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Spectator
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
How Cowes found the secret of a successful seaside resort
These days, most English seaside towns are sites of national mourning. You pay your respects by walking up some deathtrap pier, dropping two pence in an arcade coin pusher and whispering, your flower now on the grave: 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.' But Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, has managed to stave off this sorry end. Its secret is Cowes Week. Cowes Week, which starts today, is an annual sailing regatta. It has earned its place as a respected event in Britain's sporting calendar – always in August, between Glorious Goodwood and the Glorious Twelfth – but its beginnings were unambitious. On 10 August 1826, following an advertisement in the Southampton Town and Country Herald a fortnight before, ships raced from Cowes to Southsea Castle near Portsmouth and back, eight nautical miles each way, for a prize of £100. Cowes's genius – and what has secured its survival – has been turning this local lark into a money-spinner: 'Cowes Week, The Oldest Sailing Regatta In The World.' While Poole and Bournemouth are still flogging sticks of rock to the same diminishing group of day-trippers, Cowes has rebranded as a 'sailing town'. To get technical, it has mastered what The Spectator's Wiki Man Rory Sutherland calls 'reverse benchmarking'. Rather than trying to compete with other seaside towns on the usual terms – best fish and chips, nicest beach – Cowes has gone its own way. It has a Henri Lloyd, some lovely bakeries, a big M&S and a nice restaurant that sells expensive seafood platters. The beach is not great, but no one cares. Before Cowes Week, Cowes was a dull administrative centre for the British Empire. Rice from the American colonies was brought to the town, which is at the northernmost point of the Isle of Wight, to clear customs before being distributed across Europe. Tourists only really started coming to Cowes when Queen Victoria built a palace in Italian renaissance style on a cliff on its eastern outskirts. Prince Albert said that the vista, overlooking the grey and murky Solent, reminded him of the Bay of Naples. Perhaps Albert was getting ahead of himself, but the Isle of Wight does have a foreign allure. This makes the rebrand to 'international sailing town' believable. Friedrich Engels, who visited the island often, said it was a 'little paradise', and oddly also compared it with Naples. Engels was apparently drawn to the Isle of Wight after reading a book by James Clark, a physician, who wrote in 1829 that the Isle of Wight's air had miraculous medicinal properties. '[The island] possesses several peculiarities of climate and situation,' said Clark, 'which render it a very favourable and commodious residence throughout the year for a large class of invalids.' There are still some wrong 'uns around the Isle of Wight, and around Cowes. Last year, a criminal who was on the run registered himself as living at my parents' address for the purpose of acquiring a driving licence, and I have also become friendly with a former convict who likes to pick magic mushrooms from a field near the town. HMP Isle of Wight, a high security 'super prison', is a ten-minute drive from Cowes. It was once home to the Kray twins and the Yorkshire Ripper. David Icke also lives on the Isle of Wight. Criminals, conspiracists and cosmopolitan sailors share Cowes happily.
The Star
21-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
CVC to refinance US$12bil sports portfolio
Scotland's Rory Sutherland in action with Ireland's Andrew Porter at an instalment of the Six Nations Championship at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland, on February 9, 2025. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne LUXEMBOURG: CVC Capital Partners PLC has kicked off a refinancing of its sports assets portfolio, valued at more than £9bil (US$12bil), Sky News reports. The buyout firm hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc, PJT Partners Inc and the Raine Group LLC to advise on the deal, which would likely involve raising new debt, according to Sky, citing sources it didn't name. A spokesperson for CVC declined to comment to Bloomberg. CVC holds stakes in Six Nations and Premiership Rugby as well as top-tier football leagues in France and Spain. It also has interests in international volleyball, the women's professional tennis tour and Indian Premier League cricket. The move could also open the door to an initial public offering, Sky said. — Bloomberg Trading ideas: SD Guthrie, Chin Hin, Globetronics, KTI, Silver Ridge, PTT, Capital A, Enproserve, 3REN, TCS, TH, Pestec, CIMB
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Gregor Townsend selects Lions-bound duo for Scotland clash with Samoa
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend revealed Rory Sutherland and Ewan Ashman are keen to play a full part against Samoa before heading off on British and Irish Lions duty. Townsend has selected the pair in his front row for Scotland's final summer tour encounter in Auckland on Friday. Advertisement Darcy Graham has already linked up with the Lions and Glasgow prop Sutherland and Edinburgh hooker Ashman will join him with a view to playing in next Tuesday's match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV. Townsend said: 'The fact we're playing Friday night and they can get to Melbourne on Sunday, the same time as the Lions are arriving, as long as they are available to train on Monday and be available for the game on Tuesday, there won't be any real consideration on game time. 'We hope every one of our players come through fit but Ewan and Rory were very keen to play.' Darcy Graham has joined up with the Lions (Jane Barlow/PA) Townsend was delighted with the additional Lions recognition, which took the number of Scots selected to 12, including the injured Zander Fagerson. Advertisement 'Especially for Darcy to go there now and be part of the Lions squad, building up to the first Test and then getting a really good run at potentially being involved in that midweek game,' he added. 'And the other two guys, they were buzzing when I passed on the news to them that they were going to be getting a phone call from the Lions and the players were really pleased for them as well. 'Maybe it's not in the front of their minds because they've been preparing for a Test match this week but I'm sure their focus will turn to the Lions as soon as Friday night is over.' Townsend has made five personnel changes following the 29-14 defeat by Fiji. Gregor Brown returns from injury to start in the second row while Andy Onyeama-Christie is drafted into the back row after Jamie Ritchie dropped out with a foot injury. Advertisement Rory Hutchinson and Stafford McDowall form a new centre partnership in place of Cameron Redpath and Tom Jordan, who suffered a fractured hand against Fiji. Arron Reed replaces Graham with Kyle Steyn swapping wings. Ben Muncaster is back from injury but has to settle for a place on the bench alongside uncapped Glasgow prop Fin Richardson. 'While there's a lot of changes, some of them were outwith our control,' Townsend said. 'But we've looked to put our strongest team out. We were disappointed with the result at the weekend and we want to finish this tour with a real strong performance and finish on a high from a playing point of view because off the field it's been excellent. Eden Park will host Scotland's Test against Samoa (David Davies/PA) 'We feel very privileged to be playing in such an iconic and historic stadium, Eden Park. It will be a great atmosphere, a noisy crowd, you'd mainly imagine supporting Samoa. It's one of the most iconic stadiums in world rugby. Advertisement 'A great opportunity for us to play a proper Test match in that stadium and finish the tour on a real high.' Townsend earmarked two main areas of improvement. 'The contact area,' he said. 'Just being more ruthless in that area, quicker in support, ball-carrying, working harder on the floor, just not allowing the opposition any opportunities to get the ball back. 'And our discipline. Discipline can be a number of things that the referee can call you up on, but not being offside, just giving them a bit of space, that would be the first one that we can fix.'
The Independent
16-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Gregor Townsend selects Lions-bound duo for Scotland clash with Samoa
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend revealed Rory Sutherland and Ewan Ashman are keen to play a full part against Samoa before heading off on British and Irish Lions duty. Townsend has selected the pair in his front row for Scotland's final summer tour encounter in Auckland on Friday. Darcy Graham has already linked up with the Lions and Glasgow prop Sutherland and Edinburgh hooker Ashman will join him with a view to playing in next Tuesday's match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV. Townsend said: 'The fact we're playing Friday night and they can get to Melbourne on Sunday, the same time as the Lions are arriving, as long as they are available to train on Monday and be available for the game on Tuesday, there won't be any real consideration on game time. 'We hope every one of our players come through fit but Ewan and Rory were very keen to play.' Townsend was delighted with the additional Lions recognition, which took the number of Scots selected to 12, including the injured Zander Fagerson. 'Especially for Darcy to go there now and be part of the Lions squad, building up to the first Test and then getting a really good run at potentially being involved in that midweek game,' he added. 'And the other two guys, they were buzzing when I passed on the news to them that they were going to be getting a phone call from the Lions and the players were really pleased for them as well. 'Maybe it's not in the front of their minds because they've been preparing for a Test match this week but I'm sure their focus will turn to the Lions as soon as Friday night is over.' Townsend has made five personnel changes following the 29-14 defeat by Fiji. Gregor Brown returns from injury to start in the second row while Andy Onyeama-Christie is drafted into the back row after Jamie Ritchie dropped out with a foot injury. Rory Hutchinson and Stafford McDowall form a new centre partnership in place of Cameron Redpath and Tom Jordan, who suffered a fractured hand against Fiji. Arron Reed replaces Graham with Kyle Steyn swapping wings. Ben Muncaster is back from injury but has to settle for a place on the bench alongside uncapped Glasgow prop Fin Richardson. 'While there's a lot of changes, some of them were outwith our control,' Townsend said. 'But we've looked to put our strongest team out. We were disappointed with the result at the weekend and we want to finish this tour with a real strong performance and finish on a high from a playing point of view because off the field it's been excellent. 'We feel very privileged to be playing in such an iconic and historic stadium, Eden Park. It will be a great atmosphere, a noisy crowd, you'd mainly imagine supporting Samoa. It's one of the most iconic stadiums in world rugby. 'A great opportunity for us to play a proper Test match in that stadium and finish the tour on a real high.' Townsend earmarked two main areas of improvement. 'The contact area,' he said. 'Just being more ruthless in that area, quicker in support, ball-carrying, working harder on the floor, just not allowing the opposition any opportunities to get the ball back. 'And our discipline. Discipline can be a number of things that the referee can call you up on, but not being offside, just giving them a bit of space, that would be the first one that we can fix.'
STV News
16-07-2025
- Sport
- STV News
Ewan Ashman and Rory Sutherland to start for Scotland before Lions duty
Ewan Ashman and Rory Sutherland will both start for Scotland against Samoa before heading for British and Irish Lions duty. The front-row forwards have been named in Gregor Townsend's team for their final summer tour match at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday. Darcy Graham is among the players dropping out of the team which lost to Fiji after already joining up with the Lions. The three Scotland players were earmarked to take part in next Tuesday's match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV. Gregor Brown returns from injury to start in the second row, while Ben Muncaster is back from injury but has to settle for a place on the bench. Rory Hutchinson and Stafford McDowall form a new centre partnership as Cameron Redpath and the injured Tom Jordan drop out. Jordan suffered a fractured hand against Fiji, while Jamie Ritchie picked up a foot issue. Arron Reed replaces Graham on the wing and Andy Onyeama-Christie is drafted into the back row. Glasgow prop Fin Richardson is in line for a first cap after being named on the bench. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
