List of All Articles with Tag 'sport'

Aaron Rodgers is working throughout camp to build a rapport with the New York Jets’ offense and turn one of the NFL’s worst units the past few seasons into one of its best

Auburn fans will once again be able to celebrate victories by rolling the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner with toilet paper

Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen says running back Jonathan Taylor did not attend Tuesday's practice because he's continuing to rehabilitate from offseason ankle surgery

The National Basketball Association set a league record for most head coaches of color in the past year, helping it earn high grades in an annual diversity report

It was before sunrise in Colombia when the celebrations began

Atlantic Coast Conference presidents and chancellors held a conference call but took no action on West Coast expansion with California and Stanford

Two-time LeMans winner Mike Rockenfeller has been chosen to replace suspended driver Noah Gragson in the next two NASCAR Cup Series races

Bans for discriminatory abuse should at least match the sanctions imposed for betting offences, Anton Ferdinand has said. The former QPR and West Ham defender, who was racially abused by Chelsea captain John Terry during a Premier League match in 2011, challenged the game’s authorities to act tougher on discrimination, not just talk tougher. He also said the game’s executives should be the ones to instigate player walk-offs where there are instances of racism, rather than leave it to the players themselves. Ferdinand, who was speaking at an event at Wembley to mark the 30th anniversary since the launch of anti-discrimination group Kick It Out, said: “Football as a whole is very good at saying ‘all forms of discrimination are top of our list to eradicate’. But the actions don’t match the words. “How can it be at the top of the list to eradicate, but you can get an 18-month ban for betting and a four-match ban for racism or other forms of discrimination?” Four matches was the length of the ban Terry served in 2012 after the Football Association found he had abused Ferdinand, even though a criminal court had cleared Terry of the same offence. In contrast, Brentford forward Ivan Toney was banned for eight months in May for breaches of FA betting rules. Asked whether racism bans should be at least that long, Ferdinand said: “It should be around that. On the simple basis that if it’s the number one thing to eradicate, how do you eradicate things? There has to be a strong deterrent. “Right now there’s no accountability. A fan got banned for a long time (referring to a three-year ban issued to a Chelsea supporter for racially abusing Tottenham forward Son Heung-min). Is three years going to stop someone doing it? It might make them think, but is it going to stop them? No, I don’t think it will. If all of a sudden they can’t go and watch their beloved team again, they’re going to do more than think.” Asked if he meant life bans for fans, Ferdinand added: “If it’s the top of your list (to eradicate), why wouldn’t it be?” He also called for greater leadership from football authority executives when it comes to taking a stand against discrimination. Ferdinand said he had met with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham to discuss the issue. “As a player, if someone racially abuses us we’re not walking off the pitch. It’s not in us to do that,” he said. “We’re paid competitors. The thought process is: ‘If I walk off, they’ve won. This is what they want. They want me to walk off’. “I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying it’s the way we’re wired as footballers. To take that away, it can’t be just the player’s decision to walk off the pitch. “You can’t abuse the frameworks of an organisation, but you can abuse a player. I’m telling you now, if I’m in that changing room here at Wembley and Gareth Southgate’s going ‘Who wants to walk off?’ I’m not putting my hand up because I know what’s coming. “(The media) are going to find out who said they didn’t want to go out on the pitch, and what’s going to happen to that person? They’re going to get abused. Fact. “Whereas if Mark Bullingham goes in the dressing room and goes ‘Gareth, the players aren’t going on and we as the FA are going to make a statement that says we drew the players off, it was nothing to do with the players’ – that’s when we’ll start to see change.” Kick It Out published an Impact Report to mark its anniversary, which highlighted both the improvements over the last three decades and the challenges that still lie ahead. While 73 per cent of the more than 2,500 football fans surveyed for the report felt football was now more inclusive, even higher numbers remain concerned about the impact of online abuse on inclusivity and say more needs to be done to tackle discriminatory abuse in stadiums towards players and fans. Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett said the organisation is determined to tackle under-representation issues in the game, which first requires football to commit to providing transparent workforce data. Burnett said it was a “comforting lie” that society and football told itself that it was a meritocracy. Burnett and Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari both spoke too about the importance of simplifying the process for reporting discrimination. Bhandari said there are currently more than 200 ways in which an incident of discrimination could be reported, and the Impact Report found only 18 per cent of fans who witnessed discrimination reported it. Despite the positive findings on inclusivity, Burnett said far more needs to be done to improve the culture. “It means having robust systems in place within football so that victims of discrimination are able to speak up and to feel supported appropriately,” he told delegates at Wembley. “It means having robust processes in place to ensure perpetrators are dealt with and not simply moved aside to continue spreading hate, no matter their status or their track record of success. A bully is a bully. A homophobe is a homophobe. And they should have no place in our game.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live We are sleepwalking into a disaster – PFA chief worried about demands on players Arsenal agree deal to sign Brentford goalkeeper David Raya Jack Conan remains injury concern before World Cup after missing Portugal camp

They’re finishing each other’s sentences already

The Grammy-winning performer Ciara is expecting her fourth child, her third with husband and Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson

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Football is “sleepwalking into a disaster” by adding ever more demands on players and forcing them to make drastic decisions about their careers, Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango has said. Premier League matches are set to last comfortably longer than 100 minutes on average in the season ahead after referees in competitions worldwide were instructed by the game’s lawmakers to more accurately measure time lost to stoppages. The approach was first adopted at the World Cup in Qatar last year where it was largely positively received, but Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane have already highlighted the impact of such a move across a long domestic season. Varane retired from international football at the age of 29 earlier this year, likening the demands of the top-level game to being in a washing machine, and said the new measure was “damaging” alongside an already-packed schedule of matches. Molango believes other players will feel they have no option but to follow Varane’s lead, and fears matters will get even worse when European club competitions expand from 2024-25 and the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup kicks off at the end of the same campaign. “What (Varane) is saying is, ‘this is not sustainable’. And it’s only the start of the problem because by next year, when we open the new cycle, it’s going to be absolutely crazy. We are sleepwalking into a disaster,” he said. “It’s getting to a stage where it’s not about us telling them to take action. It is that they want to take it themselves. So what we’re saying to the authorities is that you’re bringing this to an extreme. “It’s not going to be a question of the union saying, ‘do this or that’. It’s players themselves who are saying to us, ‘let’s do something’. “It’s not sustainable, it’s not manageable and if you don’t do something we’re going to be in trouble.” Figures released on Twitter by the EFL indicated that the average ball-in-play time for the weekend’s matches was 58 minutes, up from 50 last season, while added time signalled by the fourth official increased by 5.9 minutes on average. Molango was asked whether he thought the length of matches would gradually return to normal as players became used to the new approach. “We need to reflect on how we got to this point,” he said. “That’s why we said we need to have these discussions with the authorities. “Until you see how certain changes play out, then it’s difficult to assess. I don’t think a measure that was applied for a tournament that lasts for a month can just be extrapolated immediately to an entire season.” It's not sustainable, it's not manageable and if you don't do something we’re going to be in trouble PFA chief executive Maheta Molango Molango said a “significant number” of players had raised concerns over the change in approach on added time when taken together with the congested calendar, and added: “After this weekend’s Shield (I had players) contacting me within hours of the end of the game. “And again, not about, ‘we’ve lost the game because of this’ and finding excuses. It was about the issue. That’s how smart they are. They’re seeing the bigger picture. They are saying, ‘if we, as two teams who love playing and don’t want interruption, don’t waste time, have eight minutes added at the end of the game, I don’t want to think what will happen to the teams that actually do waste time’. “And if you add those minutes, then by Christmas you have played five more games on top of the 70 you already play.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Bans for racism should match those for betting offences – Anton Ferdinand Arsenal agree deal to sign Brentford goalkeeper David Raya Jack Conan remains injury concern before World Cup after missing Portugal camp