The Ireland rugby league team. Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images
One endearingly naive British journalist, who must remain nameless for obvious reasons, had a bit of a giggle, but caused many more, when two homegrown players were selected in Ireland’s initial World Cup squad and it was suggested to him that one of them had a funny [...]

Raymond Domenech has survived as France coach. Photograph: Patrick Stollarz/Getty Images
Raymond Domenech has been given the green light to continue as France coach, with his new mandate now being to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Domenech’s position has been under heavy scrutiny following his team’s poor showing at Euro 2008, where they [...]

Head to head: Kobe Bryant and the Dream Team showed their domination, crushing Pau Gasol and his Spanish teammates 119-82. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
The Dream Team returned yesterday as the US men’s Olympic basketball team crushed world champions Spain 119-82.
The Spanish players looked thoroughly dejected as they walked off the court, having hoped to at [...]

Aleksandr Hleb: ‘I’ve hlad enough of people mispronouncing my name’. Photograph: Mike Egerton/Empics
There are very few situations in life that aren’t improved by the presence of a monkey - and today’s newspapers are no exception.
The Mill strongly suggests you ignore all the stuff about a recession looming, youths with knives picking away at the [...]