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...
The biggest compliment you can pay the veteran Milan striker is that sometimes he is almost as good as he says he isZlatan Ibrahimovic believes you should stick to what you’re good at, which is presumably why he’s been talking about himself again. The Milan striker is probably unique among elite modern footballers in that despite his considerable body of work on the pitch, the most memorable episodes of his career have emanated largely from his own mouth. Perhaps the warmest compliment you can pay Ibrahimovic as a footballer is that there are times when he is genuinely almost as good as he says he is. Related: 'I will never shut up': LeBron James responds to Ibrahimovic criticism Related: Zlatan's...
China’s treatment of Uighurs has been deemed by Canada as genocide. Are we about to legitimise the regime responsible?History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I am staring at two bundles of newspaper clippings – one present day, one past – and feeling a deepening chill. The first pile details China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang, where more than a million people have been “re-educated” in camps, as well as the calls for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be stripped from Beijing. The second is from the Manchester Guardian in 1935, recording the abuse of Jews in Germany and demanding a boycott of the Berlin Games. The echoes are eerie. The looming question, then as now,...
Sunday’s incident involving Raúl Jiménez and David Luiz was a reminder that other sports have far more sophisticated protocols in placeFor too long football has played tiki-taka with the issue of concussion, rather than tackling it head on. It has been passed around from committee to committee, governing body to governing body, without the authorities facing up to its pernicious threat. Perhaps the recent deaths of Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles will sharpen the focus. What happened at the Emirates on Sunday night certainly should. It was jolting enough to witness Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez receiving oxygen and leaving on a stretcher with a fractured skull following a clash of heads with David Luiz. It was almost as worrying when the...
Coronavirus has left local sport creaking under financial strain and the public’s health is at serious risk if it collapsesIs sport overwhelmingly a force for good? In the days of Boy’s Own and brilliantine the answer would have been an unblinking yes. Now it comes with caveats and hesitations.Watching PSG in the Champions League final was another reminder of how Gulf states use sport the way a grand illusionist employs misdirection, diverting eyes and capturing souls. Related: 'I was the king of sabotage': Ronnie O'Sullivan on controversy, comebacks and becoming a carer Related: Patrice Evra: 'Silence is a crime. You can’t be in silence any more' Related: Leading athletes write to government for clarity on children's sport funding Continue reading...