Meltdown

Football will eat other sports before it eats itself

I remember the Summer of ’76 as a swathe of bleached playing fields, jumpers for goalposts and pick-up games of cricket. There happened to be an international football tournament that June, but I defy anyone to remember having watched Antonin Panenka’s iconic chipped penalty in real time, however often its retelling in the fifty years since.

The 1976 UEFA European Championship comprised just four teams: Panenka’s victorious Czechoslovakia, penalty shoot-out losers West Germany, the Netherlands and hosts Yugoslavia. All over in four matches spanning five days. England’s qualifying campaign had come up short the previous November, leaving the way clear for Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert. Johnny Miller, Alberto Juantorena, Nadia Comăneci, David Wilkie, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Viv Richards and Michael Holding to create the ‘76 heatwave’s sporting headlines.

The behemoth that is the 2026 FIFA World Cup threatens to crush awareness of other sport during the current boiling spell. We’re almost exactly halfway through the tournament with 52 of 103 matches completed, but the truly meaningful stuff doesn’t begin until Sundaywith the Round of 32. I’ve broken my vow not to watch a full match until then - first to enjoy and then endure England’s opening two fixtures. But highlight clips and written reports are moreish and hard to escape if football is in your blood.

I’m not saying four teams is the ideal tournament size, but one columnist’s call this week for an expansion from 48 to 64 nations to avoid third place qualification absurdities felt like a knife to my sport-watching soul. It is at times like this that mankind’s tendency to addiction is easy to understand.

The rest of the sporting world has kept turning, but has struggled for airtime. Controversies have cut-through, sure: Ben’s Stokes’ one match exile from the England Test team, and the heckling of Wyndham Clark on his way to victory at the US Open, standout examples. That golf major may have struggled for a single column inch without the boorish crowd at Shinnecock Hills, though. Similarly, County Championship cricket only got a mainstream media look-in last weekend to follow Stokes’ exploits for Durham while the England team toiled in his absence.

Would you have known the UK Athletics Championships were taking place in Birmingham had it not been for Keely Hodgkinson’s tears on withdrawing before the start of the 400 meters final? And it’s too late to buy a ticket if you only realised they were taking place after the event. The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup may have passed you by for lack of media oxygen, but there are still tickets available for almost all matches including both semi finals at The Oval next week.

Increasingly, sport away from football and big events is for the cognoscenti, its leaders challenged to find ways to create awareness among potential new audiences. No smart digital media marketing strategy? Might as well curl up now.

The Championships start at Wimbledon on Monday and will benefit from the time difference between the US and London SW19. Perhaps the evening sessions on the show courts will be reserved for lesser matches rather than tennis’ superstars this year.

No difficulty for the All England Club in building publicity for its tournament, even with the smothering World Cup. The return of Serena Williams to the sport is marketing gold dust for the organisers nonetheless. Based purely on one afternoon in the Centre Court stands for an early round match back in the day, Williams is unarguably the greatest female athlete I’ve ever seen live. Whatever transpires for her in the next fortnight - either in the singles or paired up with sister Venus in the doubles - is sure to be a huge story. If only I’d ever been successful in the Wimbledon ticket ballot…

None of this, of course, is football’s fault. You might think it is in danger of eating itself, but it seems more likely to eat other sports first. If you can’t tear yourself away from the World Cup, why not at least vow to seek out alternative sporting entertainment in the month after its final and the start of the domestic football season? The more niche your selection, the shorter the queue at the ice cream van is likely to be.

Dog ate my homework

The other big pre-Wimbledon story has been the four year ban handed to Markéta Vondroušová for refusing an out-of competition, no notice doping test. My first reaction, as only the most casual tennis follower, was who? And therein lies one of tennis’ real challenges in recent years, for Vondroušová not only won the women’s singles in 2023 but was the first unseeded woman to do so.

As to a four year ban, the player’s refusal took me back to my early days at UK Athletics and excuses I heard from those who had missed (rather than refused) tests. A door bell not working, changed travel plans after an earlier than expected exit at a champs, getting ‘lucky’ in a nightclub and spending the night in a stranger’s bed. Each counting towards the ‘three strikes’ ban rule. An outright refusal is something else entirely, however, and I’m not surprised at a four year ban that’s in line with the regulations.

“Unpredictable testing is an essential tool to protect clean sport.” International Tennis Integrity Agency’s CEO, Karen Moorhouse

Those comparing Vondroušová‘s case with the very short bans given to Jannick Sinner (three months) and Iga Swiatek (one month) for failed tests in 2024, or earlier ‘reduced on appeal’ bans for Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova would do well to argue for lesser leniency in such cases in future than more of it for Vondroušová’s. Expect much of such comparisons in the inevitable appeal.

Saints alive!

I pressed send too early on a draft of this newsletter yesterday. One reader responded to my false start:

“That’s good news Ed - maybe we can have a mention of Northampton Saints’ mighty triumph in the final version! Third consecutive major final - two Prem titles in 3 years - start of a period of dominance?”

There you go - happy to oblige. Had it been football, that would have been a different matter…

Snow joke (sorry!)

And another reader of my fat-fingered release replied to my 1976 reminiscences:

“By contrast the previous year had the only instance of snow stopped play. Derbyshire v Lancashire at Buxton. June 2nd 1975. Clive Lloyd had hit a big hundred on the Saturday in Lancashire’s 477-2. And inevitably one of the Umpires was Dickie Bird.”