Rhondda Netball are calling on supporters to back their bid for a share of £1m as they aim to develop more role models and leaders within their organisation. Having already become a regional winner, the Valleys netball charity – one of the largest female sports participation programmes in Wales – need online votes to win the top cash prizes on offer. Rhondda Netball have already made the shortlist to win a share of Persimmon Homes’ Building Futures £1million pot, supporting under-18s across the UK.

Newport County manager Michael Flynn believes he has taken an important step in rebuilding his squad for the new season, having re-signed defender Scot Bennett. Having already seen Jamille Matt slip through his fingers when the striker moved to League Two rivals Forest Green Rovers, Flynn was determined to secure Bennett as the first keystone to his reconstruction job following the shutdown of last season. There remains a great deal of re-shaping for the County manager to do before the new campaign, but he views the retention of Bennett – who seemed destined to leave after the running down of his previous contract – as crucial to those plans.

Jamie Clarke has confessed he thought he would be going home after round one of the Betfred World Championship. The world No. 89 from Llanelli – the lowest ranking player in the tournament in Sheffield – is instead preparing a second round match on Friday after beating world number four Mark Allen, 10-8. Clarke produced a superb display on Tuesday night but admitted: “I haven’t looked at the draw. I just looked at Mark Allen and thought, I’m going home.

You’ve waited five months for racing to restart, you fly to Italy for the Covid-19 delayed opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and then one of your team-mates crashes the car before you get the chance to drive it. The situation doesn’t bare thinking about, does it?

The Welsh Assembly Government has today pulled the plug on what was going to be the long awaited return of motor racing at Pembrey Circuit – even though this weekend’s now postponed BTRDA Rallycross Championship event was going to be run behind closed doors.

Multi-talented Lewis Binns believes believes Merthyr Town will flourish in the Southern League Premier Division during the 2020-21 season.  The former Cardiff City and Newport County youth midfielder is among 15 senior players who have committed to the Martyrs and said: “The manager has signed a few young players who have been at professional clubs and they will be quick and technically extremely good.  “We’ll have a good mix of experience and youth and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do and how we can develop as a squad.

New Ospreys head coach Toby Booth has been backed to take them to the top of Welsh rugby again and competing for the Pro 14 title. The commendation has come from the region’s former Wales prop Paul James, who believes Booth is the man to bring the good times back to the Liberty Stadium. The Ospreys currently lay bottom of Conference A of the Guinness Pro 14 and their two remaining matches, when the re-start happens later this month, will not lead to them being involved in the shake-up for the play-offs.

Swansea City are keen to strengthen their squad by signing former Liverpool defender Daniel Ayala from Middlesbrough. The centre-back is a free agent after refusing to sign a short-term extension to his Middlesbrough contract when football returned from the coronavirus shutdown in June. But Swansea head coach Steve Cooper is likely to face competition from a number of clubs – including those in Ayala’s homeland of Spain – for the 29-year-old.

Jamie Roberts’ decision to join the Dragons has been taken just weeks after he said he would “struggle” to join any Welsh team other than Cardiff Blues. The former Wales centre – arguably the only current Welsh player who can boast a career to compare with that of Alun Wyn Jones – has left the Blues wondering how his return to the Arms Park somehow escaped them. Roberts, 33, has opted to join the Dragons following a seven-year stint outside of Wales during which he played for French club Racing 92, English giants Harlequins and Bath, before a brief spell in South Africa with the Stormers.

Oliver Farr achieved his best finish on the European Tour – and biggest pay day – with a tie for third place at the Hero Open at the Forest of Arden Golf Club, near Coventry. The Welsh golfer, who spent time growing up in the Midlands, enjoyed his most impressive performance on the tour so far at the age of 32 and took home prize money of £47,000. Farr’s third placing alongside Chris Paisley from England and Swede Alexander Bjork came after a consistent display at the tournament which was won on Sunday by England’s Sam Horsfield.

Cardiff City have paid tribute to their former Wales defender Keith Pontin, who has died aged 64. Pontin, who made his Bluebirds debut on the opening day of the 1976-77 season and won two senior caps for his country in 1980, was diagnosed with dementia when he was 59. Cardiff posted on Twitter on Sunday afternoon: “It’s with great sadness that the club has learned of the passing of former Bluebird, Keith Pontin.

Ieuan Evans and Nigel Davies are both fighting to join the Welsh Rugby Union council again – despite losing out earlier this summer. The former Wales internationals have both chosen to stand for election, with nominations due to close today. Neither man’s interest in helping shape the game’s future in Wales has been undermined by their defeat to John Manders for a vacant national council seat in July.

Former Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock is backing his old club, Notts County, to play-off success at Wembley Stadium – where one former Bluebird and one current loanee are set to play their part. Warnock twice led County to promotion via the play-offs three decades ago and now they take on Harrogate Town in the Vanarama National League final. The winners will earn a place in the Football League, joining National League champions Barrow as well as Newport County in the fourth tier.

Andy Haden – who died earlier this week after a long illness – was more than just a rugby player good enough to become an All Black. Media pundit, after dinner speaker, and agent to many New Zealand stars – including super model Rachel Hunter, who paid an emotional tribute to him – Haden will always have a very different reputation in Wales, as Peter Jackson considers. Andy Haden would be faintly amused to learn that he has now headed the list of rugby outlaws wanted in Wales for more than 40 years, a sort of latter-day Jesse James. Many of the 50,000 at Cardiff Arms Park on Armistice Day 1978 claim to have witnessed a heist on a grander scale than any pulled off by the baddest man of the Wild West before he was shot in the back by one of his own gang, ‘the dirty little coward, Robert Ford’.

Mark Williams reeled off six unanswered frames to book his place in the last 16 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships, before dispelling once and for all any notion of hanging up his cue. Since claiming his third world crown two years ago, the 45-year-old from Cwm has regularly hinted at retiring from the sport he has graced for 28 years. But following his 10-5 win over Alan McManus, Williams confirmed that life since the start of the coronavirus pandemic had changed his perspective.

Glamorgan head coach Matthew Maynard is hoping he plays his joker to good effect when the county finally get their season up and running at Somerset today. Kiran Carlson became the county’s youngest century-maker at 18 when he hit 119 against Essex at Chelmsford in September 2016. Since then, the 22-year-old batsman has been combining university studies in Cardiff with his cricket, but his form in warm-up games – and his personality – means Maynard is expecting him to be major player this season, having been promoted up the batting order to number three.

Mark Williams is hoping 23 years of experience can help him through to another World Snooker Championship final he strives to become king of the golden oldies. Wales’ three-time world champion trails Scotland’s Alan McManus 5-4 at The Crucible in Sheffield in the first round battle of the roaring Forties. Williams is encouraged by a renewed focus, however, as he leads a generation of ageless veterans into this year’s tournament.

By Terry Phillips Forward Sam Duggan has committed to Cardiff Devils for the new season, which is due to start in November. Reading-born Duggan is one of the most promising young players in Britain and Devils managing director Todd Kelman says: “Sam is only 22-years-old and is getting better and better each season. I expect […]

Oliver Farr may have to pinch himself when he looks at the exalted company he is keeping near the top of the leader board in the Hero Open at the Forest of Arden club. The 32-year-old Welshman was hot on the heels of the Spanish Armada – Sebastien Garcia Rodriguez, Pablo Larrazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez – in Birmingham after shooting a seven under par 65 in the opening round. That was one shot behind Jimenez, making his record 707th appearance in a European Tour event, and Larrazabal, and three behind the leader, Garcia Rodriguez, who shot a course record 62.

When will crowds be able to return to watch sport in Wales? From the evidence so far it doesn’t seem as if that will be anytime soon. There’s a lot of noise but Twm Owen wonders whether much thought has been given to the issue. The prospect of fans returning to the stands in Wales […]