UK Athletics (UKA) has announced it will commence the recruitment of a new board member, having made a number of decisions about the diversity of backgrounds, skills and experiences it sees as important for the organisation and the sport. The advert for the role, to be released by the end of the month, will highlight the UKA board’s focus on appointing an applicant from ethnically diverse communities, and with recent and relevant athlete experience.

The UKA board has recently increased from 8 to 12, following the addition of a director nominated by each of the four Home Country Athletics Federations. All nominated directors were men, and the UKA board is now looking to appoint a woman to this position. Chief Financial Officer Mark Draisey has volunteered to stand down from his position as a director of the company, to enable the process to happen and ensure board continuity. He will continue in his role as CFO, Company Secretary and Executive Champion for Race supporting the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda.

Nic Coward, chair of UKA said: “We are committed to driving positive change within our organisation and the whole sport, with a demand that all involved have an open and collaborative mind-set. Athletics is for everyone. That is a core belief at the heart of our Athletics Unified strategy. We will soon finalise and publish our Diversity Action Plan for the next four years, and one commitment is that the board of the sport’s governing body board should itself be from a diverse range of backgrounds, skills and experiences. As part of this, going forward, we have decided at least two of our board are to be from a minority ethnic background.

“Our Let’s Talk About Race programme created impactful conversations across the sport and within UKA, with board composition one of the very many issues initiatives that were considered. The change we are making also reflects our commitments to diversity as signatories of the Race at Work Charter, which addresses race inequality in the workplace.

“Mark Draisey has shown his personal commitment to our plan for change, and I look forward to working with him and everyone involved in the sport in delivering Athletics Unified.”

Current UK Athletics Board:

Nic Coward - Chair

Joanna Coates - CEO

Penny Avis - Senior Independent Director

David Abrahams – Athletics Northern Ireland Nominated Director

Gordon Arthur

Ian Beattie – Scottish Athletics Nominated Director

Stuart Cain

Peter Crawshaw – England Athletics Nominated Director

Mark Draisey – CFO – to stand down

Stephen Perks – Welsh Athletics Nominated Director

Anne Wafula-Strike

Mike Whittingham

Full details of the process including role description and how to apply will be released shortly through the UKA website.

2021 cycling event, The Tour 21, has now sold out with 25 amateur cyclists signed up to ride the full Tour de France route, one week ahead of the professionals from Saturday 19^th June – Sunday 11^th July this summer. The team, led by ex-England, Crystal Palace, Wolves and Nottingham Forest footballer and blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas, aim to raise over £1,000,000 for national blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia.

Cure Leukaemia, which was announced as the first ever official Charity Partner of the Tour de France in the UK in October last year, recorded a £1,500,000 fundraising shortfall in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and The Tour 21 team, which was increased from 20 to 25 riders after this event’s postponement last summer, aim to help the charity address this shortfall in funding by completing all 21 gruelling stages of the world’s most famous and prestigious professional cycling event 150 days from now.

All funds raised by The Tour 21 team will be invested in the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) which has been solely funded by Cure Leukaemia since January 2020. TAP is a network of specialist research nurses at 12 blood cancer centres located in the UK’s biggest cities and a facilitatory hub based at the Centre for Clinical Haematology in Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This network enables accelerated setup and delivery of potentially life-saving blood cancer clinical trials to run giving patients from a UK catchment area of over 20 million people access to treatments not currently available through standard care.

Cure Leukaemia Patron Geoff Thomas, 56, said: “I am delighted that we have a full team of 25 cyclists signed up and committed to not only taking on this gruelling challenge but also to raising vital funds to help blood cancer patients across the UK. COVID-19 decimated charity fundraising in 2020 and Cure Leukaemia were no different and that is why we, as a team, have an even greater responsibility to go beyond the initial £1,000,000 target for the event.

“I am confident that with the team we have assembled we can do just that not only giving these amateur cyclists the experience of a lifetime but also ensuring vital blood cancer clinical trials can continue to benefit patients across the country. This will be my 5^th and final Tour de France cycling challenge since I was declared in remission from chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2005 and I am determined to ensure that this is the most successful and memorable of them all.”

Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive James McLaughlin continued: “Clearly 2020 was an extremely tough year for the charity and we are so grateful to Geoff and his team for taking on such a monumental challenge both on and off the bike. I know all the riders are going to do all they can to raise £1,000,000 which will help to ensure the sustainability of the TAP network across the UK and the blood cancer clinical trials it delivers. 

“We have all seen the leading role that clinical trials are playing in securing the accelerated approval of the COVID-19 vaccines and such clinical trials are equally vital for the thousands of blood cancer patients across the UK to ensure they can access pioneering new treatments with the aim of bringing us ever closer to a cure for all forms of blood cancer.”

Newcastle Eagles have won the BBL Cup for the seventh time after overcoming London Lions 84-77 in one of the most dramatic finals in its history. It’s the fifth time they have won the Cup in the last decade - although their first since 2017, up to which point they had won three in a row – it comes after coming from behind at the death to secure a second piece of silverware already in Ian Macleod's tenure as Head Coach.

Eagles had led by as many as 15 points as Justin Gordon and Rahmon Fletcher scored 14 each in the first half, when a 10-1 push over the first quarter break and an 8-2 burst in the second stanza made it 40-28 three minutes before the break. However – despite playing the game with just seven players as the rest of the squad had to self-isolate under COVID-19 protocols – Lions mounted a brave second half comeback. A scintillating 16-2 third quarter run got them back within one, and they followed that with a 19-7 surge in the fourth quarter to snatch a 76-69 lead with four minutes to play as Justin Robinson, Orlando Parker and Kevin Ware, twice, hit big triples.

But the Eagles proved incredibly resilient to halt that momentum as, from there, they burst out of a timeout to score 12 straight points when a corner three from Gordon tied the game, before Louis Sayers did the same from the opposite corner to give Newcastle the lead for good at 79-76 with two minutes to play. It was a nervy finish until, with 30 seconds remaining, Gordon dragged down a huge offensive rebound – his 15th board of the game, a Cup Final record – enabling Fletcher to make a big score inside the paint that made it a two possession game at 81-76 and settled the tie.

The MVP award went to Justin Gordon as he finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. He said: "I can't even describe it right now, I'm just happy to enjoy this moment with my teammates. It was a crazy game, but we stuck it out and got the win. We're just going to enjoy this as a team for a little bit, and then get back to the regular season games”. Rahmon Fletcher led the scoring with 21 points.

Prior to that, Leicester Riders made it three BBL Championship wins on the bounce with a 90-58 defeat of Glasgow Rocks behind 18 points, eight rebounds, and four assists from Corey Johnson. The hosts scored 20 straight points in the first quarter to dominate from the outset, Zach Jackson hitting 10 in that spell; and followed that with a 9-0 opening to the second stanza, before holding Rocks to just eight in that period, for 48-22 at the half and no way back for the visitors.

The English Premier League (EPL) has said it hopes to start permanent concussion substitution trials from January. It follows football's lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), approving trials in 2021.

The new rule means permanent substitutions can be made if a player suffers a head injury, even if all replacements have already been used. To avoid potential abuse of the rule, opposition teams will also be able to make a change at the same time.

However, Premier League clubs have voted against the use of five substitutes for a third time, despite Ifab's confirming an extension to the rule. Instead, the number of top-flight players allowed on the bench has increased from seven to nine. This measure will come into effect from matchday 14, which begins on Saturday.

"With player welfare the Premier League's priority, clubs agreed in principle to introduce additional permanent concussion substitutions following approval of the trial by the International Football Association Board yesterday," the Premier League said.

"The Premier League will look to implement protocols which will allow a maximum of two concussion substitutes to be used per team, with the opposition side able to use the equivalent number. The additional concussion substitutions may be made regardless of the number of substitutions a team has made already."

Speaking before the latest decision not to allow five substitutes, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said he was "surprised" top-flight clubs had not approved the change. He also said clubs still competing in the FA Cup would be allowed to make five substitutions. "I think when we started off at Ifab level, we fully expected all of the leading leagues to sign it off for the reason of a very congested season with a lack of pre-season."

Speaking about permanent concussion substitutes, he added: "I think we have to state clearly why permanent substitutes are better. We had a concussion expert group pulled together by Fifa and Ifab to look at this and their view is very firmly that it's safer."

Concussion substitutes were set to be introduced at the football competitions of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before it postponed until 2021 because of coronavirus. The ability to gather a more accurate diagnosis of head injuries has been in the spotlight after several members of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team were diagnosed with dementia.

Stiles and Jack Charlton, who both died earlier this year, had dementia, while Sir Bobby Charlton's family recently revealed he had been diagnosed with the disease. Former Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen also recently explained how he had felt the effects of a concussion he sustained playing for Spurs for the following nine months.

British Athletics has confirmed the cancellation of the British Athletics Indoor Championships, due to be staged at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena February 20-21.

The decision was taken in light of the ongoing pandemic to ensure the safety of all those due to participate; athletes, coaches, technical officials, volunteers, event and venue staff as well as protecting the Glasgow community. At the present time, the process of testing all those attending the Championships from across the UK, seen as an essential measure, would not sufficiently mitigate the risks.

British Athletics recognises our wider social responsibility to reduce COVID-19 transmission and to not over-burden the NHS. Whilst elite sport has been granted the privilege of an exemption to enable training and competition to continue, the logistics of safely staging a national championships comprising approximately 500+ attendees based across the UK and overseas need to be balanced with the risks to those involved, the local community, and the current medical climate.

With the European Indoor Championships currently scheduled to take place in Torun, Poland 5-7 March British Athletics acknowledges that the cohort of athletes vying for GB & NI team selection will need competition to enable qualification.

Therefore, alternative provision that enables smaller, COVID-19-compliant event qualification opportunities is being explored and will be confirmed to eligible athletes by British Athletics in due course.

 TikTok has today partnered with the British Basketball League and Basketball England to launch the #BritishBasketball hashtag challenge and showcase the best of British basketball.

In what is the first ever basketball focused campaign on TikTok in the UK, the BBL and Basketball England are inviting basketball lovers to share their best basketball tricks, skills and content on TikTok. TikTok Creators will have access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content from professional clubs like Sheffield Sharks, Leicester Riders, London Lions, Glasgow Rocks, Plymouth Raiders, Bristol Flyers and Surrey Scorchers.

"Our team have been using TikTok to share basketball content to a new audience and we've been encouraged to see it getting a great response," said Basketball England Marketing and Communications director Anthony Jepson.

"We’re excited to be working with TikTok to showcase #BritishBasketball and the talent in the BBL to people not only in the UK but across the world. From the hustle of training to the thrill of gameday, TikTok allows us and our clubs a unique and direct way to share with our fans and communities. We’ve also loved seeing great basketball content shared by fans and creators from the basketball community and cannot wait to see what they share on the hashtag to celebrate the sport we love!,” said Selina Conroy, British Basketball League's Head of Communications

Professional players including Mike Tuck, Jamell Anderson and Tayo Ogedengbe will also be sharing exclusive content to highlight what it's like being a pro basketball player in the UK.

"We're seeing great videos being shared by fans, content-makers and teams across the sport and would encourage everyone who loves the game in Britain, whether your thing is NBL, BBL, the national teams or up-and-coming young talent, to use the hashtag to celebrate it," Jepson said.

With more than 31 billion video views, #basketball has cemented itself as one of the most popular sports on TikTok and #BritishBasketball is on the rise with numerous clubs from the BBL joining the platform.