Sports & Casinos UK

Our cartoonist looks back at Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash at the Etihad as the title race got even hotterBuy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

Fernando Mendoza is a lock to go No 1, but what happens after is less certain. From a difference-making running back to a polarizing QB, we look at the biggest questions entering draft nightThe draft begins with the second pick this year. We know Fernando Mendoza will be the Las Vegas Raiders’ selection at No 1 overall. With the second pick, the Jets have a decision to make: edge-rusher David Bailey from Texas Tech or the hybrid defender Arvell Reese from Ohio State. Continue reading...

The Canadian side have the league’s best record, the best defender, a global superstar, and a ‘for sale’ sign in the windowWhen the Vancouver Whitecaps went up for sale, the club was already bruised and bloodied. It was December 2024, and Vancouver had just limped to an eighth-place finish in the MLS Western Conference, which cost beloved coach Vanni Sartini his job. Facing the uncertainty of new ownership, the last rites were performed, the death knell was sounded and the club’s obituary was prepared.Axel Schuster, the club’s CEO and sporting director, put on a brave face when speaking to reporters during a sombre press conference. The Whitecaps were coachless and rudderless, and there were questions about a problematic BC Place stadium deal, surely offputting to any potential bidder. There were questions about potential relocation. But Schuster focused on the opportunities that would come with new investment and his wider belief in the talent of the squad. Continue reading...

Brady has been target of fan anger with club strugglingShe says Conference League win was the highlightKarren Brady has stepped down as vice-chair of West Ham. She joined the club’s board in January 2010 and has announced her departure the morning after West Ham drew at Crystal Palace to sit two points above the Premier League’s relegation zone.Brady and the co-owner David Sullivan have been the target of fan anger. In a statement to the Times, Brady said: “It has been a privilege to work alongside the board, management, players, staff and supporters at West Ham United. Continue reading...

Leicester City, the champions of England 10 years ago, could be relegated on Tuesday, with plenty more ups and downs to be resolved in the next few daysPromoted: Coventry.Relegated: Sheffield Wednesday. Continue reading...

The journey from the Von Neumann to the Niemann affair has much to teach us about the changed landscape of the sportThere really is, it turns out, a true story involving cheating in chess and a vibrating crotch. Only this one is a whodunnit that dates back more than 30 years and was only solved last week.Imagine the scene at the World Open in Philadelphia in 1993 when a mysterious unrated player with fake dreadlocks and headphones, and with a bulge that vibrates in his trousers, shows up. Now multiply it 100-fold when this unknown amateur, who calls himself John von Neumann after the founder of game theory, draws with a grandmaster, Helgi Ólafsson, in round two. Continue reading...

IFR budget has risen from £10m previously projectedLevy imposed on clubs will be tiny fraction of revenuesPremier League clubs are increasingly unhappy at the Independent Football Regulator’s (IFR’s) costs and uncertainty about how much each club will be made to pay.Premier League and EFL clubs have repeatedly asked the IFR for an update on its operating budget, which is believed to have risen significantly from the annual £10m projected by the previous government, and been frustrated by the limited response. Continue reading...

F1’s latest world champion speaks with deep candour about overcoming his insecurities but questions about Max Verstappen and regulations? Off limitsThere are always complications and difficulties in Formula One, as there are in life and even in this interview. On a beautiful evening at a lavish golf club in Surrey, Lando Norris and I are tucked away in an anonymous yet brightly lit room crammed with a television crew and representatives from his management team and Laureus, the global organisation driven by a belief that “sport has the power to change the world”.At first Norris talks thoughtfully and honestly about his struggles with profound insecurity before becoming world champion last year. But we reach a low point when a young man from his management company feels sufficiently empowered to answer questions on the 26-year-old’s behalf, as a way of controlling our interview. Continue reading...

From start to finish, the high farce of the umpire abuse case against Zak Butters may force the league to confront two serious problemsIn words no one could have predicted using two weeks ago, in the end it was a real estate agent who ostensibly brought down the AFL’s case against Zak Butters. The Port Adelaide player was cleared of umpire abuse on Monday night, after the AFL appeals board overturned the tribunal’s verdict based on an “error of law” through a “miscarriage of justice”. It brought to a close a farcical chapter that started with missing evidence and ended with barking dogs. And between those unusual bookends, Butters’ case took several other unexpectedly comical turns.Umpire abuse is a serious issue – one that permeates every level of sport from grassroots to the elite – and cracking down on it at the top level sends an important message. Yet when field umpire Nick Foot claimed Butters had asked, “How much are they paying you?” after he awarded St Kilda a free kick, it wasn’t those words that drew shock and condemnation. It was instead the reminder that an AFL umpire is allowed to work for a sports betting agency. Continue reading...

‘It’s all about just learning right now,’ says Jamaican greatYoung Australian due to face world’s best in busy 2026Like running fast, growing pains are something sprint lord Usain Bolt knows something about. So when he tells teenage phenomenon Gout Gout that his first steps into the world of senior athletics will not be easy, the Australian ought to take heed.“I know it’s going to be an eye-opener,” Bolt told CNN of Gout’s first year as an adult, and an impending succession of showdowns against the world’s best sprinters. “And I hope it doesn’t get him down, but motivate him to work even harder.” Continue reading...