Moon Ballad warmed up for his tilt at the one million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Saturday with a workout at the track on Monday.

The Football Association face a test of their commitment to protecting England’s players from burn-out after being given an exemption from a FIFA ban on domestic matches in the four weeks before the 2006 World Cup.

More people are becoming homeless because of family breakdowns, than those being forced out by landlords.

Wales have suffered another Rugby World Cup injury blow with wing Liam Williams being ruled out of the tournament remainder with a foot injury.

Cheika has reportedly been approached by Rugby Football Union (RFU) president Jason Leonard to gauge his interest in England’s top job.

Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has called for discussions on the ball to take place before the next big tournament and believes goalkeepers should be involved in any future talks.

FIFA have confirmed that Uruguay striker Luis Suarez could miss the rest of the World Cup following his hand-ball against Ghana.

The Irish Football Association have condemned the behaviour of a supporter who threw a missile at Swedish assistant referee Stefan Wittberg during Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying victory against Poland at Windsor Park last night.

IRELAND’S lightweight men’s four took second place and a silver medal at the World Cup regatta in Munich on Saturday.

IRISH rugby fans are paying up to €235 for the chance to catch their heroes in action during the Rugby World Cup.

DURING the early years of their relationship Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy did their best to avoid making headlines, but in April 2007 their relationship became more public.

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan yesterday moved to separate the fact from the fiction in terms of the province’s reasons for not splashing the cash on a pre-World Cup Hollywood signing.

“Everything went fine” for Italy’s World Cup-winning defender Marco Materazzi at his meeting with FIFA officials today, according to the player’s agent.

Colin Montgomerie immediately turned his thoughts to the Ryder Cup after going out of the HSBC World Match Play Championship to team-mate Paul Casey at Wentworth today.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre today expressed concern over the possibility that Iran’s hard-line president might attend the World Cup in Germany and urged Berlin to declare him “persona non grata”.

Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland is still set to join West Brom on loan from Liverpool despite late interest in the player from Celtic.

Ronaldo is hoping to make his return to competitive action when Inter Milan take on Parma next Sunday.

Ronan O’Gara is unable to predict how Ireland will perform at the World Cup, admitting “anything can happen”.

The chances of FIFA president Sepp Blatter facing a challenge for his position look to have increased following an attack from his most likely opponent.