Sport

Geoffrey Boycott admitted he had been "done like a kipper" after falling for a hilarious prank live on air. The BBC cricket pundit was commentating on the England v South Africa test match when his co-commentator Jonathan Agnew managed to convince him that his 100th hundred wasn't scored at his home county ground of Headingley but in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The prank was based on a phoney press release which claimed to downgrade the statistics of all runs and wickets for the...

With a ball yet to be kicked in the 2017/18 season football's elite players are already generously offering their two penneth on how to "make refereeing better". Barcelona star Gerard Piqué, who is known for regularly hitting out at refereeing decisions, told Japanese magazine Soccer Kings that he wants to "change the refereeing system" in order to "eliminate injustices and to ensure there would be less controversy". Hefty promises for such a complex discussion, but the worrying thing is that he's missing the...

Private jet firms are cashing in on lucrative international pre-season tours and overseas transfers. With two weeks to go until the start of the season Premier League clubs have already shelled out lucrative amounts to bring players in, with Man City splashing over £200 million and both Chelsea and Manchester United parting with over a hundred mill. The clubs are also finding themselves arranging fixtures in far-flung destinations, which has proved to be a boon for private jet firms. Matthew...

Sky Sports pundits Martin Tyler and Gary Neville will pit their non league outfits against each other this Saturday at The Beveree in south west London. Hampton and Richmond Borough entertain Salford City in the Jacob Sylvester Trophy, with some of the proceeds from the game going to Bliss, the charity for premature and sick babies. It is the second time the Beavers are hosting at The Beveree, with Tyler (who is also a first team coach at HRBFC) and Neville (one...

When Mauricio Pellegrino was announced as the new Southampton manager, reactions were mixed. Those fans who follow La Liga, and those who claimed to do so, appeared pleased with the appointment and said that Saints’ ‘sense of identity’ would be coming back; one of high-press attacking with the ability to defend deep when called upon. Those who had no clue who Pellegrino spent most of the next week making puns around his name sounding like a former manager and a...

By Chris Woods Wealdstone drew a disappointing line under the 2016/17 season after a 1-0 defeat away to Hampton & Richmond Borough in the Middlesex Senior Cup Final last night. The only goal of the game came from a combination of two of Hampton's summer recruits, with Taurean Roberts crossing for Max Kretzschmar to glance a header over Jonathan North just before half time. Stones were without several players including two new recruits that were cup-tied. Despite the game being...

By Chris Woods Brought recently to a higher profile outside the non league football world by Internet meme sensation the ‘Wealdstone Raider’, Wealdstone FC are the largest non-league club in West London and are steeped in history and tradition. Currently playing in the Vanarama National League South they were the first club to win the ‘Non-League double’ in 1985 winning the National League Premier (then the Gola League) and FA Trophy. The club also has a proud tradition of bringing...

Tilbury itself, as a Town, dates back to 1812, although there has been a settlement and farms here since before Tudor times. It was at Tilbury Fort that QE1 made her famous address to her troops pre-Armada in 1588. The major industry in the Town is still the Tilbury Docks, though these now employ only a fraction of the people that they did in it's prime years. It is still a hugely busy Port, but now mechanisation and containers dominate....

Aveley has given its name to the Aveley Interglacial period around 200,000 years ago. Important evidence of the local flora and fauna of the period and some signs of occupation by Neanderthal humans have been found there. In Domesday the names has various spellings – Alvithelea, Alvileia and Alvilea. The name means Aelfgyth's wood clearing. A variation, in 1418, is Alvythele. John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, lived in Aveley, which was the home of his father's second wife....