Russia faces an indefinite period of exile from international sport after major bodies including the International Olympic Committee, Fifa and Uefa bowed to calls to ban the country. The IOC said Russian teams and athletes should not be allowed to compete in international competitions, even under a neutral flag, as a result of the country’s [...]
International Olympic Committee calls for Russia and Belarus ban February 28, 2022 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have urged sporting federations and organisations to “not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions”. As part of a list of recommendations released today, the IOC Executive Board (EB) have said their motives relate to the inability of Ukrainians to compete as [...]