The Sporting Hack

Treading Water: Armstrong is banned. Again. FINA, the governing body of all sports inside the swimming pool, has taken the admirable step of preventing Lance Armstrong competing in a Masters Swimming tournament this weekend. The 41 year old, famously stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after admitting using performance enhancing drugs – in what is one of the biggest ever world sports stories – was due to compete in his hometown of Austin, Texas.   Bored of being out of the limelight for more than a few days, Armstrong’s intentions are crystal clear; unfortunately no one is sure if his body ever will be. Made a Rick? Lambert's international chances may be over The first week of April tends to be littered with April Fool’s jokes posted on the internet from around the world. Sports people are often quick to get involved also, so when Southampton forward Rickie Lambert was at the centre of a gag regarding his declaration of intent to switch allegiances fro...

‘Incredulous’ seems to be the best way to describe the majority of people’s reaction to Paolo Di Canio’s unveiling as the new Sunderland chief. Whether it is his chequered past as a player, or his limited managerial background with third tier Swindon Town, the arrival of the Italian has certainly provoked a response from fans and the media alike. Let’s start with Di Canio the player. He was temperamental but skilful, misunderstood but majestic. He also pushed over a referee after being sent off while wearing the colours of Sheffield Wednesday and, later in his career, made a fascist salute playing for his hometown club Lazio in the Rome derby. Di Canio, who declared at the time (in 2004) that he was ‘a fascist, not a racist’, has been ponderous to say the least to reaffirm his stance or political beliefs to the point where some people are, understandably, confusing his tendencies with that of a racist. Bizarrely, none of this seemed to matter when he was at Swin...