Sport

Transgender youth athletes have vowed to keep playing sports and fighting for equal access to teams after the US supreme court ruled in favor of laws banning their participation.

The court’s conservative supermajority on Tuesday upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho prohibiting trans girls from participating in women’s teams, finding the laws were constitutional.

The ruling advances one of the central causes of anti-LGBTQ+ advocates, who have been pushing to curtail the rights of trans people across society, including in education, employment, healthcare and the military.

The whole point of male and female sporting classes, boy and girl, is that men and women, girls and boys, are physically different in a way that matters in sport. That’s why we have the segregation.

Gender – claimed gender if you wish – is a different thing from these physical differences based upon sex.

The argument that boys should be in the girls classes – boys by sex because of gender claimed – is to refute the very idea of having boys and girls classes.

It’s arguing black is white.

Makes me wonder what the hell is going through the minds of those trying to make this argument. If anything at all is going through such minds. If the minds exist even.

Someone should slap this idiot:

Like many of us, Marcos Ortega enters the Wimbledon public ticket ballot every year in the hope of seeing some championship tennis. In seven straight years of trying, however, he has never got lucky. So he was delighted – initially, at least – to learn there was a way to secure a ticket for every game played on Centre Court.

But Ortega’s hopeful delight quickly turned to anger when he discovered that it would cost him £293,000.

“I’ve played tennis all my life and I’d really love to go to Wimbledon. It’s the premier tennis competition in the world,” he said. “But I’ve never got any in the ballot, and the queue is ridiculous. Now, I learn that if you’re rich enough there is a way to pay your way in. It doesn’t seem fair.”

Yes, debentures. Which are loans to Wimbledon to enable them to be able to build courts and stands and all that. In return you get free tickets.

“Wimbledon promotes itself as the most democratic and diverse tournament,” Ortega said while warming up for a friendly match with his girlfriend on public courts in Clissold Park, north London. “But this shows it is really about making the most money possible.”

Someone slap that ignorant twat.

Emma Raducanu launches eco-friendly vegan deodorant ‘inspired by Kent upbringing’
British No 1 unveils ‘The Garden of England’ range, featuring scents of rhubarb, rose petals and fresh green leaves

There’s clearly some sort of joke to be made about the toothsome Ms. Raducanu, rhubarb and custard. But the precise formulation is escaping me this morning.

Perhaps Steve would care to do the honours? Any other attempts?

What followed was, as she describes it in her memoir, a hellish four years for Cain during which, she says, Salazar became emotionally abusive. Cain details a coach who was obsessed with Cain’s weight, isolated her from her own parents, sent her to a sports “psychologist” who was not credentialed, and ignored her clear signs of suicidal ideation, disordered eating and self-harm (Salazar has denied any wrongdoing and he and Nike settled a lawsuit brought by Cain in 2023 alleging the abuse).

The background:

Cain set four different national high school records as a teen, and as a 17-year old made the world championships in the 1500m, finishing 10th in a field of pros. But instead of heading to college to run D-1, she was contacted by Alberto Salazar, a famed running coach at Nike’s Oregon Project, who convinced her to give up college track and go pro, with him.

Umm, how do you become a worldbeater without a bit of pressure?

And that is the complaint by the way. But her autobiog is launched with a full Guardian piece and so on.

Abuse, eh?

Dianna Russini, one of the NFL’s most high-profile reporters, is photographed holding hands with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at a fancy resort in Sedona, Arizona. Rumors fly. Vrabel and Russini, who are both married to other people, issue statements denying the assumptions of something untoward. But the firestorm only grows. Russini resigns from her post at the Athletic, Vrabel continues with his job as usual.

The female reporter’s career is in shambles. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for the male head coach.

Who could have seen this coming?

The most obvious – and clearly my view – is that it always is the woman who is the brazen hussy and must be punished. The bloke’s just exercising his right to extra pussy after all.

Other than the religious argument- they’ve both sinned, into hte fires of Hell with both – there’s eally only the one other left. A coach shagging someone he directly employs is very Tsk given potential power imbalances. Other than that, well, and?

But a reporter, erm, haven’t we just been having problems with that? Wasn’t it some bird sho shagged everyone she ever interviewed? This was all though to be very bad for some reason. I mean I dunno, a reputation like that could make finding someone to interview easier. But it all was thought to be very bad, no?

So, it’s very bad then, right?

More than half the countries that have qualified for the World Cup are facing additional costs and potential losses due to Fifa’s failure to agree a blanket tax exemption with the United States government and significant variance in the host country’s international tax treaties.

As a not-for-profit organisation Fifa has had tax-free status in the US since the 1994 World Cup, but that exemption does not apply to all of the 48 qualifiers, whose national associations must pay a range of federal, state and city taxes on their earnings from the tournament this summer.

Players also need to pay US tax on their earnings in the US.

I recall emanations from Ely back when the UK hosted summat. Can’t recall what it was but a big jamboree. And there was outrage that the participants had a blanket protection from UK taxation for the period of the jamboree. This is outrageous, tax foreigners etc.

Jus’ wonder what the commentary would be now that it’s Trumpy following the policy formerly recommended?

Didn’t Scotland do well? And Italy…..and I would imagine some of the old English war horses are seeing that pasture, being put out to, coming closer.

I don’t watch the matches these days. Not excited enough to then work out how to use the modern TV and get access.

But, an impression of a change from 20, 30 years back. The biggest change – to me – is that the second and third rank teams now have people who can kick. As that’s worth a considerable number of points – penalties, conversions – this matters hugely. Think back to when we wondered at Bergamasco trying – and the surprise when he managed it. Now that second line of teams all have perfectly competent kickers.

My assumption is that it’s the professional game, possibly most important being the French leagues. 30 years back the fly half (or fullback, whatever) of Italy, or Romania, Georgia, would be playing their club rugby at about our standard of second or even third division. Now they’re in that French first and hugely, wholly, competitive league. Along with kicking coaches and all the rest.

Not a theory I’m wholly wedded to but one I’m willing to put forward. The modern game has allowed many more international teams access to a decent kicker.

So, this 10,000 steps a day thing (no, I’m not thinking of doing it. Rather, just seen it again and pondering it).

So, average human footstep is 2.5 feet, 30 inches (for men at least). 10,000 steps is thus 25,000 feet, which is 14 miles, isn’t it?

Ah, yes, Timmy and numbers. It’s 1720 (-ish) yards, not feet, to the mile. So, 14/3, = 5 miles a day.

Hmm, OK, reasonable enough as a bit of exercise I guess……

His father, who managed a salt factory and owned a petrol station and a small hotel, was only a modest club cricketer and the hand-eye co-ordination with which Wazir and all his brothers were blessed was inherited from their mother, a champion badminton player.
…
Yet no cricketing family has ever rivalled the quartet of Wazir Mohammad and his three brothers, all of whom played for Pakistan, notching up 173 Test appearances between them. They might have been a quintet too but Raees Mohammad — the second of the five brothers and rated by Wazir as the most stylish — had to make do with being the 12th man against India in 1955.

The oldest of the five,

Yes, yes, newly emergent nation, small middle class playing an amateur game and all that. And yet still, one in the eye for the blank slate enthusiasts…..

Of course, the moment I say that I’m reasonably fit is the moment that heart attack is going to leap out at me. Or my liver explode, whatever.

But I am, sorta, a bit, reasonably fit. There’s a 28 km bike ride just by me (from the km posts) and it’s pretty flat and I do that in 65, 70 mins without really pushing. Happily do 50km if I know I’m going to be doing that much – ie, not pressing up hills along the way etc. Which, by the standards of cyclists, is pretty much nothing but for a mid-60s smoker and drinker isn’t horrendous. I can swim a mile and do, regularly (two/three times a week regularly) and the last time I did 150 metres was butterfly because all crawl is too boring.

But I just found out that I cannot run. Tried a couple of days back. Just 1 km up to the next km post on the road, then back to the bike. And I couldn’t get up above a shuffle.

It was me legs. My walking pace seems to be longer than I can manage as a running pace which is v silly indeed.

Is this a thing? Don’t run for decades and muscles, tendons, just don’t stretch to be able to do it? As I say, I can propel myself with my legs – bike, walking, swimming – but just not running.

If anyone knows the answer to that then the next one. Is this just a matter of slowly working up to being able to do it again? Not that I want to enter a marathon or anything but being able to run 5 km now and again would be fun*.

*Yes, I know, different definitions of fun, utility, but there we are.

Money. The one subject the US Ryder Cup team would rather is not discussed this week and the theme that Europe are more than happy to promote. As soon as it was confirmed the US team members would be paid $500,000 a head to play at Bethpage – $300,000 must be given to charity, the rest is a stipend – half of Luke Donald’s team talk was written. Europe play for their cause, their tour, their big picture. The US? Now quite easily portrayed as obsessed with dollar signs. Twelve players, $2.4m, zero caveats.

Noble Europeans doing it for love, ghastly Septics being paid!

Just out of interest, where does the money not paid to the golfers actually go?

“The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case. We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology.”

They’ll be telling us the 5 ft 2 flyweight judo girlie cannot take out the heavyewight boxer next, you mark my words. Where will Hollywood plots be next?

Manchester City have sacked a bar worker who served drinks at the Manchester derby on Sunday wearing a United shirt.

A City supporter contacted the club’s fan support page to raise the issue, attaching a picture of the United fan behind one of the bars on the concourse. He was wearing a dark United away shirt from the 2018-19 season.

Well done that man.

A foundation set up in memory of Diogo Jota is facing questions after it emerged it had no connection to his family or Liverpool.

The Diogo Jota Foundation has been soliciting donations via a website, diogojotafoundation.org – created three days after the striker’s tragic death – which says it has raised $64,250 (£47,715).

Would have expected a scam like this to raise much, much, more than that.

Obviously slightly difficult. If you’re running a scam you don’t want too much publicity, as the scam will be revealed. But you’d like some so that you get cash….

Rugby player banned for telling female referee to ‘get your baps out’
Official shocked by verbal tirade from ‘intoxicated’ individual while her parents who were in the crowd were ‘heartbroken and angry’

A player, yes, but not a player in that actual match but a spectator.

Yes, this makes a difference to the level of referee abuse this was. Other than that, good. The whole point of rugby is that it’s a game for thugs not played by thugs.

US hunter gored to death by buffalo he was tracking in South Africa

One where the winner is not preordained…..

Apparently this is news these days.

A video showing England fans singing “Ten German Bombers” in front of a young boy has been posted to a Facebook group run by the Football Association.

The 22-second clip was uploaded to the official page of the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) a little under two hours before Thomas Tuchel’s first away game as national team manager.

The footage shows a number of fans singing the illicit chant in a bar,

So it’s not actually the FA posting it, etc. Bit “illicit”? Impolitic perhaps but actually claiming that it’s illegal?

That’s about where we tell the people doing the defining to fuck off isn’t it? And if they have declared it to be illegal then we definitely tell ’em to fuck off.

As the nation’s finest thoroughbreds prepare to thunder around Aintree for the Grand National, it appears that a not insignificant number of men think they could give them a run for their money.

A poll has revealed that one in 50 believe they could beat a horse in a 100-metre sprint.

The odds would be against them: the fastest horse on record managed a speed of over 40mph while Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, topped out at just over 27mph.

At shorter distances, 25 yards, maybe up to 50 even, the human would normally win. From a standing start at least. Because it’s not speed that matters there it’s acceleration. Getting tons of horseflesh up to speed takes time and effort.

It’s also true that at very long distances – beyond 26 miles of a marathon – the human will also normally win. Well, OK, the athlete who can do that distance then – but we’re also not talking of ponies either. That’s a matter of endurance rather than speed again.

Sure, a horse can go faster than a human. Easy. But whether they complete a distance faster than a human or not does indeed depend upon what distance.

There is potentially a future Premier League in which there are no financial controls – without any limit on spending, without any regulation of the size of commercial deals negotiated with entities under the same ownership – and the demolition of the current system by Manchester City’s legal challenges is certainly doing its best to hasten us there.

Go for it.

Because here’s the nasty little secret. All restrictions upon player salaries, budgets, sources of funds and all the rest, work to the advantage of the other owners in the league/system. Because that’s how cartels do work, in favour of the capitalists. Open, free, laissez faire, markets work in favour of the players.

So, open, free, laissez faire markets it is then. Right?

These restrictions are just the maximum wage imposed again. This time around it’s maximum wages, not wage, but the aim, intention and outcome is the same.