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Great news for sports fans as booze ads ban AXED sparing fans a ticket price hike and boosting investment in grassroots

Great news for sports fans as booze ads ban AXED sparing fans a ticket price hike and boosting investment in grassroots

The Sun4 hours ago

PLANS to ban alcohol sponsorship at sporting events have been axed — sparing fans ticket price hikes, The Sun can reveal.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out barring booze firms, it is understood, to the relief of football, rugby and tennis chiefs.
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The Premier League agreed a four-year mega-deal with Guinness last season while ABK Beer backs October's Rugby League Ashes.
Dropping the 'nanny state' ban will also boost grassroots sport, as cash trickles down from the elite levels.
One senior Tory said: 'Sponsorship helps keep football tickets affordable and grassroots sports alive.
'You don't drive harmful drinking down by banning adverts, you just hit fans in the pocket.'
However, partial restrictions on alcohol ads will form part of a ten-year NHS plan out next week, it is believed.
They may be outlawed before the 9pm watershed in line with junk food and drink as ministers try to tackle growing health problems.
Junk food ads are to be banned between 5.30pm and 9pm from October.
We told yesterday that more than half of Labour voters opposed an ads ban by meddling ministers.
Fury as cost of 12-pack of beer set to soar by £1 thanks to sinister new tax brought in by Labour
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Maya Joint at home on grass as Australian teenager marches into Eastbourne final
Maya Joint at home on grass as Australian teenager marches into Eastbourne final

The Guardian

time12 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Maya Joint at home on grass as Australian teenager marches into Eastbourne final

Australian teenager Maya Joint has reached another WTA final at the age of just 19, giving herself the perfect pre-Wimbledon boost by powering into the championship match in the traditional Eastbourne International curtain-raiser. The US-born Queenslander, competing in just her second senior grass-court event, took another illustrious scalp on Friday following her wins over Ons Jabeur and Emma Raducanu as she defeated Russia's former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-4 in the semi-final. Joint now has the chance to go into next week's main draw at Wimbledon, where she'll face another Russian, 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova, with a maiden grass-court title under her belt. The teenager, who was 5-3 down in the first set before taking control against the 33-year-old with her crisp hitting and sharp movement, was left astonished by her achievement. 'Super exciting. I think if you told me at the beginning of the week that I'd be in the final, I wouldn't believe you,' said Joint. 'I've definitely learned to love grass this week.' In Saturday's final, she will face another of the game's rising stars, 20-year-old Alexandra Eala, who became the first player from the Philippines to reach a WTA Tour final as she beat fellow qualifier Varvara Gracheva 7-5 2-6 6-3 in the other semi. It will be the youngest final at the event since two American teens, Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, did battle in the 1981 showdown at Devonshire Park. For Joint, there are echoes of her run to her first WTA title on the clay at the Morocco Open in May when her victory came just a couple of days before she was due to play in her first French Open outing. If she wins the title in Eastbourne on Saturday, becoming the first ever Australian women's winner in the event's 50-year history, she will then dash straight to London 120km up the road from the seaside venue to prepare for her maiden Wimbledon, where she'll be ranked for the first time in the world's top 50. 'I can take confidence that I won it last time [in Rabat], and maybe I'll be a little bit less nervous this time, but I'm just really excited to come out here and play another final,' she said. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion 'I'm super excited to play Alex, we're gonna have a great match. She's a really nice girl, and, yeah, we're looking forward to it.' Up to No 41 if she wins her second title in five weeks, Joint's rise has been quite astonishing since starting the year at No 116. In just 18 months since deciding to base herself back in Queensland after leaving the US and choosing to work with her Australian coach, Chris Mahony, she's shot up from No 1384. Left-hander Eala, now a national figure in the Philippines after her own extraordinary breakthrough season in which she beat Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek en route to the Miami Open semis, was left almost lost for words about her success.

REVEALED: The one key message inside England's dressing room from Charlie Cresswell as U21's bid to down Germany in Euros final
REVEALED: The one key message inside England's dressing room from Charlie Cresswell as U21's bid to down Germany in Euros final

Daily Mail​

time18 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

REVEALED: The one key message inside England's dressing room from Charlie Cresswell as U21's bid to down Germany in Euros final

Charlie Cresswell has issued a rallying cry to his England team-mates and urged them to squeeze every last drop out to beat Germany and win the Under-21 Euros. Germany have been the team of the tournament so far, winning Group B - which included England - and have knocked off Italy and France en route to the final. While England got 'punched in the face' against the Netherlands, Cresswell is confident the Young Lions can go back to back as Euros winners, provided they aren't outworked by old foe Germany. 'Just give your best,' he said of his message in the dressing room. 'If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose but no one's going to say anything if you give 100 per cent. 'Just give everything out there and then hold your head high.' While Cresswell doesn't wear the captain's armband he is the one that others rally behind; the vocal leader that is unrelenting in driving standards on the pitch for Lee Carsley. 'I enjoy a battle! You know me! It was good,' he said of edging past the Dutch, a game in which his error allowed Noah Ohio a chance to score a 40-yard stunner. 'You know this team's got character. We get punched in the face with a goal like that and then we came back and Harvey [Elliott] does his thing. So, yes, good mood, the feeling is great.' Many of Cresswell's formative summers were spent in the pub alongside his dad watching England's senior side suffer heartache after heartache at major tournaments. 'I was brought up with England always a massive part of my childhood,' he said. 'I'd go to the local pub and I'd be watching the first team with all my mates, my dad's mates and it would be like a big deal. 'So for me every time I pull on an England shirt it feels like an honour, a huge honour. I'm immensely proud that I get to do this. 'For me to go out there and give my everything it's the least I can do.' Given that, is there not an extra layer of pressure and responsibility he feels as a player now having suffered the heartache of a supporter in pubs up and down the country? 'Maybe you'd say unfazed,' he added. 'The seniors have done a great job. Playing for England… it's not easy, you know, and people think England are going to steamroll most countries. It's not easy. 'There's a pressure that comes with playing for England but it's how you handle that pressure. 'You're going out there and it is just a game of football. I know you're playing for your country but it's just another game of football. It's how you handle that pressure individually and collectively. Everyone's different.' Cresswell and Co now face a quick turnaround in recovery to prepare for Saturday's final where, for the first time since the 1980s, England have the chance to go back to back as winners of this competition. For those in the pubs up and down the country watching on, nobody will be able to question this group's effort, not with Cresswell leading the way.

Tens of thousands expected to attend Budapest Pride in defiance of ban
Tens of thousands expected to attend Budapest Pride in defiance of ban

Reuters

time22 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Tens of thousands expected to attend Budapest Pride in defiance of ban

BUDAPEST, June 28 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ rights supporters are expected to attend the Budapest Pride march on Saturday, defying a police ban as the event has become a symbol of the years-long struggle between Hungary's nationalist government and civil society. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and its lawmakers passed a law in March that allows for the ban of Pride, citing the need to protect children. Opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a general election next year when Orban will face a strong opposition challenger. Organizers said they expect tens of thousands to attend, with participants arriving from 30 different countries, including European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib and about 70 members of the European Parliament. More than 30 embassies have expressed support for the march and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Hungarian authorities to let the parade go ahead. Seventy Hungarian civil society groups, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Transparency International Hungary and the Hungarian Helsinki Commission, published an open letter on Friday in support of the march, saying the law that led to the police ban "serves to intimidate the entire society". Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony tried to circumvent the law by organising the march as a municipal event, which he said does not need a permit. Police however banned the event, arguing that it fell under the scope of the child protection law. Orban, whose government promotes a Christian-conservative agenda, provided some clues on Friday about what participants can expect when he warned of "legal consequences" for organising and attending the march. Earlier this week Justice Minister Bence Tuzson warned in a letter sent to some foreign embassies in Budapest that organising a prohibited event is punishable by one year in jail, while attending counts as a misdemeanour. The law that allows for the ban of Pride lets police impose fines and use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. When asked about the threat of a one-year jail term, Karacsony said at a press briefing on Friday that such a sentence would only boost his popularity. "But I cannot take it seriously," he said. Making the march a key topic of political discourse has allowed the Orban government to take the initiative back from the opposition and mobilise its voter base, said Zoltan Novak, an analyst at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis think tank. "In the past 15 years, Fidesz decided what topics dominated the political world," he said, noting that this has become more difficult as Orban's party has faced an increasing challenge from centre-right opposition leader Peter Magyar's Tisza party, which has a 15-point lead over Orban's Fidesz in a recent poll. Tisza, which has been avoiding taking a strong position on gay rights issues, did not specify in response to Reuters questions whether it believed the Pride march was lawful, but said those attending deserved the state's protection. "Peter Magyar has called on the Hungarian authorities and police to protect the Hungarian people this Saturday, and on other days as well, even if it means standing up against the arbitrariness of power," its press office said. Magyar himself would not attend.

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