Sergei Rebrov’s career has been revived at Rubin. Photograph: Dima Korotayev/Getty Images
Back in May, in Moscow for the Champions League final, a contact with links in the betting industry mentioned that Rubin Kazan were going to win the league. They had, it was claimed, been throwing games over the previous two or three seasons on [...]

Rapper Jay-Z and footballer Anton Ferdinand sit courtside at the Miami Heat v New Jersey Nets game at the O2 Arena. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Action Images
There was, lest you missed it, a rather important basketball game in London last weekend. A cracking tie that went to the final seconds before being resolved. Two teams going full [...]

Tim Donaghy. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
Judgement day has come and gone. Tim Donaghy, the referee who dragged the NBA into a scandal that involved gambling, conspiracies and the hint of organised crime, was sentenced to a relatively lenient 15 months in prison on Tuesday for his central role in the whole sorry affair.
Donaghy took thousands of [...]

The Boston Celtics celebrate winning the NBA championship. Photograph: Brian Babineau/Getty Images
It has taken a long, long time for the Boston Celtics to claim another NBA Championship banner to hang from the roof from the city’s indoor Garden. Beantown babies have become adults in the 22 years since the last parade down Causeway Street led [...]