ITV and BBC to share Six Nations coverage in £300m deal July 9, 2015 The BBC will share Six Nations coverage with ITV from 2016, keeping the European rugby tournament on free-to-air television until 2021. Read more: BBC loses Olympic broadcast rights as Eurosport signs £922m deal The deal, thought to be worth around £50m a year, will mean England's home matches are broadcast on ITV and their away fixtures [...]
Businesses run the City as Barclays wins the 2015 Bloomberg Square Mile Relay, with appearances from Will Greenwood, Lizzy Yarnold and Michael Bloomberg September 18, 2015 The area around Guildhall was overrun with the City's fastest runners, who switched their suits for running gear to take part in the 2015 Bloomberg Square Mile Relay yesterday. On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, Will Greenwood, part of the England 2003 World Cup winning side, was on hand to start the race [...]
France defeat is huge World Cup wake-up call, says Haskell August 23, 2015 ENGLAND flanker James Haskell admits that his side were dealt a stark Rugby World Cup warning during their 25-20 defeat to France in Saturday’s warm-up clash. Late tries from replacement Danny Cipriani and centre Jonathan Joseph masked the remainder of the game in which France dominated as wing Yoann Huget dotted down and Frederic Michalak [...]
Louis Saha: Football should follow rugby’s lead and introduce TV replays for the benefit of fans, referees and players October 2, 2015 As always when rugby’s in the news, conversations about its difference to football dominate sporting debate. A key contrast that’s been discussed a lot during the World Cup is the way rugby has widely embraced video technology while football just relies upon goal-line incidents. Why can't football simply re-play video of disputed incidents, then and [...]
Arsenal and Manchester United most popular destinations for overseas Premier League fans, who add £700m to UK economy September 10, 2015 Football fans travelling from abroad to watch live Premier League football add £684m to the UK economy, according to a new study. Read more: Weak euro saves Premier League clubs up to £85m during record summer of blockbuster signings Around 800,000 overseas fans paid for Premier League tickets in 2014 – an increase of 50,000 in [...]
Burgess unfazed by Carling criticism on World Cup selection September 3, 2015 RUGBY league convert Sam Burgess insists he is at ease with criticism from Will Carling after revealing the former England captain and fellow centre had contacted him to explain his scathing judgement. Carling said last week that head coach Stuart Lancaster had made a mistake by including Burgess in his 31-man squad for this month’s [...]
Viagogo making a splash in secondary ticketing market July 13, 2015 Joe Hall catches up with London-formed firm ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup For years, it was a humiliating ritual many a sport fan would suffer. Ticketless and desperate, your only hope of getting a cherished seat for the match was a shifty-eyed bloke near the stadium asking you to give up a [...]
England call on Easter for a World Cup resurrection September 29, 2015 COACH Andy Farrell has backed veteran No8 Nick Easter to make his mark on England’s bid to resurrect their World Cup hopes after being called into the squad to replace the injured Billy Vunipola. Saracens wrecking ball Vunipola was ruled out of the tournament yesterday after a scan revealed he had strained a knee ligament [...]
England v Wales: Richard Wigglesworth expects Warren Gatland’s side to be fiercely competitive despite injury woes September 21, 2015 England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth insists Wales’ deepening injury woes will not dilute their fierce competitiveness when the two sides do Rugby World Cup battle at Twickenham on Saturday. Cardiff Blues centre Cory Allen, who scored a hat-trick in his side’s 54-9 thrashing of Uruguay on Sunday, became the latest Welsh player to be ruled out of [...]
Warren Gatland offers lifeline after axing Lions Hibbard, Phillips and Hook August 13, 2015 Wales head coach Warren Gatland insists the Rugby World Cup dream remains alive for Richard Hibbard, Mike Phillips and James Hook, despite axing the three British and Irish Lions stars from his squad. Hooker Hibbard, scrum-half Phillips and fly-half Hook were among eight players released to their regions yesterday as Gatland pruned his training party [...]