“a r ‘ait night as washed away later in the night as the wetter weather moves down and the wetter weather moves down and the rain could still be heavy with showers continuing further north, but clearer skies developing in northern ireland, wales and the south—west and the odd pocket of frost here, but generally speaking, frost here, but generally speaking, frost free by the morning. we have some wetter weather to clear away from east anglia and the south—east and then skies will brighten in many areas and we will have a few showers although they are diminishing and through the afternoon the cloud will thicken in northern ireland and west wales and the south—west of england with rain coming in from the west. ahead of that, light winds, cold air and temperatures of six or 7 degrees. the wetter weather coming in from the west is not going to reach eastern areas because that weather front is breaking reach eastern areas because that weatherfront is breaking up reach eastern areas because that weather front is breaking up and most of the rain will be heading down into france, so the weather front brakes into two and we have rain to clear away from southern areas, moving south, patchy rain continues in western scotland may be giving wintry notes over the high lines and further east there might be rain or drizzle but if it does

brighten up it will be cold in eastern scotland and the north—east of england. further west, temperatures beginning to rise ahead of another band of rain pushing into northern ireland by the end of the day and that will be accompanied by strong winds overnight on the weather front is stuck across the uk on friday, so on friday, it will be another cloudy day with pockets of mainly light rain or drizzle. a reminder of our top story... a world first as 90—year—old margaret keenan is the first person to receive the pfizer vaccine as the biggest vaccination in nhs history gets under way. that's all from us at six. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm chetan pathak, coming up on tonight's programme. england's steve thomson — amongst a group of ex—rugby internationals suing the sport

for brain damage. a big night for ole gunnar solskjaer and manchester united as they look to avoid defeat and reach the last 16 of the champions league. 25 years on from founding the campaign group show racism the red card — shaka hislop has his say on the millwall fans who booed players taking the knee. and also coming up on the programme... as motor racing's female only championship — the w series — becomes part of next year's formula one british grand prix weekend i'm joined by racing driver alice powell. now the series for the next year, i just can't wait to get started. hello and welcome to sportsday.

thank you forjoining us. a packed show coming up but we start with a man who won the rugby world cup in 2003. the biggest day of steve thompson's sporting life but he says he can no longer remember it — or any of the games at that tournmanent. he and seven other former players — say the sport has left them with permanent brain damage — and they're in the process of starting a claim against the game's authorities for negligence. every member of the group has recently been diagnosed with the early signs of dementia and say repeated blows to the head are to blame: the training was so physical and so demanding at times, i wouldn't say it was managed correctly, but i would say on thursdays, the day off my felt terrible. friday, commits like him i'm not good to be able to play this game, then saturday you play, you know, and luckily you play well and your body just play, you know, and luckily you play well and your bodyjust kind of comes through. but when we were with the england squad, it was like, we've got you, we don't care what

you feel like afterwards, and then they just give you feel like afterwards, and then theyjust give us back to the clubs. in the clubs are like, well, we paid the wage, so you are going to play with us. i can't number being in australia at all. i can't remember the whole situation of the world cup. i've never watched all of those games, so cup. i've never watched all of those games, soi cup. i've never watched all of those games, so i sat down to watch them, and it was like i was watching a game for england, lake england playing i could see me there, but i wasn't there because it's not me. it's just bizarre. wasn't there because it's not me. it'sjust bizarre. people wasn't there because it's not me. it's just bizarre. people talk about stories like that, and since the world cup, you talk to the lads coming to pick up stories and you feel you can talk about it, but it's not me being there commits not me doing it, because it'sjust gone. i can't member any of the games, whatsoever. anything that happened in those games. when it's been something that's been so big in my life and it's just not there, i've spoken to a specialist about it, i said there is a simple way to expanded to come it's like you are a camera, and some it has taken the film out. so the cameras there, but it's not recording anything. other times, you head might‘ve got a little bit better, so the film goes back in, it starts recording again,

and then you've get another bang, in the new message, and that's what happens. big slots just aren't there. lawyers say nearly a hundred former players between the ages of 25 and 55 are showing symptoms of brain damage and have serious concerns. it's understood a letter of claim, amounting to millions of pounds in damages, will be sent next week to the governing bodies. i've been speaking to dr willie stewart, who with his team at glasgow university has been leading research around dementia in sport. i've seen over the last decade or more, brains from a former rugby players who have had dementia, and in those, we see frequently chronic, a pathology recognised associated with brain injury. has player welfare been prioritised enough by sports governing bodies? in some sports, they are really doing their best, and in some sports, not so much. i think when it comes to by, much. i think when it comes to rugby, as they've been exceptionally good at trying to recognise and

manage concussions on the field, what we are not seeing much of it is a move to reduce the head impacts either in training or on the pitch. you know, we still see an enormous number of head impacts, and i think the cumulative exposure to these as much as the concussions as part of the rugby. in terms of other research that you've done around the impact of rugby, what other sort of things have you been seeing? well, it's just that. we have seen in our record plays with dementia, when we examine this pathology, and although in many of the cases, when we go back and look through their histories and speak to the families, they can tell us that there have been recognised concussion episodes. in many committees are small numbers of concussions, and actually come in some cases, they can't member any history of concussion at all. so there is this concern that the accusative exposure to head impacts as much as concussion is an issue. and we have seen changes in football, for exam, england,

scotland, and children under 11 are not allowed to have the ball and working also limits heading frequency to higher age group levels. you presumably want to see changes in rugby as well across all levels. yes, and the moves in football have been fantastic. in the uk football have been fantastic. in the u k co ntext, football have been fantastic. in the uk context, i think there is discussion about taking this forward into the adult level, so football is doing something to try and restrict unnecessary head impacts. i think by unnecessary head impacts. i think rugby is doing an awful lot more. rugby has become this game with impact after impact after impact, glorifying the impact. i think it probably needs to start thinking about advising the game of rugby now and thinking less about impact and more about movement. specifically, what changes would you want to see? one very rapid changes where there is context, where his impact, so do away with much of the impact. you know, i saw steve thompson talking about untrained session doing 100

impact scrums one after another. that's just crazy. that kind of stuff ca n that's just crazy. that kind of stuff can be dealt with immediately. a response to the story, world rugby has strolled —— has told them... we should just add, responding to reports that legal action was planned from the rugby football union says it's declining to comment because it's "not had any formal or informal approaches, with any legal documents being served". the welsh rugby union has also been approached for a response. a few other rugby stories to tell you about today and... former england captain chris robshaw is one of 13 barbarians players punished for the breach of covid protocols causing the cancellation of their twickenham test against england in october. robshaw was one of the party that left the team hotel on two separate evenings, lieing about their whereabouts. he's been suspended for 4 weeks, fined two weeks wages and given 50 hours of community work. england will host australia

and south africa at twickenham in november next year. the autumn international series will start with england playing an emerging nation before facing the wallabies on the 13th of november and south africa a week later. and sale sharks director of rugby, steve diamond, has quit with immediate effectjust three games into the domestic season. he'd been in charge for 10 years and says he's taken the decision to "step away from the business" for personal reasons. skills coach paul deacon will take over first team duties. millwall players aren't taking a knee before their championship game against qpr tonight. they say they'll stand arm in arm instead as a show of solidarity against discrimination. it comes after some of their fans booed players taking a knee before saturday's defeat to derby at the den. i'm joined now by phil. phil, thanks

for being with us. a big night for manchester united. what does it mean if they lose this evening? it's a massive night. i think when you talk about manchester united come i think ali said it in the past, they have to win trophies, thereafter back to winning trophies, thereafter back to winning trophies to make it back to challenging the best teams in europe, andi challenging the best teams in europe, and i think this season, they've done well at times in the champions league, but i thank you need to get to the semi finals and finals, that's what liverpool did in the last of love years, they've been successful, and i think a club like manchester united, the manager needs to win things, and this is the one competition that united having one that often, but they've got the ability to do it. are there because for him to go if they go out this evening? i think it's too soon. there has been a real strong narrative against him that other managers probably in positions, their managers don't get puts under the same type of pressure. i think the style of football has been really, really good. really good recently. i

thought on saturday, particularly in the second half my thought they were fantastic. they were fantastic against southampton as well. i think they just need more against southampton as well. i think theyjust need more consistency, consistency of winning games, and if he does that, he will be successful, if he doesn't you know, the narrative is always about the next loss for him, they will be calling for his head against up again only to points off the top of the premier league. of course my what you make of paul, his agent saying that he is off from united. and he is a changed team, not really what united want to be hearing from tonight scheme. not the day before one of the biggest games of the season so far. it doesn't surprise me. i think it's not the first time that they have come out and said things about paul. it's not the first time that paul may be in the past, in the last international break, maybe in september, he said i want to leave manchester united. i think it's inevitable commits ineffable that will happen. i think from a manager, with the manager had on him if you've got an unhappy player causing problems publicly, because this will cause problems publicly, will draw attention to this game away from the

football field. you've got to deal with that commute got to do with it as quick as possible for a thing in the past, manchester united managers dealt with its decisively. he got rid of that player that wasn't happy, got rid of the player that didn't want to be there, because ultimately, this manchester united committee think for paul to me can see, he's not producing his best moments for the club, he's not played well for the club, and maybe it's time they do part ways. we've got about 30 seconds, what is your prediction for tonight? a couple of points off the top and the abundance league, good dragons buying munich at the weekend united, of course, how do you see it's going? well, before i knew about this, i thought it was a perfect game. you know, the way that leipzig played, they really pressed them forward. united hit them on the counter attack like they did against psg, like they did against leipzig in the home when they were 5—0. without them, a lot rides on the shoulders of marcus rushford. it's going to be tight. i think it will be a draw and united will squeeze through. coverage begins around five live from seven p:m.. now, some act

some act millwall players aren't taking a knee before their championship game against qpr tonight. they say they'll stand arm in arm instead as a show of solidarity against discrimination. it comes after some of their fans booed players taking a knee before saturday's defeat to derby at the den. there were similar scenes at colchester united too. some say its another reminder of the work there's left to do to tackle racism in the game. it's 25 years tomorrow since the campaign group show racism the red card launched. our reporterjoe lynskey has been speaking to one of the founders of the group — shaka hislop. he makes the save! on the pitch, football and knew what hislop could do. with west ham and newcastle, he was of top—flight co nsta nts, newcastle, he was of top—flight constants, premier league icon who grew up in trinidad. , but fewer new the work he was doing off the pitch, for 25 years now, shaka hislop has been showing racism the red card, he is now the president of the charity that works to educate people.

i'm most proud of the number of kids that we've been able to interact with. through them, we've made significant impacts into how racism is seen, how racism is interpreted, how it's discussed on playgrounds up and down the country. this season, football has acted in solidarity, players have took the knee to protest racism. but on saturday, the fa ns protest racism. but on saturday, the fans returned for millwall and booed the action. instead, tonight, their players will stand arm in arm. i disagree. there should be no compromise in what action is taken. taking the knee, as much as people are trying to frame this as being political, it's not. people will ta ke political, it's not. people will take any of these calls to action and interpret them in a manner that suits their wants. continue to take the knee and force the game to deal with the issue head on. millwall's

matches against qpr. before tonight, they'd stopped taking the knee. their manager said the club's actions matter. this club is so proactive in this area, it's not about token gestures commits about positive action. i understand the position can i really do, because i think it's become too easy where these shows of support become... taking the knee provides opportunity for people to have a discussion around those issues. i think there is real value to kids sitting at the table and asking their mother or father why are the players taking the knee before games? and having their pa rents before games? and having their parents explain the issues to them and that is where i think real long—lasting generational change comes from. this charity won't stop beyond covid. in 2021, they will keep having conversations. in the fight to show racism the red card, one man isn't going away. joe linsky, bbc