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BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Cliftonville and NI's Burrows given 16-game suspension
Cliftonville captain Kelsie Burrows has been handed a 16-match ban for an alleged 'assault on a match official'.The Northern Ireland international was shown a red card by referee Simon Bickerstaff after the Reds' 2-0 win against Glentoran Women on 25 coach Brendan Lynch has been handed a three-match ban from the same game for 'entering the field of play to confront a match official'.The suspensions are effective immediately and cover all competitions but it is understood that the club are appealing the decision, which means Burrows will be available to play in Friday's Premiership game against Crusaders incident came after the final whistle of the victory over Glentoran which put Cliftonville right in the mix at the top of the table as they currently sit six points off leaders Linfield with two games in the Irish FA and NIFL have been contacted by BBC Sport NI for comment.
BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
'I needed to get myself together' - Fitzpatrick on finding form
Golf is a demanding and successful day job, but football is former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick's sporting passion - to the extent that he wants to work in the may happen one day but for now, digging his way out of the biggest slump of an otherwise glittering golf career has been the 30-year-old's has been a difficult and emotional process, but proof that he is back came with a career-best tie for fourth at last month's Open. He was the leading UK golfer that week on the Antrim coast and it was a fine way to end the men's major more so given where Fitzpatrick's game was when it began at April's Masters. The previous month he had missed the cut at the Players, parting company with caddie Billy Foster - with whom he won the 2022 US miserable early spring confounded expectations, after taking time to reset his career following a disappointing 2024. He felt ready to contend again, but his game remained in disarray."I just didn't have it," Fitzpatrick told BBC Sport. "I'd put in a tonne of work, my coaches had put in so much work and it just didn't happen."There's no stone left unturned for me, but it's hard when you're intending to hit a shot and missing it by quite a lot. I just didn't know what was coming."And that's when confidence hits an all-time low and you feel like you can't progress." By the end of the Masters, where he finished in a share of 40th place, the former world number six was 75th in the was not sure what to do to arrest the decline. And sometimes stuff happens away from the course as vicissitudes contributed to what had been previously unthinkable - splitting with Mike Walker, his coach and confidante since Fitzpatrick's mid works alongside fellow South Yorkshireman Pete Cowen and helped his protege win the US Amateur in 2013 before turning professional."My relationship with Mike is more important than golf really," Fitzpatrick said. "He's someone I've looked up to since I was 14 or 15."I could tell him anything and my respect for him is so high. At the same time I wasn't playing well and things probably needed to change."It's my job and I needed to get myself together."The week after the Masters, Fitzpatrick started to work with the Alabama-based coach Mark Blackburn."It was the first time I've ever had anyone look at my swing, or get a lesson off someone not named Mike Walker or Pete Cowen in 15 years," Fitzpatrick wanted to know his new pupil's physical capabilities and his level of flexibility. They soon discovered Fitzpatrick possesses unusually long arms."Which is not great for hitting irons because its harder to control the depth of the club, and you are going to hit it heavier more often than not," he said."The other thing was I don't have great shoulder flexion and because of that, as soon as I swing it too long I come out of posture and my swing is all out of whack."While finishing 11 under par at Portrush it was noticeable that before every shot Fitzpatrick would pull back his shoulders and push out his chest. "It's me trying to pinch my shoulder blades together," he said."It is basically to create the radius of my arms, which means I can just rotate there and I don't need to stretch or move my arms." The work is paying off. Fitzpatrick was eighth in May's US PGA at Quail Hollow, one of five top 10s since the Masters - including finishing fourth at the Scottish Open the week before Portrush, and a share of eighth at the Wyndham last he is looking to push to finish top 30 on the PGA Tour and grab a place in the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta. He currently lies 41st and competes in the first play-off event, the FedEx St Jude, which starts in Memphis this who he credits for helping him through the toughest stretch of his career, Fitzpatrick says: "My mum and dad and wife Katherine."She was constantly reminding me that I won the US Open; 'you're a great player, you're going to get it back'."It really is true, you've got to have the right people around you and I feel very lucky that I've always had that." Football tactics fascinate Fitzpatrick The other constant has been his love of football. This conversation began with Fitzpatrick seeking contact details for a tactical expert who had appeared on the BBC Sport website."People think its a joke but I love football way more than golf," Fitzpatrick smiled. "I'm obsessed with football. It's brilliant for me."I love supporting Sheffield United, over here in the States they show every game I could wish to see, which is amazing."Fitzpatrick has visited Premier League side Brentford and spoken face-to-face with the performance team at champions Liverpool to glean insights. His voice lights up while recalling the people he met and the chats that was like a sponge absorbing information. "How they use data, how culture is so important," he said. "Just fascinating."Finding little things that maybe we could take into golf - I feel like we've taken a lot from it."But not just golf. He claims there could come a day when he might switch sports."I don't know when I'll ever get time to do this, but I'd love to work in football if the opportunity ever arose in some way, shape or form," Fitzpatrick said."That's extremely wishful thinking, but I just find it so interesting to be part of. I love reading about it and everything about it."More pressing is a golf career that is back on the up. Along with trying to make it to East Lake for the Tour Championship, he wants to retain his place in Europe's Ryder Cup team for next month's trophy defence at Bethpage in New York."It is nice to play well at the crunch time; the play-offs and the Ryder Cup," Fitzpatrick said. "To be part of that would be very special again."He has played three Ryder Cups but his record of only one win in eight matches is a frustration, and poor reflection of the talents of someone with 10 tournament wins in his professional career."Despite my record I still want to be part of it to give myself a chance to improve on it," he he makes Luke Donald's team, Fitzpatrick will bring plenty of perspective to the European team."In the last 15 months there's been an extra effort to try and be a little bit more forgiving to myself and understanding my own psychology really," he admitted."My biggest thing I would take away from the slump is catching things earlier. I can't afford to get to that stage again."It was a tough time for me and the problem was it went on for so long. You can't afford to be behind the eight ball and you need to catch those things as early as you can, and turn them round as quickly as you can."Spoken like a golfer who might one day deliver half-time team talks.
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Winning the Ashes would be Stokes' greatest miracle'
Seven runs stood between England and a series victory over really. One sweet connection from Gus Atkinson could have brought the scores level in the final Test. A tie would have been good enough for the margin is so narrow, what can be learned? Take your catches, don't throw your wicket away after you've made a hundred, try not lose one of your bowlers to a dislocated shoulder. Hardly writing a new coaching manual, is it?Above all, the nipper at The Oval reinforced what we knew Ben Stokes in the team, England can beat anyone. Without him, they are teams have to deal with injuries or lack of fitness. India were without Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant. Then again, the tourists won the two Tests Bumrah did not play and comfortably put away England 4-1 last year without Pant in the team."No," was Stokes' simple answer when asked if he had any concerns that England are too reliant on reality, Stokes is England's beating heart. When he isn't there as the all-action all-rounder, England lose their balance. Without him as captain, they lose his tactical nous and sense of focus. Runs, wickets and fielding. He is the personification of his team. It probably should be called Benball, not wonders how Stokes, the arch-competitor, coped with watching Monday's finale go down to the wire. England's patron saint of lost causes was the man to engineer their last one-wicket victory in a England lost. The next time he will be seen on the field, hopefully, will be the first Test against Australia in Perth in November. England can win the Ashes. They have their best chance of success in Australia since they last won a series down under, back in 2010-11. It is a low bar, mind. In the past 14 years, they have played 15 Tests in Australia, lost 13, drawn two and won chance to win begins and ends with Ben Stokes. If that sounds like hyperbole, consider this: Of the England squad that travels to Australia, none will have ever tasted victory in a Test down under and as few as five will have played a Test them, they will have one Test hundred on Australian soil, and that will belong to Stokes. Of the two bowlers to have a five-wicket haul in Australia, one will be Stokes, the other Mark Wood. If Wood is fit for November, he will not have played a Test in 15 task is clear. He needs to recover from a shoulder injury, play like Ian Botham, captain like Mike Brearley, and stay the course. The last part is probably the hardest. He has now not played a full part in any of England's past four Test series because of has history of turning water into wine (or whatever he's drinking these days, after claiming to have cut back on the booze). The 2019 World Cup final, the 2019 Headingley Test. Cape Town, the 2022 T20 World Cup final. The angry hundred at Lord's in 2023, Headingley again the same year. Lord's this he pulls this off, and gets his hands on the urn in Sydney in January, it really would be his greatest miracle. Support will come from Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Duckett. It is time for Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope to emphatically deliver on the patience they have been afforded. England's batting looks strong, but they are only an injury from Jacob Bethell, who by November might only have played two first-class matches in 11 months. Jamie Smith will have to show better durability than against India, when he faded badly in his first five-Test series as a knows which bowlers will have seats on the plane when the music stops. The prospect of Wood partnering with Jofra Archer on a spicy Perth pitch is tantalising, the dream of matching Australia's heavy a best-case scenario, they will be supported by Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue, possibly with space for a tearaway bolter. If England really can get their most dangerous weapons to Australia, then they must be managed properly. There is a balance between starting well and making sure there is enough ammunition for the whole the spinner, the Liam Dawson debate looks to have been put to bed. Ricky Ponting reckons Shoaib Bashir is the closest thing England have to Nathan Lyon. Enough will be anxiety about England's preparation, or lack of it. They are due to play only one warm-up game before the first Test, against their own Lions team. It is worth remembering England have a habit of winning the first Test of series, and losing the last. Against India, they won the opener for the sixth consecutive series, and lost a fifth finale in biggest challenge will be shutting out the noise that is already coming from Australia. It will only get louder over the next three months. Lyon, Steve Smith and David Warner have piped up. It's only a matter of time before Kylie Minogue, Ned Kelly and Bluey the dog have their say is something about this England team that particularly irks the Australians. They cannot fathom the Bazball way. They respect Stokes, but do not rate New Zealander Brendon McCullum. He won one of his 16 Tests against the Aussies, and fluffed his lines in the 2015 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. However, the Australian public can be quick to turn on their own. They did in have questions to answer to over their batting, especially the top three. It currently comprises a fading veteran in Usman Khawaja, a Bazball tribute pick in Sam Konstas and an out-of-position Cameron Green. Beyond that, Smith is the best Ashes batter since Don Bradman, Travis Head is one of the best all-format batters in the world and Alex Carey has recovered from the wobble that followed his 'stumping' of Jonny Bairstow in Aussie super-strength is their bowling, the Four Horsemen of captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and the seamers need back-up, they can call on Scott Boland, with a Test bowling average of 16.53, the best of anyone since 1914. Still, in his two Tests against the Bazballers in England in 2023, he returned short, England have the better batting, Australia the better bowling. Bowlers tend to win series and Australia are at home, so they will start as England have are 108 days until the first Test in Perth on 21 November. 108 days of worrying about Stokes' shoulder and hearing Glenn McGrath's score prediction. 108 days of figuring out how to work when sleep deprived and turning down Christmas with the in-laws because it clashes with the Boxing Day Test. 108 days of checking Sheffield Shield scores and hoping Archer doesn't slip in the shower. 108 days of wondering whether England can do it.108 days. Tick, tock.
