Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle has been fined for an “excessive celebration” featuring two pelvic thrusts.
After scoring a touchdown during Sunday’s win at the Green Bay Packers, Dowdle was penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That resulted in a 15-yard penalty, pushing back the extra-point attempt, and although the kick was missed, the Panthers clinched a 16-13 win with a field goal as time expired.
According to ESPN, 27-year-old Dowdle has also been fined $14,491 (£11,095).
The call against Dowdle disproved a supposed NFL rule demonstrated in a Key & Peele comedy sketch in 2013.
The NFL’s list of prohibited acts includes taunting, any violent gesture such as simulating a gun and “prolonged or excessive celebrations or demonstrations by an individual player or multiple players”.
In the Key & Peele sketch an American football referee, played by Jordan Peele, would throw the penalty flag for a ‘three-pump’ celebration by Keegan-Michael Key’s character Hingle McCringleberry, but two pumps was deemed acceptable.
Key responded on social media, saying: “Rico! Man, you got robbed – you only did two pumps. I’m sorry, man. Now we’re gonna have to write a new sketch.”
Carolina coach Dave Canales said on Sunday: “We’ve got to make sure that we understand the rules. I might have to call up Keegan-Michael Key to get clarification on that part of it.
US President Donald Trump labelled New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ‘a communist’ and claimed New Yorkers would flee the city when he becomes mayor. In his election victory speech, Mamdani called Trump ‘a despot’ and said he had ‘betrayed the country’.
The German government has offered cash payments to Afghan nationals stranded in Pakistan if they give up efforts to immigrate to Germany under a resettlement programme established for vulnerable groups, including those who once worked with German forces in Afghanistan.
About 2,000 Afghans have been approved for relocation to Germany under the programme for people at risk under Taliban rule, but have been stranded in Pakistan for months or even years awaiting resettlement.
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Germany’s conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz suspended the programme in May in a bid to show his administration’s seriousness about tackling migration, a major concern for German voters at a time when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) tops several opinion polls.
“It is logical that if we assume that people have no possibility of being admitted to Germany, we offer them some perspective, and this is linked to making a financial offer for a voluntary return to Afghanistan or another third country,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday.
“These offers have been made to these people in recent days,” Dobrindt said, without revealing how much money was involved or the number of people being excluded from entry.
Afghan nationals who already hold binding approval to enter Germany under the suspended programme will still be allowed to enter the country – subject to security checks – but others will not, the minister added.
German media outlets report the payments amount to several thousand euros (dollars), with a first instalment available for those who agree to accept made in Pakistan and more payments on arrival in Afghanistan or a third country.
Germany’s DPA news agency said the pay offer has been sharply criticised by Afghans in Pakistan who had hoped to relocate to Germany, while others had expressed shock and disappointment.
“We have spent two years in Pakistan, and now we are being offered a shameful and foolish deal that jeopardises our future and that of our children,” an Afghan who received the government’s offer in a letter told the news organisation.
In addition to local staff, who once worked for German institutions, and their families in Afghanistan, DPA said the relocation programme was designed to “admit Afghans who fear persecution by the Taliban” for having worked as lawyers or journalists, or those who dealt with human rights issues.
The news organisation also reported that a group of 31 Afghans approved for resettlement under the scheme had arrived from Pakistan in the north German city of Hanover on Tuesday evening.
Officials said the group were “exclusively persons for whom legally binding court orders oblige the Federal Republic of Germany” to allow them to enter the country.
While the relocation programme has now been suspended, DPA reports that some Afghans have successfully sued the German government in court to “enforce their right” to enter Germany.
The German government has sent letters to Afghans offering financial support if they give up plans to immigrate to Germany – a move that has been sharply criticized by recipientshttps://t.co/pINTbRaE6S
Manchester City players including Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Lauren Hemp, Khiara Keating and Kerstin Casparij share their confessions, including things they got away with growing up, their mid-game thoughts and what football rule they would like to change.
Watch live coverage of Everton v Manchester City on Sunday 9 November from 14:30 BST on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website & app.
Prop Nicky Smith says the Wales squad will not “bury heads in the sand” over the prospect of a professional club being cut.
Wales start their autumn series with uncertainty due to the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) wanting to go from four regions to three – with Ospreys and Scarlets in the firing line.
“Of course there is a lot of noise but the main thing is that the boys just want to play for Wales,” said Smith, formerly of Ospreys and now at Leicester.
“Whether on the pitch or in training, they just want to put their best foot forward.
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Wales kick-off their campaign under new head coach Steve Tandy against Argentina on Sunday, with further games against Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.
While the squad are preparing for the Pumas, meetings are taking place between bosses at Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets and the WRU to discuss the proposal to scrap one region by 2027.
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Smith, whose Leicester contract expires at the end of the season, has been watching the saga from a distance, but the 31-year-old has lived through his fair share of chaos.
“It’s nothing new because when I was at the Ospreys I was out of contract when a merger was coming around the corner,” said Smith.
“It’s a bit easier for me now that I am out of the picture, but when I was in it things were distracting and stressful.”
The Swansea-born forward believes a willingness among players and coaches to talk about problems is helpful.
“If we want to get something off our chests – and that’s not just what is going on now in Welsh rugby, it’s anything – then we do,” he added.
Wales braced for Pumas’ power
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Smith was the starting loose-head when Wales ended their 18-Test losing streak against Japan in Kobe in July.
He is in pole position to get the number one jersey against Argentina’s formidable scrum when Tandy announces his line-up on Friday but there is increased competition.
Smith and Gareth Thomas have been joined by uncapped in-form Cardiff prop Danny Southworth and recalled Rhys Carre, who has been carrying hard and scrummaging strongly for Saracens.
High standards in training are preparing the pack for a daunting date with an Argentina side that relish collisions, but also have plenty of elusive players who can avoid them.
“They have always had a big pack but now we have seen how expansive they can be,” said Smith.
“Their backline is incredible and the forwards are big and physical but can chuck the ball around as well.
Roman Kemp, who is appearing on Celebrity Race Across the World with his sister Harleymoon Kemp, has opened up about seeing their mum, Shirlie Kemp, crying nonstop
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Roman Kemp with his sister Harleymoon and their famous parents Martin and Shirlie(Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)
The One Show presenter Roman Kemp grew up in the spotlight and it wasn’t long before he witnessed the devastating pitfalls of fame after seeing his pop star mum, Shirlie Kemp, sobbing for days.
Just months before taking on Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 with his older sister Harleymoon Kemp, 36, which will see the sibling duo competing with other stars as they race 5,900km across central America on just £30 each a day, Roman, 32, opened up about the struggle he remembers most vividly from his childhood.
In a conversation with singer Tom Grennan on their You About? podcast, Roman shared memories of him and Harleymoon featuring in national magazines alongside their famous parents during a period when finances were tight for the family.
Shirlie and husband Martin Kemp, who was a member of the band Spandau Ballet before starring as Steve Owen in BBC soap EastEnders, were struggling with money due to the musician’s health battles in the nineties.
Martin was diagnosed with two brain tumours and had to undergo surgery to get them removed.
“My parents had no money at the time because my dad had all these operations and s*** for his brain, so, like, they were trying to get more money,” Roman explained to podcast co-host Tom.
He went on to admit that even though they had appeared on magazines as a family, Martin and Shirlie were still anxious about their children being snapped by paparazzi on holiday.
Roman continued: “But then, even up to when I was maybe 13, if we’d gone on holiday, we were never allowed to go to the beach because when we went on the beach, my mum and dad would always be like, ‘there it is’ and you’d see a boat come past, quite far out, and then, like, stop, and there would just be a long lens camera just taking pictures of kids on beaches.”
Roman heartbreakingly revealed his mum would often be left in tears after seeing pictures the paparazzi had taken of them appearing in the press.
He shared: “It’s mad in that sense, you see it less and less now, like those old celebrity pictures on the beach, you see that a lot less now.
“But at the time, my whole life, me growing up, was my mum crying because they’re taking horrendous pictures and they’d only use the worst picture.”
Reflecting on a specific traumatic moment following a holiday, Roman said Shirlie “cried for, like, five days” when photos of the family on a banana boat were published in the press.
Ahead of Celebrity Race Across the World airing on Thursday night, Harleymoon explained she was previously given the chance to go on the BBC show with her mum, but Shirlie had concerns, so the pair missed out.
Harleymoon told the Radio Times: “My mum was asked to be in the first Celebrity Race Across the World and was going to take me, but thought it sounded too hard. I was glad to have another chance to go.”
Sharing his own motivations to sign up to the series, Roman, who has been open about his struggles with anxiety and depression, said: “I came off all medication [antidepressants] over a year ago and the race was a good test for my anxiety.
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“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done on television, but doing the race itself was hell! I used to watch it and wonder why a contestant was crying – well, that was me.”
