If future generations of female sport writers are to flourish, we must be united in confronting gender-based discriminationIn the depths of a Scottish winter last year, a group of female journalists – myself included – huddled in front of our laptops to discuss our annual mentoring scheme for up-and-coming female talent.To address the fact that so few sportswriters applied previously, we decided to ringfence five places for them. But we ran into a problem: it was impossible to find enough journalists to fill the slots. Continue reading...
The longtime NBA player has shined in his rookie year as a basketball analyst, but his viral takedown of Chris Russo this week on ESPN’s First Take showed what makes him specialJJ Redick’s emergence as a rising star for ESPN since joining the network as a basketball analyst in October has been one of the more notable stories in US sports media over the past year.The 37-year-old Redick, who launched a popular podcast while he was still a player, spent 15 seasons in the NBA after a decorated four-year stint at Duke, where he was the consensus national college basketball player of the year in 2006. He’s brought the keen insight and deep knowledge of an ex-pro to the broadcasting...
From missing red cards to riding in a rodeo, Chris Kamara made the most of every minute of his 24 years at Sky SportsAnthony Vanden Borre isn’t a player many remember. He played 28 times for Belgium. He played for some decent European sides: Fiorentina, Genoa, Anderlecht, Montpellier. You might not recall his 19 appearances for Avram Grant’s Portsmouth in the Premier League 13 years ago.And you would be forgiven for not instantly recollecting the moment in the 60th minute of a goalless draw with Blackburn on 3 April 2010 when he was given a second yellow card for a deliberate handball by Steve Bennett. Morton Gamst Pedersen knocks it down the line for Martin Olsson and Vanden Borre sticks...
Lineker marshalled the studio well, Mowbray and Jenas made a solid double act, but the forgetful prime minister got a kickingFootball punditry can be a detestable sham. The BBC gave an ominous reminder of that during their Euro 2020 preview show on Thursday, when Gary Lineker said Micah Richards knew a lot about North Macedonia and everyone in the studio, including Richards, fell about laughing. Apparently the notion that a highly paid analyst might swot up on one of the tournament’s lesser known teams was top banter.But that was a lone outrage in a tolerable production and, in fairness, it is both the privilege and the burden of the national broadcaster that it must try to cater to everyone’s taste....
Four-day sporting boycott has reinforced the need for Twitter, Facebook and others to kick trolls off their platforms – nowAs we enter the final hours of sport’s four-day online boycott, in protest at the social media giants’ pernicious failure to tackle hate, let’s try imagining an alternative reality. Just as now, it starts with trolls sending racist abuse at, say, Mohamed Salah or Marcus Rashford, or relentlessly attacking a female sports star or commentator. Only, in this parallel universe, a crack team of investigators spring into action.What might happen next? First the investigators would find out the culprits’ names, telephone numbers, and where they lived. Then the authorities would be alerted. Shortly afterwards, accounts would be closed down. And, in...