Four people have been arrested in Spain over allegedly conducting an online campaign of hate and racism against Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr.

The campaign is said to have encouraged supporters to racially abuse the 24-year-old, asking them to wear black face masks to avoid being identified, police confirmed.

The Brazil forward broke down in a press conference earlier this year when talking about the racist abuse he has encountered, saying he felt “less and less” like playing football following multiple incidents.

The men were detained on 14 and 15 October and then released as investigations continue.

Spain’s national police did not name the four men who were arrested and questioned, with no immediate statement from any lawyers representing them.

They added the investigation remains open and could lead to more arrests after the online campaign raised “significant social alarm” by going viral.

The first detentions by police linked to the campaign happened on 29 September in the build-up to the La Liga derby at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium, with the hashtag translated in English to ‘Metropolitano with a mask’ reportedly used.

Though no racist incidents were reported at the match, officials did temporarily suspend the game after objects were thrown on to the pitch.

Three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison in June for abusing the Madrid forward at a match in May 2023.

In August, the Brazilian said he and his team-mates will leave the pitch if they face any more racism this season.

He added that the only way to drive racism out of football altogether may be by stopping matches.

Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy says he has been “blown away” by the number of men seeking cancer advice since he revealed his terminal diagnosis.

The six-time Olympic champion, 48, said at the weekend that doctors have told him he has between two and four years to live.

In a video posted on social media, external on Thursday, Hoy said he had received “incredible kindness and support”.

“I now have a deep resolve to turn this incredibly difficult diagnosis into something more positive,” he added.

“I understand that there has been a massive increase in men seeking advice in prostate cancer in the last few days and that’s been a huge comfort to us to know that hopefully many lives could be saved by early testing.”

Sir Chris also said that he has written a book titled All That Matters, which will be released in November, about his illness and the story of his life since retiring from professional cycling in 2013.

He described the writing experience as cathartic for himself and his family, and said that he hopes the book can provide understanding around how families deal with a terminal diagnosis and to “remind us that all we have is now”.

Check out these photos from the UFC 308 pre-fight press conference at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, where Ilia Topuria, Max Holloway, Robert Whittaker, Khamzat Chimaev, and the rest of the main card fighters answered questions and took part in faceoffs. (Photos by Mike Bohn, MMA Junkie)

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Tony Stewart went to the Stewart-Haas Racing shop a couple of weeks ago and saw as many people as he could a month before the team shuts down.

“Knowing that when I left the building there, here’s some of those people I’ve known for 16 years, and I may never, ever see them again, unfortunately,” Stewart said on “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast. “I don’t know that it’s even bittersweet. It’s more bitter than sweet, I feel like. It’s a tough decision.

“But, you know, things in life change. Your priorities change and variables outside of your control change as well.”

In a pair of interviews with FOX Sports last week, one with Harvick on his podcast and another with FOX Sports Digital, Stewart talked about his rookie season in an NHRA top fuel dragster (we’ll write more on that in a couple of weeks) as well as the final weeks of SHR. 

Stewart was given half of Haas CNC Racing prior to the 2009 season to form Stewart-Haas Racing. A two-time Cup champion at the time, Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing for the opportunity to co-own a team. The idea was he could help bring experienced racing administrators as well as attract people willing to work for the organization.

In its 16 seasons, SHR has won 70 Cup races, including Cup titles in 2011 with Stewart and 2014 with Kevin Harvick.

Stewart thinks back to winning the all-star race in 2009 as the pivotal moment that has guided him the last 16 years through the end of his Cup career in 2016 and the seasons that followed.

“There were crew guys there that literally were in tears, and it really caught me off-guard,” Stewart said about the all-star win. “I just didn’t expect to see that. And it was people that had been with the Haas organization before I’d got there and worked on different teams that had never won a race, and here we are winning our first race as an organization.

“And what I realized for the first time since I had started Stewart-Haas and become a part of that, it wasn’t about me anymore. It was about sitting there enjoying watching these guys that were so overwhelmed and overjoyed with winning a race that it brought tears to their eyes. And it was like, ‘This is way bigger than anything that has to do with me. This is about all of us and what we can accomplish together.’”

It was with that mindset that Stewart, facing significant sponsorship and manufacturer-support challenges, opted to get out of NASCAR Cup ownership. Gene Haas will keep one of the four Cup cars and both Xfinity programs and operate it as a new organization, Haas Factory Team. The team told employees at the end of May it would cease operations, impacting more than 300 employees (some employees could return with Haas Factory Team).

“The reason we did the announcement early in the season was to try to take care of all of our people,” Stewart said. “I got so blamed for people losing their jobs. Well, there’s companies left and right that shut down. Look at COVID [in 2020] — how many people had to shut down? Nobody was screaming about how employees weren’t taken care of and what it did to their families.

“We did what we did to take care of our people, and we created great severance packages for them to take care of them and their families. … I would say over 80 percent of the employees at SHR have found homes for next year.”

Stewart, who owns his NHRA team and sprint-car teams, said 16 years as a race team in one series is a solid run.

“The bashing I got online and on social media was very unjust through the process,” Stewart said. “It’s easy to sit on your ass, on a chair, on your couch in your mom’s house and sit there and tell us how we’re doing it wrong. But nobody can seem to sit there and come in on Monday morning and tell us how to do it right.

“I feel like our group did a great job of taking care of our people the best that we could, and with the right intentions and with the attitude of our employees came first — and that’s what the focus has been this year, is making sure that we do everything to take care of our employees in a season that’s a transition year for everybody.”

Even with the transition, Chase Briscoe won at Darlington to make the playoffs in SHR’s final hurrah. It snapped a 73-race winless streak for the organization.

“Obviously, for the building, the last couple years have been a huge struggle, and just trying to get a car in the winner’s circle again was tough,” Stewart said. “But to see Chase get that done at Darlington and win a crown jewel race and get himself in the playoffs, that was a huge boost for the building.”

Stewart said he didn’t know that the charter situation would lead to such angst between teams and owners over the summer, but watching 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports sue NASCAR is something he is glad he doesn’t have to be involved with as a Cup team owner.

“With their battle with NASCAR and the direction that things are going, it’s not a direction that I want to be a part of,” Stewart said on the Harvick podcast. “This is the right time. This was never a part of a master plan.

“But as this year has gone on, this has become very clear that this is the right time for me to get out of the sport. There’s things that I see that I definitely don’t like. And I’m happy doing the stuff I’m doing now. I’ve always been somebody that’s ran all kinds of different series.”

Stewart indicated the challenges of piecing together several sponsorships for one car and not having other companies to create enough business-to-business relationships was just too much for SHR to try to operate a successful team on the track. Stewart said he had a lot of respect for the NASCAR-owning France family and was appreciative of the opportunities he had racing the greats Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace and Harvick among them.

“The sport’s going to be healthy, it’s going to survive,” Stewart said. “It always has. It always will. But I’m happy at this point in my life to make this change. … It wasn’t that way at the beginning of the year.

“We had different reasons for why we had to shut down at the end of the season, but as time has gone on and watching the owners and NASCAR fight and just the chaos that’s going on over there, I’m fine being done with this at the end of the year.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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A RUGBY LEAGUE coach has been hit with a mammoth 18-month ban after breaching the game’s welfare policy.

Mark Aston, 57, selected a player during a Challenge Cup tie without waiting for the necessary medical clearance.

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Aston, who has coached the Sheffield Eagles since 1999, played outside-back Matty Marsh against Wigan Warriors in March.

Marsh had suffered a head injury just 13 days earlier in a Championship fixture with Swinton Lions.

He was therefore ineligible to play due to the league’s safeguarding rules on concussions and head trauma.

Aston and the club’s physio, Mick Heys, faced a tribunal following the incident.

The Eagles coach has now been hit with an unprecedented 18-month ban from rugby league.

It means he will be unable to coach or hold any senior position within the sport until April 30, 2026.

Heys apologized for his role, “admitting his conduct at the outset” and “expressing significant remorse.”

As a result, his 18-month ban includes six months suspended, meaning he can return to physio duties from October 31, 2025.

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HHJ C Batty, the Tribunal Chair, said: “These are very serious breaches of the Operational Rules designed to protect the welfare of those who play the game.

“For the reasons set out above the penalties for those who breach these rules must be significant.

“Head contact has become a serious issue in professional rugby in both codes of the game.

“Both codes have recognised the need to implement rule changes, safety procedures and medical protocols in order to lessen the incidence of head contact and the impact of it upon those who play.

“The processes adopted are the result of detailed research and consultation with many medical experts.

“They are accepted to be the minimum standard to ensure the safety of those who play the game.

“Player welfare is and should be paramount. Those who fail to comply with the rules must be brought to account.”

Autumn Nations Series fixtures

Saturday, November 2

• 3.10pm: England vs New Zealand, Twickenham Stadium
• 5.40pm: Scotland vs Fiji, Murrayfield

Friday, November 8

• 8.10pm: Ireland vs New Zealand, Aviva Stadium

Saturday, November 9

• 3.10pm: England vs Australia, Twickenham
• 5.40pm: Italy vs Argentina, Stadio Friuli
• 8.10pm: France vs Japan, Stade de France

Sunday, November 10

• 1.40pm: Wales vs Fiji, Principality Stadium
• 4.10pm: Scotland vs South Africa, Murrayfield

Friday, November 15

• 8.10pm: Ireland vs Argentina, Aviva Stadium

Saturday, November 16

• 3.10pm: Scotland vs Portugal, Murrayfield
• 5.40pm: England vs South Africa, Twickenham
• 8.10pm: France vs New Zealand, Stade de France

Sunday, November 17

• 1.40pm: Italy vs Georgia, Stadio Luigi Ferraris
• 4.10pm: Wales vs Australia, Principality Stadium

Friday, November 22

• 8.10pm: France vs Argentina, Stade de France

Saturday, November 23

• 3.10pm: Ireland vs Fiji, Aviva Stadium
• 5.40pm: Wales vs South Africa, Principality Stadium
• 8.10pm: Italy vs New Zealand, Allianz Stadium, Turin

Sunday, November 24

• 1.40pm: Scotland vs Australia, Murrayfield
• 4.10pm: England vs Japan, Twickenham

Saturday, November 30

• 3.10pm: Ireland vs Australia, Aviva Stadium

The RFL added in a statement: “Sheffield Eagles were a party to the tribunal and the RFL expects to reach an agreed decision with the club pursuant to operational rules and pending the outcome of any appeal process which is likely to involve a considerable fine and a monitoring, improvement and educational plan.”

Aston has the right to appeal for 14 days following the verdict.

Sheffield Eagles had stood him down on a “no-fault” basis since the allegations first arose in July this year.

A legend of the club, Aston has spent his entire coaching career with the Eagles.

Prior to their merger with the Huddersfield Giants, he played as a scrum half and won the Challenge Cup with the Eagles in 1998.

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad never backs down from a challenge but he’s not going to seriously entertain a potential fight against somebody competing two weight classes below him.

Just recently, Muhammad got drawn into a war of words with Ilia Topuria after he warned the UFC featherweight champion to watch what he says when addressing Islam Makhachev after declaring plans to eventually challenge for the 155-pound title. The comment led to a back-and-forth exchange over social media with Topuria taking one additional step when he said he wants to eventually become the UFC’s first ever three-division champion, which would then require him to go for Muhammad’s belt.

While Muhammad admits he had some fun trading verbal jabs with Topuria, he’s not even remotely concerned that this challenge actually deserves his attention.

“I think that dude’s got Napoleon syndrome or something,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “Short guys always act like they’re tough. Literally I think he started coming at me because somebody asked me about why is he coming at Islam [Makhachev]. I said bro, he needs to focus on [Max] Holloway, who’s in front of him and you don’t want to disrespect the guys from Dagestan because they see you in person, they’re going to slap you. They don’t take that stuff. They don’t play the trash talk game. It’s real life to them.

“I think he took offense to it. He’s at that mode where I think he’s trying to find himself and he’s trying to show fans that he’s trash talker and he’s this bad guy. He’s not really good at trash talking. When he comes at me, it’s laughable because he’s basically copying words off memes.”

As far as his aspirations about winning titles across multiple divisions, Topuria first has to get through his upcoming fight against Max Holloway at UFC 308 as he defends his featherweight belt for the first time.

Regardless if he wins, Muhammad says it’s still a far cry from actually jumping up one division and challenging a dominant champion like Islam Makhachev before packing on at least 25 pounds to attempt the move to welterweight.

In other words, Muhammad isn’t taking that challenge seriously.

“At the end of the day, we’re not going to fight in the cage so why are you even giving me those words, you’re trying to talk tough because you know nothing’s really going to come of it,” Muhammad said. “He can say ‘I want to go up to 170 and be a triple champ after this’ but you know you’re not.

“I don’t even think he’s going to get past Holloway. I think he’s going to lose this fight and then we don’t even have to hear his freaking mouse voice.”

When it comes to Topuria’s fight on Saturday, Muhammad absolutely plans on rooting for Holloway to win but that’s not even a situation where he’s just hoping to see the featherweight title change hands.

Muhammad absolutely expects it to happen.

“I’m rooting for Max but I think skill wise, Max will beat him,” Muhammad said. “I think [Topuria] goes out there and pushes these guys forward and a lot of the guys he fought were shorter. Max is a taller boxer. He hasn’t fought somebody like him. We know how good Max’s chin is. I think that he’s going to realize when it gets to the third, fourth and fifth round that Max is still there, still in front of him.

“We saw him get a little bit tired in the [Josh] Emmett fight. I think it’s going to get worse in this fight because Max is high volume. He showed last fight, he’s working on his power. I think Max will put his lights out.”