Just like football and rugby, professional video gaming events in the UK attract millions of views from around the world October 13, 2015 A UK-based sporting competition featuring some of the best professionals from across the globe competing for huge sums of money has recorded almost 60m views. This isn't the Rugby World Cup – but the Gfinity Championship Series, a series of 23 weekly eSports (professional, competitive video gaming) tournaments, hosted by Aim-listed company Gfinity. The UK-based company exceeded [...]
Heineken proves a good sport after profits beat expectations August 4, 2015 Dutch brewer Heineken is counting on its sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup to help boost sales in the second half after posting better-than-expected profits in the first six months of the year. Organic revenues rose two per cent to €10.9bn (£7.7bn) thanks to double-digit volume growth of higher-margin brands including Desperados and Sol Premium. [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Seven losers of the year featuring Sepp Blatter, Ukip and the England rugby team December 5, 2015 For every glorious sporting triumph, history-making achievement, scientific breakthrough, artistic masterpiece or political triumph achieved in 2015, there has been a fall from grace to go with it. Whether it's an ousted president, collapsed share price or corporate disaster, for this lot, 2016 can't come soon enough. Read more: Beer, burritos and gifs: This was crowdfunding in 2015 [...]
The strong arm of the Rugby law: 2015 World Cup legal partner Clifford Chance has long been part of the rugby family May 4, 2015 Would you like to watch this year’s Rugby World Cup through the eyes of Dan Carter or Sam Warburton? Effectively play the game with them. As them. In them. Feel what it’s like to react in that nano-second that takes them away from a defender or straight into the arms of a gigantic monster. [...]
Bolt talk calms Ireland worries over form loss September 15, 2015 IRELAND hooker Rory Best has revealed that a surprise pre-tournament pep talk from six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has doused concerns over a loss of form heading into the Rugby World Cup. Joe Schmidt’s side will enter the competition carrying the burden of successive defeats to Wales and England in the final clashes of their [...]
European Champions Cup semi-final preview: Can Saracens stop Wasps’ Christian Wade? Will Dan Carter roll back the years at Leicester? April 21, 2016 English rugby's rapid renaissance following last year's World Cup humiliation continues this weekend with three Premiership Rugby teams in the European Champions Cup semi-finals. Saracens host Wasps at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on Saturday before Leicester play Racing 92 of France a day later in Nottingham. Here's what to look out for: Read more: [...]
UK retailers enjoy best September in three years with sales up 2.8 per cent – BDO October 8, 2015 Shoppers flocked back to the high street last month after a weak August as retailers enjoyed their best September performance in three years. UK retail sales rose by 2.8 per cent year-on-year – the best figures for the month of September since 2012 and the highest monthly rise since April last year, BDO’s monthly High [...]
Lancaster set to trial first-choice centre pairing September 2, 2015 England head coach Stuart Lancaster is set to run the rule over his expected first-choice centre pairing for the Rugby World Cup after naming Brad Barritt in his side to face Ireland in the QBE International at Twickenham on Saturday. Barritt has shrugged off the calf injury which has ruled him out of England’s previous [...]
Horrifying house prices (and other scare stories) – here’s what got us talking this week October 30, 2015 It was a week in which we discovered that two teenagers were suspects in the TalkTalk hack (but that "significantly" fewer people were affected. We learned that all MPs earn a lot more than their constituents. And we discovered that the UK's population is growing much quicker than previously thought. Here's what got us talking this week [...]
My reign will have been a failure if England aren’t the best in the world, says head coach Eddie Jones May 10, 2016 Head coach Eddie Jones insists he will have failed if he does not transform England into the best Test side in the world. The Australian, appointed in November, picked up the pieces from last autumn’s harrowing World Cup showing and promptly guided England to their first Six Nations grand slam since 2003 in March. England [...]