List of All Articles with Tag 'sport'

Mikel Arteta sees record signing Declan Rice as Arsenal’s “lighthouse” as the north London club look to win the Premier League. Fresh from completing big-money moves for Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber, the Gunners completed their British record £105million acquisition for the West Ham captain on Saturday. Rice’s arrival is a huge shot in the arm for Mikel Arteta’s improving side, who beat perennial Premier League champions Manchester City to the England international’s signature. It is a deal that Arsenal hope can next season help topple Pep Guardiola’s men at the top as they look to win a first league title since 2004. “I see him like a lighthouse – that he is willing to put light in others and improve others and make the team better and that is a huge quality,” the Gunners boss said. “For me, to be a midfielder you have to have that and he’s got it 100 per cent. “The way he talks and presents himself, the ambition he has and the passion towards the game. That is exactly what we needed. “It’s his leadership, his aura, the experience he already has in the league he is going to bring and the team to a different dimension I think.” Rice flew to the United States with his new team-mates on Sunday and the following morning worked on an exercise bike next to the pitch where many of the group trained. The 24-year-old laughed and joked with Eddie Nketiah in the sweltering Washington DC sunshine and Arteta has been impressed by the way he has adapted to a new set-up. “I think you all know his leadership, his personality, the experience that he already has at 24,” the Gunners boss said of Rice. “Very smooth (transition into the group). He’s already very close already with a few of the boys, he obviously knew a few of the boys from the England camp as well. He seems very happy.” Arteta has brought a 29-man squad to the United States, where Arsenal’s tour gets under way against Wayne Rooney’s Major League Soccer All-Stars on Wednesday evening. Friendlies against Manchester United in New Jersey and Barcelona in Los Angeles follow, with Arteta grateful to have key acquisitions Rice, Timber and Havertz over the line in time to work with them Stateside. “Very pleased obviously as you can imagine,” he said. “We signed the players that we wanted, we signed them early and they start to adapt to the team really fast. “We have some time now to prepare and for them as well to gain the best chance to express themselves in the right way. “To adapt obviously they need to experience a few days how it looks like (at) Arsenal.” Arsenal have spent nearly £200million already this summer but Arteta suggested there could yet be more to come. “Let’s see,” he said pitchside at George Mason University. “It’s a lot of time still in the market and a lot of expectations are in some of our players as well, so we will have to see and how things develop in the next couple of weeks. “We will be alert, there’s still time do things, there’s still time as well for exits obviously. I’m sure things will move.” Arsenal have crossed the Atlantic at an exciting time for football in North America, where Lionel Messi’s mammoth move to Inter Miami should take the sport to new heights. “I think the attention it’s going to do, the level, the attraction, I think it’s incredible for the league to bring a player with such a status here,” Arteta said. “It tells you the ambition of the league, where they want to take it and the direction this has taken I think is extremely positive for the league.” On facing Rooney’s All-Star team at Audi Field on Wednesday, the Arsenal boss added: “Great, a lot of expectations. It’ll be a special atmosphere and something we haven’t done before so looking forward to it.”

Ronald Acuña Jr. is on pace to do more than just join an elite 40-40 club in baseball history

Cameron Smith never gets emotional about anything

Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the two oldest children of Britain's Prince and Princess of Wales, sat on the edge of their seats in the Royal Box to watch the nail-biting men's Wimbledon final on Sunday.

When Bob Bowman was coaching the world’s greatest swimmer, he’d be the first to concede he was not a very nice person at the pool

Former Liverpool, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and England striker Rickie Lambert has sparked mockery and alarm after footage surfaced of him sharing a bizarre conspiracy theory about talking negatively to glasses of water. The ex-footballer, now aged 41, has become more and more outspoken as of later sharing views that many would consider to be controversial. A recent clip of Lambert has now gone viral where he says during an apparent interview, that scientists have done experiments where they speak positively and negatively to different glasses of water to see if it makes it clean. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In a sincere tone and with a straight-face Lambert says: "They’ve [scientists] done a test where you spoke positively to one glass of water, froze it, spoke negatively to another glass of water, froze it. Then [they] examined the ice. "The negativity water was full of holes and blackness. The glass of water that was spoke to positively was full of crystals. "They’ve done experiments to the word, to the word, and the water responded the same way every time if you spoke to it a certain way. "The one word where water responds in the most beautiful way and [produced] the most beautiful crystals is showing gratitude to water. So everything I was saying about manifestation is it down to showing gratitude." The clip which has been viewed nearly one million times on Twitter has since sparked a ton of memes mocking Lambert for this bizarre theory. Mockery aside, is Lambert talking nonsense or is this actually a piece of science fact. Well, Dr Masaru Emoto and did find that water that was exposed to positive words formed symmetrical crystalline structures when it was frozen and disorganized, asymmetrical structures were formed in frozen water that had been exposed to negative words. Water Has Memory! Dr. Masaru Emoto's Water Experiment! www.youtube.com Of course, this is just one person's theory but at least Lambert has been doing his own research. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Chicago Blackhawks and forward Connor Bedard have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract for the No. 1 overall draft pick

The possible link between repetitive heading and cognitive impairment in later life has again been highlighted in new data published on Monday. The University of Nottingham’s FOCUS study, co-funded by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association, gathered information on heading frequency from 459 retired players aged 45 and over. Players who recalled heading a ball 15 times or more per match or training session were found to be 3.53 times more likely to score below the test threshold in the cognitive status assessment than players who said they headed the ball up to five times, the FOCUS study found. Players who recalled heading a ball six to 15 times were also 2.71 times more likely to score below the test threshold than the lowest-frequency heading group. The study said its findings suggested “repetitive heading during a professional soccer career is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment in later life”. It concluded further study was required to establish the upper threshold for heading frequency to mitigate this risk. The FA has already taken steps to reduce the possible risk posed by repetitive exposure to heading by issuing guidance for players in children’s and adults’ game. Adults at grassroots and professional level are now advised to perform a maximum of 10 ‘higher force’ headers per week in training. As well as restrictions on heading in training for under-18s football, the FA is entering the second season of trialling the complete removal of heading in under-12s football. FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said on the FOCUS Study: “This study is another step in understanding any potential link between neurogenerative disorders and former professional footballers. “Since funding the FIELD study, we have continued to invest in research to gain a greater understanding of the area and potential risk factors. “More research is required to fully understand the issues and we welcome a global approach to do that. “Whilst there is no doubt of the overall benefit to health of playing football, by addressing potential risk factors whilst we continue to invest in medical research, we will ensure that millions can continue to enjoy our national sport.” The FIELD study found in 2019 that footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease compared to age-matched members of the general population. The first part of the FOCUS study, published in June, found 2.8 per cent of retired professional footballers in its study reported medically diagnosed dementia and other neurodegenerative disease compared to 0.9 per cent of controls. This meant former professionals were found to be 3.46 times more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases compared to the control group. The study also showed retired footballers in the study were twice as likely to fall below established thresholds in some dementia testing than the general population. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Leon Taylor hails ‘coming of age’ moment for Team GB’s female divers Cameron Smith has no point to prove defending Open title he won before LIV move An in-depth look at the rapid rise of Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz

Brentford are the only Premier League team to have made the top 10 in a report assessing the country’s most sustainably-run clubs in the top four professional divisions. The Bees are the sole top-flight representatives among the best performers in the Fair Game Index published on Monday. This Index looks at all 92 clubs who were in the Premier League and the EFL last season, rating the performance of each on a weighted scoring system based on financial sustainability, governance, fan engagement and equality standards. Fair Game, a group of clubs and industry experts which campaigns for football reform, believes clubs’ performance against sustainability criteria should be used to determine how the bulk of the centrally-distributed broadcast revenue is allocated. League Two club AFC Wimbledon finished top in the Index. The Dons scored well across the board, underpinned by a firm commitment to never put the club’s financial status at risk. The club aim to always stay well below UEFA’s recommended wage-to-turnover ratio of 70 per cent, nurture homegrown talent and engage with the local community. Newly promoted League One team Carlisle are second, with Cambridge in third. No club who featured in the Championship last season made the top 10, with fourth-placed Plymouth promoted into the second tier at the end of last season. Brentford finished in 10th overall. Cambridge came top on governance in the Index, Lincoln led the way on equality standards and Exeter were first on fan engagement. Three of the six lowest-ranked clubs in the Index are Championship sides – Cardiff, Middlesbrough and League One play-off winners Sheffield Wednesday, while Premier League side Nottingham Forest had the lowest rating of all. Despite Forest being bottom, Premier League clubs had the highest average Index score – 50.0 – driven primarily by revenue being such a big factor in the financial sustainability, but were the worst performing on average for fan engagement. Championship clubs had the lowest average Index score – 38.1 – with clubs often spending beyond their means to either chase the Premier League dream or avoid the drop-off in income that follows relegation to League One. Fair Game has lobbied the football authorities to make clubs’ sustainability central to how much funding they receive, as the Premier League, EFL and the Football Association continue their talks on a ‘New Deal For Football’. Should they be unable to reach an agreement, the Government has said the new independent regulator for English football (IREF) should have backstop powers to impose a settlement via arbitration. Fair Game, which has consistently called for independent regulation, is also lobbying to ensure any backstop settlement includes consideration of how sustainable clubs are. Currently Fair Game says 12 per cent of the Premier League’s annual television income is distributed to the EFL and the wider pyramid. It says this should increase to 25 per cent, and also favours the introduction of a 10 per cent transfer levy on deals involving top-flight clubs, and deals between top-flight clubs and overseas teams. The fan-led review, published in 2021, called for a levy to be brought in but the proposal was not included in the Government’s white paper on football governance published earlier this year. Fair Game has also launched a tool allowing users to calculate how much clubs would earn based on their Fair Game Index score with the distribution percentages as they are now, and how that would change if the percentage increased and a transfer levy was introduced. Fair Game found 92 per cent of clubs outside the Premier League would be better off under its distribution model than the one currently in operation. Fair Game’s chief executive Niall Couper added: “The Fair Game Index paints a realistic picture of what our game could look like, a future where football chooses to reward well-run clubs. “Fair Game are working hard with communities, experts, football interest groups, fans, clubs and politicians to transform this picture into reality. “For the first time, the building blocks are in place.” Shadow Sports Minister Jeff Smith said: “Ahead of another football season, we still have no financial settlement for English football, meaning more clubs could face the brink. “We urgently need a football regulator to look at clubs’ sustainability, with the backstop powers to resolve football funding, but despite warnings for years the Government has dragged their feet on setting it up. “The Government should bring forward a football bill as soon as possible.”

The Lionesses arrived in Brisbane on Monday, 17 July, ahead of their opening World Cup match against Haiti on Saturday. The opener comes just over a week after the England women’s team played out a goalless draw in a behind-closed-doors training fixture with Canada on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s match, Ella Toone insisted that England have no concerns about their attacking ability despite failing to score in each of their last two matches. The midfielder said: “We’re definitely creating those chances. It’s now about making sure we put them in the back of the net.”

Marcus Rashford is close to signing a new five-year contract with Manchester United to keep him at Old Trafford until he is 30. The England international is yet to put pen to paper but a deal has been agreed after months of talks between the forward and United. Rashford, who only has a year left on his current contract, could otherwise have left on a free transfer in 2024 but manager Erik ten Hag has long been confident the Mancunian would commit his future to the club. The 25-year-old won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award after scoring a career-best total of 30 goals last season as he flourished under Ten Hag. He scored in United’s Carabao Cup final win over Newcastle and struck in nine consecutive games at Old Trafford, equalling a club record set by the Busby Babe Dennis Viollet. Rashford, who had scored just five times in a troubled 2021-22, struck twice on his debut as an 18-year-old in 2016 and has gone on to get 123 goals in 359 games for his only club. He is currently the 18th highest scorer in United’s history, three goals behind his former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and his new deal offers him the chance to join the four players who have found the net 200 times for them. Ten Hag is trying to buy a forward this summer to relieve the burden on Rashford, with Atalanta’s Rasmus Hojlund the likeliest candidate. Midfielder Mason Mount has already joined with goalkeeper Andre Onana set to become their second signing. Read More Manchester United on the brink of Andre Onana signing The stumbling block in Manchester United’s pursuit of Sofyan Amrabat Mason Mount echoes iconic Manchester United No 7 in energetic debut

Carlos Alcaraz is the first man since 2002 other than Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to win Wimbledon