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4 weeks ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
It was on Wednesday of last week that it was announced that Kristian Gkolomeev, a 31-year-old Bulgarian-born Greek swimmer, had broken the men’s 50m freestyle record, by clocking 20.89 seconds, or 0.02 seconds faster than the world record set in 2009 by Cesar Cielo of Brazil.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
This piece was commissioned for the new Nutmeg Substack and I’m writing for them once a month. Those pieces will appear here, and over there. More about Nutmeg, the Scottish Football Quarterly, later. Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, aka Union SG, were once the most successful football club in Belgium. Founded in 1897, they won the first of their 11 league titles in 1904, and their 11th in 1935, and ever since then it’s been one long wait for more title glory.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
It was late one night in November 1995 that I found myself standing outside Scotland’s largest and most notorious prison, Barlinnie, also known locally as “The Big Hoose” and “Bar-L”. The reason I was there was because a friend of mine, John Dower, who was an aspirant film-maker and is now a BAFTA-winning documentary director was fascinated by the work of the K Foundation, formerly known as The KLF, an art duo comprising Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
It’s been a while since Sporting Intelligence compiled a definitive list of the best attended sports leagues in the world but some landmark developments in recent days and weeks make this an ideal time to revisit the subject.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
The three European club finals of 2025 get underway next Wednesday, 21 May, when Tottenham and Manchester United meet in the Europa League final in Bilbao. That’s followed by the UEFA Conference League final between Chelsea and Real Betis in Wrocław, Poland, on Wednesday 28 May, before the continental club season climaxes when PSG face Internazionale in the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Saturday 31 May.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
Migrant workers are already dying in large numbers in Saudi Arabia, for reasons officially unexplained, in projects related to that nation’s “Vision 2030” and the hosting of the men’s 2034 World Cup. A new report, published today, provides fresh details. There are no apologies from this quarter that I’m writing about a film we’ve seen before, most recently as thousands died while Qatar built infrastructure projects related to the 2022 men’s World Cup.
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1 month ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
Normal service at Sporting Intelligence was interrupted last week due to a health hiccup; having recently found out I’ll soon need a procedure to shock my heart back into a normal rhythm, I had what was possibly an entirely unrelated seizure, out of the blue, that put me in hospital for a couple of days.
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2 months ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition of Tottenham yesterday was most significant because it means they have claimed a second Premier League title and a 20th English top-flight title in their history, drawing them level with Manchester United in that regard. Manager Arne Slot is being celebrated as a hero on Merseyside after his first season in charge at Anfield. The win over Spurs also means Liverpool have extended their lead over United in the all-time tally of major trophies.
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2 months ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
This piece was commissioned for the new Nutmeg Substack and I’m writing for them once a month. Those pieces will appear here, and over there. More about Nutmeg, the Scottish Football Quarterly, later. Dunfermline Athletic have a proud record of incubating talent, from former managers Jock Stein and George Farm to former players Alex Ferguson and David Moyes. They could now be incubating owners who will revolutionise the Scottish game via Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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2 months ago | 
sportingintelligence832.substack.com | Nick Harris
There are two stories in this piece, based on entirely unrelated events of the past few days. One relates to popes and sport, and the other to the confirmed promotions of Leeds and Burnley from the Championship to the Premier League. At the end of their 2025-26 season in the Premier League, Burnley will go straight back down to the second tier, as will whichever club goes up via the play-offs, while Leeds will struggle and will likely join them. I’ll get into the reasons why later.