Not by the Playbook

Formula One has new owners, who want to expand and modernise the sport. So could it become truly global, and feature a race in Africa, the only continent without a Grand Prix. It's hard to think of a country as obsessed with one sport as India is with cricket. The game helps to give a country of 1.3 billion people an identity. Getting a ticket for a one day match when India are playing is for many...

As Donald Trump takes charge of the world's most powerful nation we head back to the early 1980s when his goals were slightly more modest. One of his ambitions was to own a sport franchise and he converted an NFL team. Unable to make this happen he purchased the New Jersey Generals American football team of the newly formed USFL. Within two years the league had collapsed and many blame Trump for i...

Can mental toughness developed on the football field help kick cancer? Phil Brabbs thinks so. It can be the loneliest job in all of sport. You sit on the sidelines and watch your team mates toil for the whole match, and American football games last for hours, but you might only be on the field for a matter of seconds. Yet it could be you alone who snatches victory or condemns your team to defeat....

College sport is a a billion dollar industry in America. Basketball and football attract huge television audiences and crowds in excess of 100,000 at games. It attracts the biggest names and very highest paid coaches in American sport. The players however do not earn a penny. They are 'student athletes' and although some of them will get their education paid for, is it time those players get a sha...

Listen back to the two most significant moments in the Sportshour year Remembering and rejoicing. We hear from those whose lives were influenced by Muhammad Ali, who passed away in 2016. Plus, San Quentin Correction Facility, one of North America's most notorious prisons. It has held convicts like Charles Manson, and today it houses the largest death row population in the USA. The cells are dark,...

A selection of the most listened to features and interviews from Sportshour in 2016 including: How America Suzy Favour Hamilton went from Olympic finalist in Sydney to a Las Vegas escort. She failed to win 1500m gold, she apparently settled into family life, but it subsequently came out that she'd been working as a high-class escort. Suzy explains how mental illness drove her to prostitution and h...

We look at the sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed gymnastics in the USA. We hear from former gymnast Rachael Denhollander on waiving her right to anonymity to accuse former USA national team doctor Dr Larry Nassar of sexual abuse. We also hear from John Manley the lawyer representing two gymnasts, including an Olympian, who are suing Gymnastics USA for their failure to act on allegations broug...

DeAndre Levy is a star of the Detroit Lion's American football team, but it is not just on the field that he excels. Never afraid to speak out, he has dedicated to educating and changing the 'macho culture' that exists in American football and wider society. DeAndre has joined the effort of other organisations and individuals across the city of Detroit to test more than 11,000 neglected rape kits...

In 1960 the plane carrying the Cal Poly American football team crashed on take-off. It claimed the lives of 22 people, including 16 players. Gil Stork was a member of the team and on board that night. He survived those terrible events and tells of a terrifying night, the life long aftermath and how to deal with the feeling of guilt for surviving. Women’s Afcon We’re in Yaoundé ahead of the Women’s...

"Sports in our country is not an instrument of politics, but sports in our country itself is a consequence of the Revolution" The words of the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, who has died. So what will Fidel Castro's legacy on Cuban Sport be? We hear from Manuel Barcia, Professor of Latin American History at Leeds University and has written on sport in Cuba. Breaking the Silence: We look at the implic...

Caroline Barker brings you the stories of the week, from the adventurer facing death head on rowing the Pacific from Japan to Alaska, to the youngest and most controversial heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson and how the new language of cricket on the radio, is helping grow the game in Zimbabwe. (Image: Ronnie O'Sullivan in Soho, credit: Getty Images)

England and Scotland lining up at Wembley - but the build up to the oldest fixture in international football focused not just on the match, but the decision by both associations to wear black armbands bearing a poppy to commemorate those who have died through conflict. This was despite being told by FIFA, that they were not allowed to and would face punishment.

Cricket in The Jungle, a different Calais How will history remember the now demolished Calais Migrant Camp? Reporting of this story would suggest that the ripping apart of 'The Jungle' has been a narrative of human suffering and hopelessness - but perhaps there's more to tell. Journalist Rosamund Urwin visited the camp in its final weeks and returned home determined to do something. Her partner, C...

During 1966 English football enjoyed a momentous year. It was also a significant moment for football in South Africa and in particular for the inmates of Robben Island. It was the year the Macana Football Association was created by the prisoners locked up in apartheid South Africa. Former inmate Dumisani Mwandhla recalls the importance of football to those imprisoned. The Wanderer: Erden Eruc was...

Ian Brown might be homeless, but it hasn’t stopped him training for and successfully completing the Melbourne marathon last week. After years of homelessness Ian found help and redemption in running, supported by Australian charity ‘On My Feet’. They provide new trainers and use running to raise the homeless self-esteem with remarkable results. We speak to Ian and ‘On My Feet’ CEO Keegan Crage. Ul...

Donald Trump's dismissal of his comments about women as "locker room talk" has angered the sporting community. But is there some truth in what he's saying - in terms of what is said in players' dressing rooms? Former NFL player Joe Ehrmann is now coaching American sportsmen to change their negative attitudes towards women. He believes that the outcry over Trump's comments can be used as a catalyst...

This week stories from the Iron Curtain to the baseball diamond, the boxing ring, to the stage. We hear from Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten as she returns to the road after her horror crash during the women's road race at the Rio Olympics. The first female Olympic boxing Gold medalist Nicola Adams is with us as we hear about Muhammad Ali and Me, the play combining dance and poetry to tell the...

It sounds like science fiction, but the world's first bionic Olympics is being organised. It's called the Cybathalon and will be held in Switzerland. We hear from some of the competitors taking part and to Professor Robert Riener from the University of Zurich, an expert in developing robot-aided rehabilitation and organiser of this unique competition “If Only Australia Were Proud Of Us” Is countin...

Anne Seel made motor-racing history last year when she became the only Swede to ride both a motorcycle and a car in the Dakar Rally. Very few women take part in the Dakar Rally in South America and Seel wants to encourage more women to get involved and has set up a women's only rally course just outside of Stockholm. Game of Thrones: We visit the once run down seaside resort of Portrush where than...

Is drone racing the future of sport? It’s about to go mainstream with television deals to show a new drone league. The sport appeals to so many because according to Drone. TV presenter Skip Fredricks "You're truly immersed... It's a virtual reality competition, in the real world!" TUEs Carefully: The illegal release of information relating to athletes use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) has l...

We preview the world’s two biggest football games this weekend. Will Jose and Pep play nicely as the red half and blue half of Manchester collide? Who has the psychological upper hand? North of the border, as the Old Firm derby returns, we look at why there appears to be little softening in the underlying sectarian divide that causes arguably football’s most fearsome and ugly rivalry. 3D Printer P...

Piotr Malachowski won silver in the discus at the Rio Olympics just a couple of weeks ago however he has since auctioned off his medal to raise funds for Olek, a three-year-old boy suffering with a rare form of cancer. Colink Kaepernick: The Eye Of A Media Storm When San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided not to stand during the national anthem it brought back into the spotlight...

Poor ticket sales, finance issues, Russian athletes banned. The Paralympic movement is facing a testing time ahead of the Rio Games. We hear from Tatanya McFadden, the American parathlete who has reportedly pledged $1000 out of her own pocket to buy tickets for Brazilian children. And, we hear from disappointed Russian Paralympian Irina Vertinskaya, and Lord Holmes who was the director of Paralymp...

Adam Nelson won the shot put at the Athens Olympics in 2004, but only received his gold medal a few weeks ago. Why? Because of the advancements in drug testing it was recently proved that the original gold medallist, Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine had taken performance enhancing drugs. So did the recent ceremony in which Adam was presented gold represent justice, or can nothing make up for being robbed...

Maarten van der Weijden tells us his journey of battling back from leukaemia to claim Olympic gold in the 10 km open water competition at the 2008 Beijing Games. On Your Bike At London 2012 Team GB dominated the track cycling winning seven golds. Four years on and some of the big stars like Sir Chris Hoy are no longer involved. But in this highly technical - and hi-tech - sport, what comes first…...