Saracens rugby star Alex Goode tries his hand at trading October 22, 2014 HE MAY have been announced as part of England’s squad for the autumn internationals a few hours earlier, but this didn’t stop Saracens rugby star Alex Goode from trying his hand at some trading at Afex, in aid of rugby charity Restart. Goode and around 20 of his rugby comrades hit the phones, all attempting [...]
London School of Economics disbands rugby club over “sexist” booklets October 8, 2014 One of the capital's top universities, the London School of Economics, has dispanded its men's rugby club after an investigation found the team had distributed booklets that were “clearly sexist”. The university announced its decision last night, claiming that it was clear a culture of “misogyny, sexism and homophobia” existed within the club, and [...]
How do I get a Rugby World Cup 2015 ticket? Fans who miss out in official ballot could face prices 400pc higher October 3, 2014 Rugby fans who miss out on World Cup tickets from the official ballot could end up paying four-figure sums just to watch group games. The application period for Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets closed on Monday, leaving scores of rugby fans nervously waiting to find out if they have struck lucky later this month. [...]
Record six-year Lancaster contract is entirely right, insist rugby chiefs October 1, 2014 ENGLAND rugby chiefs have defended the decision to hand head coach Stuart Lancaster and his staff bumper new contracts lasting for two World Cups and into the next decade. The deals until 2020 indicate that Lancaster and assistants Graham Rowntree, Mike Catt and Andy Farrell are likely to keep their jobs regardless of how England [...]
Premiership Rugby £500,000 salary cap rise could tempt England stars in France to return September 15, 2014 Aviva Premiership Rugby is set to increase the league’s salary cap by 10 per cent in future seasons, and will also allow clubs to sign a second “excluded” player from overseas. Clubs’ spending on player wages is currently capped at £5m, but the Aviva Premiership will permit a further £500,000 spending ahead of the [...]
Sport Comment: Rugby has the ability to infuriate but when in full flow the game simply inspires like few others September 14, 2014 Many of you will have spent last Friday hunched over a computer pretending to be observing market trends and world news, when in fact you were trying to access tickets for the Rugby World Cup next year. Some will have been lucky. One or two will have given up after encountering the usual glitches that [...]
NFL season begins: Why American Football could be bigger than rugby in the UK September 8, 2014 While the Premier League takes a break this weekend, another "football" league has got underway. Across the pond, the National Football League (NFL), the flagship American Football league whose teams beat even the Premier League in terms of revenue, has kicked off a new season. With its return will follow a growing legion of devoted UK fans [...]
Welsh cakes, whiskey and rugby balls: What’s in the Nato goody bag? September 5, 2014 US President Barack Obama, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and German chancellor Angela Merkel were among the Nato leaders presented with a goody bag of Welsh goods today – and the contents certainly made us stop and look. No doubt Obama and Merkel bonded over the Welsh cakes they received. Maybe Poroshenko used the honey [...]
Skipper backs more rugby joy as England’s women turn pro August 25, 2014 WORLD Cup-winning captain Katy McLean is confident full-time contracts will keep English rugby at the top of the women’s game after the sport’s governing body confirmed top female players will be paid for the first time. England Women’s Sevens side will now operate on a professional basis and the Rugby Football Union has issued 20 [...]
Sport Comment: World Cup has been huge credibility boost for women’s rugby August 17, 2014 IT IS the nature of our sporting world that football is the rich man from whose table every other sport has to eat the scraps, and so amid all the hoopla in the week of the resumption of the Premier League it has been particularly bad luck for English cricket and British athletics that their [...]