Features

By Brian Sears 19 February 2010 Occasionally in this life as a statistician, you unearth a statistical gem so lovely that you want to pop it into your anorak pocket, go for a stroll around town in the splendid late-winter sunshine, and share it with everyone you meet. Today, dear readers, is such a day. […]

By Brian Sears 10 February 2010 Omens, omens. The last time Chelsea and Cardiff met in an FA Cup match (in 1927), we all know what else happened that year. That’s right. Saudi Arabia became independent of the United Kingdom. (And Cardiff went on to win the Cup). If you’re interested in such ephemera and […]

By Nick Harris 9 February 2010 Just as America is ahead in the all-time Summer Olympics gold medals table and an American (Michael Phelps) is way ahead in the all-time summer Games individual golds table, so one nation is also ahead at the Winter Olympics, in the collective and individual senses. And as the build-up […]

9 February 2010 Can you identify the sporting arena? We take an aerial view of a ball park, football stadium, marathon course, golf course, Games venue, race track, iconic arena, athletic theatre (some literally theatres), pitch, park, stretch of water or wherever else sport takes place. And we ask you to identify it with the […]

By Nick Harris 7 February 2010 Over two consecutive weekends, a major sports event in Britain has been central to a landmark 3D broadcast. A week ago it was Arsenal’s Premier League match against Manchester United, which became the world’s first sports event to be shown live on television in 3D to the general public. […]

By Brian Sears 5 February 2010 . It’s getting harder and harder for teams at the bottom end of the Premier League table to win points away from home. Our first table today illustrates that clearly. In the first season of the Premier League, 484 points were won away from home by all the clubs […]

By Nick Harris 1 February 2010 A UK government report into sports-related betting corruption in Britain, published today, recommends the formation of a pan-sport integrity unit to gather intelligence on suspicious cases and co-ordinate the response.  It is generally accepted that Britain does not have a widespread problem with betting-related corruption but it has been […]

By Nick Harris 31 January 2010 Roger Federer’s win today at the Australian Open takes his tally of Grand Slam men’s singles titles to a new record high of 16, extending his advantage over Pete Sampras, who won 14. The leaderboard as it stands today is: . .

By Nick Harris 31 January 2010 A new report detailing the most-watched sports events in the world on live TV in 2009 shows the Champions League final has overtaken the Super Bowl for the first time. They were No1 and No2 in the top 20, with the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix a distant third, then […]

By Brian Sears 30 January 2010 . A feature of the domination of the Premier League in recent years by England’s “big four” clubs – Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – has been how rarely any of that quartet have lost at home to “other” sides from outside their elite group. This is the […]