Freddie Flintoff clashed with a former England rugby star on Sky’s A League of Their Own in what started as playful sledging but turned into a feud
Freddie Flintoff once had a heated confrontation with an England rugby legend during a television panel show. What began as light-hearted banter quickly escalated into a serious dispute.
Following a cricket career in which he accumulated nearly 4,000 Test runs and claimed 226 Test wickets, Flintoff moved into broadcasting. Sky’s A League of Their Own appointed the Lancashire icon as team captain in 2010, a position he held for 12 years.
However, trouble arose when James Haskell, who earned 77 caps for England, guest-starred on an episode recorded in 2014, leading to a notorious confrontation. The former England international made a cutting remark about Flintoff’s boxing endeavours, which served as the catalyst for a physical altercation and sparked an extended verbal battle.
Flintoff was tasked with evaluating Haskell’s juggling abilities and frankly confessed: “To be honest, I expected more.” Haskell swiftly fired back with: “After watching you box, I think it would be fair to say we expected more as well.”
The cricket legend had competed in just one professional boxing match in 2012, defeating American opponent Richard Dawson via a points decision. Despite being floored during the contest, he recovered to continue and secured victory.
Haskell’s barb sent the studio audience into hysterics, but Flintoff, who has returned to television presenting ITV’s revived Bullseye following a serious accident whilst filming Top Gear, was clearly not amused. In 2016, Haskell received an invitation to return to the programme to resolve this tension through a pillow fight.
The former rugby player revealed that it was Flintoff who suggested they should “make it look like a scrap” – a detail unknown to A League of Their Own audiences.
The duo enacted a Gladiators-style confrontation on an inflatable platform, with Flintoff emerging triumphant after knocking Haskell down. Nevertheless, the cricket icon persisted in striking Haskell even following his defeat.
Former Wasps player Haskell subsequently shoved Flintoff to the floor, leading to a bout of shoving and grappling between the pair. Comedian Jack Whitehall rushed over to separate them as the previously cheering crowd fell silent.
This performance failed to convince many online observers, despite the audience’s hushed reaction, with some branding the two as “bad 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 rebuff from Flintoff, Haskell chose to shelve the matter and didn’t dwell on it until the fresh series of A League of Their Own commenced.
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**k.’ 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 rivalry seemed to have escalated beyond what Haskell considered reasonable, but it didn’t stop there. When the rugby star transitioned into professional fighting, he took another swipe at Flintoff.
Upon announcing his participation in Bellator MMA 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.”
