When Wales play South Africa at RFK Stadium in Washington on Saturday, a few well-known faces could be in the crowdWhen Candace Gingrich met Bill Clinton in 1996, half-brother Newt was two years into a political war with the White House. At a fundraising event, the president worked his way down a line of guests. When he got to the young Human Rights Campaign staffer with the Republican House Speaker for a relative, he got a welcome surprise. Related: HR McMaster on rugby: 'The warrior ethos is what a good team has' George W. Bush plays a little dirty rugby for Yale in 1966 pic.twitter.com/R1uPDXz4ABYou play rugby for yourself … but you also play for the other people with you...
If motherhood is a career killer, it is no surprise women remain so under-represented in sport, a sector that has been surprisingly slow to embrace the benefits of equalityWaiting for sport to catch up with modern life can be like watching paint dry. You know it’s going to happen eventually but the rate of progress is painful. How the Women’s Tennis Association is only now coming under pressure to review its policy around seeding and maternity leave is mind-boggling. From Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, to Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka, women have been having babies and returning to high-profile tennis careers for decades.Would we even be having this conversation if it wasn’t for Queen Serena? Consistently asking the big...
Italian project is being undermined by imminent economic turmoil and the absence of renovation work at the Marco Simone course north of RomeIt is unlikely the Ryder Cup features prominently in the minds of Italian politicians as they seek a solution to the latest bout of instability. Those presiding over the Ryder Cup, however, simply cannot ignore what is a crisis in Rome, even by Italian governmental standards.The political chaos threatening imminent ecomonic turmoil coincides neatly with the most significant date in Italy’s golf calendar – the Italian Open is this week – while the sport has been high up the news agenda after Francesco Molinari, the nation’s pre-eminent player, saw off Rory McIlroy to win PGA Championship on Sunday. Related:...
A society’s century-long distrust of sports betting can be traced to the night of 21 September 1919, when the Black Sox went nationalAmerica’s century-long distrust of sports betting can be traced to the night of 21 September 1919. That’s when several members of baseball’s Chicago White Sox met with gambling boss Arnold Rothstein in a New York hotel room to throw the following month’s World Series. Related: UK bookmaker values rise by over £1.5bn as sports betting to be legal in US Continue reading...
Woods has performed brilliantly simply to be competitive again but his shortcomings are obviousThere is a recurring danger of sporting dreams blurring reality. The hype around Tiger Woods was once justified but the reality of recent months applies context often missing in the giddy analysis. Woods has performed brilliantly simply to be competitive again after physical trouble so acute he struggled to sit down for dinner. But there, for now, the story ends.Woods’ latest outing at the Players Championship had him finish seven –almost two shots per round – adrift of the winner Webb Simpson. The 42-year-old tied 55th the previous weekend in Charlotte, 32nd at the Masters and trailed the victorious Rory McIlroy by eight at the conclusion of...