The Spotlight Sports Group has announced to employees that a reduction in headcount could not be avoidedJobs are to be lost at the Racing Post, the daily paper which serves horse racing and its followers, with its owner blaming loss of revenue caused by the Covid-19 crisis. The news is a blow to staff, most of whom had put up with temporary salary cuts to help sustain the business during its recent 76-day hiatus from print.Having accepted those cuts, which averaged around 25% but went up to 50% for higher earners, staff were encouraged when the Post returned to print last week at the same time as racing resumed. The Guardian understands that salaries have now been restored for active...
The Six Nations and the private equity firm CVC’s impending deal is threatening to take some games off free-to-air TV, and that could be a dangerous moveIn August 1990 a retired French nuclear physicist called André Gardes armed himself with a semi‑automatic and launched a one-man invasion of Sark. When he arrived on the island he put up a pair of posters warning the residents that he was going to take over at noon the next day. And he would have, if a local constable hadn’t disarmed him by asking if he could hold his gun for a minute. Gardes removed the magazine, handed it over, and the policeman punched him on the nose. The invasion was over. Gardes actually...
The former Premier League referee’s career was finished by one moment and this absence of forgiveness is likely to be repeatedIn an emotional blog post on New Year’s Eve, the former Premier League referee Bobby Madley detailed how his career was finished in one moment 18 months ago. “Please don’t think bad of me. I’m a human being who made one mistake, one that many many people have done themselves and not lost everything for.”It is a story that only fits in the 2010s – one of smartphones, social media pile-ons and a complete absence of forgiveness – one that highlights the disproportionality between someone’s mistake and the impact on their lives. It couldn’t really have happened before the last...
Raheem Sterling, Lewis Hamilton and Ben Stokes have used social media to fight back against a hostile pressLet’s begin with Bob Nudd. Now, this may seem a strange place to start an article about the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards when the show has come up with its strongest shortlist since the 2012 Olympics and, in all honesty, even Bob himself seemed a bit surprised when I called him up this past week to talk about it. “You can probably guess why I’m calling,” I started. “No,” he stopped. “Is it something to do with the election?” Not the election Bob, but the other big vote. The one you should have won, back in 1991 when Nudd, four‑times...
Amazon’s major selling point, that you can watch all the games, is the worst thing about it. You CAN watch them all. Add in social media, and being an armchair fan becomes exhaustingTV to the left of me, laptops to the right, there I was, stuck in the middle with Amazon Prime. Primed for prime on a Tuesday night – waiting like all other broadcasters who hadn’t been asked to take part to see if it fell apart.A centre-forward relies on the service from the wide men. Here Gabby Logan and friends depended on the service of your broadband. And I had no complaints. It ran smoothly and the football happened. Like it always does. Related: Amazon creeps into football’s...