Sports Update June

With a sense of inevitability, Manchester City won the Premier League for a record fourth consecutive year after being pushed all the way by a very good Arsenal side. City manager Pep Guardiola is now saying that he is closer to leaving than staying when his contract expires at the end of next season, which must be a relief to the remainder of the league, and unless Chelsea can continue their improvement next season or the new Liverpool manager can spark a revival, it looks very much like a two horse race for next season too.

We covered the European Football championship in last month’s magazine but just a reminder that the tournament kicks off on the 14th when the host country Germany play Scotland. The back to form German team, along with France and a highly talented English squad, are the three main fancies to lift the trophy this time. With the miracles performed by Bayer Leverkusen and the appearance of Borussia Dortmund in the champions league final, German football is having a serious renaissance.

There are three rounds of the F1 season this month, starting in Canada on the 9th, moving on to Spain on the 23rd and completing the month in Austria on the 30th. Red Bull still have a healthy lead in both the driver and constructor standings but Ferrari and McClaren are making giant strides towards improving their cars and actually making a competition of the remainder of the year.

The third golfing major championship of the year, the US Open, is taking place at the iconic Pinehurst course from the 13th – 16th of the month. At time of writing the second major, the USPGA, has just finished and Xander Schauffele, having played some excellent golf leading into the tournament, got his reward by holding off the monster hitting Bryson de

Chambeau by one stroke.

The real news surrounding the event was the arrest of world number one Scottie Scheffler in the morning before the start of the second round, after being involved in a traffic incident whilst trying to get to the course. After understandably having a reaction to all this in the third round, he was right back in business at the end and will be the man to beat at Pinehurst,

without a doubt.

ust a word about another major event starting this month, the Tour de France, which runs through until late July. How do people even contemplate such a task? I like to watch it and I know that cycling is hugely popular, especially this event, but I watch in wonder at the fitness, durability and sheer determination of the people taking part. Apparently we’re all the same species but sometimes I wonder!