Gloucester start season at home to Tigers
Gloucester start their 2008-09 Guinness Premiership fixtures with a home game against Leicester Tigers, the side that won by a single point at Kingsholm in the play-off semi-final two months ago. The fixtures have been announced at last, but of course there will be some tweaking later to cater for live television coverage.

2008/09 fixtures
It’s the most exciting day of the summer – the day the league fixtures are announced for the coming season. For the third time in four seasons we begin the campaign at home to Sale, the second year in a row this fixture has occurred on the opening day. From there we host Northampton before travelling south to Saracens, ending 2008/09 at Harlequins at the end of April.

T's compilation of the end-of-season poll, part 1
The Summer months would be unbearable without the end-of-season poll, and here at long last (Houston IT fires and editorial indolence permitting) is the first instalment of the thing. Contributors comments have been lovingly compiled by T, whose filter would have been working overtime following the Premiership run-in that we endured ...

You've saved Coventry Rugby Club!
YOU'VE done it! Coventry Rugby Club is playing on. Thanks to the efforts and cash support of the Coventry public, Cov will be on the pitch at Plymouth Albion on August 30 for the first game of the National Division One season. The Rugby Football Union is issuing an official statement today, but the Telegraph can exclusively reveal that the 134-year-old club has been given the green light to

Decision day for Coventry Rugby Club
IT'S decision day for Coventry Rugby Club as the two-week appeal to raise a maximum £100,000 performance security bond comes to a climax. The fund smashed through the halfway mark yesterday afternoon at a figure of £50,895 as contributions continued to come in to all branches of the Coventry Building Society.

The Bald Falcon
The Falcons’ second signing of the summer, and third in all ahead of next season, is a player we are more familiar with than the other two. He is Adam Balding, a 28-year-old former Gloucester captain who looks like a cross between Graham Rowntree and Alex off the Apprentice.

The Gloves Are Off: Wicketkeepers Drop Gauntlets
In the beginning, it was considered a bonus when your wicketkeeper could get you some runs, i.e. batting was an optional extra, not the essential minimum. Then, as cricket evolved and especially limited-overs version of the game raised its ugly head, the wicketkeeper was expected to carry the tag of a "recognized-bat" and invariably the runs that were expected of him were quick runs.

Peters Out Yet Match Peters Out - Days 3.5 to 4
Lizzie J talks us through the second half of Day 3 as she saw it, plus what she saw of Day 4. We learn about Middlesex's strong few hours late Tuesday and early Wednesday before the rain came and we learn about Lizzie's response to rain. Shopping In Uxbridge? Sounds a bit like a history of tractors in Ukraine? Many thanks to Lizzie for this excellent report.

Great Scott - Middlesex v Northants Day 3
Seaxe Man tells us all about Day 3 against Northants. The ups. The downs. The summary execution of the entire committee of our once great club. The reprieve and retrospective pardon of those worthy officials of our eternally great club. The Uxbridge post-match piss-up and the resulting late filing of copy. Read all about it right here.

Match poised despite secret lemonade drinker fizz
Loverboy describes a fascinating day at Uxbridge. While Middlesex looked like hitting the pits at tea (sack the entire committee!!) the evening session showed an amazing revival of fortunes (reinstate the entire committee!!!). Loverboy's famous appetite, however, was not whetted by the catering on offer, however.......

'MIDDLESEX SURVIVE WHITE HEAT.
Loverboy reports on a game that had a Whitemare start and a nightmare FINNIsh. In between there was a spectacular fight back after tea. However, much more importantly our portly reporter opinion on the catering was most unfavourable. Taxi for Loverboy to Headingley

St Dawid's Day defuses early Wrath
After an appalling start, warched remotely from Barmy Kev, our OBE's were outdone by our NBE's Our debutant Malan, Morgan, Scott and shoddy Northants fielding turned it round. 20/20 ir wasn't but another good day for Middlesex it was. Please read on

Back In The Day....
Graham Fenton. Yes, there, I said it - the name that still makes grown men weep on Tyneside. 8th April 1996, and our bid for the Premiership title is floundering as a result of both our own failings and Man Utd's machine-like procession of victories.

SKY B-LOSE?
Hurrah! I finally found somebody else to write an article for this section of the site! A warm welcome to AD, and if the few readers that know of this place can write nice comments about said article on the Message Board, he might just write something else....

Charisteas A Target?
Town are reportedly in talks with German 2nd Bundesliga side Nuremberg with a view to signing Greek international striker Angelos Charisteas.

Stimson signs summer target McCammon
Gillingham manager Mark Stimson has captured his number one transfer target Mark McCammon today. The striker turned down a one year extension at Doncaster for a three-year deal at Priestfield. The 29-year-old was the big target man that topped manager Mark Stimson's summer target list.

Russian Media: Arshavin Done Deal
Russian media are reporting that Chelsea Football Club have already agreed personal terms with Andrei Arshavin. The 27-year-old Zenit St. Petersburg player had an eye-catching UEFA Cup Final against Rangers and an excellent Euro 2008 which prompted Europe’s top clubs to sit up and take notice.

Public Training Session
Town have announced that they will be holding a public training day at Portman Road on Friday the 25th of July.

Practice Results from Silverstone
A quick look at the practice results from Friday at Silverstone. Grosjean proved much too fast for his nearest competitor, Conway , who put in a strong showing at his home grand prix. Pantano at this stage seems to have an edge over championship rival Bruno Senna, while Davide Velsecchi remained cautious in his return to the cockpit, over 3 seconds off the top time.

Practice 1: McLaren Second Best In Britain
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team have completed the first practice session for this weekends British Grand Prix in second and third place, behind French Grand Prix winner, Felipe Massa. The top three, comprising of Massa, Kovalainen and Hamilton – in that order, were separated by just 5 hundredths of a second, with Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

Bridgestone Motorsport Silverstone Preview
The Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series heads to Silverstone, home of British Grand Prix for the fifth round of the championship where 26 drivers will do battle to work their way to the top of the list of favourites for a drive in Formula One next season.

Kubica 5th, Nick 13th. Massa leads despite crash
In the first practice session for the British Grand Prix, Robert Kubica finished fifth, while Nick Heidfeld took 13th position. In total, both drivers covered only 29 laps, as the session had to be red-flagged for nearly 20 minutes following an accident caused by oil on the track.

Britain: Button sports fans' helmet design
Honda Racing F1's Jenson Button will be sporting a new design on his helmet this weekend, something he's been doing at the British Grand Prix for some years. On this occasion, the design was produced by one of his fans, following a competition on the drivers personal website.

Britain: Honda unveil earthdreams experience
Fans at this weekend’s British Grand Prix will be the first to witness the Honda Racing F1 Team’s brand new earthdreams experience. To be unveiled today at the Silverstone circuit, just seven miles from the team’s operational base at Brackley, the earthdreams experience showcases Honda’s racing heritage and provides an insight into the team’s earthdreams programme.