Week in, week out

HULL'S RUMBLING BRIDGETHERE is something strange in the air down by the Humber Bridge, at least there seems to be for Hull City footballers.

For the second time this season a training work-out at the scenic suspension bridge on the East Coast has been interrupted, although this time there was little to be proud of as a melee broke out in the wake of last weekend's 5-1 defeat by Everton.

Manager Phil Brown had to apologise to the local branch of the Women's Institute after two of his players, Nick Barmby and Jimmy Bullard, came to blows in front of some 50 members of the organisation who were strolling in a nearby park.

In October Brown was leading the players in a "contemplative walk" across the bridge when they stumbled across a distressed woman considering suicide – and were able to offer some comforting words.

Brown, who was not present when Bullard and Barmby, two of the low-lying club's most senior players, squared up on Monday, said they had since made up. "This incident was unsavoury and unfortunate," Brown noted. "But the players have settled their differences. They shook hands and got on with it. It was a normal training ground spat where two boys want to settle their differences and slug it out; unfortunately it happened away from the training ground at the bridge which was the warm-down area for the training session."

Brown added: "It's a sign for me they care and I am looking forward to the responses of the players in question."

VETTEL'S NEW MODEL

SEBASTIAN Vettel thinks he could be on to a winner after trading in Kate's Dirty Sister for a younger model, Luscious Liz.

The German F1 driver, runner-up in the championship last year, spoke lovingly of his new Red Bull car ahead of yesterday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"There's no real explanation behind it, we all sort of like the name," he said when asked why he had chosen that moniker for the Renault-powered RB6. "Hopefully she doesn't need a sister. I can tell you after a couple of races...."

Vettel started last season in Australia with a car christened Kate. But that one was smashed up in the opening race in Melbourne and replaced by Kate's Dirty Sister – so named because it was quicker and more aggressive – with which the 22-year-old went on to win four times.

Vettel led from the start yesterday, but finished fourth after a mechanical problem. Any other sisters in the Red Bull pen?

GOLDEN STICK RECOVERED

AN OLYMPIC mystery was solved on Wednesday when officials said they had located the stick Sidney Crosby used to win the men's hockey gold for Canada in Vancouver.

The stick, along with one of Crosby's gloves, disappeared during celebrations following Canada's 3-2 overtime win over the USA on 28 February.

It turns out that officials, not realising it was the game-winner, put the stick in a batch of kit sent to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Crosby's Olympic team-mate Patrice Bergeron recovered the glove, which was accidentally put in his bag after the game. The kit will be returned to Crosby, pictured, but it is likely eventually to be put on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.