Reactions to the social-media boycott show the players’ union still has much to do to win over sceptics and persuade Twitter et al to actIt wasn’t easy at first to know what to make of the Professional Footballers’ Association’s #enough campaign. It was difficult to be sure if it was genuinely the work of its equalities team or an idea dreamt up by a PR agency. A suspicious mind might have wondered whether the relevant people needed some positive publicity after all that unfortunate business with Gordon Taylor and, even if you were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, I couldn’t help but feel they were pushing their luck to think a 24-hour boycott of social media,...
In the absence of Ferrari and Mercedes, the new documentary allows characters like the acerbic Haas team principal, Guenther Steiner, to shine and show F1’s human faceSkill, drama, spectacle and of course entertainment are the elements that should drive Formula One with, hopefully, a fine narrative to push the show along. Netflix certainly believes the sport has a story to tell, even though the two biggest names involved – Ferrari and Mercedes – refused to play ball when their cameras roamed the paddock last season. The result, Formula 1: Drive To Survive, is released on Friday and as it turns out, Netflix perhaps achieved something even more intriguing in their absence.The 10-part series was made by executive producer James Gay-Rees,...
The broadcaster wants to revolutionise televised racing – and is prepared to invest money and resources to do soThere are unlikely to be many mourners when At The Races officially expires at midnight on Monday. After all, and with all due respect to the television channel’s home in Milton Keynes, it is going to a much better place. Just short of its 18th birthday, the adoption papers were signed and approved earlier this year and from Tuesday, it is official. At The Races is part of the Sky Sports “family” now.The “At The Races” name is old enough for a PR executive with political ambitions called David Cameron to have been peripherally involved with the initial launch in 2000, when...
The England forward’s Instagram post has got people, journalists especially, talking about racism but nothing will change – it never doesWith one early-morning Instagram post Raheem Sterling has got everyone talking about racism. Racism in football, racism in the media, racism in society as a whole and from certain high-up quarters the response has been to show sympathy and support for Sterling and call for change. But here’s the thing: nothing will change. It never does when it comes to racism in this country.Britain now is as it was in the 1970s, when I was growing up in Cannock, a mixed-raced child within a community that was, and remains, 99.9% white. In this post-Brexit vote environment, people again feel free...
Only the British Grand Prix will be on UK terrestrial TV next season as F1 cuts itself off from the massesWhile Lewis Hamilton performed his doughnuts in front of the grandstand and then removed his fireproof vest in order to display his tattoos on the podium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, Channel 4’s lineup of commentators, presenters and analysts were packing their bags, having broadcast the race to an average audience of 2.3 million, as live grand prix coverage in Britain prepared to disappear behind a paywall. Related: F1’s halo device not under question after Nico Hülkenburg’s Abu Dhabi crash Continue reading...