Sunshine & Sports

With July at an end and a break in the heatwaves we have been enjoying, it seems appropriate to look at what the summer has delivered for British sport and what lies ahead before dark and cold days head our way!

England women have delivered on the field so far at the 2025 Football Euros in Switzerland (at the time of writing the Lionesses are about to take on Italy in the semi-finals) and despite several squad withdrawals prior to the tournament, our women’s team have performed well and demonstrated character in adversity by getting this far – only winning the tournament will do though… we are England after all!

In Golf the Open Championship at Port Rush in Northern Ireland saw local hero Rory McIlroy fall short in his attempt to win a fifth major at his home course with American Scottie Scheffler taking home the Claret-Jug in  truly impressive style.

With it being summer, Britain is echoing with the sound of leather on willow of course and England’s cricket series against India is proving a compelling watch.  England currently lead the 5-game contest 2–1 - both teams have played some excellent cricket and with tempers beginning to fray on both sides during  last week’s test at Lords, the remaining two games will be a must-watch.

The British Grand-Prix at Silverstone delivered a British winner with Lando Norris taking the chequered flag ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri (but only after Piastri received a 10-second penalty for ‘break-testing’ Max Verstappen during a safety car).  Bristol born Norris is currently second to Piastri in the drivers championship and the remainder of the F1 season will be fascinating as McClaren try to manage their drivers squabble!

In Rugby, The British & Irish Lions are currently ‘down-under’ and having beaten their old enemy (that’s Australia for the non-initiated) with ease in the first test, the Lions are firm favourites to take the series 3-0 – Fingers crossed as its always nice to beat the Aussies!

With Premier League football taking a back-seat for another few weeks (The Club World Cup is a ‘nonsense’ tournament and like most sports fans I have completely ignored it!!) before completely dominating sports media coverage for the next 11 months (including a World Cup taking place next summer), it is refreshing to see other sports taking up space in sports fans minds and in general, we are enjoying seeing our lesser-known sporting hero’s doing their thing on the world stage – and being successful to-boot!!

We are all still looking forward to the start of the football season though…. right?

Image Credits: Planet_Fox / u_g5kzowan0q / wrugby via pixabay.com