“This season should see an almost equal audience of men and women,” he adds. “There’s none of the dads and lads culture that pervades football.”There are also none of the headline-grabbing salary hikes that pervade football, despite the stature of some of the players, such as the Giants’ new forward, Jason Ruff, who has American NHL experience. Each Superleague team has a £400,000 salary cap, which means that an average player will be earning £20,000-£30,000 for an eight-month season (plus accommodation and a car). Perhaps this is one reason why the Giants are hopeful of going into profit at the end of the season, as opposed to in two years’ time, as first forecast. And why, with a fairly even playing field, on-ice performances could be more and more competitive.. As Bosham Man and Solent Sunbeam sailor Roger Wickens drew the ace early in the third race of the Etchells World Championship here yesterday, the rest of the 61-boat pack was being shuffled by capricious easterly winds in Christchurch Bay.

As Bosham Man and Solent Sunbeam sailor Roger Wickens drew the ace early in the third race of the Etchells World Championship here yesterday, the rest of the 61-boat pack was being shuffled by capricious easterly winds in Christchurch Bay.
Working his way up to take second place and the kingly court card was the 1991 and 1994 former champion Dennis Conner. The American had been trailing in 15th, but it was highly appropriate that he should score his best result of the six-race series so far. He was booked to give a late afternoon masterclass to the Wednesday session for local children run by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Why does he love the Etchells so? “After the Star, it is the next highest level of competition in the world,” he said.Unfortunately, the yo-yo sequence was going the other way for Britain’s double Olympian, Stuart Childley.

Second and then first in the first two races, he pulled spectacularly from 21st at the end of the first 2.4 mile leg to second as his crew dropped the spinnaker to round the turning mark at the end of the second.But he had a disastrous last leg to windward, choosing the unfavoured left-hand side of the course and crossing the finish line 20th. With the system yet to discard each competitor’s worst result, at the halfway stage he still leads overall with another Briton, Barry Dunning, second.Conner is 28th overall with the man who beat him in 1983 to snatch the America’s Cup for Australia, John Bertrand, sixth overall despite being 26th yesterday.The other Australian in the top half dozen is Cameron Miles in third. Taking the other two top slots are one Briton, Eddie Warwick in fourth, and one Dane, the 1997 champion, Poul-Richard Hoj-jensen.. Pippa Funnell rides two horses – Cornerman and Viceroy II – in the Burghley Pedigree Horse Trials which begin today in Lincolnshire after months of conjecture as to whether the big event would be yet another victim of foot-and-mouth disease.

Neither of Funnell’s mounts has yet reached the status of Supreme Rock, with whom she will defend her individual title at next month’s European Three-Day Event Championships in France, but both look capable of following in their illustrious stable-companion’s footsteps. Pippa Funnell rides two horses – Cornerman and Viceroy II – in the Burghley Pedigree Horse Trials which begin today in Lincolnshire after months of conjecture as to whether the big event would be yet another victim of foot-and-mouth disease. Neither of Funnell’s mounts has yet reached the status of Supreme Rock, with whom she will defend her individual title at next month’s European Three-Day Event Championships in France, but both look capable of following in their illustrious stable-companion’s footsteps.
Cornerman was leading after the cross-country phase at Saumur in May, but a superficial wound kept him out of the final show jumping. Viceroy fared better, finishing runner-up for his owner Sue Bunn. “Both horses can do a smart dressage test,” said Funnell, hoping that she can prove that point today and tomorrow before they tackle Michael Tucker’s cross-country course on Saturday.Funnell and Supreme Rock won the Scottish Championship 11 days ago at Thirlestane Castle, where the strength of the William Fox-Pitt stable was demonstrated when he filled four of the top six places. Stunning and Tamarillo, two of the horses who helped him to achieve this result, have been named for the Europeans. The other two, Springleaze Macaroo and Moon Man, compete at Burghley.Fox-Pitt has been riding Macaroo for only a few weeks, having taken the horse over from Katie Parker after she was injured.