The Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) has announced updates to the 2026 fall high school championship schedule for field hockey, soccer and volleyball in an email sent out on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The main change is that no field hockey or soccer championship games will be hosted at the University of Vermont and instead will be at high schools around the state.

All three field hockey championship games will take place Sunday, Nov. 1, at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester. Game times are set for 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., with the order of the finals based on travel time of the participating schools.

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Counting the 2020 COVID season, this year will mark just the third time the field hockey hockey finals will not be played at UVM’s Moulton Winder Field, which opened in fall 2005.

“Due to the ongoing success of UVM athletics, their field availability this year is not conducive for VPA Championships,” VPA Executive Director Lauren Young said in an email to the Free Press. “Also, in order to be geographically considerate we are trying to have multiple locations for schools and fans.”

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This year there will be soccer championships from Friday, Oct. 30, through Sunday, Nov. 1. South Burlington High School will be hosting the games on Oct. 30 and 31 while Rutland High School hosts a four-game slate on Nov. 1. The VPA will determine who plays where based on geography of the schools who reach the finals.

Game times on Oct. 30 are set for 5 and 7 p.m. while Oct. 31’s slate is set for noon and 2 p.m. The games at Rutland are set for 11 a.m., 1:30, 4:00 and 6:30 p.m.

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In the same email, the VPA also announced that all three volleyball championships will be played at St. Michael’s College on Sunday, Nov. 1. Specific game times are still being finalized.

Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: VPA announces updates to 2026 fall high school championships for multiple sports

Manchester boxer Pat Brown will fight for the for the British and Commonwealth titles in front of a home crowd at the Co-op Live arena this month

Manchester’s own Pat Brown will fight for his first major title in front of a home crowd later this month. The Sale-born boxer will face Essex’s John Hedges for the vacant British and Commonwealth Cruiserweight Titles at the Co-op Live arena on September 19.

Brown, who fought for Team GB at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, is on a stellar run of six knockouts from six professional fights. His opponent boasts a clean record of 12-0 (3 KOs) and was previously trained by Ricky Hatton.

Here’s everything fans need to know about Hedges vs Brown, including how to get tickets and watch on TV.

Where to buy tickets for John Hedges vs Pat Brown

Plenty of tickets for John Hedges vs Pat Brown are still on sale at several retailers, with both general admission and VIP hospitality packages up for grabs. At Ticketmaster tickets range from £49.50 for the arena’s Level 1 to £233.50 for ringside seats.

VIP tickets are also available for £118.50, which provides access to ‘The Club, the Co-op’s premium area with exclusive bars and dining options. More affordable hospitality packages are sold through Seat Unique, where £59 includes access to the exclusive Seat Unique Suite before, during and after the fight.

It also includes ‘premium’ seats directly outside the lounge on Level 1. There’s also the £59 Seat Unique Suite Bar Seats package with bar seating at the back of the lower tier.

This VIP area serves a range of drinks and food, but they must be purchased separately on the night. Seat Unique offers a Private Suite too, but at time of writing price and availability is yet to be confirmed.

Fans can also find a number of tickets on resale sites like viagogo and Stubhub, where tickets listed by fans range from £62 to £230. Most seats are situated on Level 1, while some also include access to ‘The Club’ hospitality area.

How to watch John Hedges vs Pat Brown on TV

John Hedges vs Pat Brown will be broadcast live on DAZN, meaning fans will need a DAZN subscription to tune in. With a new limited-time deal, DAZN’s flexible monthly-rolling plan now starts at £9.99, down from the usual £25.99.

Watch John Hedges vs Pat Brown live on DAZN

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John Hedges vs Pat Brown is included with a DAZN subscription from £9.99 in a limited-time deal on the broadcaster’s monthly-rolling plan.

This saves 62% from the standard price but will revert to £25.99 after the first month unless cancelled. DAZN’s 12-month plans are £15.99 when paying monthly or £119.99 annually.

The fight is also included with the new DAZN Ultimate subscription, which provides at least 12 pay-per-view fights each year including Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley 2 (October 17) and Canelo Alvarez vs Christian Mbilli (October 31). This premium package is £24.99 per month or £249.99 annually, both of which require a 12-month commitment.

According to DAZN, Ultimate members can save £320 per year compared to the price of DAZN Monthly Flex and 12 PPVs. Both DAZN standard and DAZN Ultimate unlock access to more than 185 fight nights every year from promoters like Matchoom, Queensbury and MisFits.

Hedges vs Brown will broadcast exclusively on DAZN so it won’t be shown on TNT Sports or Sky Sports.

The push by some State Football Association chairmen for a Caretaker Committee to run the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appears to be losing support.

Reports indicate that FIFA may favour a Normalization Committee as a way to address the leadership crisis in Nigerian football.

The development followed consultations between the FIFA and CAF delegation currently in Nigeria and key stakeholders in the country’s football administration.

Four of the five NFF stakeholder groups consulted reportedly backed a Normalization Committee instead of a Caretaker Committee. They include the Players’ Union, Football Coaches Association of Nigeria, league bodies and Nigeria Referees Association.

This has weakened the position of some State FA chairmen who have been calling for a Caretaker Committee following the resignation of several NFF leaders, including the General Secretary.

One major issue in the debate is the FIFA Statutes.

While a Normalization Committee is a recognised FIFA arrangement that can be used in special situations to restore order in a member association, a Caretaker Committee is not provided for in the FIFA Statutes.

FIFA also places strong importance on the independence and proper governance of its member associations. Any temporary arrangement must therefore follow FIFA rules and the statutes of the football federation involved.

The latest consultations suggest that the Normalization Committee option is gaining more support among stakeholders.

The committee, if approved, could be given the task of restoring stability, reviewing the NFF’s governance structure where necessary and preparing the federation for a return to elected leadership.

The FIFA and CAF delegation is expected to continue its consultations on Tuesday with members of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), former NFF presidents and former NFF General Secretaries.

The delegation will also meet with the National Sports Commission before ending its visit to Nigeria and returning to FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

The outcome of the meetings is expected to provide more clarity on the next step for the NFF and how FIFA and CAF plan to resolve the current leadership crisis.

For now, the balance of opinion among key stakeholders appears to favour a Normalization Committee over the Caretaker Committee being proposed by some State FA chairmen.

Varun Chakaravarthy (BCCI Photo)

NEW DELHI: India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field against Afghanistan in the second T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. India won the opening T20I by seven wickets and currently lead the three-match series 1-0.India made one change to their playing XI, with Bishnoi replacing Chakaravarthy.Speaking at the toss, Iyer said: “We are going to bowl first. You have a fair idea of how the wicket plays, and it gives the bowlers an idea, a little bit of an advantage. It wasn’t comprehensive because we could have won by a huge margin. As a bowling unit, we could have picked wickets in the middle. Varun is injured and Ravi Bishnoi comes in.”Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was not included, while Sanju Samson retained his place in the team.

Why is Varun Chakaravarthy not playing?

Chakaravarthy is not playing the second T20I after suffering a side strain during the opening match.“Varun Chakaravarthy experienced sudden-onset discomfort in his left lateral abdominal region while bowling his third over in the first T20I. Scans have revealed a side strain, and he has subsequently been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is. Bishnoi replaces injured Varun,” BCCI said in its statement.

Afghanistan unchanged

Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran said his team would also have preferred to bowl first.“We would have bowled first as well. We want to play positive cricket, we didn’t get a good start that day, but we covered in the middle. We will try to do better tonight. We are playing the same XI.”Afghanistan have made no changes to their playing XI.Playing XIsAfghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Sediqullah Atal, Gulbadin Naib, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq FarooqiIndia: Sanju Samson (w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi

JJ Gabriel should have become Man Utd’s youngest-ever player this week, but instead, he might be approaching the end of his Old Trafford career.

This should have been the week when JJ Gabriel etched his name into the Manchester United history books. A debut against Brighton on Wednesday would have made him the first 15-year-old to ever play for the club.

Instead, it is the week when his future at Old Trafford appears to have reached the point of no return, no matter how much United insist they still believe the situation can be rectified. The question should be how badly they actually want to fix it.

United sources are bemused by what has prompted Gabriel to issue a formal notification that he wants to leave the club. It is a big enough issue to cause him to refuse to train with the first team this week, effectively ruling himself out of that Brighton game.

Amateur sleuths can probably suss out what is going on here. Gabriel scored a hat-trick on his UEFA Youth League debut against Sabah on Thursday, but then promptly deleted a raft of posts on Instagram and removed all mention of United from his social media channels.

A few hours after that game at Leigh Sports Village, Michael Carrick handed Champions League debuts to 19-year-olds Harry Amass and Shea Lacey. Another 19-year-old, Tyler Fletcher, was on the bench.

Gabriel was ineligible for that fixture because he wasn’t on United’s ‘A’ list when they submitted their squad to UEFA and because he isn’t yet 16, he couldn’t be added to the ‘B’ list.

He will be old enough to be on the B list when United head to Madrid to face Atletico next month, and a Champions League debut was always more likely once the legwork had been done in securing qualification to the next round.

It now looks pretty clear that wasn’t enough for Gabriel, or for his father Joe O’Cearuill, a voiceforous supporter of his son on social media and a major influence on his career. The former Republic of Ireland international has never shied away from trumpeting just how good he believes his son can be.

He has regularly posted videos of his goals on X and clips from behind-closed-doors training sessions and games and industry sources claim he can be difficult to deal with. He has previously denied talking to other clubs about a move for his son.

Rather than taking a debut in the Carabao Cup, Gabriel is ready to toss it all away at United, just as he considered doing barely a year ago when he came close to joining Manchester City. He has also accepted invites to Barcelona and has met first-team players at the Nou Camp. His commitment to United can certainly be questioned.

Could United have done more? Director of football Jason Wilcox intervened in 2025 to keep Gabriel at the club, and he has regularly trained with the first team since then. He met Ruben Amorim, has been backed by Michael Carrick, given regular exposure to the seniors at Carrington and told the pathway is there.

It’s interesting to look back at Gabriel’s hat-trick at Leigh Sports Village last Thursday now. He celebrates enthusiastically, thanks teammates for assists and doesn’t look like a player who has thrown his toys out of the pram because he isn’t involved in the first-team.

The Asian Games will pose a different challenge for the Indian women’s hockey team, with lower-ranked opponents likely to offer more scoring opportunities than the top sides they faced at the World Cup, coach Sjoerd Marijne said. Apart from China, all other teams competing at the Asian Games are ranked below India. At the World Cup, World No. 8 India faced higher-ranked sides such as Australia and Netherlands. “In the World Cup we had top-ranked teams, except South Africa, in our pool, while here that is not the scene. You would play lower-ranked opponents and get more opportunities to score, so we have to be effective in that way.

“It’s a different approach to keep being sharp and focused. The focus should be on us — what can we do better from the last match, which was against Germany in the World Cup? “How can we create opportunities and do better against the next opponent, Uzbekistan?” Marijne told PTI in an exclusive interview from Japan.

India’s women’s team finished fifth at the World Cup last month, its best performance since the inaugural edition in 1974.

The Salima Tete-led team lost only one match in the tournament, but a goalless draw against Australia cost them a place in the last four.

Marijne now wants his players to use the disappointment of missing out on a World Cup semifinal as motivation to win the Asian Games gold.

“You don’t get to play many World Cups and to come that close to a medal and miss it is disappointing. I told them that not reaching the semis should be a motivation for the gold in the Asian Games,” the Dutch coach said.

“We wrote history in the World Cup. It is important that they realise they have done something extraordinary, which had not happened after 1974. Now the target is the Asian Games and let’s do even better there.” The coach said increased expectations following the World Cup should be seen as a compliment rather than pressure.

“It’s nice to come into a position when people expect more from you. I don’t see it as pressure, but as a compliment.

“The main thing is the mental side — staying focused on our job, the challenge ahead and how can we do better. If we are able to do that, the chance of a good outcome is bigger and better,” said the 52-year-old.

Marijne also stressed the importance of acclimatisation in Japan, which is more humid than Europe, but added that adapting to different conditions was not a major concern for a team that has played across continents.

“It’s a little more humid in Japan, so acclimatisation was important. We also did some fun things like playing mini golf and team activities.

“Other teams are also coming from different countries and it’s normal to constantly adjust according to the conditions, like we have played in Australia, Argentina, Europe and now Japan in different conditions,” he said.

Marijne identified India’s disciplined defence as one of its biggest strengths from the World Cup.

“Our strong defence can make it very difficult for the opponents to score. I don’t want to jinx this, but the discipline and culture we are focusing on is the basis of the success and we must not forget that.

“It’s important to keep the basics right and that’s what we did in the World Cup.” Marijne, under whose tutelage Indian finish fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, also urged his players to remain humble despite their newfound confidence.

“The team has confidence from the World Cup, which is good, but too much confidence is arrogance. I told them that we need to stay humble and there is no room for overconfidence. We have to keep working hard. I tell them to be connected with each other. Being a team is about continuing to work on connecting with each other and the girls are doing well in that aspect,” he said.

Marijne said the team’s emphasis on unity would continue to be symbolised by its “unity thread” and “crystal ball”, which he introduced to the players and support staff during the World Cup.

“That will not change. It reminds them of what is required as a team and that they are there for each other,” he said while showing his unity band.” PTI MJ APA APA

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Neeraj Chopra Wins Silver, Yashvir Singh Bronze As India Seal Double Podium In CWG Javelin

Afghanistan XI vs India: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran (c), Sediqullah Atal, Gulbadin Naib, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Same team for Afghanistan despite the loss in the first game. 

Texas quarterback Arch Manning went viral on social media after laughing at a controversial AI-generated video during a media availability. 

Manning, 22, was riffing with reporters during an availability on Monday and was asked about seeing clips of the mayhem following Texas’s historic win over No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday. One reporter asked about whether he saw any of the AI edits going around social media. 

“I saw a few AI edits but that’s about it,” Manning said with a laugh. “I saw an AI edit of Sark’s interview. Of him slapping [reporter] Holly Rowe? Yeah, it’s hilarious.”

A tangible portion of the Texas press corps, which includes print and television, can be heard laughing along while Manning delivered his response. Evan Vieth, the reporter who asked Manning the question, tweeted the video with the added caption that Manning’s answer was “gold.” The video quickly went viral Monday evening and as of Tuesday morning has been viewed more than 20 million times. 

During the game on Saturday, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian walked away from the traditional postgame interview with reporter Holly Rowe, yelling “Texas fight! Hook ’em!” and running off. Rowe was visibly annoyed after the fact. 

In response, a social media user AI generated a revolting video of Sarkisian turning back and slapping Rowe in the face and yelling at the camera. The video went viral, but received many more views after Manning brought attention with his comments. 

AI videos and edits have become common on major social media sites over the past several years following growth of the technology. They are often used to spread misinformation or make jokes at the expense of their subjects. 

Sarkisian also ran away from reporter Laura Rutledge at halftime, claiming that they made him wait too long. Rutledge said on the broadcast that he apologized to her at the time before running off, and that a technical issue was to blame after Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s interview prior. ESPN issued via Rutledge a public apology to Sarkisian to begin the third quarter, shouldering the blame for the technical issues. 

Texas was trailing 20-3 at the time before coming back to win 24-23, the biggest comeback of the 21st century against an AP No. 1 team.