Check out these photos from the PFL: Battle of the Giants ceremonial weigh-ins and fighter faceoffs ahead of the pay-per-view event (ESPN+, DAZN) taking place at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Photos courtesy of PFL)
Sport
Jonas Eidevall: Arsenal boss criticises ‘amateurish behaviour’ over fixture schedule
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has criticised the “amateurish behaviour” in handling fixture scheduling after a Women’s Super League match was postponed at a week’s notice.
Chelsea’s WSL game against Manchester United has been called off because of a conflict with the Blues’ European schedule.
The new company which now runs the Women’s Super League, The Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), said the cancellation was in order to prioritise player welfare.
The Women’s Champions League draw was made last Friday and Chelsea’s opening group game at home to Real Madrid was scheduled for just two days after the United game – on Tuesday, 8 October.
Before the Champions League draw was made, WPLL had asked Uefa not to schedule any of the three English teams to play on 8 October, but were unsuccessful.
Eidevall said the situation could have been avoided if Women’s Super League games involving teams in the Champions League were scheduled for Friday or Saturday to avoid a potential 48-hour turnaround, but all three English clubs involved are believed to have requested to play on the Sunday.
“Out of the 16 teams, 13 were scheduled to play on the Friday or Saturday and the three English teams were all scheduled to play on the Sunday,” he said.
“We have a league organisation that doesn’t act proactively on these matters. It is damaging for the fans. It is simply not good enough from the league.
“Do the league want English teams to be successful at European level? I would hope the answer to that would be yes, but the actions show differently. It shows that this is not one of their priorities.”
Continue Reading
Continue reading with advertising …
… or with a subscription
Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.1
Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.
More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.
Already a subscriber?
Log in here
Watch as Great Britain’s Joe Truman wins bronze in the men’s 1km time trial at the Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark.
Share this article
Getty ImagesFormer Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons alleges she was “groped” on two occasions by the football club’s late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
The former Harrods boss tried to “forcefully” kiss her at his department store in 2000, when she was 20, she told The Athletic website.
“Speaking my truth and finally telling my story will hopefully help me heal and be rid of the shame, embarrassment and pain I have carried for years,” she said.
Lawyers from the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said they were representing four former players of the club.
Fulham FC told the BBC it was trying to establish whether anyone at the club “had been impacted” by Al Fayed.
“The club is profoundly troubled to learn of the experiences told today by former Women’s Team captain, Ronnie Gibbons,” Fulham said.
“She has our deepest empathy and support.”
Al Fayed owned Fulham between 1997 and 2013.
In 2000, Fulham’s women’s team – known at the time as Fulham Ladies – became the first female football team in Europe to turn professional.
Gibbons, who was captain at the time, said she was driven to Harrods by club staff. Once at the luxury department store, she said she was left alone with Al Fayed, who was then in his 70s.
“He pulled me in close and tried to kiss me on the mouth,” she said of their first meeting.
“He had his arms holding my arms, like at my side, so I couldn’t push him away or anything like that. It was a real kind of control stance, like ‘I’m dominating you’.
“I was just like, ‘What do I do here?’ I just felt like a huge responsibility on my shoulders at that point because we’d just turned professional.”
Gibbons said that Al Fayed tried to forcefully kiss her again: “He even may have stuck his tongue on me or something. I just remember feeling sick, just really physically feeling sick, when I left there.”
Getty ImagesLater that summer, she said a member of staff told her she had been summoned to Harrods again by Al Fayed.
In the interview with The Athletic, she recalled: “This time he groped me. As he was saying goodbye, he was sort of grabbing me, trying to sort of hold on to me and kiss me. He was like, ‘You’re not scared are you? You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going to do anything like that, you’re very precious, you’re a very special girl’.”
Fulham FC told the BBC: “We unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the Club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports.”
Last week, the Metropolitan Police said it had received 40 new allegations from people that included sexual assault and rape against Al Fayed.
The allegations follow a BBC documentary and podcast, containing testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.
Since the documentary first aired in September, a further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.
‘Extra precautions’
Last month, the former manager of Fulham’s women’s team Gaute Haugenes told the BBC that extra precautions had been put in place to protect female players from Al Fayed.
Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, said members of staff became aware that the late billionaire “liked young, blonde girls”.
Gibbons was reported to be angered by these comments.
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Haugenes, who is Norwegian, said he could completely understand her frustration.
“All I can say is I am really sorry for saying something that could have put more wood on the fire. I honestly thought we protected the players,” he said.
“I knew that he liked Ronnie because all the girls, they joked about it. But I thought he was an old man, she was a young woman. I was 30 at the time, I didn’t think people his age were thinking about sex.
“I might have been naive, it might have been some of the language barriers that I didn’t pick up details in their joking.”
He added that he had not been aware she had been told to go to Harrods.
Asked whether club staff could have done more, he said it was difficult to know what could have been done differently.
“But you should have had a system that picked up things like that,” he said. “It was before I was a manager that she went there.”
He added: “It is sad to hear she had those kind of experiences as a professional player.”
The CEO of Women in Football (WIF) told the BBC there are “significant challenges” in the female football environment.
“It brings to the fore the prevalence of power in balances and the risk towards women in the industry working both on and off the pitch,” Yvonne Harrison said.
“For players it is really important that they are protected, they are safeguarded and that their voices are first and foremost listened to – and that is the same off the pitch as well.”
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said the abuse Gibbons had endured from Al Fayed was “yet another horrible example of the monstrous abuse aided and abetted by the businesses he owned”.
They added: “We salute our client’s bravery and are proud to advocate for Ronnie and others at Fulham who are searching for justice. We will do whatever we can to lift the lid on abuse, no matter where it was perpetrated, or who it was perpetrated by, including any enablers of Al-Fayed’s abhorrent behaviour.”
A spokesperson for Harrods said it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed.
It said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.
“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise.”
Sport
Former Man Utd star, 26, out for months after almost losing thumb in kitchen accident, manager says
KIERAN McKENNA says Axel Tuanzebe faces a “few months” out after nearly losing his thumb in a kitchen accident.
It was revealed earlier this month that Ipswich’s Congolese defender required an emergency op when a glass shattered while he was washing up.
3
3
Speaking for the first time about the horror incident, boss McKenna said: “Some of the details came out of how he did it.
“It was a household accident — very unfortunate but very serious, very close to losing his thumb.
“He has had surgery to repair the tendons and everything in the thumb that was damaged.
“Now, he’s just recovering from that. I think the recovery’s going pretty well but it’s a long-term injury.
“As much as it seems like a pretty innocuous body part in the game of football, it’s a pretty important body part in human anatomy and he needs to let it recover.
“Of course, he’s a loss and a miss. It just shows how quickly things can change in football and in life. Thankfully, he’s recovering well and we now have to adapt and improve as a team.
“But we look forward to having him back when he’s ready again.
“It could be anything from a few months, maybe a little bit less if the recovery goes well.
FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS
“That’s something we’re in dialogue with different specialists on.”
Tractor Boys centre-back Dara O’Shea is a doubt for Everton’s visit today after getting injured while on Republic of Ireland duty.
Premier League trials radical new corner rule endorsed by Gary Neville that will prevent ‘ridiculous situation’
And McKenna added: “He had an issue in his back that’s being assessed, so we’ll see how it goes.”
McKenna plans to stick with £22.5million club-record buy Omari Hutchinson at No 10 — despite his stunning display for England Under-21s on the right wing.
Hutchinson, 20, had a hand in four goals in a 7-0 win over Azerbaijan.
McKenna said: “We’ve got a pretty clear belief in how we can make him most effective in different games and scenarios.”
3
Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira are ready to throw down in Saudi Arabia.
The former UFC heavyweight champion makes his MMA return in the main event of the PFL’s Battle of the Giants pay-per-view card this Saturday, facing the fellow knockout artist Ferreira.
After both made weight early Friday morning, Ngannou and Ferreira took part in the ceremonial weigh-ins, where things heated up quickly with an intense forehead-to-forehead staredown that needed to be separated. Check out the video below.
The intensity continued on as Dan Hardy spoke to both competitors. Ngannou looked Ferreira in the eyes and planned out his prediction.
“I’ll let him know who is the king,” Ngannou said.
Ngannou then asked Ferreira who the king was as he continued to stare down his opponent. Ferreira responded with “Problema,”
It will be the first mixed martial arts bout in nearly three years for Ngannou, who made the choice to leave the UFC and vacate the heavyweight title after becoming a free agent following his UFC 270 title defense against Ciryl Gane in January 2022.
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoHyperelastic gel is one of the stretchiest materials known to science
-
Technology3 weeks agoIs sharing your smartphone PIN part of a healthy relationship?
-
Science & Environment4 weeks ago‘Running of the bulls’ festival crowds move like charged particles
-
Science & Environment1 month agoHow to unsnarl a tangle of threads, according to physics
-
Technology1 month agoWould-be reality TV contestants ‘not looking real’
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoMaxwell’s demon charges quantum batteries inside of a quantum computer
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoLiquid crystals could improve quantum communication devices
-
Womens Workouts4 weeks ago3 Day Full Body Women’s Dumbbell Only Workout
-
Science & Environment3 weeks agoX-rays reveal half-billion-year-old insect ancestor
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoQuantum ‘supersolid’ matter stirred using magnets
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoSunlight-trapping device can generate temperatures over 1000°C
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoWhy this is a golden age for life to thrive across the universe
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoQuantum forces used to automatically assemble tiny device
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoLaser helps turn an electron into a coil of mass and charge
-
Science & Environment1 month agoNerve fibres in the brain could generate quantum entanglement
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoHow to wrap your mind around the real multiverse
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoITER: Is the world’s biggest fusion experiment dead after new delay to 2035?
-
Science & Environment1 month agoA slight curve helps rocks make the biggest splash
-
News1 month ago
the pick of new debut fiction
-
News4 weeks agoOur millionaire neighbour blocks us from using public footpath & screams at us in street.. it’s like living in a WARZONE – WordupNews
-
Science & Environment1 month agoTime travel sci-fi novel is a rip-roaringly good thought experiment
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoA new kind of experiment at the Large Hadron Collider could unravel quantum reality
-
News1 month ago▶️ Media Bias: How They Spin Attack on Hezbollah and Ignore the Reality
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoNuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles
-
News1 month ago▶️ Hamas in the West Bank: Rising Support and Deadly Attacks You Might Not Know About
-
Technology3 weeks agoWhy Machines Learn: A clever primer makes sense of what makes AI possible
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoPhysicists are grappling with their own reproducibility crisis
-
Business3 weeks ago
Eurosceptic Andrej Babiš eyes return to power in Czech Republic
-
Technology3 weeks agoMicrophone made of atom-thick graphene could be used in smartphones
-
Business2 weeks agoWhen to tip and when not to tip
-
Sport2 weeks agoCoco Gauff stages superb comeback to reach China Open final
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoPhysicists have worked out how to melt any material
-
News1 month agoYou’re a Hypocrite, And So Am I
-
Sport4 weeks agoJoshua vs Dubois: Chris Eubank Jr says ‘AJ’ could beat Tyson Fury and any other heavyweight in the world
-
Science & Environment1 month agoCaroline Ellison aims to duck prison sentence for role in FTX collapse
-
Technology3 weeks agoUkraine is using AI to manage the removal of Russian landmines
-
Technology2 weeks agoThis AI video generator can melt, crush, blow up, or turn anything into cake
-
Sport3 weeks agoWorld’s sexiest referee Claudia Romani shows off incredible figure in animal print bikini on South Beach
-
News2 weeks agoMassive blasts in Beirut after renewed Israeli air strikes
-
Sport2 weeks agoWales fall to second loss of WXV against Italy
-
News1 month agoNew investigation ordered into ‘doorstep murder’ of Alistair Wilson
-
News4 weeks ago
The Project Censored Newsletter – May 2024
-
Technology3 weeks agoQuantum computers may work better when they ignore causality
-
Sport3 weeks agoWatch UFC star deliver ‘one of the most brutal knockouts ever’ that left opponent laid spark out on the canvas
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoRethinking space and time could let us do away with dark matter
-
Health & fitness1 month agoThe secret to a six pack – and how to keep your washboard abs in 2022
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoA tale of two mysteries: ghostly neutrinos and the proton decay puzzle
-
MMA3 weeks agoConor McGregor challenges ‘woeful’ Belal Muhammad, tells Ilia Topuria it’s ‘on sight’
-
Technology3 weeks agoUniversity examiners fail to spot ChatGPT answers in real-world test
-
Business2 weeks ago
DoJ accuses Donald Trump of ‘private criminal effort’ to overturn 2020 election
-
MMA2 weeks agoJulianna Peña trashes Raquel Pennington’s behavior as champ
-
MMA2 weeks agoDana White’s Contender Series 74 recap, analysis, winner grades
-
TV2 weeks agoসারাদেশে দিনব্যাপী বৃষ্টির পূর্বাভাস; সমুদ্রবন্দরে ৩ নম্বর সংকেত | Weather Today | Jamuna TV
-
News2 weeks agoHeartbreaking end to search as body of influencer, 27, found after yacht party shipwreck on ‘Devil’s Throat’ coastline
-
Technology2 weeks agoTexas is suing TikTok for allegedly violating its new child privacy law
-
Technology2 weeks agoA very underrated horror movie sequel is streaming on Max
-
News2 weeks agoBalancing India and China Is the Challenge for Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake
-
News2 weeks ago▶ Hamas Spent $1B on Tunnels Instead of Investing in a Future for Gaza’s People
-
News2 weeks agoNavigating the News Void: Opportunities for Revitalization
-
TV2 weeks agoLove Island star sparks feud rumours as one Islander is missing from glam girls’ night
-
Technology4 weeks agoRobo-tuna reveals how foldable fins help the speedy fish manoeuvre
-
Business3 weeks ago
Should London’s tax exiles head for Spain, Italy . . . or Wales?
-
Football3 weeks agoFootball Focus: Martin Keown on Liverpool’s Alisson Becker
-
News4 weeks ago
Israel strikes Lebanese targets as Hizbollah chief warns of ‘red lines’ crossed
-
Technology1 month agoThe ‘superfood’ taking over fields in northern India
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoFuture of fusion: How the UK’s JET reactor paved the way for ITER
-
Politics4 weeks ago
UK consumer confidence falls sharply amid fears of ‘painful’ budget | Economics
-
Technology3 weeks ago‘From a toaster to a server’: UK startup promises 5x ‘speed up without changing a line of code’ as it plans to take on Nvidia, AMD in the generative AI battlefield
-
TV2 weeks agoPhillip Schofield accidentally sets his camp on FIRE after using emergency radio to Channel 5 crew
-
Technology2 weeks agoApple iPhone 16 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S24+
-
News2 weeks agoHull KR 10-8 Warrington Wolves – Robins reach first Super League Grand Final
-
News2 weeks agoHeavy strikes shake Beirut as Israel expands Lebanon campaign
-
Politics3 weeks ago
Robert Jenrick vows to cut aid to countries that do not take back refused asylum seekers | Robert Jenrick
-
Business3 weeks ago
Ukraine faces its darkest hour
-
Technology2 weeks agoEpic Games CEO Tim Sweeney renews blast at ‘gatekeeper’ platform owners
-
Business2 weeks ago
Bank of England warns of ‘future stress’ from hedge fund bets against US Treasuries
-
Business2 weeks agoChancellor Rachel Reeves says she needs to raise £20bn. How might she do it?
-
Sport2 weeks agoLauren Keen-Hawkins: Injured amateur jockey continues progress from serious head injury
-
Technology2 weeks agoAmazon’s Ring just doubled the price of its alarm monitoring service for grandfathered customers
-
MMA2 weeks agoPereira vs. Rountree prediction: Champ chases legend status
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoUK spurns European invitation to join ITER nuclear fusion project
-
News4 weeks agoWhy Is Everyone Excited About These Smart Insoles?
-
News4 weeks agoFour dead & 18 injured in horror mass shooting with victims ‘caught in crossfire’ as cops hunt multiple gunmen
-
Technology3 weeks agoGet ready for Meta Connect
-
Health & fitness3 weeks agoThe 7 lifestyle habits you can stop now for a slimmer face by next week
-
Sport4 weeks agoUFC Edmonton fight card revealed, including Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi headliner
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoBeing in two places at once could make a quantum battery charge faster
-
News1 month agoHow FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam Is Adapting to a Post-Pandemic Economy
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoWhy we need to invoke philosophy to judge bizarre concepts in science
-
CryptoCurrency4 weeks agoCardano founder to meet Argentina president Javier Milei
-
Politics4 weeks ago
‘Appalling’ rows over Sue Gray must stop, senior ministers say | Sue Gray
-
TV4 weeks agoCNN TÜRK – 🔴 Canlı Yayın ᴴᴰ – Canlı TV izle
-
Science & Environment4 weeks agoMeet the world's first female male model | 7.30
-
Womens Workouts4 weeks ago3 Day Full Body Toning Workout for Women
-
Servers computers3 weeks agoWhat are the benefits of Blade servers compared to rack servers?
-
Technology2 weeks agoSamsung Passkeys will work with Samsung’s smart home devices
-
Football2 weeks agoRangers & Celtic ready for first SWPL derby showdown
-
Business2 weeks ago
The search for Japan’s ‘lost’ art
-
Technology2 weeks agoThe best shows on Max (formerly HBO Max) right now
-
Entertainment2 weeks agoChristopher Ciccone, artist and Madonna’s younger brother, dies at 63
You must be logged in to post a comment Login