Sports

Much as the internet wills it otherwise, football inhabits the grey areas: everything is subjective, nothing is absolute, and it is no more deviant to change your mind than it is fraudulent to say you don’t know. However, certain truths are elemental, and here’s one: the 1996-2005 rivalry between Arsenal …

The backheel. Sleight of foot. The footballer’s equivalent of a conjurer’s vanishing trick and invariably eulogised as being “sumptuous” or “exquisite”. Performed well, it prompts confusion: now you see the ball, now you don’t. A deceptive form of football improvisation, a successfully executed backheel can render opponents spellbound and feeling …

If new England coach Shaun Wane gets to meet his squad for the first time next Monday at Old Trafford, there will be some noticeable absentees. The NRL contingent will not be there and neither will any of the six half-backs who went on tour with Great Britain five months …

It is anyone’s guess how long it will last, but British racing will head behind closed doors at Kelso on Monday and, from “later in the week”, at the remainder of Britain’s racecourses too. No spectators, no bookies, no Tote, no atmosphere. Jockeys in particular will soon be working in …

The UK Anti-Doping Agency is poised to launch an investigation into allegations that a member of Tyson Fury’s team offered a farmer £25,000 to provide a false alibi after the heavyweight champion failed a drugs test in 2015. Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, and his cousin Hughie, both blamed their …

The International Olympic Committee must act decisively by postponing the Tokyo 2020 Games because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a British athlete has told the Guardian. Guy Learmonth, who captained the GB team at the European Indoor Championships last year and is hoping to be picked in the …

For 80 minutes at least everything felt normal. The roar when Derrell Olpherts scored a sensational one-handed try was what one would expect in this part of the world. The rendition of Sweet Caroline which accompanies every Castleford Tigers victory was, for anyone who has heard it before, routine. But …

British racing is likely to go behind closed doors from later this week, initially until the end of March but potentially for much longer, following a recommendation of the industry’s Covid-19 working party which will be considered on Monday by racing’s senior executives. Possible changes to the fixture list will …

The only thing on Yannick Maden’s agenda at the beginning of last week was tennis, yet instead he found himself caught up in the rapidly shifting foreign policy of a world changed by coronavirus. Ranked 149th on the ATP, Maden planned his travel to Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan, …

Premiership rugby union fixtures are to be postponed with immediate effect because of the coronavirus outbreak with European competitions set to be mothballed as well. The announcement will be made officially after a series of meetings to debate the best way ahead conclude on Monday. With the Pro14 and Top …