Matt Dawson enjoyed plenty of success in his rugby career but his mum could hardly bear to watch any of it.

Lois Dawson rarely missed any of her son’s matches, but she was not watching out of a love of the game. There was little interest in who won or lost. She wanted to be there in case her son got hurt.

Like many rugby players, Dawson did get hurt. To such an extent that he cannot always remember the circumstances of how and has to turn to former team-mate and best friend Paul Grayson for the details.

While playing for Northampton against Harlequins, the scrum-half received the ball off a line-out and was immediately smashed to the floor as another player’s arm hit him across the head.

The next thing Dawson remembers is waking up in hospital with his mum at his side. He immediately asked what the score had been.

Ten seconds later he asked again. And again. And again, forgetting each time that he had asked the same question only moments before.

Things went on like this for an hour and Dawson says it “distressed his mum hugely”. It was one of a vast number of concussions the 47-year-old suffered in his 15-year career.

He believes he was concussed once a year in matches and up to four times a year in training, and it was concern over these injuries that kept his mum coming to games.

“She was very proud of me and loved the travel and pride that went with it but she couldn’t stand watching,” the former England captain says.

“After I retired she openly admitted that she really didn’t enjoy it and that she didn’t tend to watch the games, she would just watch me.

“She wouldn’t be able to tell you how the game went or who scored tries, it would just be if I got knocked out, she would know about it.”

'My short-term memory is not great'

Unsurprisingly, the concussions still have an impact on Dawson’s life now. Movement in his neck is restricted - but more concerning are the possible mental effects.

The former British and Irish Lion says his short-term memory has suffered.

“I have to be very conscious of re-reading things and writing notes down,” he explains.

“It never used to be that bad. Far too frequently I wouldn’t know the details of games I played in and someone would tell me, then I remembered it.

“If you talk to any of my coaches I was always about the detail. That started to disappear a bit.”

One incident made him fly into such a rage that Grayson, who made his international debut alongside the scrum-half in 1995 and played with him for 11 years at Saints, thought Dawson was going to punch him.

Dawson had taken a hit to the head in a tackle and was told to go off. Grayson, watching from the stands, saw his friend walk down the tunnel and soon heard loud bangs coming from the changing rooms below.

“I went in to see if he was alright,” Grayson recalls.

“I thought he was going to punch me because he was so enraged and he wouldn’t normally get like that.

“He was going off on one in the changing rooms about his girlfriend at the time. I’m trying to answer his questions about his relationship and it was quite difficult because it didn’t matter what I said, he would become more and more enraged.

“As far as I was concerned I was talking to my mate who was wildly emotional and angry and I’ve got no idea that had anything to do with a bang on the head.

“One symptom of concussion is that you have an angry and aggressive demeanour about certain things. But I didn’t know anything about concussion then.”

'My introduction to concussion was as bad as it gets' - Grayson

Grayson had his share of near-misses too, playing in the days before rugby became professional.

In an amateur game for Waterloo aged 20 the fly-half, now 48, kicked a penalty to take his side ahead. When play restarted he went to tackle a prop and was knocked out.

The last thing Grayson remembered was the penalty kick but when he lost consciousness he swallowed his tongue, blocking his airways and causing him to go into a convulsive fit.

Being an amateur game, there was no medical provision but thankfully one of his team-mates, Mike Hayton, was a doctor.

Thinking quickly, Hayton grabbed a thick plastic straw from a drinks bottle and used it to open Grayson’s airways, saving his life.

“My next memory was coming round lying on a table in the changing room, the game having finished,” the former England fly-half says.

“I went to hospital, was under observation overnight and that was that. Introduction to concussion. Just about as bad as it could get.

“I tried to have a jog about a week after that. My brain felt heavy, bruised and painful. I felt weird and sick.

“It does feel scary now to think what the impact of that could have been.”

With World Rugby streaming old World Cup matches during the coronavirus pandemic, changes in the game since Dawson and Grayson were playing have been brought into sharp relief.

Fans on social media are quick to point out that games from a decade ago are filled with the kinds of tackles that saw Argentina’s Tomas Lavanini sent off at the 2019 edition of the tournament.

Rugby is still a dangerous game of course - in April Bristol Bears centre Will Hurrell retired after suffering a “probable stroke” due to a “nasty knock” in a Premiership game - but rugby’s organisers are trying to reduce the risks.

The Head Injury Assessment protocol - a concussion diagnosis and management tool - was launched in 2014, and World Rugby issued new guidance on high tackles four months before the 2019 World Cup, leading to fewer concussions at the tournament.

But there have been calls for more radical measures over the years: a ban on contact training sessions or even taking tackling out of the game at school level.

'They told me my career was over in 2002' - Dawson

Dawson has been involved in discussions on the issue before. When a fan shared a video of Springbok Corne Krige’s dangerous tackle on the scrum-half back in 2002, Dawson admitted he feared the long-term consequences of such brutal collisions.

But Krige’s physicality that day had short-term consequences too. After the match Dawson felt numbness in his thumb and forefinger and went to see a specialist.

Less than 12 months before a World Cup that he and Grayson would go on to win with England, Dawson was told he had degenerative discs in his neck and was never going to play rugby again.

He went straight from the doctor’s to Grayson’s house, where he “completely lost the plot”.

“I broke down,” he recalls. “I couldn’t believe it. They had just told me my career was over.

“That was one of the lowest points of my career.”

Dawson got a second opinion, then a third and was told he could continue but would have to “make sure he didn’t get hit round the head again”.

“Now, you would think, ‘why would I risk carrying on?’” he adds. “But when you’re a year away from playing in the World Cup and that’s the dream…”

Now, Dawson does not have to endure the things he put his mum through because neither of his two young sons, Alex and Sami, play rugby.

But Grayson’s experiences have not put him off encouraging his three children to take up the sport.

James Grayson, Dawson’s godson, is a rising star for Northampton while Ethan plays for England Under-18s and twin brother Joel is in the Saints academy.

And though Grayson admits his “heart is in his mouth” occasionally when it looks like one of them might be hurt, he believes the changes made by World Rugby mean his children are playing a safer game than he did.

“It’s not scary having kids play rugby because they are trying to lessen the impact of concussions and the incidences with the way the game is refereed and the way players are taught,” he explains.

“That is a very positive step. There should be less and less serious concussions.

“It’s an inevitable consequence in a contact sport that accidents will happen, but if the game is refereed in a certain way then I’m more confident that it’s a safer game to play.”

TULSA, Okla. – Daison Pursley wasn’t the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports driver who dominated the majority of Wednesday night’s iRacing Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, but he was the one who was out front when it counted most.

Pursley took advantage when the race-long lead duo of Zeb Wise and Cannon McIntosh came together off turn two with four laps left in the 55-lap main event, sneaking through on the inside to assume command in the No. 9 Craftsman-sponsored entry.

From there, Pursley drove away from Robert Dalby and Chase Cabre on an overtime restart to notch the victory by .553 seconds.

“I was just riding around there in third, just following my teammates. I was honestly content to run there and have it be a KKM 1-2-3, and then they ended up getting in the wall and three and I was able to capitalize on it,” said Pursley, a USAC National Midget Series rookie of the year contender this season. “I thought they were going to get together; you could kind of see that something was brewing, but I just locked up the brakes and tried to get down (low) as quick as I could.”

The virtual Chili Bowl was the grand finale to FS1’s Wednesday Night iRacing, and the nationally-televised event was arguably the biggest win of Pursley’s young career – as well as his sixth major iRacing midget win in the past month.

“This is by far the biggest one I’ve gotten, at least on iRacing,” Pursley noted. “We’ve won something like $3,000 from the USAC races in the last few weeks, but this one … I don’t know how many people were watching but to win on television like this is so cool. I can’t believe it.”

At 15 years old, Pursley isn’t even of age yet to compete in the real-life Chili Bowl, a fact that wasn’t lost on him after the race as he soaked in the moment.

“We’ve won the virtual one, and now we have to go out and win the real one in January,” he joked. “But it’s wild. How many people can say they’ve won the Chili Bowl before they were actually old enough to race at the Chili Bowl, you know?”

Robert Dalby, another USAC midget rookie, finished second ahead of Chase Cabre. Jake Neuman and three-time Chili Bowl champion Christopher Bell filled out the top five.

McIntosh was scored ninth at the finish, while Wise – who led the first 51 laps – finished 13th.

Wednesday night’s event was run in true Chili Bowl fashion, with heats that funneled into alphabet soup (a D, C and B-main before the finale), setting the stage over the course of the one-hour program.

Among those competing who missed the cut for the feature included USAC midget champion Tyler Courtney, NHRA Funny Car champions Ron Capps and Cruz Pedregon, Knoxville Nationals winner David Gravel, NASCAR stars Landon Cassill and Justin Allgaier and Hall of Famer Bobby Labonte.

RESULTS: iRacing Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals; Tulsa Expo Raceway; May 6, 2020

Heat #1 (10 laps, top three transfer): 1. Logan Seavey [3], 2. Robert Dalby [2], 3. Kevin Swindell [4] / 4. Chase Cabre [1], 5. Buddy Kofoid [5], 6. Jake Neuman [7], 7. Landon Cassill [8], 8. Ron Capps [10], 9. Kenny Wallace [11], 10. Cruz Pedregon [9], 11. Brady Bacon [6]. (1:52.522)

Heat #2 (10 laps, top three transfer): 1. Daison Pursley [1], 2. Cannon McIntosh [2], 3. Tony Gualda [3] / 4. Chase Briscoe [4], 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. [6], 6. Parker Kligerman [8], 7. Tyler Courtney [7], 8. Blake Hahn [5], 9. Dillon Welch [10], 10. Clinton Boyles [9]. (1:52.407)

Heat #3 (10 laps, top three transfer): 1. Christopher Bell [1], 2. Zeb Wise [2], 3. Anton Hernandez [3] / 4. Scott Speed [5], 5. Justin Grant [4], 6. Santino Ferrucci [9], 7. David Gravel [6], 8. Bobby Labonte [10], 9. JJ Yeley [7], 10. Justin Allgaier [8]. (1:50.316)

D-Main (10 laps, top six to C-Main): 1. David Gravel [1], 2. Ron Capps [2], 3. Blake Hahn [3], 4. Clinton Boyles [9], 5. Bobby Labonte [4], 6. JJ Yeley [10] / 7. Brady Bacon [11], 8. Justin Allgaier [7], 9. Dillon Welch [6], 10. Kenny Wallace [5], 11. Cruz Pedregon [8]. (1:55.611)

C-Main (15 laps, top six to B-Main): 1. Tyler Courtney [5], 2. Jake Neuman [1], 3. David Gravel [6], 4. Landon Cassill [4], 5. Ron Capps [7], 6. Blake Hahn [8] / 7. Parker Kligerman [2], 8. JJ Yeley [11], 9. Santino Ferrucci [3], 10. Clinton Boyles [9], 11. Bobby Labonte [10]. (2:48.925)

B-Main (20 laps, top five to A-Main): 1. Chase Cabre, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Chase Briscoe, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Jake Neuman, 6. Justin Grant / 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Ron Capps, 9. Blake Hahn, 10. David Gravel, 11. Landon Cassill, 12. Scott Speed [3]. (4:27.698)

A-Main (55 laps): 1. Daison Pursley [5], 2. Robert Dalby [3], 3. Chase Cabre [10], 4. Jake Neuman [14], 5. Christopher Bell [4], 6. Tony Gualda [8], 7. Buddy Kofoid [11], 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. [13], 9. Cannon McIntosh [2], 10. Chase Briscoe [12], 11. Logan Seavey [6], 12. Anton Hernandez [9], 13. Zeb Wise [1], 14. Kevin Swindell [7].

Lead Changes: One between two drivers

Lap Leaders: Zeb Wise 1-51, Daison Pursley 52-57

Laps Led: Zeb Wise 51, Daison Pursley 6

Caution Flags: Five for 17 laps

Margin of Victory: .553 seconds

Time of Race: 13 minutes, 44.917 seconds

Average Speed: 49.750 mph

BATAVIA, Ohio – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Sunoco Race Fuels have partnered to reward drivers that maintain perfect attendance at all Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned events through May 27.

Drivers with perfect attendance will receive an additional $1,500 cash bonus compliments of Sunoco Race Fuels.

This bonus program, previously named the Sunoco Road to Wheatland, is now named the Sunoco Road to East Bay due to the rescheduling of events in the month of May because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunoco is the Official Fuel of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and a longtime partner, supporting the national tour for super late model dirt racing for more than a decade.

Sunoco is also the title sponsor of the crown jewel event on the series, the Sunoco North/South 100, held in August at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., every year.

The first pair of events in May will take place at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., on May 12-13. All races are full series points races, with a five-person limit per team.

No fans will be allowed to attend these six events but fans can watch the action live on LucasOilRacing.TV.

“We want to thank Sunoco Race Fuels for their continued support of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. They have agreed to continue this special bonus program, rewarding drivers that maintain perfect attendance and support the series through May 27,” said Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Motorsports Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports. “The ‘Road to East Bay’ bonus program will give racers additional money in these difficult and unusual times. Sunoco should be commended for stepping up and giving generously to the racers, and helping Lucas Oil Products reopen the 2020 season.”

LE MANS, France – The first details of the joint draft technical regulations for Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh), which will be eligible for the top category of international sports car racing in both the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, were released last week to interested automotive manufacturers and chassis constructors.

The regulations are the result of many months of collaborative work by the technical departments of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the International Motor Sports Ass’n, together with more than a dozen automotive manufacturers and the four nominated chassis constructors (Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic and Oreca).

Following a joint press conference at Daytona Int’l Speedway in January announcing plans for convergence, a full detailed public presentation of the technical regulations was originally intended to be held in March at Sebring, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, the presentation was made to interested automotive manufacturers and chassis constructors last week using WebEx remote group presentation software technology.

“Officially launched in Daytona in January, the ACO-IMSA convergence is now entering an important phase in its implementation,” said Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO. “We are unveiling the basic technical details of this new LMDh category which will the same car being allowed to race in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, without any modification necessary to the car. The dream of many manufacturers is finally coming true. Le Mans Daytona h and Le Mans Hypercar will embody the top category of endurance racing. This is a historic and decisive moment for the future of our discipline.”

“We have reached another key milestone with the release of our draft technical regulations for LMDh,” said IMSA CEO Ed Bennett. “There is still more work to be done, but the positive spirit of collaboration between the ACO and IMSA, as well as our four constructors and many interested manufacturers has been fantastic and truly unprecedented. These regulations provide a roadmap for manufacturers and constructors to embark on the design process for new LMDh race cars that will revolutionize the top category of premier sports car racing around the globe.”

The global description of the LMDh platform will correspond to the following points:

LMDh is a common car created by ACO-IMSA and able to race in both WEC and IMSA
LMDh based on a cost-capped car and will have the same spine (spine = complete car without bodywork, engine, hybrid) as the next generation of Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)
Only mainstream automotive manufacturers (associated with one of the four chassis constructors) can homologate a LMDh car

The cars will feature:
– A manufacturer branded and stylized bodywork
– A manufacturer branded engine
– A common single source rear wheel drive hybrid system
– A minimum homologation period of five (5) years

The basis of the joint regulations to govern the new LMDh category is comprised of the following points:

– Minimum car weight at 1030 kg
– 500 kW peak of combined power (sum of power resulting from internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid system)
– One bodywork package with identical aerodynamic performance
– Single tire supplier (i.e. Michelin)
– Global BOP to harmonize the overall performance of the LMDh and LMH cars

It is intended that the top category of competition for the WEC, which has the 24 Hours of Le Mans as its cornerstone event, will integrate Le Mans Daytona h with Le Mans Hypercar race cars to ensure convergence leads to similar car performance parameters for both technical rule sets.

Meanwhile, IMSA, with the Rolex 24 At Daytona as its premier event, will welcome LMDh cars while being open to LMH participation from mainstream automotive manufacturers once performance at IMSA circuits can be further validated.

The introduction of LMDh race cars continues to be targeted in the 2022 racing season for both the ACO and IMSA. However, this timeline will need to be further validated in partnership with the automotive manufacturers, chassis constructors and key suppliers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine if a delayed introduction becomes necessary.

Final regulations are anticipated to be released on or before the 24 Hours of Le Mans in September 2020.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. – BG Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series officials have released details regarding Saturday’s BG Platinum 44k sprint car event at Showtime Speedway.

The SSSS event will also include the COVID-119 super late model race. The events will be part of two nights of racing and will include support classes and an outlaw late model Figure 8 event on Friday night, May 8.

No fans will be allowed to attend these events, per current Florida state regulations, but a pay-per-view stream will be available through Low Budget TV, a member of the SPEED SPORT Network.

The series will be returning to racing action after a two-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is being called the BG Platinum 44k, recognizing series sponsor BG Products Platinum 44k Fuel System Cleaner.

The winged warriors will battle it out for 44-laps. No heat races are planned. The series will use single-car qualifications to set the field for the feature event later that night.

Saturday will mark only the second time the series has used single-car qualifications in the past two seasons.

The event will also carry historic significance. It will be the first known time that a major pavement sprint car series has staged a race with no fans in attendance.

A strong field of cars is expected for the event. Series point leader Troy DeCaire has been the man to beat of late, having won all three SSSS events contested in 2020, including the most recent March 7 event at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, Fla.

The driver roster has been slightly retooled since the last event on March 7. Daniel Miller will be in the PCS Racing No. 5, while as announced earlier this week, Carlie Yent will make her first series appearance in more than two years.

In addition, 2017 series champion John Inman will return to wheel his own No. 59 Diablo Chassis entry.

Visit www.LowBudget.TV for the pay-per-view options to view this weekend’s events at Showtime Speedway.

Expected “BG Platinum 44k” entries

555 – Dylan Reynolds – Leesburg, Fl.a

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta held a two-hour call with LA Rams head coach Sean McVay earlier this week to share ideas on training regimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Arteta instigated the conversation having heard of McVay's reputation as a progressive and innovate coach. Both teams are under the ownership of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, led by American businessman Stan Kroenke.

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- Where Europe's top leagues stand on finishing 2019-20 season

Arsenal technical director Edu was also on the call and the trio were joined briefly by head of football Raul Sanllehi as they discussed methods for maintaining fitness during COVID-19.

Players have been encouraged to follow individual programmes while in isolation and last week Arsenal opened up their London Colney training base to allow the first-team squad use of their 10 pitches to complete their work.

No more than five players were allowed on the site at any one time and each worked on their own pitch with separate footballs. However, with the Premier League aiming to return in mid-June, clubs are beginning to plan how group sessions will take place.

Arteta was keen to explore with McVay how NFL teams train in units with a view to implementing something similar with the Gunners. Virtual mini training-camps for NFL teams are due to start on May 11 with facilities not expected to be fully opened until July.

However, group training could return for Premier League teams in the next fortnight if a resumption is given the go-ahead, a decision which depends firstly on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's address on Sunday at which he will revise lockdown measures and a Premier League shareholders' meeting on Monday at which clubs are expected to vote on completing the 2019-20 season.

Group training will still have to comply with social distancing measures and in addition to Arteta's discussions with McVay on how to structure sessions, Arsenal and the other English teams will look to Germany for guidance with the Bundesliga set to resume next weekend.

Training in Germany is largely taking place in groups of up to seven players. They are not allowed to tackle and are encouraged to change and shower at home before and after training rather than using any on-site facilities.

Arsenal held their first ever virtual fans' forum on Wednesday, at which Sanllehi and managing director Vinai Venkatesham answered questions from a select group of supporters.

They reiterated the club's desire to complete the season in some form and said that KSE were providing "financial support" to the club, but refused to elaborate on the details.

Arsenal are the only Premier League club to have agreed a 12.5% pay cut with their players but no non-playing staff have been furloughed and the club has made six-figure donations to local charities and organisations.

Barcelona youngster Marc Jurado has turned down the chance to extend his contract with the club and will join Manchester United this summer, sources have told ESPN.

Jurado became eligible for a professional contract in April when he turned 16 but he has turned down Barca's offer.

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The Spanish champions proposed a three-year deal, worth €60,000 annually in the first year rising to €100,000 by the third year of the contract, in addition to a €200,000 bonus if he made his debut for the B team in that time.

However, Jurado, a right-back who spent this season with the club's U16 team, has instead accepted an offer to move to Premier League side United.

As his non-professional terms with Barca expire this summer, the English club will only have to pay a small amount of compensation in development rights, which one source says is likely to be less than €200,000.

The youth football season has been brought to an end in Spain due to the coronavirus pandemic, so Jurado has already played his last game for Barca.

Barca have lost academy players to Manchester City previously, with Eric Garcia and Adria Bernabe both leaving for the Etihad. United, meanwhile, signed Arnau Puigmal from Barcelona-based Espanyol two years ago.

Jurado, therefore, becomes the first player to leave La Masia for United before making a first-team appearance for Barca since Gerard Pique, who headed to Manchester in 2004 aged 17.

A source told ESPN that Barca are disappointed to lose the defender and are especially upset with the way his agent, Carlos Lacueva, the son of one of the club's former directors, handled the situation.

However, they remain hopeful of tying down some of the academy's other brightest talents. Attackers Pablo Paez -- better known as Gavi -- and Ilias Akhomach, who are both part of the same U16 team as Jurado, are expected to sign professional deals at Camp Nou.

In March, when Liverpool were 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League, I traveled to the city and was surprised to hear the team on everyone's lips: Manchester United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had just upset Manchester City 2-0, which meant that Liverpool needed only two wins to clinch their first league title since 1990, when a 23-year-old Jurgen Klopp signed his first professional contract as a player and only five members of the current squad had been born.

And yet many Liverpool fans were still afraid to say their lead was safe because of the tantalizing, agonizing near misses they'd endured over the years. Their team was top of the league with just three games left when beloved captain Steven Gerrard slipped to gift Chelsea a goal -- and Manchester City the title -- in 2014. Five years later, Klopp's team recorded an unprecedented 97 points -- and still lost the title to City by a point. This time, with only one loss all season, it seemed as if nothing could stop the Reds. Until the coronavirus pandemic halted play indefinitely.

As the Premier League mulls resuming play behind closed doors in June, Liverpool fans wait and wait, hoping that COVID-19 won't end a historic season prematurely. England's top flight remains committed to finishing the season, even as the French and Dutch have canceled their leagues entirely. Before the pandemic brought football to a halt, I spoke to Liverpool supporters across generations, from young people who have only ever known the anguish of league defeat to older fans who have been awaiting a return to the glory days. This is what winning the league would mean to them.

Ryan Cullen, 34

It all started with an Instagram comment. Ryan Cullen was on his lunch break at his barbershop in Newry, Northern Ireland, a town of about 30,000, when he saw a post by one of his favorite players, Adam Lallana. "He had really good hair, so I would always be looking at him and thinking, 'God, I could give him a really good trim,'" Cullen remembers about that day in 2016. On a whim, he decided to comment: "If you'd ever like a trim, just chat me. It'd be a real pleasure. I'm a big fan. Keep killing it this season." He went back to work and forgot all about it. That night, when he was lying in bed, his phone pinged. It was Lallana, asking him to come to his house. Cullen was on a plane by the next morning.

From then on, until the coronavirus lockdown, he flew from Northern Ireland to England every two weeks to tend to the style needs of Lallana and Jordan Henderson. (Danny Ings was also a client, before he moved to Southampton.) Lallana likes to try different styles, but Hendo? "He's like, 'If it's not broke, don't fix it,'" Cullen says with a laugh. "I can do his blindfolded." His friends wonder whether he gets tired of traveling so frequently, but Cullen wouldn't give it up for anything. "I never thought I would experience this. Yeah, you get up early in the morning, you spend half the day in the airport, but there's so many perks to it. I get to see my work on TV. The guys look after me in terms of going to matches. I'm literally living the dream."

On that long-awaited day, coronavirus willing, Cullen hopes to have an additional buzz: "Hendo's going to lift the trophy over his head, and there he is with a Ryan Cullen haircut."

Chloe Bloxam, 18

In Chloe Bloxam's family, a baby born meant a name added to the waiting list for a Liverpool season ticket. (Unfortunately, anyone looking to add a newborn now is out of luck; the waiting list closed a few years ago with more than 25,000 people on it.) In 2016, a ticket, which starts at about £800 ($994) a season, finally came up, and the family decided that Chloe, then 15, should be the one to get it. Teenage girls are few and far between in the male-dominated stands, but she doesn't feel out of place. Sitting on a couch at the office of Anfield Wrap, a local media company known for its LFC-centered podcasts where she is an intern, she says: "It's a magical thing being there, to actually be sitting in the Kop singing songs that were made when I wasn't born."

Though just 18, she has witnessed Steven Gerrard's last game ("It was really emotional; he spoke to us, the fans"), the loss to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final ("I didn't cry because I thought we'd go on to do something the next year") and the mind-boggling 4-0 comeback over Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semifinal ("I proudly sobbed, I just didn't know what to do with myself"), to name a few.

None of her experiences can prepare her for the moment when Jordan Henderson lifts the trophy for the first time in her lifetime. She and her brother Mark, who was born the year Liverpool last won the league, had planned to celebrate at Anfield together, but the coronavirus lockdown means they can only FaceTime each other. "If it's behind closed doors, I'll be a bit sad because it's the first time in 30 years we'll win this league and I won't get to see it," she says. "But as long as we get the trophy, I'll be happy."

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A student at Liverpool Football College, a school backed by Steven Gerrard, Bloxam wants to dedicate her life to football, as a coach, as a journalist or in another aspect of the game. What she has ruled out for sure, though, is refereeing. Why? VAR. "I don't want anything to do with that," she says with a laugh. "It's too much pressure." Whatever she does ultimately choose, her goal is clear: "If I can sustain a season ticket all my life, I'll be happy. I don't really need anything else."

Damian Kavanagh, 51

"I want to show you something," Damian Kavanagh says from the corner of a dimly lit pub, pulling out his wallet. He fishes out a neatly folded piece of paper, unfurling a black-and-white screenshot from Sky News listing 14 questions. They are the 14 questions asked by the Hillsborough inquest that finally, after nearly 30 years of struggle, exonerated Liverpool fans such as Kavanagh for the deaths of 96 fans in April 1989. Kavanagh carries the paper with him everywhere, alongside a photo of his family, to remind him of what he survived and the subsequent fight for justice.

"I didn't think in my lifetime we would achieve what we have achieved," he says about that exoneration. "I thought when we're all gone, people would look at it more favorably, so to have it in this lifetime has really helped people."

Liverpool last won the league the season after Hillsborough, 1989-90, and it was the only one in the past 34 that Kavanagh didn't attend. It was too painful. "I was in tears at 'You'll Never Walk Alone,'" he remembers. "It was too emotional, too raw, so I quit. I thought I'd never go back. I thought I'd never miss it." But as Liverpool closed in on the title that year, a family friend persuaded Kavanagh, then 20, to take his spare ticket for a few games (Kavanagh now questions whether they were actually spare). Somewhere in there, he rediscovered his love for the game.

He has emotional memories of each and every one of Liverpool's recent trophies. He watched the Champions League final in Istanbul alongside the son of a friend who had been killed at Hillsborough. He took his son to his first Cup final in 2006 and thought of how his own father had been there when Liverpool won its very first FA Cup. After Divock Origi scored the final goal in the Champions League final last season, his son broke down in tears at the thought of his grandfather, who had died in 2011. And Kavanagh believes the same thing will happen when Liverpool win the league. "My son's never seen us win it. It's mad, isn't it?" he says. "There must be fans who thought they'd never see it."

And on that day, Kavanagh won't just be celebrating for himself but for his father and his grandfather, and all the generations of Liverpool fans that came before him. "This is a family connection, a generational connection. Before the game, you're singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' You're not singing it for that team that day, you're singing it for all the generations."

Amina Atiq, 25

Amina Atiq grew up with Liverpool FC all around her, but it wasn't until Mohamed Salah stepped onto the Anfield pitch that she really started to feel the game was for her. When the 25-year-old, who came to the U.K. from Yemen as a child, watches Liverpool matches with her family, "somebody will be shouting in Arabic and someone will be shouting in a Scouse accent," she says. She sometimes sees Sadio Mane lounging in his slippers at an Arabic café near her home in Toxteth, one of Liverpool's most culturally diverse areas. A spoken-word artist and activist, she incorporates football -- Salah and Mane, in particular -- into her work fighting racism and Islamophobia around the city. "I talk about how football brings people together, and Mo Salah became an example of that," she says. "That's really inspiring a lot of young Yemeni men and boys to feel valued, to feel that they are worthy in this city."

Marleen Watts, 82

When Marleen Watts was a young woman, she'd drive with her husband to the airport, kiss him goodbye and fly off alone -- to Paris, Rome, Brussels, wherever Liverpool were playing in the European Cup. "I used to say to him, 'When Everton get there, you can go,'" she remembers. He never did.

Nowadays, the 82-year-old, who worked for the club for 30 years, doesn't go to many matches. "You can't get the tickets, to be honest," she says from her home near Manchester. But she is looking forward to seeing Liverpool win the league again in her lifetime. "It was the norm for us to win," she says of the '70s and '80s. "That's why I didn't keep anything. I gave things away because I thought, 'We'll win it again next year.' To go this long and live so near Manchester, I thought, 'Oh god.' But now it's fabulous."

Dominic Wong, 50

Dominic Wong grew up just outside of London, but he supported Liverpool from the start. Not only were they the dominant team of his childhood, but he felt accepted and protected by the fans. "I would never have supported either of my local teams because they had significant infiltration by the far right in the 1970s and 1980s," he says. "What I found was nobody cared about the color of your skin in the LFC away end, and the older fans would look after and protect the younger ones like me."

Today the 51-year-old lives in Birmingham with his wife, Rachael, and kids Buster and Issy, and travels to Liverpool matches across the U.K. and Europe. Buster went to his first away game when he was just 6 months old. Now 13, he has been to 125 matches. The Wongs hope to retire to Liverpool once their kids are grown.

Last October, the family took a trip that had everything and nothing to do with Liverpool. To watch the Reds take on Spurs, they traveled to Gambia, to a shack decorated with Liverpool flags and murals. Dominic had helped set it up. After his friend Paul, a taxi driver from outside Birmingham who often drove them to away matches, died of a heart attack, Dominic wanted to do something to remember him. A Gambian friend of his wife's was looking for a project. The result? Big Paul's Video Club in Gambia, named in his honor, where locals could watch Premier League matches on the big screen. People travel from miles away, often on foot, each weekend. Sadio Mane, from neighboring Senegal, is a favorite.

Dave Hardman, 61

Last summer, after 40 years of going to Anfield, Dave Hardman made an unthinkable decision: He gave up his season ticket. At least it would have been unthinkable once, and some of his friends treated him as if he'd lost his mind. But to Hardman, it felt like the right thing to do. "I've fallen out with modern football in general and Liverpool Football Club in particular," he says from The Lion, the pub he manages a few blocks down from the city's famous docks.

His Evertonian father took him to his first match in 1964, when league leaders Liverpool were upset 2-1 by Swansea in the FA Cup quarterfinal, and even in defeat the 5-year-old fell in love. As a season-ticket holder, he traveled as far as Chicago and Moscow and Morocco to support his team, and he started working at The Lion to pay off his debts from the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul. But over the years, as more and more money rushed into the game and TV deals changed the kickoff times and ticket prices soared, Hardman felt disillusioned by it all. "There's no consideration for the fans. I feel disenfranchised," he says. "I accept that Liverpool Football Club needs to make money and a business needs to expand, but there has to be a line. The club know they can keep taking and taking and taking without giving much back. They have an endless stream of customers."

He says he's not alone in his disenchantment. "A couple of the lads have said, 'If we win the league this season, we might do the same thing. That's it. The monkey's off our backs. We can retire.'"

Hardman still watches every game and recalls scorelines and goals from decades ago instantly (the 1977 Champions League win in Rome is his favorite memory). He still doesn't wear any blue, not even socks or underwear, on derby days against Everton, and he still pours a whiskey for good luck before European nights. His email still contains the number 86, because that was the year Liverpool beat Everton for the league title and the FA Cup. And he'll still celebrate when Liverpool finally win the league. But he has turned down the chance to go to games this year and insists he doesn't regret his decision, doesn't wish he'd stayed on for just one more season. "If I could tell the future, I'd have won the lottery by now," he says. "I don't like thinking like that. It's self-defeating."

The Lion Tavern closed indefinitely because of the pandemic on March 20, just days after winning an annual award for best pub in Liverpool. Hardman has no idea when he can reopen. He misses football desperately -- "There's nothing to talk about" -- and hopes that Liverpool can still win the league in front of fans. He won't be among them. "I did actually think about this. If games are opened to the public, there might be tickets floating around," he says over the phone. "If I was going, I'd let you know first."

Paula Kadiri, 57

Paula Kadiri goes to Anfield matches wearing a Liverpool shirt bearing the number 96 and the name of her cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, the youngest of the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in April 1989. "He went in and he never came out. He was only 10," she says. She wishes the team could have won the title last season, the 30th anniversary of the stadium disaster, or in 2013-14, when her other cousin, Steven Gerrard, was captain. "He probably would have dedicated it to all the 96 who died." But she won't complain if Liverpool win it now. "This year it's like it's gone full circle. Our team went downhill after [Hillsborough], and it's taken us all this time to get back to where we belong."

The MacDiarmids

When Evelyn MacDiarmid was a girl, her mother would buy a cake every Saturday. But if Liverpool lost, her father wouldn't eat it. Now 91 years old, she doesn't go to Anfield anymore, but she prays for the team the night before matches. As she sits in her living room with her family of Liverpool season-ticket holders, son Ronnie, 71, grandson David, 44, and great-grandchildren Scarlett, 12, and Sammy, 10, they reminisce about games gone by. Ronnie's first was back in 1962, against Spurs, and once David was born, Ronnie would take him to Anfield and sit him on his knee during games. Scarlett and Sammy both play -- right and left wing, respectively -- and Sammy's favorite player is Liverpool-born Trent Alexander-Arnold, "because he's Scouse."

Going to games is woven into the fabric of their lives, and they miss it dearly now that the league has been suspended. David hopes the season will finish, even if behind closed doors, and it isn't lost on him that being kept from the trophy by a once-in-a-lifetime plague is classic Liverpool. "The moment you're meant to have your greatest joy in 30 years, it's curtailed by unprecedented events," he says. "We never do things easy. There's always a twist."

The ECB have taken further measures to shore up grassroots cricket in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by introducing an emergency loan scheme to help finance cash-strapped leagues during the lockdown.

In addition to their initial round of emergency support funding, which Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, last week said had been successfully taken up by 92 percent of applicants, the ECB are now offering loans of up to £50,000 to cover costs that would otherwise be unrecoverable.

Such costs, from £2000 upwards, might include the cost of block booking/hire of grounds; the cost associated with the production of league handbooks; the cost of purchase of kit and/or equipment and the cost of staging events.

The ECB has also taken the decision to cover the cost of cricket balls for this year's league season, which has been postponed until July 1 at the earliest but which may yet face outright cancellation as the UK continues to implement social distancing measures.

Nick Pryde, ECB's Director of Participation and Growth, said: "We're pleased to be able to offer a new League Emergency Loan Scheme to help affiliated cricket leagues during the current shutdown of the sport.

"It has been great to see clubs receiving financial support through national and local government schemes, as well as through the ECB's Emergency Support Funding, which launched last month. We are now in a position to help the leagues across England and Wales with the costs they will incur in 2020 regardless of the amount of cricket that is played this summer.

"Leagues will be able to apply for a loan of up to £50,000 to cover a number of unrecoverable costs incurred for the 2020 season, as well as assisting towards the cost of cricket balls purchased for the year.

"Everyone across the sport is hoping we will see cricket played across England and Wales this summer and at the ECB we're working closely with the Government to establish when and how it will be safe to resume play."

In addition to these measures, the ECB has also put in place a Return to Cricket grant scheme, which is designed for clubs with exceptional circumstances, such as defaulting loans. Plus, a further £20 million of funding has been made available by Sport England to clubs that might not otherwise qualify for direct ECB funding, of which there are thought to be some 4,000 examples.

Giving evidence to the DCMS select committee hearing on Tuesday, Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, estimated that the funding shortfall in club cricket was in the region of £32 million.

"There's a huge appeal to local members to help support clubs at a time where they would normally be generating revenues from junior cricket programmes and match-day income," he told the hearing.

"There's no [limit to the] amount that we can do to sustain the size of the hole that's likely to be out there," he added. "It's a very, very serious problem." .

Solo Nqweni, the South African allrounder who has been battling Guillan-Barré syndrome since last July, has now tested positive for Covid-19. Nqweni revealed the news on Twitter.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Nqweni is able to communicate and his agent Rob Humphries is positive he will make a full recovery. Nqweni is the third cricketer known to have contracted the disease after Pakistan's Zafar Sarfraz and Scotland's Majid Haq.

So last year I got GBS, and have been battling this disease for the past 10 months and I'm only half way through my recovery. I got TB, my liver failed and my kidney failed. Now today I tested positive for corona virus. I don't understand why all of this is happening to me.

— Solo Nicholas Nqweni (@SoloNqweni) May 7, 2020

This diagnosis is the latest in a long line of health issues for Nqweni, who spent four weeks in an induced coma last year and required the use of a machine to do the work of his lungs. Nqweni's condition gradually improved and by October he was able to talk. He was given the all-clear to return to South Africa late last year but the cost of transportation was exorbitant for his family and it was only when a GoFundMe campaign was launched that Nqweni could return home.

The campaign raised £3,125 before a single-donor pledged £76,875 to foot the rest of the bill. Nqweni travelled to Johannesburg in January, where he was admitted to a hospital to receive further care. In February, the South African national team donated R50,000 to Nqweni's medical expenses.