Sport

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

The changing face of English football

As Fraser said earlier, we’ve got a great piece by Mihir Bose in the latest issue of the mag on British football’s debt crisis.  I would normally say that non-football fans should look away now, but the story is so redolent of the entire financial crisis that it’s worth any CoffeeHouser’s time.  What you’ll find is a tale of big clubs, big egos and even bigger debts – the latter running into billions of pounds. Much of this debt has been down to financial brinkmanship on the part of football club owners and chairmen.  Even though money has been pouring into the English game from global television deals and the

Sunday

Alex Massie

Autumn Rugby Round-Up

So, now that the autumn internationals have been completed, we can assess who’s best advanced their preparations for the Six Nations this spring and, longer-term, the next World Cup which, while still distant, is now within sight. In descending order, then, of satisfaction (not quite the same as achievement), the rankings might go something like this: 1. Ireland: The only northern hemisphere side to survive November unbeaten, even if they were mildly fortunate to escape with a draw against Australia. Better than anything on the scoreboard, however, was the emergence of Jonny Sexton as a true international-class fly-half. Next projects: finding a fresh tighthead prop and a genuine open-side flanker.

Wednesday

Michael Henderson

Fun and games

Sport, say those who write about it, is only the toy department of daily journalism. They don’t really mean it. Some of the finest wordsmiths in what may still be called Fleet Street earn a crust by writing about games, and the people who play them. In some cases — the late Ian Wooldridge comes to mind — they transcend their specialism. People bought the Daily Mail to read Wooldridge, just as they buy it now to read Quentin Letts. In recent years sports journalism has been invaded by outsiders who, to borrow a phrase from Paul Hayward, one of its finest practitioners, display nothing more than ‘strident ignorance’. They

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Department of Equine Hyperbole

Sea the Stars winning the Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images. So long, then, Sea the Stars. A shame you won’t run as a four year old or in the Breeders’ Cup but hardly a surprise that you’re heading straight for the stud farm. The BBC News last night suggested you were the greatest horse we’d ever seen and an editorial in today’s Times suggests you may “without much quibble, be considered the greatest” of all champions. This is a typically unecessary piece of hyperbole. It doesn’t diminish Sea the Stars one bit to note that there is room for quibble here. Comparing horses from different generations

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

The Greatest

Wow, that really was something.  Just like last year’s Wimbledon final, Roger Federer’s 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 victory over Andy Roddick has to go down as one of the greatest, and most nerve-wracking, contests in tennis history.  A spectacular way for Federer to claim his fifteenth Grand Slam title, breaking Pete Sampras’s record in the process. UPDATE: Ok, so it looks as though I have a bit of explaining to do here.  Most CoffeeHousers comment below that the match was actually a boring slog-a-thon, and paled in comparison with other Wimbledon finals.  First, I stress that the headline – “The Greatest” – is referring to Federer and his record-breaking

Wednesday

Kate Hoey

No longer beautiful

To some it might seem unbelievable that a goal scored at a football match at Anfield between Arsenal and Liverpool 20 years ago could be the event around which anyone could write an entire book. But this is exactly what Jason Cowley has done. Despite a childhood spent in the East End, and with a West Ham- supporting father, the author has been, from an early age, an avid Arsenal fan and wears his Arsenal shirt under his jacket when standing with his father at Upton Park. This book is certainly not just for Arsenal or Liverpool fans but for all who want to reflect on the huge changes which