The failures of the world of sport to resist the embrace of Putin are also Irish failures. 

This is a notion that is rooted in centuries of rhetoric that find their greatest exposition is phrases such as Duke of Wellington’s supposed claim that the Battle of Waterloo was really won on the playing fields of Eton.

The GAA’s approach to selling tickets to its matches is not reflective of the realities of life for its membership, writes Paul Rouse

It will be interesting to watch how the GAA’s new Strategic Plan – to be launched shortly – will position the role of provinces. This is no straightforward matter. The provincial councils obviously do hugely important work in the organising of schools competitions and in coaching officers. But the long term evolution of the structural organisation of the GAA in terms of flows of money are clearly moving more and more towards direct relationships between Croke Park and individual counties. 

Allowing for the right of innocence until proven guilty, this week has brought shame and much else.

Is the National Football League structure working for those counties who spend almost all of their spring months in Division 4?

All across the elite sporting world there is a dramatic increase in the use of wearable technologies that track basic metrics of performance. The logic of usage is that wearable technology should allow an increasingly information-based approach to such matters as pre-, intra- and post-event analysis of individual competitors, and of teams.

In an earlier era, the torrent of insults that flowed would have been entirely directed at the referee. Now, though, the VAR offers a second focus

There is no doubt that third-level competitions are under pressure given the on-going revision of the calendar and the move to a split season between club and county.

I have a plan. The question is what will happen to that plan when I get punched in the face