We must give children a voice and a choice about sport; it’s the key to helping more children enjoy sport and physical activitySport teaches you so many important life skills and one of the most essential is resilience. My life has been dedicated to one simple mission – changing girls’ and women’s lives in sport and through sport. It has not been easy and there have been many setbacks, but the strength of my purpose has helped me to recover and continue the journey.I started my professional career as a PE teacher in Manchester and later became chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust and chair of UK Sport, supporting our Olympic and Paralympic teams to achieve success at London...
The sport’s national governing body missed the chance to bring people together after the death of Queen Elizabeth IIDuring the middle ages, flagellants would remove their white robes adorned with a red cross, kneel on the ground, and then vigorously whip themselves in public displays of fervour. Some sports appear to have been taking notes. Since the Queen’s death, we have seen the FA stop grassroots football, the Premier League ask for applause at 70 minutes to celebrate the length of Elizabeth II’s reign, and British Cycling bizarrely tell people not to ride during the state funeral, before performing a rapid U-turn. These are some of the biggest beasts in British sport. And they have looked frit.Frit because such decisions...
Matches are a place of shared experience in an atomised world – they should have gone ahead following the Queen’s deathLike most people, I was deeply saddened by the news about Queen Elizabeth. Events over the past few days have demonstrated how important the royal family is to our sense of identity as a nation. Even the most committed republican can share the sense of loss of such a symbol of humility and grace at the centre of our nation, someone who, as the BBC has repeatedly and correctly said, represented stability in an age of ceaseless change.Three days after the death of King George VI on 6 February 1952, Grimsby Town beat Carlisle 4-1 in front of 16,000 fans....
A valuable World Cup legacy would be financial support for families of migrant workers who died or were robbed of wagesThe Football Association’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, made some interesting comments in response to questions about Qatar 2022 in a parliamentary committee hearing last week. Notable among them was the claim that the migrant workers whom the FA had met during “several trips” to Qatar, as well as “the NGOs on the ground”, were unanimous that “they want the World Cup to go ahead in Qatar”.According to Bullingham, who said the FA would brief Gareth Southgate and his players on the situation before Saturday’s match with Switzerland, the top request of workers and NGOs is that the FA “keep having...
Desperate perpetrators and drugs also blamed but report about day of ‘national shame’ cites collective failures“I am not in the business of individual blame. So if people are looking for a report that tries to make scapegoats of individuals you won’t find that.” So said Louise Casey of her comprehensive report into the events in and around the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium on 11 July. “There were collective failures that I identify and were clear. There are also mitigating factors that I describe in the report, in hindsight, as a ‘perfect storm’ that made that final so difficult to manage.”As the 129 pages are picked over, it seems unlikely Lady Casey’s words will stop people looking to hold...