ilrunwu ilsa ultu 'u fm : hf v: ilsa illii iiii v: if are, captainjonathan phillips lives here full—time, but a lot of our players are imports players, and there is a cost to bringing them over and starting the season. 50 there is a cost to bringing them over and starting the season. so if this ever happens or the time to haveit this ever happens or the time to have it happen is now. it's a far better situation to decide ahead of the season to not go ahead have to shut down in a month or two and into the season. worrying times for the sport and for the welfare of the players? lots of minority sports in the uk hanging on by a thread. absolutely. you know, if you follow ice hockey in the uk, you realise how popular it is with our cult following. we have over 1 it is with our cult following. we have over1 million people watching it every year which is huge. yeah, asa minor it every year which is huge. yeah, as a minor league sports, you are not football or rugby or crickets, and you can you know, you can rely, i heard the reports can be reliant people through the turnstiles. we always say we are abundant business and we need people to pay for tickets and attend our game, we

don't have the luxury of a huge tv deal to play in front of empty stadiums. we can't exist without our fans. we need about an eight week lead time to get everything set up for the season and that date that we had in our head is creeping closer and closer and so we kind of have this date of september 15 when we had to make a final decision. how does the sport bounce back then? do you think more support from authorities or governments, how do you get back from this as a lead? yeah, ithink you get back from this as a lead? yeah, i think the uk government is probably looking at the entire sports or events or arts and entertainment, the whole anything that needs crowds to survive, i think the whole industry has to be looked at as a whole rather than individual sports and we are part of that. there was talk about a seat out to help out kind of like the eat out to help out kind of like the eat out to help out kind of like the eat out to help out scheme, but i don't know how realistic that is. it's the only way we can do it until the return of full capacity crowds. here

in cardiff, we have a smaller venue than in sheffield, but we hold 3100 people and we sell out every game, so even people and we sell out every game, so even if they said 50%, we couldn't go at 50%. we need 100% capacity. lots of sports saying the same thing, todd. thank you so much for speaking with us this evening. the ceo and owner of cardiff devils ice hockey team. let's round up some of the day's other sports stories and... arsenal captain pierre—emerick aubameyang has put an end to speculation about his future at the club after signing a new three—year deal. his contract was due to expire at the end of the season meaning he would have been free to talk to other clubs from january. and another captain has re—signed today — aston villa's jack grealish says's he's delighted to make the commitment to villa park for the next five years. coco goff is in the second round of the italian open. she will be in rome. the formula —— formula one's bosses will not investigate lewes hamilton's decision to wear a t—shirt highlighting police brutality

at sunday's tuscan grand prix. the shirt called for action over the death of breonna taylor — the black woman who was shot eight times in her home in kentucky by us police in march. five stages to go now in the tour de france and slovenia's primoz roglic is still up there at the top of the standings — but his fellow countryman tadej pogacar is only a0 seconds behind and determined to make a fight of it. drew savage watched stage 16. the first of three tough days in the alps, but with it harder to come tomorrow, the second—place man in the main contenders seemed happy to let a breakaway happen at the front. at the back, another side of cycling for last year's winner, egan bernal. out of contention after cracking on stage 15 but he seemed to enjoy carrying the supplies for his ineos

team mates — one of whom, richard carapaz, was in the breakaway and in contention for stage victory until the young german rider, lennard kemna, made his move on the penultimate climb and raced away. with the main group miles behind, kemna, no threat to the overall leaders, held his advantage. and had time to savour his first win at the tour. fresh talent has come through and tadej pogacar, in the white jersey of the best young rider, did his best to chip away at roglic‘s 40—second lead. but couldn't get away from the man in yellow. but he'll keep trying. drew savage, bbc news. in italy, dutch rider annamiek van vleuten still leads womens' road cycling's biggest race, the giro rosa, by nearly two minutes. stage five ended with the first bunch sprint of the race... and marianna vos, also of the netherlands, outpaced the field, to win her second stage this year. van vleuten finished safely in the bunch to keep the pink jersey, with four stages go.

the england players who were offered contracts for the women's hundred this year, will be able to take up the same deal next summer. the 100—ball cricket competition was due to start injuly but it was postponed because of the pandemic. the ecb said players had the option to roll over their contracts with the same team on the same pay, or sign with other teams from next month. i think it was the best way to move forward with the contracts, i think. i think one of the things to look into more and more in women's cricket is a bit ofjob security. obviously making its, i guess, more financially viable option for more people than just the england contracted players. so it obviously offers some kind of income security to those girls who got offered contracts last yea r. to those girls who got offered contracts last year. i think there isa contracts last year. i think there is a lot of talk about it, but i think it's the way to move forward next season. —— the fairest way to move forward next season. two former welsh athletes, who drank heavily during and after their careers, are calling for better education and more awareness around addiction.

both retired wales rugby international rhys thomas — and former boxing champion russell pearce say they didn't recognise themselves as addicts — despite the warning signs. our sport news correspondent kate morgan reports. representing wales is a proud moment for any athletes, but for rhys thomas, the highs hid the lows, binge drinking regularly and heavily after matches. how cani after matches. how can i be an alcoholic? you know? i'm not that guy with a brown paper bag. when a heart attack in 2012 forced them to retire, he struggled to cope. despite being on the heart transplant waiting list and needing to limit his fluids to two and half litres a day, the 38—year—old drink heavily. i would wake up in the morning, i would have like a little 200 mill glass of water and i would knock it off my list. then you go out for the day, and just have no mixers because i had to have it straight because that was extra fluid. to me come at

the time, it seems completely acceptable. i mean this is insanity. with the support of friends and family, he stopped drinking a year ago. it's mind blowing, the difference that i can feel from being sober and being clean for so long, i genuinely wish i could've been able to be in this state of mind and had a chance to be in my career, do my career again. former boxing champion, russell pearce, is 110w boxing champion, russell pearce, is now an addiction support worker. he finally found support sat in a prison cell. i was on my own, alli had to do is think about it, the highs of my career, standing on a podium, listening to the national anthem to being in a cell for stealing alcohol. it's quite a big come down. after turning professionally at 18, fighting became a way of paying for his drinking habit. soon he was back home drinking bottles of vodka every day. he only got to help after his arrest. if i had day. he only got to help after his arrest. ifi had someone had day. he only got to help after his arrest. if i had someone had asked me ifi arrest. if i had someone had asked me if i was boxing, who do you turn to if you thank you have a drinking

problem or any addiction? i wouldn't have had a clue. i think that's the problem. nobody knows where to turn. that's why it becomes a problem, because itjust progresses and progresses and progresses. a study co—authored by a researcher at swa nsea co—authored by a researcher at swansea university found that demands of sports as well as the end ofa demands of sports as well as the end of a career can create an environment where addiction develops, one academic studying addiction and sports as most people still don't understand the issue. there is still a lots of stigma and shame around addiction, sol there is still a lots of stigma and shame around addiction, so i think, actually, it's really difficult for people to talk out about that. i think there is a lot of misunderstanding from people who aren't addicted, so they don't know how to have that conversation. it's a conversation reese is willing to have in the hope it will help others. i think it's my journey you know? to get to this point, to feel like i could spread the message for someone else from my suffering be able able to cope with it now, maybe that's what i'm being put on this earth to do.

finally aston villa will get their season under way tonight when they face burton albion in the league cup. there will be one village in ghana with a keen eye on the match — it's because they're all villa fans. we're so proud to be for aston villa! we thank you so much! aston villa! we thank you so much! aston villa is the best! my grandpa used to tell us stories and histories about aston villa to us. he told me that there is... this is my village where we have more than 1000 aston villa fans. we are the ghana alliance. aston villa! so every sunday morning, we come

together. around 5:00am in the morning. we would be going and chanting around the town, passing through the whole streets in the town. making some noise. everybody is playing around two p:m., we are all going to meet. you know, my lover aston villa started because of my grandpa. his father got a chance to live with some of the whites and they were from birmingham, so some of my grandpa he really loves football, his father used to tell him the whites are saying they're going to take my grandpa to birmingham to play for aston villa. so that's where it started. he sent me this beautifuljacket.

and the great escape, aston villa stay up after a nervy all draw at west ham. the whole town, everybody was very very happy. that's why up or the powder on my head because it signifies victory. so it's amazing, we are signifies victory. so it's amazing, we are here with excitement. it's one of our best moments in life, yes. what a day to us. we are going to be in the seventh position, because we deserve to play in europe because we deserve to play in europe because in 1982, we conquered, that's why we are always saying that. singing. singing. aston villa putting their fans

through the wringer worldwide, best of luck to them this evening. i'm sure they will be tuning in. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. for now, have a good night. hello there. the highest temperatures today were recorded in the southeast of england with 31 celsius, but the warmth was fairly widespread, it extended as far northwest as the lake district. a beautiful afternoon here with temperatures in the high 20s. now, we keep some clear skies through the night. one or two scattered showers drifting their way east and a little more cloud perhaps across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. a relatively mild start to wednesday morning in the southeast. a little bit cooler into the north because we've got an area of high pressure that's drifting in across the north of scotland. and it's going to introduce more of a northeasterly airflow over the next couple of days. so the temperatures will start to recede. now, that means the best

of the sunshine for wednesday will be across central and southern england and wales. there's always going to be the risk of more cloud through northern england, scotland, northern ireland. and a cooler feel here — temperatures into the mid—teens, but we could see highest values of 26 in the southeast corner. a good deal of dry weather to close out the working week, but notably cooler.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. an historic agreement for the middle east signed at the white house. the united arab emirates and bahrain agree to normalise relations with israel. president trump says it's a new dawn for the middle east. these agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. today's signing sets history on a new course in gaza, palestinians say the deal‘s a "betrayal" — a breach in the arab front against israeli occupation. we'll have analysis, from every perspective. the family of breonna taylor, shot by police who entered her apartment in march, has accepted a multi—million dollar