Ollie Phillips: Danny Cipriani and Dan Robson need to be on England’s radar for South Africa tour March 22, 2018 Rumblings of the same old Eddie Jones – really impactful in the first couple of years before losing his way – are well and truly underway following England’s fifth-place Six Nations finish. Fantastic results and quality performances over the past two years have brought an expectation and that pressure will be weighing heavily upon Jones [...]
Will Fraser interview: Why the former Saracens flanker will never be bitter at rugby despite retirement at 27 January 8, 2018 For much of his career, Will Fraser was tipped to be England’s first-choice openside flanker. A couple of years ago, you did not have to look hard to find column inches suggesting that by now the Saracens flanker would — if he could just get over his injury troubles — have nailed down the national [...]
Ollie Phillips: There is merit in ring-fencing Premiership and abolishing promotion and relegation December 1, 2017 Scrapping relegation from the Premiership is the eternal debate and the question reared its head once again this week when the topic was part of a wider discussion at a professional game board meeting. I’m torn on the issue. I can see the financial benefits of having no promotion to or relegation from the Premiership. [...]
Olympic Stadium investigation: Beancounters net fees, findings to be made public this summer March 13, 2017 The mid-tier accountancy firm undertaking the forensic investigation into the London Stadium overspend will net at least £140,000, according to documents published by City Hall. Moore Stephens was appointed in February to perform a review of how the cost to transform the Olympic Stadium into the multi-use London Stadium increased from an original budget of £115m to £323m. The firm plans to deliver [...]
Britons spend less on drinking out in November after Rugby World Cup hangover December 23, 2015 Consumer spending on going out and entertainment fell by eight per cent in November as Britons tightened their belts ahead of Christmas. Households spent £17 less on leisure activities last month compared with October, dragging year-on-year spending down by two per cent overall, according to pub group Greene King’s latest Leisure Spend Tracker. Drinking out [...]
Focus On Twickenham: Families flock to TW1 for period houses, riverside walks, and a 25min commute March 17, 2017 As the Six Nations tournament comes to a close this Saturday, all eyes are on Twickenham. This leafy south west London suburb may buzz with life around match days – with the thoroughfare between Twickenham station and the stadium getting particularly boisterous – but the rest of the time, it’s the picture of modern, aspirational [...]
Six Nations introduces bonus points in 2017 competition to encourage attacking rugby November 30, 2016 Next year's Six Nations will feature a bonus point system the competition hopes will reward "try scoring and attacking play". From 2017 onwards the competition will double the points awarded for a win from two to four and will reward a bonus point to any team that scores four or more tries, replicating a scoring [...]
What is VAR and how does it work? Ahead of Brighton v Crystal Palace, has football’s trial with video assistant referees been a success so far January 7, 2018 The high-stakes nature of knock-out football and the added scrutiny of a grudge match are not the only unusual elements facing Brighton and Crystal Palace players when the two sides meet in the FA Cup on Monday night. They may also need to negotiate the use of video technology which some colleagues in other countries [...]
Wimbledon tops most-attended list as British fans continue to flock to live sport December 14, 2016 Britons snapped up tickets for live sporting events at a rate of more than one for every person in the country this year, according to research published today by Deloitte. Attendances reached 69.8m in 2016 and were only 700,000 down on last year’s figures, despite the lack of a major showpiece event such as the 2015 [...]
Can advertising be a force for good? Diageo’s Syl Saller certainly thinks so February 13, 2017 If the early bird catches the worm, then the attendees of this year’s Advertising Association LEAD summit must have been full by the time it began. Early starts are anathema to most in the media, myself included, but the full force of AdLand was on parade, bright-eyed – despite the culture secretary’s dry, cliched, keynote [...]