Wimbledon diary: Scottish news hit by net call

Published on 01/07/2012 00:00

THE All England Club a hotbed of rampant racism and sexism? Surely not. But your diarist is here to reveal the ugly truth.

The Tennis Integrity Unit, the sport’s eyes and ears as it attempts to stamp out gambling, has persuaded Wimbledon to block access to certain websites such as William Hill’s via its wifi system. And, for some reason, it is now impossible to read the Scottish Sun but it is, however, allowable to read the London-based Sun. English tits and bums, then, are fine in SW19 – Scottish news isn’t.

But that is only the half it. Your diarist was stopped for a random car search as she drove into work yesterday. She was asked by the security officer if she would open the bonnet. Then the guard paused. “Do you know how to do that?” he asked. Clearly, the concept of equality has yet to break through the security cordon that envelops the All England Club.

Royal box watch

Middle Saturday is always the day when a host of sportsmen and women are invited into the Royal Box, and yesterday was no exception. Kelly Holmes and her fellow-Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams were there, and so too were Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Charlton and Ryan Giggs. Then there were cricketers: Geoffrey Boycott, Alastair Cook, coach Andy Flower, Andrew Strauss and Phil Tufnell. And a few rugby players: Martin Bayfield, Matt Dawson, Owen Farrell and Chris Robshaw, all of England. You would think that if they wanted to invite some successful rugby players they might have put in a call to some Scots on the back of their Southern Hemisphere tour. Oh, and since you ask, Giggsy was accompanied by his wife, Stacey.

Pigeons’ treat

While Hawkeye keeps a close watch on line-calls, it seems nobody was keeping a close eye on the hawk as a birdnapper rustled a few feathers.

Rufus, the bird of prey which patrols the courts to deter pigeons has been stolen, police said yesterday. The Harris hawk was nicked, cage and all, overnight on Thursday from a car parked in the area.

Queen of Wimbledon

She’s a big girl with big hair, and her all-white dress was set off by a purple hair band and matching shorts. “What does Serena look like?” someone tutted as Williams took to the court yesterday. And suddenly, the answer came to us.