Soccer fans in England and Wales might be allowed to spend more time in pubs if their teams go far at the UEFA European Women’s Championship being held in Switzerland in July.
The British government is launching a four-week consultation to discuss whether pubs can extend their opening hours from 11pm to 1am should England or Wales reach the semi-finals or final of Euro 2025.
The British secretary of state for the home department has the power to extend licensing hours for occasions of “exceptional international, national or local significance,” the government said on Monday.
Photo: AP
England’s women’s team — whose players are nicknamed the Lionesses — would be defending the title won on home soil in 2022. It was the nation’s first major international title since the men’s team won the FIFA World Cup in 1966.
“The Lionesses showed us in 2022 what it means to bring football home, and now we want to make sure the whole nation can come together again to cheer on our teams,” British Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention Diana Johnson said.
The consultation period would hear views from the public, licensing authorities and hospitality industry before any plans are approved by the government.
Hospitality bosses said pubs staying open later would provide a boost in difficult financial times for the trade.
“The exponential growth in the popularity of women’s football presents an incredible moment for both the sport and the night-time economy,” Night Time Industries Association chief executive Michael Kill said. “The success of the Lionesses in recent years has inspired a new generation of supporters, and it is only right that we embrace this enthusiasm by ensuring fans have the opportunity to enjoy the matches in social settings.”
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds said it felt like an “impossible dream” when fellow Hollywood A-lister Rob McElhenney first floated the idea of buying soccer club Wrexham, along with a pitch for a documentary. The ultimate goal was reaching the Premier League. Four years after they purchased the north Wales outfit, Wrexham are one league away from achieving their lofty goal after a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday saw them promoted for a record third consecutive time. “We were standing there doing a press conference four years ago, and said our goal is to make it to the Premier League, and
RSS