Jasmine Jolly, Serena Vincent and Dominic Ogbechie are among an English Schools squad selected for the ISF World Schools Cup in Split, Croatia

A dozen of England’s finest athletes aged 15-18 have been picked to represent their country at the International School Sport Federation (ISF) World Schools Cup in Split, Croatia, on May 13-19.

The event, which his taking place for the 23^rd time, sees athletes from 37 different nations taking part and England won the event when it was last held two years ago.

The England team is:

Girls: Mia Chantree – 300m hurdles & high jump (Essex); Emily Williams – 800m (Northamptonshire); Serena Vincent – shot put & 100m (Hampshire); Jasmine Jolley – 300m hurdles & long jump (Lancashire) (pictured above); Abigail Pawlett – 100m & high jump (Cheshire); Jenna Blundell – 100m hurdles & long jump (Avon).

Boys: Dominic Ogbechie 200m & long jump (London) (pictured below); Joshua Douglas – discus (Hampshire); Jack Higgins – 800m (Kent); Harrison Thorne – high jump & 110m hurdles (Berkshire); Theo Adesina – long jump & 110m hurdles (Essex); Raphael Bouju – 100m & long jump (Bedfordshire).

“For many of our top senior athletes, representing English Schools teams at ISF events was an early and important stepping stone for their career,” says Ian Roberts, who is a team manager for England with Anne Francis.

“Jazmyn Sawyers was a member of the English Schools team that was successful in Tallinn in 2009 and Amber Anning, who represented British Athletics at the recent European Indoor Championships, was a member of the English Schools team at the most recent ISF World Schools champs in 2017.

“The ESAA team won the World Schools Cup in 2017 and the girls broke both the record points score. We are confident that the team selected this year is more than capable of carrying that legacy forward.”

The English Schools Athletics Association will also be represented by Hitchin Boys’ School from Hertfordshire and Coopers Company and Coborn School from Essex in a separate ISF World Cup for individual schools.

Roehampton edge past Hallamshire on night of drama
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

It was a great pleasure to watch Nick Matthew roll back the years as his Hallamshire side visited London to take on Roehampton in the quarter-finals of the England Squash Nationals Clubs Knockout competition.

After a slow start, at number one string against Roehampton’s Adrian Waller, he turned the tables and we were treated to a show of immense court control and flashes of attacking genius.

His movement across the middle of the court may not be as sharp as it was at the peak of his fitness, but this 38-year-old still possesses the aura of a great champion.

Looking slim, toned and tanned after a recent trip to South Africa, he was on court first against Waller and later claimed he was feeling a bit stiff after a three-hour coach ride from Sheffield along with a 20-strong group of supporters, including Donna Lobban.

Waller worked the ball around the court intelligently and, with Matthew initially struggling to find his customary length, the tall Londoner chopped the ball in short with successful results.

Matthew stepped up the pace and began to control the rhythm of the contest in the second game and Waller appeared surprised by the sudden change.

The third was a brutal battle as both players fought to impose their own momentum on proceedings and Waller made two crucial mistakes with a couple of tinned shots to allow Matthew to take it 11-9.

Matthew was clearly enjoying the occasion, proving to himself that he could still compete in a hard, physical encounter, and took time out to offer some friendly advice to the home marker after a couple of decisions went against him.

As this battle unfolded, there were raucous cries echoing around the Roehampton courts as Ben Coates and Alex Cutts fought out their own gladiatorial contest on the adjacent court.

The ascendancy swung one way then the other before Cutts produced a storming finish to win it 14-12 in the fifth.

With Matthew having clinched the fourth game 11-7 against Waller, Hallamshire had clearly laid the foundations for victory.

Nick Wall took to the court hoping to clinch it for the Yorkshire club, but he met an in-form Ollie Pett who stroked the ball around court with beguiling skill and accuracy.

Now a student at Roehampton University, studying psychology and counselling, Pett showed what a loss he is to the professional game with a display of controlled genius that left Wall grasping for solutions.

Vini Rodrigues and Harry Falconer had already taken to the court to begin the third string battle, which would ultimately prove to be the decisive encounter.

After Pett’s artistic denouement, the supporters somehow squeezed into the narrow space behind Court Two.

Two tall and athletic performers, one aged 20 and the other 32, gave it everything. As Falconer squeezed home 11-9 in the third, the experienced Brazilian Rodrigues knew he needed to win the next two games.

Seemingly unfazed by the pressure, he attacked with style and precision. Slotting volley kills off the serve, and floating crosscourt drops into the nick with zen-like consistency, he took the fourth and set up an all-or-nothing fifth game decider.

The 6ft 4in Falconer (I swear he’s grown a couple of inches since the Kent Open in January) played intelligently and battled hard for every point. But there was nothing he could do about some of the winners flowing from the racket of Rodrigues. The Brazilian slotted a couple of stunning straight kills with his brain seemingly enjoying its own in-house WiFi network tuned in to the left-hand nick.

It was a thrilling battle, worthy of any grand stage in the pantheons of squash, but here we were treated to an occasion that encompassed the very essence of the game: two guys slugging away on a back court and giving it everything they had for their clubs and their team-mates as well as themselves.

Ultimately, Rodrigues triumphed 14-12 in the fifth to give Roehampton victory by a single game. So Waller’s early loss was not in vain. That solitary game against Matthew proved one of the decisive factors on a great evening of squash.

Both teams and sets of fans joined each other for the post-match meal and Roehampton Rackets Manager Paul Lindsay spoke warmly of his admiration for the visiting Hallamshire team and their army of supporters.

Here were two great clubs, with wonderful facilities, superb players, and professional, visionary staff who understand what it means to engage with their neighbouring communities.

Roehampton’s Rackets Cubed project, and Nick Matthew’s steadily-growing academy, are shining examples of how squash needs to perform to thrive in a leisure industry market-place where kids prefer their phones or Xboxes to working up a sweat with some actual exercise.

There was plenty of sweat left on the Roehampton courts on Tuesday night. Most of it was real vintage quality.

 
England Squash National Club Knockout.

Quarter-Finals, Roehampton v Hallamshire:
Adrian Waller lost to Nick Matthew (1-3) 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 7-11
Ollie Pett beat Nick Wall (3-0) 11-6, 11-3, 11-5
Vini Rodrigues beat Harry Falconer (3-2) 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3
Ben Coates lost to Alex Cutts (2-3) 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 12-14
Roehampton beat Hallamshire (2 matches all, 9 games to 8 on countback). 

Picture courtesy of Paul Lindsay and Roehampton Squash

The date is 12 April 2009. There are five minutes left to play in the Heineken Cup quarter-final between Harlequins and Leinster at Twickenham Stoop.

Dean Richards' Harlequins side trail by a point. Their goal-kicker is off the field with an injury. Their replacement kicker has just pulled his hamstring off the bone. Quins need a penalty or drop-goal to win...

What happens next, involving winger Tom Williams and a fake blood capsule, becomes one of sport's most fascinating scandals.

After four months of protracted disciplinary hearings, Richards resigned and was handed a three-year ban from all rugby.

Steph Brennan, the team physio, was struck off by the Health Professions Council before winning a High Court appeal almost two years after the incident.

Williams was banned for a year, although this was later reduced to four months. Charles Jillings, the club's co-owner, resigned as chairman.

Ten years on, this is the story of 'bloodgate' told by Williams and two team-mates on that day, Danny Care and Ugo Monye.

Williams: I was about to run on to the pitch and the physio said: 'Deano says you're coming off for blood.' That was the first I'd heard of it.

I just ran on the pitch and got on with my job. A few phases later, the physio runs on and gives me a blood capsule and I was like: 'What the hell do I do with this?' He told me to go into contact, put it in my mouth, chew it and go down. 'We'll get you off,' he said.

Care: Genuinely at the time, I had no idea what was going on. I was 22, I'd not experienced anything like it before and I only found out in the changing rooms after when someone said: 'I think we're going to be in a bit of trouble here.'

Monye: Hand on heart, I didn't have a clue what was going on at the time. But I did know blood capsules were a practice at Quins. It was common in rugby back then. You reflect on it now and it was pretty stupid, but it was easy to get away with it.

Williams: Another former player phoned me up recently and said: 'I did it a week before. I didn't put the capsule in my mouth but I just put a towel on my head which was bloodied.'

Why Tom Williams?

Monye: It just depended on who you needed to get on to the pitch. You never had conversations in the week and it wasn't a case of 'oh by the way it might be you', it was something that was just done on the hoof.

Fortunately that day, it wasn't me who was asked to do it. If Dean had asked me to do it, because it was so commonplace, I probably would've done it too. It almost became normal because we'd done it a few times and in rugby that's just what was done.

Care: Everyone would have done the same. If you get told to do it, you do it. Especially when it's Dean Richards telling you to do it.

Williams: Nothing crossed my mind when I got handed the capsule, I was doing what I was doing for the team. I was trying to impress my boss and get Quins into a semi-final of Europe.

It was about doing what I could for the team and not having thought in the slightest about the consequences. So what was I most guilty of at the time? Probably following team orders and being a naive 25-year-old who should've known better.

Why the infamous wink?

Monye: I've never asked you this, Tommy, but why the wink? You look back and you just thought: 'Tommy, come on mate.'

Williams: The wink was ironically quite innocent. It was someone asking me if I was OK and it was me saying: 'Yeah I'm fine.' That was it.

Care: That's why it looks so bad because the wink looks like it was all part of the plot, but it wasn't at all.

What happened in the changing room?

Williams: We knew we had to do something, as people wanted to come in the room to see my mouth. They were banging on the door trying to get into the changing room. Our doctor, Wendy Chapman, and myself, didn't know what to do. It was a really ridiculous time and I realise I looked like an absolute idiot.

Shane Horgan had shouted from the Leinster bench, 'It's not real blood, it's not real blood' as I was stumbling down the tunnel. So we went into the changing room, I had a conversation with the doctor and she made the cut. Logical decision making at the time, for myself and Dr Chapman, was just not there.

What happened in the aftermath?

Williams: I got a sense of how serious it was initially but the club's message to me was along the lines of: 'Don't worry. The maximum it will be is a fine and we'll cover that.'

I went to the first hearing not overly concerned. When I got given the one-year ban, I finally got in touch with the Rugby Players Association, who said: 'Hold on a minute, you're getting hung out to dry here. They're saying you masterminded the whole thing.'

Eventually my wife Alex and I went to meet the board and the chairman one night and we spent three hours going through the possible outcomes.

At about 11pm, I left - as we were going round in circles and they weren't backing me up. But Alex went back into that room and asked every single one of them: 'Who's fault is it that we're here?' I got a phone call the next morning saying: 'Dean Richards is resigning and we wholeheartedly support you.'

Monye: Everyone in the aftermath was thinking about the individual, the team and the club.

Williams: I thought long and hard about taking the fall.

Monye: What changed your mind?

Williams: I said to Alex: 'I don't think I can do this any more, I'm just going to get the hell out.' And she said: 'Well what the hell else are you going to do? You didn't go to university, you've only been a rugby player. How do you want be remembered?'

What did the other players think?

Monye: If we're speaking truthfully, the players were massively divided. There was a part of me that was like: 'Tommy, just take the hit.' He'd have been a hero among us because he'd have fallen on his sword.

We wanted to protect the reputation of the club. Selfishly we were just thinking of how we could protect everyone involved in it but it was an impossible solution and about damage limitation for us.

Care: We didn't know what blame Tommy was getting.

Williams: I knew the issue the players had. It was similar to the internal issue I had myself in terms of the wider picture. A couple of players were saying to me in passing 'loose lips sink ships' but that's just childish bullying essentially. They were very loyal to Dean and just looking after their friend's best interests.

Returning to Quins

Williams: It was a difficult situation because I wanted to play rugby but there was a little something attached to my name which made most clubs not want to employ me. I did look elsewhere but I didn't get very far down the line. My agent just said no-one was interested.

I was pretty ill during that four-month ban and these days it would probably be diagnosed as depression. I lost two stone and I thought: 'What is it that I'm playing rugby for?' I just wanted the opportunity to come back and find some pride in myself, and hopefully give some back to Quins as well.

10 years on...

Williams: That day hasn't been away from my thought process ever since that moment it happened 10 years ago. Inevitably there's a stigma that's still attached to my name now that's no longer attached to Harlequins.

Every time Harlequins are written about in the papers, it doesn't say 'bloodgate', does it? Every time I'm written about in the papers, it says 'bloodgate'. So who's got the stigma?

Yeah, I'll take that it could've been worse. But it doesn't get much worse than people turning up in vampire outfits to Twickenham the next season. It doesn't get much worse than turning up at Sale and people calling you a cheat. How much worse could that get?

Monye: 12 April 2009 was undoubtedly the darkest day in Harlequins history. We lost a lot of great women and men from that and the club's reputation was tarnished, but off the back of that we were able to find the strength to block out all the exterior noise and get back to what we were. No-one will understand how bad it was, though, more than Tommy.

I'm just glad in some ways that we got caught because it cleaned up rugby, and to my knowledge it's not been done since.

Care: It was a massive wake-up call for rugby and definitely for Harlequins. We faced an unbelievable punishment, people lost their jobs and Quins can't ever have anything like that on their name again.

For the club, the best thing was that we got caught but for Tommy, it was the worst.

Rugby Australia and the New South Wales Rugby Union say they intend to terminate Israel Folau's contract after a social media post by the full-back in which he said "hell awaits" gay people.

Folau, 30, has 73 caps and was expected to play at this year's World Cup.

"He does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts," the governing bodies said.

"In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract."

Rugby Australia and the NSW Rugby Union, which is responsible for Super Rugby side NSW Waratahs, said they have made "repeated attempts" to contact Folau and he has failed to get in touch with either organisation.

"Israel has failed to understand that the expectation of him as a Rugby Australia and NSW Waratahs employee is that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality," the governing bodies said in a statement.

"As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action."

Australia's sponsor Qantas, whose chief executive Alan Joyce is openly gay, said Folau's post was "really disappointing".

"These comments clearly don't reflect the spirit of inclusion and diversity that we support," the airline said.

Folau, who signed a four-year deal with the Waratahs in March and had a deal with Rugby Australia until 2022, escaped punishment for similar comments last year, with Rugby Australia saying it accepted - but did not support - his "position".

On Wednesday, he posted on Instagram that "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters" should "repent" because "only Jesus saves", and made similar remarks on Twitter.

He sent a tweet criticising the Tasmanian parliament, which has become the first Australian state to make it legally optional to list gender on birth certificates.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Officials from Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville announced Wednesday that the 34th running of the All American 400 has been cancelled due to a dismal weekend weather forecast.

This marks the second time the event has failed to be run in less than six months, after its original postponement last November.

The super late model crown jewel will not be rescheduled, with the other divisions on tap moved to Big Machine Record Family Night on Saturday, April 20 – now the track’s season opener. Kyle Busch was slated to compete in Sunday’s proceedings.

“The forecast is awful for this weekend and we don’t want the racers and fans to have to spend the money in travel costs to come here for nothing,” said Claire Formosa, VP of Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, on the track’s Facebook page. “Many of the drivers were coming from a long way, so we wanted to do this early to help them out. We are now going to focus on our regular season opener next Saturday and get prepared for the 35th All American 400 this year.”

The regularly-scheduled 35th running of the All American 400 is scheduled for Nov. 2-3.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to car culture – and especially sports car culture – Southern California is the nucleus.

In most other places around the world, seeing a Porsche 911, Corvette or an Acura NSX in the wild is rare. In SoCal? Happens a lot.

That’s one of many reasons why this weekend’s annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach is so important. The 100-minute race, which will be televised live on NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET Saturday, puts race car versions of the world’s great automobiles in front of many people who own and drive them regularly.

The 45-year-old race is a home game for Southern California-based Acura. So much so, in fact, that the manufacturer jumped at the chance to take over the naming rights for the overall event weekend. For the first time in 2019, the event is now known as the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Acura will be competing for the overall BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix victory in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, with Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya sharing the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi machine and Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves in the team’s No. 7 Acura DPi.

“With our U.S. headquarters nearby in Torrance, this is a true ‘home’ event for the Acura brand,” said Acura Vice President and Brand Officer Jon Ikeda. “The Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of North America’s premier motorsports events, and an institution in Southern California. Acura is delighted and proud to be associated with the Grand Prix of Long Beach, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

Chevrolet is the winningest IMSA manufacturer on the streets of Long Beach with nine victories, including GT Le Mans class victories at Long Beach each of the past two years with Corvette Racing and co-drivers Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R. The team returns this year with that same car and lineup, as well as the two-time and defending GTLM champion No. 3 Corvette C7.R team and co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia.

“For Chevrolet, Long Beach checks all the boxes as an important event,” said Michael Stouffer, Chevrolet Motorsports Marketing Manager for IMSA and the NTT IndyCar Series. “The crowds are always energetic, the race itself is steeped in history and the Southern California market is a target-rich environment.

“Our Corvette brand fits in perfectly with the Southern California market. That’s evident each year with a full Corvette Corral. We have a fantastic group of Corvette owners in the L.A. area and we’re proud to race in front of them each year.”

It’s a big event for Chevrolet’s Detroit rival, Ford, also. This weekend’s GTLM field includes the pair of Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GTs, the No. 66 co-driven by Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller and the No. 67 shared by Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.

The roadgoing version of the Ford GT is rare and one of the most sought-after sports cars in the world. But you’re more likely to see one on the streets or freeways in Southern California than most other places in the world.

“There’s no question that Long Beach is one of those IMSA races that every manufacturer and team wants to win,” said Ford Performance Global Director Mark Rushbrook. “Long Beach is the iconic street course race in America with a great history and a tough, unforgiving course.

“We also like it because, unlike so many of the endurance races we run, this is a sprint event that puts added emphasis on being aggressive both with strategy and with driving. We have gotten better there every year with our Ford GTs, so we hope this is the year we’re at the top of the podium.”

Porsche knows all about standing atop the Long Beach podium, as it has won eight IMSA races there in the past. The famed German marque will be represented in the GTLM class by the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy – who won here in 2016 – and the No. 912 RSR shared by Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber.

It’s also a hometown race of sorts for Porsche.

“California has always been special for us,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “From Johnny von Neumann’s Competition Motors of the early 1950s to our Porsche Experience Center (PEC) and home of Porsche Motorsport North America just down the road in Carson, the soul of Porsche has never been stronger than in Southern California. That Porsche passion is immediately visible during the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend, where IMSA competition captivates world-class teams and fans alike.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Sixteen-year-old Adam Lemke has begun to find his stride after an early-season hot streak with JR Motorsports in late model stock car action.

Lemke picked up his first win with the organization on March 16, starting fourth and driving to the front in the second of twin 40-lap features at historic Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, the track where the Earnhardt family’s early name was made in motorsports.

He followed that performance up with a podium run during last weekend’s CARS Tour Old North State Nationals at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., running third behind Lee Pulliam and Adam Lemke and beating out veteran teammate Josh Berry in the process.

It’s been a month of successes and a big boon for the California teenager after the biggest jump up in his career to-date.

“(The Hickory win) was a huge confidence booster and a big way to get myself some momentum and consistency with the team, especially with them being a new team to me,” Lemke told SPEED SPORT. “Josh coached me through that one, and to have him as an asset has been a huge help to me.

“You know, we had a wreck during practice the week before that I obviously didn’t want to have happen, but there was a good side to that happening, because I really went into the race without having to worry about points and feeling like there was no pressure,” Lemke added. “I feel like we made progress, both me as a driver and with the car, every time we hit the track. I was confident going into the race that I would have a good car and it was up to me to get the job done. Thankfully we were able to do that and come out with a big result. I definitely didn’t expect it to come this quickly, though.”

Lemke, who is part of Chevrolet’s Driver’s Edge Development program with JR Motorsports, grew up racing in pro late models and USAC Speed2 midgets in California before coming out east this season.

He pointed out that the jump from pro late models to the NASCAR-style late model stock cars has been a substantial adjustment for him, but one that he’s been excited to tackle.

“It’s a night and day difference between the late models I’m driving out here (on the East Coast) and the late models I drove back home in California,” noted Lemke. “It’s mainly tires; we ran a much smaller tire on the cars I came from, so to be able to come out here and run the 10-inch slick rather than an eight-inch treaded tire and find success has been nice for me.

“I’d almost make the comparison that it’s like driving a super late model compared to a late model stock, that’s how different the feel is between the two cars. It’s a huge difference, but I’m having fun with it.”

While for many young drivers, racing for a team like JR Motorsports might be intimidating, Lemke is relishing the opportunity and grateful to drive for one of the giants in the sport.

“It’s a big deal to be able to race for Dale. I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with him and learn from him yet, but I did have a little bit of time with him at a recent luncheon, and it’s just cool to be able to wheel a race car for him,” said Lemke. “He’s a cool guy and someone that I’ve looked up to.

“Everyone knows how much he’s meant to the sport and to be a part of that is a real honor.”

Lemke will run the remainder of the CARS Late Model Stock Tour schedule this season, as well as some of the crown-jewel late model stock car events in the region, including the Valleystar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway.

With a win already under his belt, Lemke knows the bar has been raised somewhat, but he believes that his first victory is a sign of greater things to come.

“I’m out here to win every single race I go to with JRM – you have to have that kind of focus as a driver – but getting that out of the way early was a big deal for me, I feel like,” Lemke explained. “After I got the win, my goal was to finish a CARS Tour race, and we finally did that at Orange County. We just keep checking boxes one at a time, and I feel like that we’ve paced ourselves pretty well so far.

“I think we’ve started to prove now that we’re here and we’re not going away, so the next step is just continuing to build on this foundation that we’ve built and making some more things happen here.”