With a World Cup bid under way, American professional union is determined to show it is on the riseMajor League Rugby will kick-off its fifth season this weekend with the addition of a 13th team, the Dallas Jackals, who postponed entry last year due to the Covid pandemic.Covid cut short the 2020 US season too but MLR came back to go “99 & 0” in 2021, completing every fixture. In the championship game, the LA Giltinis – one of two teams, with the Austin Gilgronis, still named for a cocktail named for their owner – beat Rugby ATL, from Atlanta, for the shield. Continue reading...
This week’s roundup also features Nigel Mansell, 10-wicket hauls and a classic Gary Anderson interview1) On Saturday, Leeds visit Chelsea to continue one of English football’s most storied rivalries. Here’s action from their clashes over the years – memorable occasions include their 1952 FA Cup fifth-round second replay, the 1966 FA Cup fourth-round tieand the infamous 1970 FA Cup final replay. Here’s a collection of choice fouls, and Eddie McCreadie’s head-height assault on Billy Bremner; here’s Match of the Day’s report of crowd shenanigans in 1982; a league encounter from 1992 featuring a brilliant goal from Eric Cantona; and one from December 1999 featuring a double from Stephen McPhail and a red card for Frank Leboeuf.2) Snooker’s 2021 UK Championship...
We don’t have a right to know what happened in that car crash last February. Sifting through the wreckage doesn’t helpPress conferences will not define the career of Tiger Woods save, perhaps, the reference point provided by “Hello world” on the eve of his professional debut in 1996. For so many years thereafter, appearances by Woods before the media felt like an ordeal. Great moments arrived inside ropes, not via soundbite.That tetchiness has long since evaporated. The later stages of his career have witnessed a more relatable and amenable side. Even if, it must be said, the 15-times major winner never has any apparent interest in being a journalist’s friend. Woods is just willing or able to play the game...
This week’s roundup also features some UFC classics and a young Dwight Yorke schooling Manchester United’s youngsters1) On this day in 1985, Allyson Felix, quintuple Olympic champion and the USA’s most decorated Olympic athlete, was born. Enjoy all her Olympic medal races, while here she is breaking down running scenes from movies – including Forrest Gump – and here she is on Jimmy Kimmel.2) This weekend, Leeds visit Tottenham – which is more than enough reason to revisit this FA Cup classic between the sides from 1999. The game was settled by sensational goals from Darren Anderton and David Ginola, the latter also hitting the woodwork with two similarly stupendous efforts – the first of which George Graham, Spurs’ manager...
The football super-agent Kia Joorabchian has built a big string on the Flat and has high hopes of victory at Del MarThe football super-agent Kia Joorabchian has built a three-figure string on the Flat in the last couple of seasons and will have hopes of seeing his purple colours record their biggest success to date on Friday, when his runners on day one of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar include Go Bears Go and Hello You in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Juvenile Fillies’ Turf respectively.Joorabchian’s list of clients includes Philippe Coutinho, whose €142m transfer fee to join Barcelona from Liverpool in January 2018 was the second-highest in history at the time, and his Amo Racing Club...