Former England cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff is back on TV hosting ITV’s Bullseye after a life-altering Top Gear crash, but once clashed with a rugby star in front of the cameras
Freddie Flintoff once had a heated confrontation with an England rugby icon on a panel show. What began as lighthearted banter quickly escalated into a genuine dispute.
Following a cricket career that yielded almost 4,000 Test runs and 226 Test wickets, Flintoff moved into broadcasting. Sky’s A League of Their Own appointed the Lancashire legend as team captain in 2010, a position he held for 12 years.
However, trouble arose when James Haskell, who earned 77 caps for England’s rugby side, featured on an episode filmed in 2014. The ex-rugby ace made a cheeky comment about Flintoff’s boxing exploits, which sparked a physical altercation and triggered a prolonged verbal battle.
Flintoff was tasked with evaluating Haskell’s juggling abilities and promptly declared: “To be honest, I expected more.” Haskell swiftly fired back, responding: “After watching you box, I think it would be fair to say we expected more as well.”
The cricket legend had undertaken just one professional boxing match in 2012, defeating American Richard Dawson on points. Despite being floored during the contest, he recovered to secure victory.
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Haskell’s barb sent the studio audience into hysterics, but Flintoff, who has returned to television presenting ITV’s Bullseye following a serious accident whilst filming Top Gear, was far from amused. In 2016, Haskell was brought back onto the programme to resolve this animosity through a pillow fight.
According to the former rugby player, it was Flintoff who proposed they should “make it look like a scrap” – a detail unknown to A League of Their Own audiences.
Both put on a Gladiators-style clash on an inflatable platform, with Flintoff emerging triumphant after sending Haskell tumbling. Yet the cricket icon kept battering Haskell even after his defeat had been sealed.
The ex-Wasps hero then shoved Flintoff to the floor, sparking a bout of shoving and tussling between the pair. Comic Jack Whitehall dashed over to separate them as the previously roaring crowd fell silent.
This charade failed to convince many online observers, despite the hushed audience reaction, with some branding the two “terrible actors.”
In his memoir, Ruck Me, Haskell revealed: “When the show aired it went mental. I had messaged Freddie after the show to say thank you again and for him to keep smashing it. I also asked him, if I sent him a cricket bat to sign for this ill little boy would he do it, as Freddie was his hero. He just ignored me and that was it.”
Despite this apparent brush-off from Flintoff, Haskell chose to let sleeping dogs lie and didn’t dwell on it until the fresh series of A League of Their Own kicked off.
He added: “I thought f*** it, just move on. Then when the next series started, Freddie was shown highlights of our head-to-head and said, ‘Yeah, that Haskell was a bit of a d***.’
“I still hear about it today, with trolls saying, ‘You’re a c***,’ and ‘You got beaten up by Flintoff,’ when the reality is, I’m not, I didn’t and I wouldn’t.”
The row appeared to have escalated beyond what Haskell had anticipated, but it didn’t end there as he took another swipe at Flintoff when the ex-rugby ace moved into professional combat sports.
When he revealed his plans to compete in Bellator MMA back in 2019, he told Press Association: “You have to respect Freddie for getting in the ring, but I am very different, this is a different sport and I am taking it much more seriously.”
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
