INSIDE SPORT: Jude Bellingham chucks more darts at the English press as he opens up on his YouTube channel

Members of the media who covered England at the Euros were taken aback to see Jude Bellingham happily throwing darts at the Three Lions’ press facility in Germany he seemingly avoided for the entirety of the tournament. 

Bellingham remains an elusive figure when it comes to England duty much to the dismay of all involved – including some of his team-mates – as Mail Sport revealed in the aftermath of the tournament.

In the final episode of what was an entertaining and revealing four-part series on his YouTube channel, the Real Madrid star also took a series of swipes at the press, claiming that on the rare occasions he does face them (as he was obliged to do following a man of the match performance against Serbia) they ask a question and then put their heads down and write his answers rather than maintain eye contact.

Elsewhere in the episode, Bellingham also says he feels some of the media are like ‘vultures’, waiting for him to slip up, which is a shame given the vast majority of those in Germany firmly wanted the brilliant playmaker and his team-mates to make history.

This is a situation that does none of those involved any favours, especially given the improvement in relations with the press under Gareth Southgate‘s reign. It is to be hoped a solution can be found swiftly given Bellingham is set for a long – and hopefully glittering – international career.

Elsewhere, there were further raised eyebrows when a member of the Republic of Ireland comms team broke with protocol and held a flag aloft in the press box at Wembley for the Irish National Anthem, before sitting down for the English anthem. 

Bellingham remains an elusive figure when it comes to England duty and it has not gone unnoticed

It transpires that the FAI approached the FA for permission as the Irish team likes to be able to look at the tricolour in an elevated position when the anthem is played and the giant one on the floor in front of the group did not suffice. That permission was subsequently granted.

The Carrow Road pantomime

Plenty of giggles over in Norfolk, where Norwich City have announced that Carrow Road will be hosting a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. Many have made the obvious gag about the Canaries’ home being the venue for a pantomime every week, while some have asked why a traditional Christmas show is taking place on January 2. 

No word yet on whether former co-owner Delia Smith will be planting the beans, with the stalk taking the Championship side to the magic land of the Premier League and all its gold coins.

The British Olympic Association appoint a female chair

History will be made this week with the British Olympic Association appointing their first ever female chair. The role is also guaranteed to go to an Olympic rower with both Katherine Grainger and Annamarie Phelps vying for the job, both having previously competed for Team GB at the Games.

Members of the National Olympic Committee – largely made up of Chairs and CEOs of Olympic sports national governing bodies – will vote at a meeting this Thursday to decide who will take over from incumbent Sir Hugh Robertson.

Phelps is the current Vice-Chair of the BOA and is highly regarded in Olympic circles whilst Grainger is currently the Chairperson of UK Sport, the government funding body for Olympic sport.

Katherine Grainger (pictured above) and Annamarie Phelps are vying to become BOA chair

Cape Town mount a bid for 2036 Olympics 

Following the opaque process that saw Brisbane win the 2032 Olympics, seasoned observers of Olympic politics will be forgiven for thinking it’s Groundhog Day with Cape Town’s announcement that they will mount a bid for hosting the 2036 Games.

Brisbane’s bid was run by John Coates, a long-standing political ally of outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach. And Cape Town has the full support of another very close Bach loyalist, South African Olympic doyen, Sam Ramsamy.

Cynics are saying it would be of no surprise to see Cape Town fast-tracked before Bach leaves office in June next year.

Cape Town have announced that they will mount a bid for hosting the 2036 Games

Rochdale’s postponed derby brings back memories

The late postponement of Rochdale’s big derby with Oldham on Saturday – with less than two hours to go before kick-off – brought back memories of a humorous story from former referee Kevin Lynch. 

Years ago Lynch called off a lucrative Boxing Day fixture at Spotland with Halifax Town the visitors. On his way back to his car the ex-Premier League whistleblower found his path blocked by an irate, flat-capped individual, who disclosed that he was the ‘Rochdale Pieman’ and who explained that he had 5,000 meat and potato pies in his van and a wife and four kids to support. 

Words were exchanged, with Lynch responding that at least the family wouldn’t go hungry for a few days. 

After the match was replayed on a rainy night in April the same man came to the referee’s room, told a delighted Lynch that there were no hard feelings and that he had brought four pies for him and his assistants to warm them up before their journeys home. 

With a drenched Lynch ready to tuck in, the pieman turned and delivered the killer pay-off: ‘They’ve kept quite well since f*****g Boxing Day…’