Latest news with #playerwelfare
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
‘It's ridiculous': Newcastle coach erupts over NRL stitch up
Knights coach Adam O'Brien has launched a stinging tirade at the NRL over the draw after he was forced to rest skipper Kalyn Ponga from his side's 20-6 loss to the Dragons. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer > The Knights are 14th on the ladder, but O'Brien refused to use his captain for what would have been three games over an eight day period, including next week and Origin I. 'He was doing everything he could and I took the decision away from him because it is the right thing to do,' O'Brien said. 'I know Val (Holmes) backed up, but he is a centre and Kalyn had a pretty rough 10 days up there while he was trying to get that ankle right and it is the type of injury that takes a few days to settle down. 'Two days is not enough. He is disappointed and angry with me but we have got to protect him. 'Look in this battle we lost to the scheduling and the draw. Someone has got to play Friday okay we get that. 'But then they hit us next Thursday as well. Hit us again, so it would have been three games in eight days. 'That's not looking after our players, so I had to look after him.' O'Brien confirmed Ponga's ankle injury won't stop him playing next week, but took aim at the draw for not looking after player welfare. 'He will play Thursday,' O'Brien said. 'I always knew that once the draw came out we would cop the Friday after Origin, but it would have been good if someone said, give them the Saturday or the Sunday the following week. 'But whoever does the draws either hasn't lived it or doesn't care, so I don't know which one it is. 'You have got teams like Canberra who haven't had a bye yet and then you have got teams who haven't left home in seven games in a row. Like it's ridiculous. 'But the draw didn't have anything to do with the way we played tonight.' O'Brien felt discipline cost his side of competing with a bigger and more experienced Dragons side in his eyes. 'We had much more discipline last week,' O'Brien said. 'We made it really hard on ourselves in the first half. When you come here and you are giving away some experience and certainly size, you can't afford to triple whammy that by giving them easy possession. 'We certainly were our own worst enemy with nine penalties at half time. We just can't afford to do it.' The Dragons, meanwhile, have momentarily shot back into the top eight. The 18-0 half-time score would've felt like a recurring nightmare for O'Brien, having now been held scoreless in the opening 40 minutes seven times in just 12 games this year. Following a stack of poor defensive efforts in the opening half, you couldn't blame O'Brien for blowing up after his side gave up a 70m line break to debutant and two-time Olympian Nathan Lawson in the first minute of the second stanza. While the break wouldn't bare points, the burst just sucked the energy straight from the red-and-blue outfit. The Red V did a number on last week's star duo in Fletcher Sharpe and Dylan Lucas, the pair hardly sighted in attack as their halves Tyson Gamble and Jack Cogger tried steering the ship. A penalty goal midway through the second stanza stretched the lead to 20 points, and put the final nail in any chance that Newcastle had of clawing their way back into the contest. A flick pass from a drifting Leo Thompson found Kai Pearce-Paul for his second NRL try, finally getting the Knights onto the score board with under 15 minutes left on the clock. The Englishman's four-pointer would signal the third time this season that Newcastle have scored their first points of the game in the final 12 minutes of play, and the seventh time they've scored 12 or less points in a game. Rookie winger Fletcher Hunt was denied his maiden first-grade try after bobbling the ball into Tyrell Sloan, however the mullet-clad youngster's efforts didn't stop all game. It leaves Newcastle to face Manly next Thursday night, as the Sea Eagles desperately cling on to the bottom of the top eight, and the Knights linger on just two wins from their last ten outings.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'More and more pressure' on player schedules
The Premier League season might be over, but there is no rest for Ruben Amorim's the final game of the season, Manchester United have already flown to Malaysia for their two-match trip in Asia, before returning at the end of the Premier League midfielder Michael Brown and goalkeeper Paul Robinson disagree with the trip because of player welfare after what has already been a gruelling fixture-packed season."I don't understand why it has been put into their schedule," Brown said on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "There are international fixtures coming up as well."We talk about players' schedules all the time and there just seems to be getting more and more pressure on them."At the end of the season, you walk around the pitch and you get that feeling of 'I'm done, I'm finished'. You want to go and put your feet up and have the mental rest before the international games. You look forward to the break."I understand why they want to do it financially, but it shouldn't be allowed."Robinson added: "I completely understand the commercial side of it, but the club can't then moan about the fixture schedule in the next breath."Not a single one of those players will want to go, but they are commercially obliged to go in their contracts."Listen to the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds
The National
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The National
Alcaraz, Sinner, Swiatek and Gauff present as top tennis stars hold showdown talks with Grand Slam bosses
A group of top-10 WTA and ATP stars met with the chiefs of each of the four Grand Slams at Roland Garros on Thursday to discuss prize money, player welfare and giving them more say in decisions that directly impact them at the majors. As previously reported by the Associated Press, the elite of the women's and men's tours, including Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff, signed a letter to the four slams at the end of March, requesting an in-person meeting with the heads of the four majors to bring forth the aforementioned issues. The meeting, which was initially meant to take place at the Madrid Open last month, finally materialised in Paris on Thursday ahead of Sunday's start of the French Open. Talks lasted around an hour and The National understands it was attended by Alcaraz, Sinner and Casper Ruud from the ATP Tour, and Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Gauff from the WTA Tour. The players are seeking a greater percentage of tournament revenue, would like the slams to make financial contributions to the player welfare programmes funded by the tours, and perhaps more importantly, demand a seat at the table when it comes to some of the major decisions taken that impact competition, and their wellbeing at tournaments. In Madrid a few weeks ago, Gauff noted the disparity between the percentage of revenue dedicated to athletes in other sports compared to tennis. 'As you know, tennis and the percentage shared in revenue isn't nearly as close as other sports. So, I definitely think that's something in our sport that we can do. It won't only benefit top players, it will also benefit lower-ranked players as well,' said the American. 'In other sports, you look at the 100th best player in maybe basketball or football or soccer or anything, and the percentage that they give versus our 100th or 200th best is not great. 'So, I think for us, we kind of understood maybe the privilege and the audience that we can get as top players to kind of make that change. So, we just sent that letter, and hopefully to have the conversation get started, and hopefully how that can improve in the future.' The majors have been increasing their prize money commitment almost every year. This year, Roland Garros is offering a total prize pot of €56.352 million, up 5.21 per cent from last year. There will be prize money increases in every round and the men's and women's singles champions will each earn €2.55 million. Gauff added: 'I'm very aware that we are professional athletes, and we do live a very privileged life and make money doing something that, you know, is pretty easy. Not easy, but you know what I mean. I think it's just a very nuanced conversation.' 'I always say this, especially as a female athlete in tennis, I always say that when I look at other sports, we're very privileged. You look at WNBA and even some of the soccer, and the money they're getting for the amount of effort they put in is not close. 'So, I'm very lucky that tennis had pioneers like Billie Jean King and Venus Williams [who] started that conversation very early on. So, yeah, I think it's just continuing that conversation within our sport, but also having that conversation so that other sports can reach that too.' The fact that the women and men are coming together to raise such issues is fairly unprecedented, especially in recent tennis history. Conversations about approaching the Grand Slams started several months ago and were spearheaded by members of the WTA Player Council, according to world No 3 Pegula. The letter sent to the majors coincided with the antitrust lawsuit filed by the PTPA, a player association co-founded by Djokovic, against the ATP and WTA tours but Pegula insists the two initiatives are completely unrelated. 'It's totally unrelated. 100 per cent unrelated,' Pegula said in Madrid. 'It's something that we were working on seven, eight months ago. So it's just been in the works. I don't want to say, like, too much because it hasn't really gone anywhere yet. It's just started. It's new. 'But I'll definitely say it's not related to what the PTPA are doing. It was honestly just a coincidence of the timing.' Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys was part of the early conversations sparked by the WTA Player Council. The American world No 7 believes having a seat, and a voice, at the table is will be crucial moving forward. 'We really wanted to have a more open communication with the slams and just at least know what was going on. And so that was really a big thing that we kind of started and pushed,' said Keys in the Spanish capital. 'And I feel like it's just been years and years of finally getting it here. And I would imagine that the council at this point felt like it was a good time to bring the men in as well and have a unified voice. 'But yeah, it's just we want some more open communication and just the ability to kind of be in the room when decisions are being made.' While full details of what happened in the meeting are yet to be revealed, The National understands that a formal letter will be sent by the players requesting the Grand Slams commit to a timeline to start addressing their demands.
BreakingNews.ie
23-05-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Enzo Maresca says he is prepared to rest Chelsea players during Club World Cup
Enzo Maresca could leave out senior players at the upcoming Club World Cup if they show signs of fatigue as the Chelsea head coach claimed 'no-one cares about player welfare'. The Blues play their first match at FIFA's revamped tournament on June 16 in Atlanta, three weeks after the conclusion of the Premier League season and 18 days after facing Real Betis in the Conference League final in Wroclaw. Advertisement Five of Maresca's side have been named in England manager Thomas Tuchel's squad for the games against Andorra on June 7 and Senegal on June 10, leaving only six days for those involved to prepare for the team's opening match against an as-yet unknown opponent. The final day. 🔜 — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 22, 2025 Should Chelsea reach the final on July 13, their 2024-25 season will not conclude until five weeks before the new Premier League campaign kicks off. 'The problem is that we have a game Sunday and Wednesday, a European final,' said Maresca, who confirmed he did not speak with Tuchel about leaving out Chelsea players. 'No-one cares about that. No one cares about player welfare. Advertisement 'If they're going to be tired (in the US), they're not going to play. How can you manage that? It's simply like that. 'I don't think there's any attention paid to (if) players are healthy or these kind of things. It's not normal the amount of games they play.' Of the players called up for England, Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke have played in 44 and 39 games respectively this season, while Levi Colwill has played 36 times including 34 Premier League starts. Reece James has played fewer matches as the club manages his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury and Trevoh Chalobah – who has earned a first international call-up – has played 18 times for Chelsea after making 14 appearances on loan at Crystal Palace during the first half of the campaign. Advertisement Congratulations, Trevoh! 💙 — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 23, 2025 Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo could play twice each for Argentina and Ecuador in World Cup qualifying in June, while Malo Gusto has been called up to France's squad The schedule means Maresca may have to effectively forego a pre-season ahead of the next campaign in order to give players time off after the Club World Cup. 'For me it's not normal and it's not correct,' he said. 'I can understand that people are thinking 'they earn (a lot of) money,' but it's not about money, it's about health, it's about protecting players. 'My feeling is because of the amount of games they play, I don't think they (FIFA) pay attention.' Advertisement Maresca admitted the pressure on his side to qualify for the Champions League is greater than it will be on Nottingham Forest when the teams meet at the City Ground on Sunday. A win for Chelsea will secure a top-five finish, although Forest's own hopes are still alive if they can beat the Blues and other results go their way. 'At this stage of the season I think the pressure is for all the clubs that are involved,' said Maresca. 'It's also (pressure) for (Forest). Asked whether the expectation weighs heavier on Chelsea, he said: 'Probably yes.' Advertisement
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Enzo Maresca says he is prepared to rest Chelsea players during Club World Cup
Enzo Maresca could leave out senior players at the upcoming Club World Cup if they show signs of fatigue as the Chelsea head coach claimed 'no-one cares about player welfare'. The Blues play their first match at FIFA's revamped tournament on June 16 in Atlanta, three weeks after the conclusion of the Premier League season and 18 days after facing Real Betis in the Conference League final in Wroclaw. Five of Maresca's side have been named in England manager Thomas Tuchel's squad for the games against Andorra on June 7 and Senegal on June 10, leaving only six days for those involved to prepare for the team's opening match against Mexican side Leon. Should Chelsea reach the final on July 13, their 2024-25 season will not conclude until five weeks before the new Premier League campaign kicks off. 'The problem is that we have a game Sunday and Wednesday, a European final,' said Maresca, who confirmed he did not speak with Tuchel about leaving out Chelsea players. 'No-one cares about that. No one cares about player welfare. 'If they're going to be tired (in the US), they're not going to play. How can you manage that? It's simply like that. 'I don't think there's any attention paid to (if) players are healthy or these kind of things. It's not normal the amount of games they play.' Of the players called up for England, Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke have played in 44 and 39 games respectively this season, while Levi Colwill has played 36 times including 34 Premier League starts. Reece James has played fewer matches as the club manages his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury and Trevoh Chalobah – who has earned a first international call-up – has played 18 times for Chelsea after making 14 appearances on loan at Crystal Palace during the first half of the campaign. Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo could play twice each for Argentina and Ecuador in World Cup qualifying in June, while Malo Gusto has been called up to France's squad The schedule means Maresca may have to effectively forego a pre-season ahead of the next campaign in order to give players time off after the Club World Cup. 'For me it's not normal and it's not correct,' he said. 'I can understand that people are thinking 'they earn (a lot of) money,' but it's not about money, it's about health, it's about protecting players. 'My feeling is because of the amount of games they play, I don't think they (FIFA) pay attention.' Maresca admitted the pressure on his side to qualify for the Champions League is greater than it will be on Nottingham Forest when the teams meet at the City Ground on Sunday. A win for Chelsea will secure a top-five finish, although Forest's own hopes are still alive if they can beat the Blues and other results go their way. 'At this stage of the season I think the pressure is for all the clubs that are involved,' said Maresca. 'It's also (pressure) for (Forest). Asked whether the expectation weighs heavier on Chelsea, he said: 'Probably yes.'
