Sport

England edge out France to win Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup

I think wheelchair rugby’s a great idea.

But I end up thinking there’s a certain absurdity to carrying over the league/union distinction into it…….

Given the wide spread of interests among readers here, anyone actually know what the rule differences are between w/chair/union and w/chair/league? And why are they specifically to do with those two code origins?

And we’re looking for something more than a northern proles against southern shandy drinking toffs difference.

Pool D: Wales 12-18 Cook Islands

Cook Islands even have a rugby team?

Ahhhhh…..league. Cook Islands being like the New Zealand C team, Wales being, ummm…….

“I have never, for a long long time, thought ‘I wish I was still playing’,” he says. “But, when you get in and around a competition like this and see the players, all the hype around it, you do think… ‘hmmm maybe 10 minutes’. But the reality is that I wouldn’t last 10 seconds. I see it as chapters in life. If every chapter was the same it would be a very boring book. I’ve got new challenges and helping the guys to make this the best tournament is one of them.”

Seems to be maturing well, dunn’e? Knowing what you can no longer do being an important part of it.

In spite of these conditions, 21-year old Florence Nakaggwa is out training in the outskirts of Masaka, a town 80 miles south-west of the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

She cycles between 30-60 miles (50-100km) each day, switching from tarmac to the red soil of village roads.

Earlier this year, Nakaggwa became Uganda’s first female rider to receive a professional cycling contract, signing with Team Amani, a racing collective fiercely pushing for inclusivity for riders across east Africa. Based in the Netherlands it has sister clubs in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

The team provides her with 900,000 Ugandan shillings (about £200) a month, equipment, clothing and representation at races around the globe.

Now, I’m not all that sure about what is really required for bicycle racing. In the physical sense that is. Yes, obviously, some ghastly level of fitness and willingness to train and all that. And I’d guess the equipment and at least a modicum of decent roads etc.

I could be persuaded though into believing that what is required for cycling is not that far away from that required for long distance running – lungs and hearts. Which would make those upland areas of East Africa a natural recruiting area.

So, anyone who knows more about this than me want to weigh in? Are we going to see cycling teams scouring as the football lot have been doing these past few decades?

My immediate – and appalling – reaction to this headline:

Oscar Pistorius kneels in tearful apology to Reeva Steenkamp’s father

Emily Hamilton, 46, who was among 15 protesters waving pink and blue flags at the open session, claimed top names in the sport were privately supportive of her cause. “I’m a Harlequins fan, a trans woman and an ex-player of 18 seasons, but as of last week I’m prohibited from playing rugby now,” said the founding co-chair of the QuinsPride supporters group.

You’re banned from playing rugby against those your male derived physique will be dangerous to.

Just like you’re not allowed to play against the under-16 team. Your physique makes you dangerous to the other players.

Tough, err, tittie.

Earlier, there were scenes of chaos as around 30 bodies and carbon bikes piled up in the middle of the road on the Tour’s 175.6 kilometre marathon stage – the longest ever in the modern era of women’s cycling – from Bar-le-Duc to Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges.

The Rugby Football Union will recommend that its council votes to ban trans women “assigned male at birth” from female contact rugby in a bid to “prioritise fairness of competition and safety of players”.

It’s a contact sport. D’Oh.

No, not purely a jibe. But the plucky British outsider carrying the hopes of the nation and in with a chance of glory now falls out in the semis rather than round 2 of the qualifying. That’s an advance, right?

Revealed: ‘Secret society’ of tennis umpires living under reign of fear, power abuses and sexual favours

So, the tennis players had to in order…….ah, no, that’s not what they’re saying is it? Anna was safe.

Tennis umpires are living under a “rule of fear” and are at risk of predatory sexual advances according to leading figures within the sport, who have called for urgent reform to prevent the exploitation of young officials.

It’s the umpires being exploited.

“Using your body” – being open to sexual advances – has long been considered a fast track for aspiring umpires

There are a lot of areas of life where that’s true. Given human interest in sex and the relationship between power and getting it that’s also unlikely to change.

Spring is sprung, the intention is to get the bicycle back out on the road to potter through the countryside. This requires a bike shop.

Albufeira seems not to have any if Google is to be believed. Well, there’s one, new one, but that’s the sort of place with €5k mountain bikes and power tools for doing nuts up with – air compressors etc. Not the sort of place where my old sit up and beg would go.

Seems odd for a city of 30k people really. Could be my language skills, my Google Fu, or summat strange about the place. Especially as cycling is a popular sport here (like France or Italy) even if just pottering cycling isn’t.

Hmm….

Italy stunned by North Macedonia in play-off and will miss second World Cup in succession
The European champions had 32 attempts at goal but failed to find the net and were knocked out by a last-gasp strike from the visitors

Socks need to be pulled up lads, socks need to be pulled up….

To mark International Women’s Day, the LTA called on organisations including Google to boost the visibility of women’s sport by removing inherent gender bias that exists in search engine algorithms for results about sport. “Greater visibility is crucial for women’s tennis and for women’s sport in general in terms of building the perception of sport as being something for women, and in turn leading to greater participation,” LTA COO Julie Porter said.

“We’ve seen recently that the women’s finals at Grand Slams have attracted more television viewers than the men’s finals, but that visibility is not yet reflected in the balance of what people see when they search. It is genuinely shocking to see how dominated these results are by male-specific information. While gender parity in search is an issue that reaches far beyond just sport, if it is like this for a leading women’s sport like tennis then it demonstrates just how important it is that this issue is addressed.”

The algos are trained by what folk look at, what is clicked etc. It’s us out here directing that male bias in the results, not Google.

News just in, the Beijing Winter Olympics has just been disrupted by snow….

Maggie Alphonsi’s team of the Six Nations week two: Five France players in XV after Ireland thriller

I can’t actually bring myself to care what Ms. Alphonsi thinks about a rugby team.

This is not because she is female – although I’m sure I’ll get accused of that. Rather, having listened to her commentary now for some matches I find nothing of interest in it.

It’s not female rugby commentator that’s a problem, it’s this rugby commentator.

Perhaps I’m picky. For I find Dallaglio’s written pieces vastly better than his live stuff…..Barnes better live than written because his pieces can wander, bit like his playing. Seems there’s something about the live and do it right now part that suits him better.

Skeleton is just like the luge except upside down and backwards?

However, the Winter Olympics has a lower barrier to entry for nations that don’t usually qualify. That allowed Mr Alexander, who has a Jamaican father, to “nerd out” over the International Ski Federations’ database and target the races he competed in.

On Wednesday, he secured qualification for Beijing 2022 by coming seventh in the Cape Verde National Ski Championships in Liechtenstein.

The idea that Cabo Verde – a few hundred thousand people on some volcanic origin islands off Africa – around and about the Equator – has a national ski championship is lovely, That it’s held in Leichtenstein is even better.

It’s the sort of thing that could be a plot point in a follow up to The Mouse that Roared….

A judge in Melbourne has ordered the immediate release of Novak Djokovic from immigration detention after overturning the Australian government’s decision to cancel his visa.

Judge Anthony Kelly said that the decision to cancel the temporary visa should be quashed and the minister for Home Affairs must pay his costs and take “all necessary to steps to release the applicant immediately”.

So it appears that one story of this tale is actually correct. He applied for and was given a visa lawfully.

Hmm, that’s interesting, isn’t it?

If you’re of Ladino heritage then they’ve give you a passport here:

Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Chelsea owner, has become a Portuguese citizen after discovering his ancestors were among Jews persecuted in the country. The 55-year-old Russian, who attended a match at Stamford Bridge last month for the first time in three years, now has three passports, having also previously taken Israeli citizenship.

Well, of Portuguese Ladino of course. Bit of a surprise to find an Ashkenazi claiming it but there we go.