John Virgo obituary

John Virgo, who has died aged 79, made his name through snooker, but found fame through television – chiefly in the form of the Big Break gameshow on BBC1, which attracted millions of viewers in the 1990s.Having had a respectable but non-stellar career on the green baize, Virgo transitioned to the small screen as a referee in the snooker-based Big Break, which was hosted by the comedian Jim Davidson and ran in a prime-time Saturday evening slot from 1991 to 2002, attracting up to 14 million viewers per episode at its peak.Initially scripted as Davidson’s assistant, he quickly became much more than that, with his own party pieces, trick shots and catchphrases. Success in that half-hour format opened up other light entertainment opportunities and enhanced his popularity as a BBC snooker commentator, a role he had taken on once his playing career began to stall.As a snooker player Virgo won the UK Championship in 1979, and also made it to the semi-finals of the World Championship, reaching a world ranking of No 10 in 1980

From London to LX: the British mastermind behind the Seahawks’ standout Super Bowl defense

Midway through the 2023 NFL season, Dallas Cowboys star edge rusher Micah Parsons was frustrated. Asked about the source – a feeling of being held by opponents all the time – Parsons credited his defensive line coach Aden Durde with keeping him in check.“[Coach Durde] pulled me aside and said, ‘You gotta remember, you’re Micah fucking Parsons,” he recalled. “‘This shit is going to happen. You just gotta keep going

The Patriots’ Robert Kraft posed as an NFL voice of reason – then fell back in line for Trump | Howard Bryant

During the worst of it, when Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police a decade ago and Colin Kaepernick took a knee in protest, when a widespread reaction was to tell the highly accomplished, overwhelmingly Black professional athletes they were un-American, or well-paid farmhands who needed to get back to work, or both, and some of his peers in the ownership class were releasing players as punishment for joining the protest, it was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft who positioned himself as the voice of reason.Kraft attempted to broker peace between the ownership hawks who saw the high-paid kneelers as ungrateful mutineers and, after decades of docility, the radicalized players unwilling to collect their checks in exchange for political silence. Kraft encouraged two of his players – the twins Devin and Jason McCourty – into deeper citizenship, to engage with the legal and political systems and promote reforms. As a sign of compassion and a willingness to listen, Kraft visited the incarcerated rapper Meek Mill, and later the two partnered with another artist, Jay-Z, on various criminal justice initiatives.On 6 January 2021, when so many of the voices loudest in their opposition to player protests, the ones who said the dissenting ballplayers were treasonous for disrespecting both the American flag and law enforcement at the behest of outgoing president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and contributed to the deaths of one policeman and the trauma and eventual deaths of several others, it was Kraft who was apparently so disgusted that he stopped talking to Trump, publicly distancing himself from the man to whose inauguration four years earlier he had donated $1m

‘I would call it a miracle’: Italy’s motley crew prepare for T20 Cricket World Cup

In a basement office in the north of Rome, Riccardo Maggio is unpacking boxes of blue jerseys with “Italia” written on them. He sighs when the landline phone rings again, and then again. Maggio is on his own, multitasking in the headquarters of the Italian Cricket Federation, tucked away in the building that houses the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), the governing body for national sports.The room is small and improvised, its shelves cluttered with old trophies, faded photographs of players and souvenir cricket bats. The base for Italian cricket is hardly the nucleus of a global sporting moment

Winter Olympics 2026: all your questions about the Milano Cortina Games, answered

The Winter Olympics are back – and this time they’re zigzagging across northern Italy. Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most spread-out Winter Games ever staged, jumping from Milan’s arenas to the Dolomites’ classic Alpine slopes. With returning superstars, brand-new events and Italy leaning hard into its Olympic heritage, these Games may feel like they’ve arrived quietly – but there is a lot going on. From how and when to watch, to who matters and why these Olympics could look very different, here are your most pressing questions answered.Yes

Heated rivalries and curling couples: 10 things to look out for at the Winter Olympics

Stars could align for USA and Canada in ice hockey, while hosts Italy are getting their downhill hopes upAll eyes are on the, ah, essentials of the Norwegian men’s ski jump team as they try to recover from one of the great botched crotch stitch switch scandals of 2025. Two of their gold medal-winning athletes from Beijing 2022, including the defending Olympic champion on the long hill, were banned for three months after a whistleblower published a video of their coach tampering with the (strictly regulated) crotch stitching on their jumpsuits at the Nordic world championships last year, in an attempt to make them more aerodynamic by adding padding. Groin-gate led to a national debate about ethics in sport and a complete overhaul of the rules. We’re told doctors are now using “3D measurements” to carefully scrutinise all competing athletes before competition.After a 12-year holdout, the National Hockey League has finally agreed to let its players participate in the Olympics again, which means the ice hockey tournament at Milano Cortina is going to be a proper test of the world’s best for the first time since Sochi in 2014