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The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US sports lobby Home Office for travel exemption after golf caddie refused UK entry
Sports organisations in the US will press the Home Office to apply exemptions to new travel rules for American citizens entering the UK, after Harris English's caddie missed out on around £130,000 by being denied access for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. The case of Eric Larson has alerted sport governing bodies such as the NFL and NBA, which stage games in London, that sportspeople or staff can be prohibited from entering the UK under electronic travel authorisation (ETA) rules if they have a criminal conviction. Larson was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1995 for involvement in drug dealing and rebuilt his career as a caddie for several leading PGA Tour players after serving 10 years. Larson's past had been largely forgotten until the Scottish Open, when it was revealed that any American citizen given a custodial sentence of at least 12 months will now be denied UK entry. ETA implementation started in January this year. Larson was refused travel despite lobbying to the Home Office from the PGA Tour and the R&A. English tied 22nd in Scotland and finished second in the Open. Caddies typically receive around 10% of their player's winnings; English earned more than £1.8m from his UK trip. As things stand, Larson will encounter the same situation in 2026. The American bodies will point to the fact that Donald Trump's ban on citizens from a dozen countries entering the US – another seven have been served with restrictions – contains an exemption intended to apply to players, staff or associated families linked to the 2026 Fifa World Cup or the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. No such leeway exists presently for the UK border. 'Sporting bodies are now asking the UK to apply sporting exemptions on this system,' a senior figure within US sport said. The Home Office did not offer comment on whether it has already been asked to apply sporting exemptions on the ETA and what any response towards this might be. A source with knowledge of the Home Office position said: 'Each application for a decision outside the rules is considered on its merits but informed by previous examples and precedents.' The same source confirmed the 'mandatory and automatic refusal of entry clearance for individuals who have received a previous custodial sentence of at least 12 months'. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion The NFL will return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for matches on back-to-back weekends in October. The NBA announced last week that games will be staged in London in early 2026 and Manchester the following year. An obvious anomaly with the UK's present stance can be demonstrated within golf. Ángel Cabrera received a multiyear prison term for crimes against women. The former Masters champion, from Argentina, played in the Senior Open at Sunningdale in July. The Australian Ryan Peake participated in the Open at Royal Portrush, six years after being released from jail on a serious assault conviction. Peake is understood to hold a UK passport.
BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
New association gives players 'stronger voice'
A new, independent association for leading snooker players will give them "a stronger voice", according to its chairman John four-time world champion is a director of the Professional Snooker Players Association (PSPA) which says it is launching to "champion the sport", along with its leading names."We feel as though we've not been listened to as we should have been in recent years", Higgins told BBC Sport."The game has not moved forward with the times compared to other top sports."Snooker deserves a strong, independent players' association that stands for fairness, transparency, and progress." The association also claims the governance of snooker "should factor in more of the views of the players".It has vowed to foster a "collaborative relationship" with the sport's authorities, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the existing WPBSA Players' Board, and World Snooker Tour "to enhance the sport's future, while safeguarding player welfare and commercial interests".The PSPA says it has established a players board comprising of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski, Stephen Maguire, Mark Allen, Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Another player - Matthew Selt - has been appointed a director, alongside lawyers Ben Rees and Mark association also claims that seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has agreed to become a member, along with Chinese stars Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong."I've had lots of discussions with Ronnie" said Higgins. "He's really excited about it, so it's full steam ahead."The fact so many of the top players are behind the new body suggests some feel they do not have enough say in the running of the World Snooker Tour (WST), particularly the commercial the 2024 World Championship, the headlines at the Crucible were dominated by talk of a potential breakaway tour. This came after the game's top players were approached to play in lucrative events in China and North America as part of a potential breakaway players sign a contract which does not allow them to compete in any outside events while WST tournaments are being played, unless they are events sanctioned by the WST, although players have recently negotiated more the WST has been increasing the amount of prize money in the game, and is preparing to stage the sport's "fourth major" in Saudi Arabia with a prize pot of more than £2m. The second Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will take place later this week in WPBSA's own players' body was formed in 2020, and the governing body says it has "a specific mandate to act in the collective best interest of members in relation to welfare and issues affecting the professional game."It says that it "acts as a channel for member concerns and provides a platform whereby issues surrounding their wellbeing can be raised at the highest levels by the WPBSA Players Board."The PSPA says it has been formed with expert guidance from leading sports law professionals, and that its key objectives include legal and commercial support to protect players' rights in sponsorship, broadcasting, and contractual matters.
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Premier League 2025-26 preview No 5: Brighton
Guardian writers' predicted position: 8th (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons' prediction but the average of our writers' tips) Last season's position: 8th Although Brighton missed out on qualifying for Europe again, there was a sense of optimism rather than disappointment at the end of Fabian Hürzeler's first season at the helm. Had it not been for a costly loss of form in the spring that brought one point from four league games and a defeat by Nottingham Forest on penalties in the last eight of the FA Cup, the German head coach might even have matched his predecessor, Roberto De Zerbi's achievement of finishing sixth. After a raft of injuries to key players all season and with several signings from a summer spending spree of almost £200m struggling to settle, it was to Hürzeler's credit that his team ended only one point short of Brighton's record points tally from 2023 after three wins to round off the campaign. Now, in the words of chair Tony Bloom, with the youngest permanent Premier League manager having gained a year's experience, 'we are hoping for more next season'. Brighton scored 66 goals – the joint fifth-highest in the division – so much will depend on strengthening a defence that conceded 59, with the emphasis this summer on finding a long-term replacement for the veteran captain Lewis Dunk as he enters the last year of his contract. Diego Coppola, an Italy Under-21 centre-back, and Olivier Boscagli, who arrived on a free transfer from PSV, will be joined by the exciting Belgium left-back Maxim De Cuyper as Hürzeler hopes to build a more settled unit. The departure of João Pedro, who became the latest Brighton player to join Chelsea, has been offset by the signing of the highly regarded 18-year-old striker Charalampos Kostoulas. His fellow Greece Under-21 international Stefanos Tzimas and Sunderland's playoff hero Tommy Watson will provide more attacking options for a squad that still includes the outstanding Kaoru Mitoma despite speculation he could depart and looks equipped to maintain a sustained push for Europe. Hürzeler is guaranteed to wear his heart on his sleeve and has proved a hit with Brighton's supporters after the popular De Zerbi's departure. In an interview with British GQ in April, the 32-year-old revealed that he loves watches and Coldplay but never sits down in front of the television because there 'are so many better things to do'. 'I'm a big believer that the limit for our body is really high, and I think we don't always try to push our limits,' he said. Brighton's players should be well prepared for the start of the season in that case. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion After a record-breaking 2022-23 that yielded profits of £112m, Brighton announced a £73.3m profit in March – largely a result of receiving another large chunk from the British record sale of Moisés Caicedo to Chelsea. João Pedro's departure for £60m will help to balance the books after last summer's massive outlay made them the biggest net spenders in Europe. Bloom, who bought 29% of the Scottish club Hearts in June, is estimated to have invested more than £400m at his home-town club since becoming chair in 2009. In April, the long-serving chief executive, Paul Barber, committed his future until 2030. Much is expected of Kostoulas after Brighton saw off interest from several other clubs, including Chelsea, to snap him up for an initial fee of almost £30m that could rise by £2m to make him the most expensive Greek player in history. Represented by the same agent who took Giannis Antetokounmpo to the NBA, he became the youngest player to make a professional appearance for Olympiakos when he represented their B team at 15 years and seven months, before he was part of the side that won the prestigious Uefa Youth League last year. Kostoulas will learn plenty from the evergreen Danny Welbeck, who finished as last season's joint top scorer and turns 35 in November. Bart Verbruggen, having strangely alternated with Jason Steele under De Zerbi, was preferred between the sticks by Hürzeler last season but the Dutchman made several costly errors. Nonetheless, a recent survey by the Swiss research group CIES Football Observatory identified the 22-year-old as potentially the world's most valuable goalkeeper with a projected fee of £54m. Verbruggen, who joined Brighton in 2023 from Anderlecht for £16m, will need to show more consistency to retain Hürzeler's faith, although the England Under-21 goalkeeper James Beadle was allowed to join Birmingham on loan rather than provide more competition for the Netherlands international.
