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John Motson channelled the exhilaration of football, but commentary has moved on
For many fans the veteran commentator’s death has been the focal point for a wider sense of loss.
By Jonathan Liew
Football remains spectacular, but the trust between clubs and the public is broken
The game’s richest teams have disfigured the economic terrain of the sport – but a reckoning is on the…
By Jonathan Liew
The myth of England’s “fair play” fetish
In sport and politics, the English boast that they always play by the rules – but history tells a…
By Jonathan Liew
Norway’s golden generation of athletes proves the value of sport as a public good
A unique commitment to making the “joy of sport” available to all is producing world-class talent in everything from…
By Jonathan Liew
The problem with sport’s endless “greatest of all time” debates
Fans’ fixation on the concept of greatness has become an absurd identity politics.
By Jonathan Liew
Gareth Southgate’s real legacy will be measured not in trophies but in happiness
This is one of the most united England squads in recent memory.
By Jonathan Liew
The Qatar World Cup is a moral disaster – is it braver to step away, or step inside?
Nothing that happens on the pitch can possibly salvage the horrors that brought this tournament about.
By Jonathan Liew
In Qatar’s paranoid parallel universe, the World Cup is just a prop in a theatre of war
This is not just “sportswashing”: it’s very real power play.
By Jonathan Liew