Given that England and France are two of the key members of Rugby Europe (RE) it was hardly a surprise when it supported the re-election in May of Sir Bill Beaumont as chair of World Rugby, and of Bernard Laporte as his vice-chair. 

To announce, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, that the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will go ahead next summer "no matter what happens" sounds very much like creating a hostage to fortune - and a significant one at that.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the mother of invention with regard to sporting initiatives this year - and the impending United Through Sports (UTS) Virtual Youth Festival 2020, the finals of which start on November 20, will be a uniquely ingenious and historic event.

Many outraged voices were heard within athletics last month when the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal dismissed anti-doping charges brought against Bahrain’s world 400 metres champion Salwa Eid Naser for alleged whereabouts failures.

As Russia prepares its appeal against a series of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions excluding the country from major international competition for four years, one of its favourite sporting sons, former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Andrei Kirilenko, has warned the proposed collective ban will punish innocent competitors.

Here is a report amalgamated, with slight modifications, from three different sources – this website and two newspapers who published this news on May 22 last year.

A bitter Presidential election is under way at sailing’s governing body, with incumbent Kim Andersen under challenge from three rivals.

In his book Football, The Golden Age, John Tennant collects "extraordinary images from 1900 to 1985". One of them, photographer unknown, shows Ipswich Town players in January 1939 relaxing in the team bath after losing 2-1 at home to Aston Villa in an FA Cup third round replay. Of the nine pictured, three have cigarettes hanging from their mouths.

On the day that his own "baby", the Brighton Marathon, became the latest mass event to be cancelled because of coronavirus concerns, Tim Hutchings – who co-founded the race in 2010 – reflected upon the small miracle that is the running of the 40th London Marathon next Sunday (October 4).

Celebrated film-maker Bud Greenspan’s documentary about the 2000 Olympics in Sydney contains as its centrepiece an account of Monday, September 25, when more than 110,000 spectators - the largest crowd ever to watch track and field at the Games - packed into Stadium Australia to witness an extraordinary sequence of competitions.

If you have, say, $300,000 (£234,000/€253,000) to hand, or its equivalent, and you are a basketball fan, you might want to take a look at what Heritage Auctions, in Dallas, Texas, currently have on offer by way of Michael Jordan memorabilia.

One hundred years ago on Saturday  - September 5 1920 - Spain’s new national football team secured the silver medals in the first international tournament they had contested, the Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games.

This summer marked a significant landmark in Olympic history, although one that has gone largely unnoticed. It was the 50th anniversary marking the announcement that a dachshund would be the official mascot of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the first time that the Games would have such a symbol.

When Andrew Parsons, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President, looked ahead to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics a year ago there was only one item on his list of "issues" – the lack of accessible hotel rooms for disabled people. He was "super-confident" that the Japanese capital would deliver "an incredible Games".