Sport doesn’t do enough

THE gruesome injury sustained by Daniel Dubois (left) in his heavyweight fight with Joe Joyce a fortnight ago and the growing awareness of the risks of repetitive head injuries in sport have led to renewed debate about the moral viability of boxing.

I understand those concerns and have much sympathy for them and this is not meant to undermine those arguments, merely to point out the challenges faced by other sports: when someone is knocked out in boxing, their night is over but when someone is knocked out in football or rugby, we hide behind pathetically inadequate protocols and send them back out there.

I have found my own tolerance for watching professional cycling diminishing, too. The sight of a peloton of human pin cushions racing through the French countryside in a sport which has been alleged to be systemically bent and has compromised the health of its participants, long ceased to have any appeal.