The Irish government has indicated to Uefa a desire to host more Euro 2028 tournament matches in the Republic of Ireland.

The European Championship finals will be staged across the UK and Ireland, with the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to host six matches.

Five games were scheduled to take place in Belfast but the UK government’s decision not to provide funding to rebuild Casement Park in the west of the city in time for the Euros put pay to that.

The cost of rebuilding the derelict Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) stadium to a specification which would allow it to host Euro matches had escalated, with the UK government saying that the finances required had exceeded £400m.

Speaking at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday, Irish Culture and Sports Minister Catherine Martin said that she would like to see more of the tournament’s matches held on the island of Ireland.

On the prospect of additional Euros games potentially being staged outside of Dublin, she said: “I think that’s ultimately for the stakeholders themselves to decide. But yes, the more that can be held on a wider spread.

“I always talk about regional tourism as well, and looking at the 250,000 people working in tourism, 70% of them are in the regions.”

A CHESS grandmaster was chucked out of a tournament for allegedly using a mobile phone during a match.

The current world no.69 Kirill Shevchenko was competing in the Spanish Team Championship when the incident occurred.

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As a result of the alleged ‘cheating’, his two draws in the first two rounds have been changed to defeats.

The Romanian was competing for the Silla – Integrant Col·lectius team.

The Spanish Chess Federation has explained his expulsion from the tournament.

A statement revealed the reason was “the usage of mobile devices during the playing of his matches.”

It continued: “FEDA maintains its firm commitment against cheating in chess, acting in the strongest possible way in any case which is detected.

“We profoundly regret that these events have occurred.

“We also wish to state that, in any case, this individual behaviour has nothing to do with the impeccable performance of his Club and the rest of his team members.”

Shevchenko has been removed from the Silla – Integrant Col·lectius team as a result.

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The team posted a statement it said it “rejects in the strongest and most blunt way whichever practice of illegal and/or illicit strategy used in an unsportsmanlike way to gain an advantage.”

Chess.com has reported that suspicion arose around Shevchenko when he spent long periods away from the table.

Chief Arbiter Oscar Bruno de Prado Rodríguez has claimed that a phone was found in a toilet cubicle.

It was apparently accompanied by a note that had handwriting similar to that of the 22-year-old.

On Tuesday, the Romanian Chess Federation insisted that it was still waiting for “solid evidence” to support the allegations.

It insisted that it has “zero tolerance for violations of fair-play rules”.

A statement read: “We await for the details of the case and we will carefully study the accompanying evidence.

“So far, we only have press reports and alleged witnesses, but no official communication.

“Until then, we are on the side of our chess player, who denies the accusations against him.

“We will support him as we support all our chess players, within the limits of the regulations in place.

“If further information comes to light, we will decide within the Federation our next steps.”

Wales captain Hannah Jones joined the other home nations’ captains at the draw which was live on BBC’s The One Show on Thursday night.

“It’s a really exciting group, we know Canada is going to be one of the favourites going in, so that will be a really good, challenging game,” Jones told BBC Sport.

“Scotland is always close, me and Rachel [Malcolm] were talking before the show, we played them at the last world cup, and we were like maybe it might be again.

“And then Fiji, I’ve never played Fiji before, so that’s quite exciting. I watched them play against Scotland a couple of weeks ago with the offloading game, so it’s a different type of rugby and I’m excited to play that game.”

Two teams from each pool will progress to the knockout stages and Jones is hopeful Wales can make it to the last eight.

“It’s really exciting, you never know what’s going to happen in a Rugby World Cup,” she added.

Jamahal Hill takes umbrage with those who think Khalil Rountree can beat him.

Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) put up a valiant effort in his title loss to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira earlier this month at UFC 307. Rountree won the first two rounds, before getting battered and finished in the fourth round.

In his most recent outing, Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) suffered a first-round knockout loss to Pereira at UFC 300 in April. He was scheduled to face Rountree at UFC 303 in June, but withdrew due to injury. His performance against Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) drew comparisons to Rountree’s, but Hill is confident that he would handily beat Rountree if they ever fought.

“The way that Pereira beat Khalil, for one – Pereira couldn’t beat me fighting that way,” Hill told Sportskeeda. “And two, that’s how I would’ve beat Khalil from the jump. He would’ve gotten beat like that even earlier in the fight. Pieced up with hands? Come on, bro. That’s what I do. People got recency bias and things like that. If anybody thinks that Khalil is on my level, let’s see him go and win a fight because he’s not even – we’re not even in the same bracket right now.

“He got a title shot just because he was an easy mark for the champ, he’s a favorable matchup for the champ. He’s No. 8, coming off a loss. I’m in the top five. He’s got to get a win before he gets up and before that’s even a thing. And if he does get a win, and that ever does materialize to be a thing, anybody who thinks he can beat me, bet $1 million on it. Bet your house on it. Real talk. I bet nobody going to bet nothing that they really want to lose on that. Nobody’s taking that bet.”

Hill revealed that he already signed a contract for his next fight. “Sweet Dreams” didn’t announce the opponent, but with former title challenger Jiri Prochazka also recently signing a contract, many are speculating it could be him.

FURIOUS Frank Warren has slammed accusations Fabio Wardley shattered Frazer Clarke’s face with dodgy gloves.

Clarke, 33, needed emergency Saudi Arabian surgery to rewire his smashed jaw following a brutal first round KO defeat in Saturday’s British and Commonwealth heavyweight title rematch.

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His promoter Ben Shalom claims Wardley’s customised 10oz Fly gloves are being investigated after British Boxing Board of Control’s medical chief Neil Scott likened Clarke’s injury to being hit with a BRICK.

Shalom said: “A doctor told me there’s no way in hell any boxing glove should be able to inflict that level of damage.

“It’s an ongoing process, something we are looking at, to see how these customised gloves are different.

“We were warned repeatedly by Frazer’s team about what gloves could be used.”

It’s a disgrace Shalom has tried to tarnish Fabio’s win and reputation with such a dangerous suggestion

Frank WarrenFabio Wardley’s Promoter

However, Warren, 72, stormed: “Frazer was a gentleman all week and has praised Fabio’s brilliant performance.

“The only person who has mentioned any suggestion of impropriety is Ben.

“It’s a disgrace Shalom has tried to tarnish Fabio’s win and reputation with such a dangerous suggestion.

“The British Boxing Board of Control checks and approves all gloves at the Friday meeting – which is filmed these days – and no issues were raised.

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“I will be taking Shalom to the Board for bringing the sport into disrepute with this libellous allegation and questioning the integrity of the Board and everybody involved in the Riyadh show.”

Warren’s ruthless reply was to comments Shalom had given to the Sportsman Boxing youtube channel, claiming: “There was a lot of talk during the week as to the gloves that were being worn by Fabio Wardley.

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“A doctor said to me that there’s no way in hell any boxing glove should be able to have that level of damage.

“It’s an ongoing process, but during the week we were warned repeatedly by Frazer’s team about what gloves could be used.”

A spokesperson for the BBBofC told SunSport: “There is no investigation. The gloves were approved.”