Sport

The Lionesses will wear blue shorts at the Women’s World Cup to help combat period concerns

The new England women's kits have been released and they go on sale from 5 June.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 4th April 2023

The new Lionesses kit for the Women’s World Cup has officially been released and finally features blue shorts after a massive push from players over period concerns.

While England sides traditionally wear all-white home strips where they can — with the Lionesses doing the same during the incredible road to victory at Euro 2022 — the women’s game has long been calling for the FA to allow for alternate shorts to accommodate for when players are on their periods.

At the time, the likes of Beth Mead said it’s “simply not practical for women when it’s the time of the month” and many have long wondered why it has taken so long for them to change it.

Regardless, the Lionesses are now set to wear the new kit for the first time in the Finalissima (European-South American Nations Cup) on Thursday, joining other Nike-sponsored teams and various domestic clubs like Manchester City, West Brom and Swansea who have already swapped out white shorts.

The new Lionesses kits feature blue shorts for the home strip and an all-blue kit for the away.

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The new shorts aren’t just blue, however: the redesign features a new leak-protection liner in response to athletes’ feedback, with similar having already been implemented across Nike‘s new kit range perfected ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts on 20 August.

Jordana Katcher, the women’s global sport apparel for the brand, said they are “thrilled to offer this new innovation” which should help combat the “several minutes on-pitch” that players spend “concerned that they may experience leakage from their period.”

She says that upon revealing the new kit technology to the various female athletes, “they told us how grateful they were to have this short to help provide confidence when they can’t leave the pitch.”

The FA have also insisted that they they “recognise the importance and want our players to feel our continued support on this matter”, and will continue to “appeal to international tournament organisers… and allow for greater flexibility on kit colour combinations.” Long overdue, as far as we’re concerned.

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Featured Image — Lionesses

Sport

Spanish journalist rubbishes reports of Barcelona debating ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early

Danny Jones Danny Jones

Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué has come out to rubbish reports that FC Barcelona have been considering ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early.

The well-known football reporter, who regularly works with the likes of Sky Sports, CBS Sports, BBC and more, is one of many to have publicly decried false claims made about the Manchester United loanee, who joined the La Liga giants at the start of this summer.

Barca themselves are also said to have quashed the rumours, with Balagué’s quotes having now been widely circulated online.

Speaking via X over the weekend, the 56-year-old put it simply: that the rumblings are nonsense, reassuring that the club have plenty of faith in his abilities.

As you can see, the Catalan-born RCD Espanyol fan also chose to publicly align himself with former England footballer, Gary Lineker, who has suggested that a targeted and discriminatory narrative against Rashford has developed in recent years.

Though he didn’t state it verbatim, Balagué added: “No more to say, apart from the fact I agree with Gary Lineker and his treatment by some media.”

In case you were unaware of what he’s precisely referring to, Lineker said in a chat with the Man United forward on his The Rest Is Football podcast that he believes Rashford “wouldn’t face the same criticism if he was white.”

Having also made the move from Britain to Barcelona back in 1986 (spending a total of three seasons there), the 64-year-old knows plenty about adjusting from playing in one country to another.

You can see the interview in full here.

The interview was conducted shortly after Rashford’s loan deal was completed, and he had plenty to say about his boyhood team.

Responding to Balagué’s social media post, one commenter wrote: “This nonsense is coming from racist journalists in England who refuse to leave [Rashford] alone. They bullied him when he was in England, especially during times when he seemed unhappy.

“Now, these haters have followed him to Barcelona. Rashford is one of the kindest players in the world, but these clowns just won’t let him live his life in peace.”

It is worth noting, however, that the original reports in question and ultimately aggregated by media across Europe and here in the UK come from a domestic outlet, El Nacional.

While he is yet to rediscover the form of his peak years in United red at the Camp Nou, he is now entering what are traditionally seen as the ‘prime’ period in a footballer’s career and did show more positive signs on loan at Aston Villa during the second half of the previous campaign.

At 27, there is still plenty of time to turn things around; that being said, after being brought back into the national team and with his parent club holding an option to buy clause for around a reported £20 million, the question remains whether he will be returning to Old Trafford at the end of the term. Speaking of…

André Onana is set to leave Manchester United on loan as early as next week
Rashford’s loan may hint towards a permanent move away, but Onana looks slightly different.

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Featured Images — Кирилл Венедиктов (via soccer.ru/Wikimedia Commons)/FC Barcelona

Sport

Is Tom Aspinall ‘the greatest heavyweight the UFC has ever seen’?

Danny Jones Danny Jones Where does Tom Aspinall rank among the greatest UFC heavyweight fighters ever?

With Tom Aspinall now a few months into being the undisputed champion in his class, the discussion of where he sits among ‘the best of all time’ is well and truly underway, and if you ask one fellow MMA pro, he’s already “the greatest heavyweight” in the history of the UFC.

If you ask us, we’d still like to see the now highly unlikely fight between him and Jon Jones, just to have it on record, but we have no shame in admitting we lean towards our Greater Manchester bias.

Nevertheless, these are bold claims made by fighting peer Ian Machado ‘The Future’ Garry, who touched on the Atherton-born in a recent interview.

He had plenty of big words about his own potential bout against outspoken American competitor, Sean Brady, but also spent some time sharing his reverence for Tom ‘Honey Bagder’ Aspinall. It’s not the first time he’s shared his fandom either.

Speaking to GamesHub ahead of the local athlete’s next match-up against Ciryl Gane, Garry said simply: “Tom Aspinall sparks him. I don’t see that fight getting out of the first round, right? I think Tom is phenomenal.

“I think he’s absolutely the best heavyweight we’ve ever seen in the UFC, and now he’s got the belt, he is the champion.”

Aspinall is set to take on the 35-year-old next month in Abu Dhabi, and was met with a somewhat surprising chorus of boos when he appeared at the most recent Fight Night in Paris last week.

Then again, you could argue it was nothing more than a crowd full of Gane’s compatriots backing the Frenchman; either way, the Wigan warrior didn’t let it faze him much, simply allowing his native opponent to take the spotlight and largely shrugging off the reaction.

On the other hand, his attendance at the Accor Arena wasn’t entirely negative, as he was able to watch his Croatian teammate, Ante Delija, win on his UFC debut – the reaction to which saw Aspinall painted in a much more favourable light.

We’re sure these emotional scenes won over a few new fans.

Once again, Tom Apsinall will face Ciryl Gane in just a matter of weeks and is still being heavily considered the favourite – but is there a chance the underdog could surprise and deliver a shock result against the Manc mauler and reigning heavyweight champ?

As for Garry, the Irishman may not be on the fight card for UFC 321 on October 25, but it’s clear he’s pushing to book a date with ‘ducking’ Brady, going on to tell the outlet: “I’m in a position where I have proven time and time again that I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, and I’m as game as game gets.

“So I want it publicly announced that if me and Sean Brady are fighting, it’s the number one contender fight. So Sean Brady should shut up and let me do all the heavy lifting, and he just needs to show up on fight night and lose. I have never ducked anyone in my life and I never will.”

What do you think: is Tom Aspinall the greatest heavyweight the UFC has ever seen, and if not, would you really want him to humour the rather bizarre notion of putting him to the test against Jon Jones, even though Dana White has already ruled him out?…

Why you should be glad Tom Aspinall has said no to a UFC fight at The White House
He’s shown little interest in the highly unusual proposition from President Trump.

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Featured Images — @C0MB4TT (via X)/TNT Sports (screenshot)/Hftrt275 (via WikiCommons)

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