Not by the Playbook

Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk is a grandmaster of the sport but the two-time world champion lost her titles as she refused to take part in the World Chess Championship in Saudi Arabia because she did not want to play by someone else’s rules. She told Caroline Barker that she does not want to be treated like a secondary creature. It was the first time the tournament was held in Saudi Arabia which has alr...

A look back at a year when President Trump and the world of sport clashed. Photo: US President Donald Trump holds a jersey given to him by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (R) and head coach Bill Belichick (L) alongside members of the team during a ceremony honoring them as 2017 Super Bowl Champions on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, April 19, 2017. CREDIT: SAUL LOEB/AF...

Harrison Browne is a professional ice-hockey player with the Metropolitan Riveters in the National Women's Hockey League in the United States. He's won championships, but Harrison is also known for being the first transgender athlete on a professional US sports team. On a cold wintry night in 2003, 89 merry Union Berlin fans hatched a plan. The team had just lost their last game before the winter...

Wildfires have caused severe damage to businesses and homes in Southern California. Several horse racing and dressage stables have been destroyed after the blaze engulfed areas outside Los Angeles and San Diego. In early November, Peter Miller was celebrating his most successful day as trainer but 30 days later, he had lost five horses in the fire including a champion ride called California Diamon...

Kerry Gruson talks about their experiences of competing in Ironman’s as a disabled athlete with her partner Caryn Lubetsky. The American was left paralysed after a soldier attacked her during an interview. The Christmas Truce during the winter of 1914 has become one of the most re-told stories of the First World War Soldiers from both sides stopped fighting to exchange gifts, sing carols and play...

As the groups are drawn for the 2018 World Cup we assess the problems facing LGBT and minority fans in Russia. British Athlete Bobby Clay opens up about the over training and under eating from the age of 15 has robbed her of puberty and left her with the bone disease Osteoporosis. As Australia lift their eleventh Rugby League World Cup title we hear from Gary Carter, a journalist who fought back f...

In 1999, 16 year old tennis player Jelena Dokic, Ranked 129, beat world number one Martina Hingis, the teenager from Australia came of age. Dokic would go on to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon that year, but despite her success, she alleges that behind closed doors she was suffering physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her father, Damir. Jelena admits she nearly killed herself. Now re...

After Australia’s citizens voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in a national poll that will trigger a parliamentary debate, we assess how sport in the country may have influenced the vote. We're in the USA as researchers confirm the detection of the dementia-like disease CTE or "boxers brain" for the first time in a living person, a break through that could change the lives of the form...

May El Khalil was running on the side of road, when she was knocked over and crushed by a truck. The accident caused her to slip into a coma. Once she woke, she lay in a hospital bed for two years and she devised a plan. She wanted to start a marathon in Beirut, Lebanon. The Middle Eastern country had never hosted an event like it due political and social unrest but May, despite the protests, was...

‘I didn’t realise I was shot, it felt like I was hit by a hammer’ On October 1st, Nick Robone and friends headed to a music festival in downtown Las Vegas. Halfway through headliner Jason Aldean’s set a crackle of gunfire can be heard over the music. Nick was one of the 500 people injured by the gunman; the bullet had just avoided his heart and punctured his lung. As blood filled his mouth, his br...

The Lords of East Africa Newsland in Cape Town, New Road in Worcester, the Queenstown Event centre in New Zealand, three of the prettiest grounds to watch or play cricket but there is a new stadium that could usurp their crown. The Kicukiro Oval in Kigali, maybe one of the newest grounds in world cricket but it’s already one of the grounds with spectacular scenery in sport. History will be made th...

‘Coming of age for women in sport’ ‘We’re not scared to rock the boat anymore’ and ‘we need more women in the corridors of power’, those are some of the comments from Ruth O’Reilly. Ruth was part of the Irish Rugby team at this summer’s World Cup. She criticised the Irish Rugby Football Union on the final day about a lack of planning, commitment and communication during their World Cup preparation...

Vegas Strong It’s been two weeks since a gunman killed 58 people in Las Vegas. The city is still trying to recover from the tragedy. One source of inspiration is the city’s first professional sport team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The ice hockey team came into existence this year and, on Tuesday, they hosted their first ever home match, where they honoured the emergency services. The team have...

A week on from Catalonia's vote for independence Caroline Barker is joined by Radio Catalunya's Ernest Macia and Spanish football commentator Eduardo Alvarez to look at what Catalan independence could mean for sport in the region and FC Barcelona, one of the world's biggest football clubs. (Photo: Catalan flag. Credit: Getty Images)

President Donald Trump suggested during a rally speech in Alabama, athletes who fail to stand during the national anthem should be fired or suspended. Over the weekend, following this announcement, many players, coaches and owners in the NFL went out of their way to kneel and silently protest. We hear from LeBron James and other notable sport stars of America, poet Kwame Alexander and author Profe...

We investigate the effects of concussion in sport. What if anything needs to be done to improve the safety of the sport stars we cheer on every week. How do you help athletes who want to play on regardless of the risks, and what responsibility for player's health do we have as fans? We are joined by neurologist Dr Margaret Goodman. For many years she was a ringside physician in the home of boxing...

Ahead of the new NFL season we profile Colin Kaepernick. He stirred controversy last year for sitting or kneeling during the anthem, in protest against the treatment of black Americans. The quarterback remains without a team as the new season approaches. Supporters claim he remains unemployed because he was prepared to speak out about inequality in wider American society. We are joined by Dr. Harr...

When we heard that Adam Rolston and his caddie Ron Rutland were planning on raising money for the Laureus Sport for Good charity by playing the longest hole in golf history, one that literally spanned the length of Mongolia, we had to find out more! Well 82 days and about 20,000 shots later, the pair are just a lofted wedge and a putt away from completing their adventure. We’re on the final stretc...

The Homeless World Cup in Oslo came to an end this week, how striking that it should be played out against the backdrop of a record breaking transfer window. We hear from Sophie and David who both found themselves in need of help in their lives and are now on the road to recovery through football, proudly representing Wales! Social went last week. When you win the World Cup... but have to go back...

England takes on New Zealand in the final of the Women's Rugby World Cup on Saturday. It's an event players and fans alike are hotly anticipating, but for Jean Kim it's too painful to watch. When Jean says the sport of rugby saved her life, she means it, which makes it all the more difficult for her now she’s banned from playing. How to swim the English Channel four times, non stop Chloe McCardel...

Ahead of the new NFL season we profile Colin Kaepernick. He stirred controversy last year for sitting or kneeling during the anthem, in protest against the treatment of black Americans. The quarterback remains without a team as the new season approaches. Supporters claim he remains unemployed because he was prepared to speak out about inequality in wider American society. We are joined by Dr. Harr...

We preview the 'big fight' by profiling both fighters and ask why so many people are interested in a sporting event many feel a farce. We also look at the way the fight has been marketed and whether it has been done so without consideration of the consequences. Caroline Barker is joined by our boxing reporter Ade Adedoyin boxing writer Gabe Oppenheim, and we hear from Jeff Mayweather uncle of Floy...

The First Ostracised Athlete The events in Charlottesville and the remarks made by President Trump this week, has seen an increase in US athletes speaking out against racism. One of the first high profile athletes to speak out about racism in the US, was two time NBA champion Craig Hodges. The former Chicago Bulls basketball player wrote a 14 page letter to President HW Bush expressing his displea...

Footballs forgotten fans Football matches can be quite a daunting experience, especially fans suffering from social anxiety. Sonia Peacock’s son Kyle is autistic and she says clubs need to make fans with social anxiety feel more welcome. Kyle stopped attending Everton matches, after he was attacked by away fans, a couple of years ago. He only returned to Goodison Park this summer and Sonia says Ky...

Bolt's best friend Nugent Walker or NJ, as he’s known has been Usain Bolt’s best friend since primary school and manager since 2010. Despite being a ‘monster on the track’, NJ says Bolt is a bit of a dominos geek off it. What stands out from the interview is NJ is extremely proud watching his friend dominate the track. We could hear Usain in the background whilst we were talking to Nugent. He wasn...