JUST WILLIAM

AUTHOR: Star Sports Content

JUST WILLIAM: Labour, Team Racing and the Lionesses

Hello! It’s been a long time since I last put virtual pen to paper, but at least I’m not coming back to a country in complete meltdown with a completely absent Government set to be replaced by two people who are currently more focused on arguments most often found on the worst parts of YouTube comment sections. And I’m definitely not absolutely boiling in a week long heatwave, despite moving out of London to try and escape it.

But before I get into all that, I’d like to offer some congratulations to Star betting shop managers James Maloney, (Mayfair) Charlie Millard, (Hythe), Scott Robbins, (Bristol) and Paolo Temperini (Manchester) for reaching the final 48 of the Racing Post/SIS Betting Shop Manager of the Year competition.

Now I’m obviously biased here, but for a firm with 19 shops to find four of the top 48 shop managers is a pretty impressive achievement – now to win the thing!

Sir Napoleon Dynamite

The ongoing energy crisis is the biggest political challenge facing the next government. I say the next government because the current ‘administration ‘has basically been turned defunct by the fact that Boris Johnson – still occupying Number 10, when he isn’t being flown in an RAF jet or watching Ukrainian military training – until one of Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, most likely Truss, arrives in Number 10.

Truss – who if polls are to be believed will be the next Prime Minister in less than a month – has denied she is ruling out cash payments to support people through the cost-of-living crisis, again emphasising her plans to keep tax low.

However, it would be hard to have much hope that she’ll endorse any more help given her quote below:

Speaking in Manchester, she added: “What’s wrong is taking money from people in taxes and then giving (it) back to them in benefits. That’s Gordon Brown-style economics and I don’t support that.”

Whilst the majority of the focus is on the Conservative Party’s plans, Labour have recently attracted more attention, with Keir Starmer set to make what are described as major interventions next week.

A common statement which we’ve seen recently – mainly from fans of Starmer – has been to refer to Napoleon’s phrase “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Labour are 6 points ahead in the polls (taken from Politico’s average) and it’s true that either Truss or Sunak is set to be flooded with problems when they take office, but with the next election now less than three years away, Labour can’t afford to waste any time in showing an alternative for the

 

Leagues Apart

It’s night 2 of the Racing League, which has come back this year with a changed format – where we have teams representing regions rather than brands, and coverage on ITV as well as Sky Sports Racing.

Bar that, there’s a sense of Déjà vu about this year’s competition, which has had derision from many quarters for largely the same reasons as last year.

Those arguments are all familiar – racing is not a franchise/team sport in the way that others are – but in an era where punters and fans rightly bemoan small field races and a huge amount of low-grade racing (with no offence to those involved) it can surely be a positive to get seven well contested and competitive races with enough runners for three places – and decent prizemoney too.

And yes, I said the exact same thing last year.

Shergar Cup

Last weekend we had another team racing event in the shape of the Shergar Cup, which has long been the target of critics from those who don’t enjoy team racing events. And for all we can talk (again) about whether a team format works, what we do know is that 16,412 people attended a competitive card at one of the country’s best tracks in a friendly atmosphere – and there can’t be much bad about that:

SIMON NOTT BETTING REPORT: Shergar Cup Ascot

Wonder Women

This has arguably been a red-letter summer for women’s sport. The Lionesses’ superb Euro 2022 win was a historic moment for women’s football here (and the tournament was extremely well received across the continent) whilst the original Tour de France Femme was a landmark moment for women’s cycling – not forgetting the many outstanding performances at the Commonwealth Games, including another huge domestic success as the England’s women’s team took gold.

Those successes show what can be done when women’s sports are given the opportunity to shine on the biggest stage – and it’s excellent to see that nine Women’s Super League clubs (the other three didn’t give figures) have reported higher sales for both match and season tickets, whilst the Lionesses’ game against the USA in October at Wembley has sold out.

Build it and they will come….

Wembley Wonderland

Another positive about the Euro 2022 win was the atmosphere. The country – desperately in need of some good news – was united with joy, but the crowd at Wembley was approachable, engaged, fierce and friendly. As someone who ended up watching the game nearby, it was one of the nicest occasions I’ve been a part of – here’s to more moments like that in the future!

Also, just for comparison (and yes, I know they’re not exactly like for like).

On the day the England men’s team lost to Italy in July 2021, 86 people were arrested in London – including 53 at Wembley – for offences including assault, vandalism and being drunk and disorderly.

This year? Only two arrests were linked to the women’s final.

The Cup Runneth Over

Now whilst I’ve been prone to disorganisation in the past, surely the organisers of the *checks notes* World Cup… might have given this some more thought.

And last but never least, here’s the Stat of the Week:

William Kedjanyi

Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

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