Rugby
Sorry, but you’ve got to love the Springboks
There may still be some poor benighted souls who regard the Springboks as the bane of rugby union. If you…
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
Who’s more useless – the Tories or the England rugby team?
In a curious way the decline of English rugby mirrors that of the Conservative party. Four years ago there was…
Rugby union needs its own Richard Thompson
Dear oh dear, as exasperated kings are known to murmur – just look at the state of rugby union. But…
English rugby is in crisis
Make no mistake: the game of rugby, which many of us love so much, is in serious trouble: it will…
What Richard Thompson can do for English cricket
Well alleluia, English cricket doesn’t seem able to put a foot wrong these days. After hitting three cherries with Rob…
I’ve seen the future of motor racing, and it’s quiet
Are petrolheads’ days numbered? I only ask because having just been introduced to the quiet, petrol-less world of Formula E,…
How Kyrgios saved Wimbledon
What separates this year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal from every other year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal?…
Is any sporting event more brutal than the Tour de France?
That great Frenchman the Marquis de Sade would have been justly proud of the Tour de France had he lived…
Rob Burrow is in a league of his own
What a privilege the other night to see Rob Burrow, the Rugby League legend, win Autobiography of the Year at…
Where Eddie Jones is going wrong
Rugby Union, bloody hell. We’ve got to talk about Eddie, but before that, what about something much cheerier? Just when…
Let’s scrap the Six Nations
If you were one of the sharp-suited head honchos at CVC Capital Partners, the private equity megalith that has ploughed…
Mason Greenwood and football’s obsession with prodigies
Well, there’s a surprise: Nike have cancelled their sponsorship of the Manchester United and England footballer Mason Greenwood, who is…
Why everyone should be shouting about Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding
As we digest another Ashes thrashing for England’s cricketers in Australia, and wonder whether the 1966 World Cup victory will…
The BBC is killing cricket
Full homage to the nail-biting cricketing miracle in Sydney, while bearing in mind that miracles, like lightning, rarely strike twice…
The absurdity of tennis players’ toilet breaks
Forgive the personal question, but how long does it take you to, you know, go to the gents, ladies, non-binary?…
Can the Lions prise open the strong Boks?
You would need a digger to explore the levels of irony in a Springbok chief slagging off an opponent’s dirty…
Forget football – rugby is the real beautiful game
The question is surely destined to become a pub quiz staple: ‘Who moved a bottle 18 inches across a table…
Thoughts on a foreign clash of the English titans
Thank heavens the Champions League final is being played in Portugal, now Turkey’s off the menu (sorry). It will certainly…
Outs-rage: the dumbing down of cricket
So wickets are out and outs are in for the new Hundred competition. But why? The language of sport is…
The Richard Freeman affair casts a cloud over British cycling
For those with neither the time nor inclination to plough through a PhD in the intricacies of the scandals surrounding…
