Nine bids were put forward to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. The bids that received the best technical reports from FIFA – the best bids, objectively the best, the bids that would have won if the IOC had been judging – were England for 2018 and Australia for 2022. The two bids [...]

Filed under: corruption, football, middle east, russia, sleaze, southafrica, sport on December 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

I’ve spent the last few days squirming on behalf of India, a country I fell in love with during the four months I spent there in 2008. There have been many stories of India’s apparently imminent failure to deliver a successful Commonwealth Games, stories that I know will provoke utter mortification in that intensely patriotic [...]

Filed under: davidcameron, davidmiliband, foreignpolicy, india, media, sport on September 24th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

For the first time since 1995, rugby euphoria is gripping South Africa. Signs point to the abandonment of a long-rumoured plan to ditch the coach (who, incidentally, really is called Jack White) and produce a racially representative team by brute-force political means. I imagine the response among English rugby fans will be simple: great news. [...]

Filed under: jonathanbirch, racism, rugby, southafrica, sport on November 8th, 2007 | No Comments »