Tony Bowers

Retired PE Teacher, love all things rugby and advocate for female sport. Developing future match officials for 15's and 7's and coaches from U'7's to adults

[Rugby on TNT Sports @rugbyontnt]

Holly Wood referees the PWR final 86 days after giving birth ❤️

[All On The Board @allontheboard]

It isn’t selfish to care about yourself, it’s essential.

[Premiership Women's Rugby @ThePWR]

THIS IS IT 😤

The PWR Final is coming up 👀

#PWR

[Aryan Goel 2.0 @AryanGoelNew]

Stuart Broad Without Any Doubt Got The Greatest Farewell Of Cricket History. Six On The Last Ball He Faced As A Batter And A Wicket On The Last Ball He Bowled. Fairytale Ending

[Red Roses @RedRosesRugby]

Congratulations to Marlie Packer who was awarded her OBE today at Windsor Castle 👏

[Red Roses @RedRosesRugby]

Red Roses star Claudia Moloney-MacDonald reflects on the importance of Pride Month, in the wake of receiving a letter criticising her relationship with her wife and @ExeChiefsWomen team-mate Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald ❤️

Click below now to read the full articleRed Roses star Claudia Moloney-MacDonald reflects on the importance of Pride Month, in the wake of receiving a letter criticising her relationship with her wife and @ExeChiefsWomen team-mate Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald ❤️

Click below now to read the full articleRed Roses star Claudia Moloney-MacDonald reflects on the importance of Pride Month, in the wake of receiving a letter criticising her relationship with her wife and @ExeChiefsWomen team-mate Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald ❤️

Click below now to read the full articleRed Roses star Claudia Moloney-MacDonald reflects on the importance of Pride Month, in the wake of receiving a letter criticising her relationship with her wife and @ExeChiefsWomen team-mate Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald ❤️

Click below now to read the full article.

[Cricinfo @cricinfo]

England legend Katherine Sciver-Brunt received her OBE for services to cricket in a ceremony at Windsor Castle today 🎖️

[Lionesses @Lionesses]

Georgia Stanway MBE 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Congratulations, G! 👏

[England Cricket @englandcricket]

Congratulations to Katherine Sciver-Brunt, who received her OBE for services to Cricket yesterday 👏

[Red Roses @RedRosesRugby]

Built for every moment that brings players and supporters together.

The England Rugby 26/27 alternative kit: available now 🌹

Head to the link in our bio now to buy yours now

#BetterNeverStops | @CastoreEngland

[England Cricket @englandcricket]

A record-breaking evening for Sophie Ecclestone 👏

- First ever English woman to take 150 IT20 wickets.
- Fifth ever woman to reach the milestone.
- Only second English bowler to do so.

So good.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Michelle and I had fun surprising the first group of visitors to the Obama Presidential Center on Juneteenth. Come check it out!

[England's Barmy Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎺 @TheBarmyArmy]

1️⃣4️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Test runs for Joe Root 📈

England’s greatest. THE greatest. 🐐

[Bristol Bears Women 🐻 @BristolBearsW]

Bear Country suits you, @elliekildunne 🤠

[Zlatan Ibrahimović @Ibra_official]

The studio will never forget

[Lionesses @Lionesses]

Our #Lionesses all-time leading goal scorer @ellsbells89 was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame last night 🌟

Congratulations Ellen ❤️

[Red Roses @RedRosesRugby]

Speed, skill and a spectacular finish ⚡️

Click below to vote for Meg Jones' try against Wales as the @Womens6Nations Try of the Championship.

[Rugby on TNT Sports @rugbyontnt]

Bristol Bears Women have announced the signing of Ellie Kildunne 🤩

[Gloucester Hartpury @gloshartpury]

Congratulations to Rachel Lund who has been named in the Barbarians Women squad ahead of the game against Wales at Allianz Stadium on Saturday 27th June.

Go well, Lundy. 👏

[Hidden History @HiddenHistoryYT]

A single ship sank off the coast of France and killed more people than the Titanic and Lusitania combined. You have probably never heard its name. There is a reason for that.

86 years ago today, June 17 1940, the RMS Lancastria was sitting off Saint-Nazaire. Dunkirk was over. The British army was still scrambling to get out of France, and the Lancastria, a former Cunard luxury liner turned troopship, was packed with soldiers, RAF crew, embassy staff, and civilian families including women and children.

The ship was licensed to carry about 2,200 people. The captain was told to load as many as humanly possible and ignore the limit. By the time she was full, estimates of how many were crammed aboard run as high as 6,000 to 9,000. Nobody knows the real number because they stopped counting at the gangway.

Then the German bombers came. A Junkers Ju 88 put four bombs into her. One reportedly dropped straight down a funnel. Thousands of tons of fuel oil poured into the sea, and as people jumped, the planes came back and strafed the water and the oil caught fire. She rolled over and went down in about 20 minutes.

Survivors in the water, covered in oil and watching the ship disappear, started singing. "Roll Out the Barrel" and "There'll Always Be an England." That actually happened.

The official death toll was recorded as 1,738. Almost no historian believes that. Real estimates sit between 3,500 and 6,000 dead, which makes it the worst maritime disaster in British history by a wide margin. More dead than the Titanic and Lusitania put together, in one afternoon.

Here is the part that keeps it out of the history books. When the news reached London, Churchill personally ordered a blackout. His words were that the newspapers had "got quite enough disaster for today at least." He meant it as a temporary hold. The story was so devastating, coming right after Dunkirk, that the order quietly stuck. The British public did not really learn what happened until weeks later when an American paper broke it, and by then the war had moved on.

The wreck still sits down there as a war grave. For decades survivors fought just to get it officially recognized. No one was ever held to account, because officially, for a long time, it barely happened.

So today, give it a minute. RMS Lancastria. The biggest loss of life in British maritime history, and the disaster the government decided you were not allowed to grieve.