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Scotsman
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Campbell gets nod as Scotland seek revenge
Ian Campbell has been selected by Scotland for the men's Home Nations shore angling championships in Ireland. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... And the Tartan Team are determined to take the title from the hosts after being denied by fish countback 12 months ago. Falkirk-based Campbell, retail manager of the Edinburgh Angling Centre, will cast a line in his second Home Nations having fished for his country for the first time in last year's event on home soil at Riverside Drive in Dundee. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Also included for the trip to Coleraine is Stewart Falconer (Arbroath), a regular in the Edinburgh Winter and New Year Shore League matches organised by Campbell in and around the Capital, and he makes his debut. Ian Campbell making his debut for Scotland 12 months ago at Riverside Drive David Neil and Brian Maxwell from Ayr and Bruce Maclean (Stranraer) complete the team for the trip to Northern Ireland. Mike Horn, chairman of the Scottish Federation for Sea Anglers (SFSA), said this was a 'hugely experienced' line-up who will do 'fine' when they cast a line in the event. The organisers, The Irish Federation of Sea Anglers, confirm that the matches are at Longfield Wall on the Foyle Estuary, on day one and three, and Benone Strand. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Common species at Longfield are flounder and eels and at Benone, flounder, turbot and bass. Ian Campbell at Granton Harbour near the Edinburgh Angling Centre where he works The beaches and estuary can be fished with a variety of rigs depending on the target species and distance required. Plain leads can be used but anglers are advised that sea conditions are unpredictable. When wind and tide combine, it can be hard fishing and heavy grip leads may be required so as not to impede fellow anglers. Bait will be frozen black lugworm, frozen mackerel, frozen whole peeler crab for Longfield and sandeel for Benone. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The ladies and juniors will fish the same beaches and the women's line-up includes Margo Robinson who makes her debut. The Dumbarton-based angler is no stranger to international fishing having appeared on several occasions for the international carp team, including casting a line in the world championships. Also included are Brighton-based Joanne Barlow, Lesley Maby (Cumbria), Gill Coutts (Largs) and Buffy McAvoy, a long-time Edinburgh resident. Kevin Lewis, their manager, said this year's Scotland squad have enjoyed several training weekends alongside the Scotland Junior team. They have been a great benefit to both groups. The ladies will practice on the Sunday before the official practice session on the Monday. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The junior squad includes Edinburgh schoolboy, Eryk Janik, and Nuno Santos, the team's new team manager, is desperate for his squad to make a real impact. Meanwhile, Falconer celebrated his international call-up by landing the longest fish, a 34cm flounder, in the latest SFSA Open at Riverside Drive in Dundee on Sunday. Simon Hogan (Cumbria) with 15 fish and 395 points won Zone A with Stevie Burns (Prestonpans) second with 14 fish for 316 points. Davy Cooper (Edinburgh) won Zone B with 17 fish for 378 points with James Duncan (Montrose) second with 15 fish for 290 points. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Flounders, eels and a few bass and whiting were caught but organiser, Chris Horn, said the venue did not fish anywhere near its potential with a smaller tide the likely reason. The SFSA presented their league prizes after Sunday's event on Tayside at the winner was Mike Kyle (Easthouses, Midlothian) with Mike Horn (Kirkcaldy) second and David Cooper (Edinburgh) third. Tronixpro were the sponsors. Locally, Jimmy Green (Musselburgh) won round five in the Bass Rock Shore Angllng League's summer series at Seacliffe Beach with a fish of 28cm. James Ogilvie and Dave Turnball (Haddington) were second equal with fish of 25cm with Max Garrett Jun from Dunbar third with a 23cm fish. The next round is on June 18 and the venue will be confirmed this weekend. Elsewhere, The Erskine Open has been brought forward to Saturday, August 9 from its previous date in late September and bosses of the Clyde and Western Region have confirmed the date for their Open Shore Sweepstake. It is August 24 at Greenock Esplanade and registration will be from 8.30am to 10.30am with fishing from 11am to 16.00. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It is a pegged, catch, measure and release match and the limit is 18cm. SFSA rules apply and the match rules are three hooks maximum. Entry is £15 and juniors are free with a participating adult. Contact Billy Buckley on 07732 741285 for details and this is pre-booking only. St Serfs hosted their first summer league match and it was fished in bright, fairly calm conditions over high water at Wormit Bay and some anglers were rewarded with some decent fish. George Harris, the club's secretary, won with 336 points and C Hay was second on 327 points. He had the longest fish at 36cm with M Abrahams third on 120 points. D Erskine was fourth with 41 points and I Crombie and F McFarlane were tied for fifth on 39 points. Fly fishing now and Lake of Menteith report that evening fishing has been producing the best results, probably due to calmer conditions. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Millhall near Polmont confirm a drop in catch returns with almost no surface activity. Anglers are having to go deeper for success. J Bown was top rod with eight fish. Buzzer patterns worked best and most other returns were in the three to five fish range. Bowden Springs at Linlithgow say Brian Scott had 11, the biggest a 6lb brown, on dries, and John Kearney Sen had ten on the bung. Recent reports from Glencorse include one from Wullie Munn who had 20 to the boat before his battery ran out and Mikey Fisher topped that with 21 to the net, dropped another six, on damsel and diawl bach on fast glass. In East Lothian, Chris Kerr (Tranent) had 16 on FAB and buzzer at Newlands Tweedale.
Irish Independent
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Cork anglers to represent Ireland in world-renowned fishing competition next year
Anne McWilliams, aged 60, and Declan O'Sullivan, aged 38, finished third and 13th respectively in the National Lake Championships, which was held on Lough Melvin, Co Fermanagh on Saturday, June 7. 'I would have qualified through the Munster Lake Championships, which was held in Killarney in May. 'Last weekend, I finished 13th with one fish out of 14 places, so I was lucky enough,' Declan O'Sullivan said. 126 competitors took part on the day, and Mr O'Sullivan described conditions as 'good', but the fishing was 'bad'. 'A lot of lakes these days are just not fishing very well for some reason. 'I don't know if it's the flies or what, but the fish don't seem to be looking up, they seem to be staying down the bottom,' he said. Ms McWilliams also qualified for the event hosted in Lough Melvin through the Munster Championships, which is deemed the hardest provincial competition due to the vast number of competitors. She echoed Mr O'Sullivan's thoughts on the challenging fishing performance. 'The conditions were lovely, and you would have expected the fish to rise, but there wasn't many. 'I saw a message from an angler to another angler, who said the conditions were 'brutally hard',' she said. ADVERTISEMENT Mr O'Sullivan will now go on to represent Ireland for the third time in his fishing career while Ms McWilliams will represent her country for the 13th time and captained her nation on three occasions. Both Mr O'Sullivan and Ms McWilliams will compete in the Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association (ITFFA) Home Nations competition against the national teams of England, Scotland and Wales. There were three people in each boat, two competitors and a driver who would line up the boat and place it in a good location to catch the fish. 'I was fishing with a man from Ballinrobe who would have fished the lake once about 20 years ago and I never fished that lake before. 'You are trusting the boatman to put us over fish from knowing the lake,' he added. The smallest you could kill was 28cm, and Declan's came in at 35cm, and placed him 13th in the leaderboards. Anything caught below 28cm in size was deemed too small and must be thrown back into the lake. Each boat would have a measuring device to measure the catches. 'We would have started at 11am and finished at 6pm. 'I literally caught three fish all day, and there would have been people out there who would have caught 10 or 15 fish, but they were too small. 'With these competitions, you really need a bit of luck,' he added. Ms McWilliams said representing your country is 'something that doesn't happen every day.' 'It's something that doesn't happen every day and it's not east to get onto it (national team). 'I have been trying for a long time to get onto the ITFFA team and it's very similar to the ladies set up,' she said. She hopes Lough Lein in Killarney will be a chosen venue as it has a 'special place' in her heart. 'It was the first time the Irish ladies won a gold medal, I think it was after 18 years, in Lough Lein, so it has a special place in my heart. 'It would be great to do the double there,' she added. Both Ms McWilliams and Mr O'Sullivan will represent both Kanturk and Munster at the Inter-provincial Lake Championships at Lough Lein on August 30.
Edinburgh Reporter
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Home Nations test for Scotland's carp team
Scotland's men's carp angling team contest the Home Nations at Naseby Reservoir in Leicestershire this weekend against England and Wales. Locally, catches were down at Millhall Reservoir near Polmont with almost no surface activity and anglers having to go deep for successful hook-ups. Ally McCoist and buzzer patters plus a selection of lures worked best. Linlithgow Loch report that their most successful set-ups were floating or midge-tip lines with blobs or FAB in orange colour, buzzer, diawl bach and black and green lures the best patterns. Alan McGregor was among the top rods with 15 fish, 12 on size 14 Grunter and three on hedgehog. John Kearney was top rod at Bowden Springs near Linlithgow with ten on the bung. Allandale Tarn are now open until late. Their new hours are 9am to 10.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday 9am to 8pm. Gates open 8am. Sea fishing now and Simon Hogan from Cumbria won Zone A in the latest Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers Open held at Riverside Drive in Dundee. Stevie Burns from Prestonpans was second. In Zone B, Edinburgh angler David Cooper (pictured on a local beach by Nigel Duncan) won with James Duncan (Montrose) second. The longest fish was recorded by Arbroath angler Stewart Falconer with a 34cm flounder. Kirkcaldy-based Chris Horn, one of the organisers, said the venue did not fish anywhere near its potential, possibly because of a smaller tide. Elsewhere, George Harris (Dunshalt) won the first leg of the summer league organised by the Kirkcaldy-based St Serfs sea fishing club with 336 points. Colin Hay (Kirkcaldy) was second on 327 points and he landed the longest fish at 36cm. Michael Abrahams (Kirkcaldy) was third on 120 points with David Erskine (Kirkcaldy) fourth on 41 points, with Ian Crombie (Dysart) and Frank McFarlane (Buckhaven) tied on 39 points for fifth place. Like this: Like Related
Business News Wales
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Business News Wales
Bridgend Firm Sponsors Welsh Internationals
Bridgend-based Powerhouse Energy Group is supporting Wales' Over 35 Women's Masters Hockey Team as they compete this summer at the European Championship in Valencia (June), and the Home Nations tournament in Glasgow (August). Paul Emmitt, Chief Executive Officer, Powerhouse Energy Group has committed to awarding and covering the cost of the Welsh Caps and certificates for each of the 36 players representing Wales this summer. Player Kat Kisby, who lives in Cardiff, said: 'On behalf of the team, we're incredibly thankful to sponsors like Powerhouse. Competing at this level is entirely self-funded, which is common in amateur sports—even at the national level—so the financial burden on players is significant. Any support we receive goes a long way in helping us concentrate on our performance. We've been training intensively over the past six months, and we're excited to compete and hopefully come back with some big wins under our belt.' Powerhouse Energy Group is located on Brackla Industrial Estate, Bridgend and utilises unrecyclable plastic by converting the unrecyclable waste efficiently and economically into synthetic gas for future use. Paul said: 'We're thrilled to be able to support a passionate and ambitious team looking to compete at the highest level. We wish the players the very best of luck and I'm looking forward to presenting their well-deserved Welsh caps later this year in recognition of their achievements.'
BBC News
01-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
FA ban on trans women in women's football starts
Transgender women are no longer able to play in women's football in England after new Football Association rules came into FA initially amended its rules on 11 April, applying stricter eligibility criteria for transgender women to continue playing in women's football at all following the UK Supreme Court's ruling on 16 April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, the FA scrapped that policy and announced on 1 May that only those born biologically female are permitted to play from 1 June."This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary," the FA FA has offered those players banned from competing free therapy with Sporting Chance, external - a charity that provides sportspeople with mental health support. The FA said: "We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game."At the time the ban was announced, the FA said there were fewer than 30 transgender women registered among millions of amateur are no registered transgender women in the professional game across the Home Scottish FA also announced it was banning transgender women, external from women's football in Scotland. What was the FA's previous policy? Under amended rules announced on 11 April, the FA said transgender women could continue to participate in women's football provided they met certain would have to prove via medical records that their testosterone levels had been below prescribed levels for at least the past 12 months, and provide a record of hormone therapy and an annual review of treatment.A new formal process, which would involve a "match observation" by an FA official, would give the FA "ultimate discretion" on a case-by-case basis. What has the FA said to players? BBC Sport has seen a letter sent by the FA to transgender players affected by the well as the offer of "free, fully confidential online talking therapy", the FA said it hopes to have mixed gender football available from the 2026-27 season and even suggested players move into other areas of the game."You might be willing to consider moving your enjoyment of affiliated football into coaching or being a match official," the letter said. What has the reaction been? Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for campaign group Sex Matters, said the ruling was "overdue" and that the previous policy was "nonsensical".Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who has been vocal on the issue of transgender women in women's sport, said on X: "This is great news for the safety and fairness of all our girls and women in football. Should never have been allowed in the first place. Now every sport must follow suit."Campaign group Women's Rights Network said: "We are pleased that the FA has finally seen the light. But it shouldn't have been such a hard fight to get here."Asked what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thought of transgender women being banned from women's sport, his spokesman said the government had "been clear that biology matters when it comes to women's sport and that everyone should be compliant with the law".He said the government would "continue to work to make sure that women and girls across the country can enjoy sports and we will continue to support bodies to protect the integrity, safety and fairness of the game".He said it was the responsibility of sporting bodies to set their own Washington, campaign lead for Football vs Transphobia, said transgender women are now likely to give up football."The people I know that are talking about this are saying, 'Well, that's it for football for me'," she said."Most people clearly don't feel that they can go and play in the men's game for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort."Pride Sports, which runs the Football vs Transphobia campaign, said there is no "football-specific peer-reviewed research or evidence that shows the existing policies constitute a safety risk".Lord David Triesman, former chairman of the FA, said there should be "consequences for the most senior FA officers" who took the decision to previously allow transgender women in women's football."The FA has finally seen sense. It would have been the utmost foolishness to disregard the Supreme Court," he group Kick it Out said: "Now is the time to show solidarity with the trans community and remind ourselves that football brings people together and is often a space for belonging, connection, and joy."The recent Supreme Court ruling and the FA's decision to change its policy will have far-reaching consequences, not only for the people we support but for our friends, families, team-mates and wider communities."Transphobic abuse - on the pitch, in the stands and online - is real and rising." What about other sports? The FA was the first major governing sporting body to amend its transgender eligibility criteria following the Supreme Court England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) banned transgender women from competing in all levels of women's cricket with immediate effect on 2 ECB had previously banned transgender women from elite domestic Netball also changed its guidelines on 1 May by banning transgender women from its female new guidelines, which will apply from 1 September, recognise three distinct gender participation categories: female, male and female category would be "exclusively for players born female, irrespective of their gender identity", while mixed netball will "serve as the sport's inclusive category, allowing players to complete under the gender with which they identify".The Ultimate Pool Group (UPG) - the professional body for eight-ball pool - banned transgender women from its female category in governing bodies, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), are reassessing their transgender eligibility cycling and aquatics have implemented outright bans on transgender women taking part in women's 2022, British Triathlon became the first British sporting body to establish an open category in which transgender athletes can compete.
