FA Cup first round: Hyde United, The Hitman and Muhammad Ali

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali brought Hyde to a standstill when he visited the town to open Ricky Hatton's gym

FA Cup first round: Hyde United v MK Dons
Venue: Ewen Fields Date: Friday, 3 November Kick-off: 19:55 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two & the BBC Sport app from 19:30 GMT, score updates on BBC Radio 5 live and follow text updates on the BBC Sport website.

"There were people all the way down the street," recalls Ricky Hatton. "I'm massively proud of my Hyde roots and that day the town was in the presence of greatness."

The date was 26 August 2009. A crowd, several hundred strong, had gathered under rainclouds to await the arrival of a silver people carrier.

Cheers greeted the vehicle as it pulled up on Market Street and an entourage stepped out, followed by a frail looking 67-year-old wearing dark glasses.

Three-time heavyweight world boxing champion Muhammad Ali - one of the world's greatest sporting figures - was in Hyde, a few miles east of Manchester, to meet local hero Hatton and open his gym.

There has been little of sporting significance for the town to shout about in the eight years since. But that could change on Friday as a televised FA Cup tie captures the imagination of locals - including Hatton, the former world boxing champion nicknamed 'The Hitman'.

Hyde ecstatic at MK Dons FA Cup draw

It may not be the stardust of Ali, who died last year at the age of 74. Instead, it is the opportunity to cause the first big upset of this season's FA Cup. Eighth-tier Hyde United - average league crowd 328 - host MK Dons in the first round, live on BBC Two, before a 3,500 sell-out crowd.

• How to follow the FA Cup first round across the BBC
• FA Cup first-round fixtures

"It's great to see them in the first round at home to a League One club on TV," Hatton told BBC Sport.

"When Muhammad Ali's people said he would be coming to open my gym, my jaw hit the floor," said Hatton of his meeting with one of the world's greatest sporting figures

"I know they've struggled recently but this is terrific for the area and I wish them all the best."

Hatton's first football love is Manchester City, for whom he played as a schoolboy alongside brothers Jim and Jeff Whitley, who went on to make more than 150 league appearances for the club between them.

"I was certainly on their level at that time," added The Hitman, who used to walk to the ring to City's anthem 'Blue Moon' and regularly wore sky blue shorts in reference of his support for the club.

Hyde-ing to nothing?
Striker Matthew Beadle has scored five of Hyde's 13 FA Cup goals this season. The Tigers have beaten Congleton (4-2), Kendal Town (1-0), Warrington Town (1-1, 2-0), Boston Town (3-2) and Scarborough Athletic (2-0).	Hyde are unbeaten in 20 Northern Premier League Division One North games and are fifth in the table. MK Dons are 16th in League One and are without a league win in five matches.
Hyde United suffered a record 26-0 defeat to Preston North End in the FA Cup first round on 15 October 1887. North End were 12-0 ahead at half-time. Hyde's live match commentary service is humorously called '26nil.com'.	Tigers boss Darren Kelly, 38, was manager of League One Oldham Athletic two years ago. He was appointed Hyde manager in May 2016 with the club having suffered three relegations in four years, crowds down by 50% and about £500 in the bank.

"I've often wondered what might have been had I stuck with football but I won one or two amateur boxing titles and I was getting a reputation. No-one wanted to fight me. My attendance at football dropped."

Work commitments have restricted Hatton, 39, to just three City games this season but, if his diary allows, he hopes to make an appearance at Ewen Fields, Hyde's home, for the Northern Premier League Division One North club's biggest game in years.

This area hasn't had much to shout about. It's great people are now talking about Hyde United

Ricky Hatton

"I'm very busy, even more so now I'm retired from the ring, because I train nine boxers," added Hatton, who grew up on the nearby Hattersley estate, a spillover on the eastern outskirts of Manchester and an area made infamous for being the home of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

Just down the road, doctor Harold Shipman became notorious as Britain's worst serial killer.

"This area hasn't had many things to shout about," said Hatton, who lives in Gee Cross, a short car ride from his £2m gym in Hyde, which employs 25 people.

"I hope during my boxing career I was able to make people round here proud and it's great people are now talking about Hyde United.

Ricky Hatton met Sven-Goran Eriksson when the Swede was manager of Manchester City

"I could live anywhere but I've never lived outside a five-mile radius of Hyde. It's a working-class area full of hard-working people.

"When Muhammad Ali's people said he would be coming to open my gym, my jaw hit the floor. They cordoned the road off and people were stood outside waiting to catch a glimpse of him.

"There's a picture of us embracing. It takes pride of place in my games room. I'll never forget that day."

Painting the town red

England rugby: Eddie Jones admits injuries affecting England preparation

By Chris Jones

BBC Radio 5 live rugby reporter in Vilamoura, Portugal

• 1 hour ago
• From the sectionRugby Union
 
• 24

BBC Two will show highlights of England's three autumn Tests later this month

England's preparations for the autumn internationals have been hampered by a glut of injuries, admits head coach Eddie Jones.

Three players have picked up minor injuries during warm-weather training in Portugal, with a host of others arriving in camp carrying knocks.

"We haven't been able to do the sort of training we would like to do," Jones told BBC Sport.

"But we will just adjust, adapt, and meet the challenge in front of us."

• Autumn internationals: BBC TV, radio & online coverage times and channels
• Autumn internationals: Fixtures

Jones, whose side kick off their autumn Test campaign against Argentina on 11 November, added: "We haven't done the amount of team training we would like to do, but we will do other things. We have done a lot more off the field."

Jonny May tweaked a hamstring in training this week, while lock Joe Launchbury injured a knee and fly-half Marcus Smith is having further assessment on a foot problem.

It has been thought May was unlikely to be fit for the match with the Pumas, but Jones has not given up hope that the in-form winger will make a swift recovery.

"I'm the eternal optimist. I think he might be ready," Jones said.

"I am pushing the medical staff to get him ready, and we will wait and see."

England's Jonny May, Joe Launchbury and Marcus Smith have all picked up minor injuries during the warm-weather training in Portugal

The Leicester player - who has scored 10 tries in 9 matches this season - joins fellow wing options Jack Nowell and Elliot Daly on the sidelines.

One, if not both, of Denny Solomona and Semesa Rokoduguni are now poised to start against Argentina.

"We were looking at riches there [on the wings], and now we are a bit poor," Jones added.

"But it's going to give opportunities to Denny, and Roko, and potentially one other player."

Marland Yarde is "in contention" for a call-up, although Jones is wary of the impact made by his mid-season switch from Harlequins to Sale.

"Definitely he's in contention but we have to weigh up the fact that he's been through quite an emotional and difficult time," Jones said.

The bulk of England's British and Irish Lions contingent have been on different training programmes to the rest of the squad, a consequence of their heavy workload in the summer.

"We feel they need to be re-conditioned," Jones explained.

"A lot of them have de-conditioned, they had a short pre-season, and then we are into games, and that's not healthy.

"So we have tried to use this week to do a short re-conditioning for them. Some of them will have a longer re-conditioning than others, we are working out at the moment who does what.

"It is never ideal, but what we have to be able to do is cope with it."

Plans to extend domestic season are 'ridiculous' - Tuilagi

Ashes 2017-18: Mark Stoneman hopeful of Ben Stokes England return

• 8 hours ago
• From the sectionCricket

Stoneman hopes there's a way back for Stokes

England batsman Mark Stoneman hopes all-rounder Ben Stokes will play a part in the Ashes series in Australia "once things get settled".

Stokes, 26, will not be selected until further notice after being arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm after an incident in Bristol in September.

"I hope there's a way back and it would be great if we could have him in some part on this tour," said Stoneman, 30.

England's opening tour game against a Waca XI in Perth starts on Saturday.

The five-Test series against Australia begins in Brisbane on 23 November, and the one-day series on 14 January 2018.

• England's Ashes schedule & squad

Last week two men said Stokes was defending them from homophobic abuse when he was arrested following the incident outside a nightclub on 25 September.

Stoneman, a former team-mate of Stokes at Durham, told BBC Sport: "It was pretty devastating the events that unfolded.

"I've seen him since and spoken a couple of times.

"I've spent a lot of time with him, especially in the early part of the career. He's a fantastic guy. He's one of the great guys to be around.

"A player of that quality you are going to miss in any environment. It's something that we've accepted, so we have to crack on.

"If he is not available then we'll be putting out an XI that will be going out to win a game of cricket."

Surrey left-hander Stoneman is on his first Ashes tour, having scored 120 runs in five innings after making his Test debut against West Indies in August.

"There will be a few verbals and no doubts some of their quicks will be sending a few deliveries around the lugholes," he said.

"It's all part of what the Ashes is all about."

England all-rounder Moeen Ali and pace bowler Steven Finn, who have a side strain and knee injury respectively, will have scans on Friday and are not expected to feature in the two-day warm-up match at the Waca (02:30 GMT).

England also play two four-day matches against a Cricket Australia XI before the opening Test.

Meet the singer Taylor Swift calls 'little sis'

Image copyrightSONY MUSIC / BLACK RIVER

Image captionKelsea Ballerini: "I grew up on a farm in Eastern Tennessee and country is where my roots are"

Earlier this year, Kelsea Ballerini got to go to the Grammys for the first time.

The 24-year-old was up for best new artist, and scheduled to perform with Lukas Graham - but she was still a little star-struck.

"My mum was my date - and we were both sitting there fan-girling like, 'Oh my God, that's Adele! Don't look! Don't look!'"

Ballerini, it turns out, is not the sort of person who keeps her cool when she meets an idol.

"The first time I met Carrie Underwood was at the Opry, before I had a record deal," she recalls.

"I was waiting backstage with a bunch of people to say hello and finally it was my turn.

"I was going to say something normal - but then I saw her and went "Girl! You got so much sooouul!".

"Of all the things I could have said, that's what I chose," she grimaces. "It was very weird."

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionThe singer promised her mum, Carla, she'd take her to the Grammys when she was 13 years old

Awkward celebrity encounters aside, Ballerini has been living in a fairytale for the last few years.

She released her debut album, The First Time, in 2015 and watched its first three singles go to number one on Billboard's country airplay chart - an historic achievement for a female artist.

• Maren Morris: Country's newest star
• Has Nashville conquered the UK?

The bubbly, vivacious melodies and autobiographical lyrics of Love Me Like You Mean It and Peter Pan won comparisons to Taylor Swift, who quickly befriended the artist (she calls Ballerini her "little sis") and invited her onto her 1989 world tour.

That led to her Grammy appearance and, at next week's Country Music Association Awards, a nomination for female artist of the year.

All told, it's turned out pretty well for someone who was shunned by the establishment when she first arrived in Nashville.

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"I could not get into a room with a hit writer to save my life," she recalls of making her first album.

"I was a new girl, on an independent label and those were two strikes against me. No-one would write with me."

It turned out to be a blessing. Left to her own devices, Ballerini, whose first concert was Britney Spears, channelled her love of pop and R&B into the album, giving her songs a vitality and immediacy that's sometimes missing from traditional country.

The star's co-producer, Forest Glen Whitehead, even refers to her as a "country Beyonce".

"I grew up on a farm in Eastern Tennessee and country is where my roots are," explains the singer, "but I listen to rap and I listen to R&B and I love pop.

"I've always been open about that because, as a songwriter, I always want to make sure that I'm trying new things."

Image copyrightSONY MUSIC / BLACK RIVER

Image captionThe singer moved to Nashville aged 15 with her mother but struggled to be accepted by the country music establishment

Despite the strength of her singles, Ballerini still faced an uphill struggle in the insular world of country.

Her debut came out in the midst of what's been called "tomato-gate", where radio consultant Keith Hill advised stations not to play too many songs by women and not to play two women back to back.

"If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out," he told trade publication Country Radio Aircheck. "They're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females."

Like many others, Ballerini was perplexed by his comments.

"When you think of country music history obviously you have George Jones, Garth Brooks, George Strait - all these iconic males. But you cannot talk about the history of country music without Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Shania Twain. I mean some of the biggest artists in country music history are female."

In the end, she thinks, the uproar over Hill's comments helped her cause.

"Love Me Like You Mean It was in the top five when tomato-gate came out - and I think radio stations went, 'Well, watch this!' and helped me get to number one."

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

But how do you follow up such a successful debut? With great difficulty, says Ballerini.

"I didn't know how to make my second record for a long time.

"The first one worked so well that I was like, 'How do I make that record again?' And then I realised I can't. That's not who I am any more."

The answer was simple: Write an album about the person she's become - and luckily Ballerini had a lot of material to draw on.

No more love songs?

Unapologetically, released this Friday, is the chronological story of the last two years, as the singer left behind a "gross break-up" and got engaged to fellow country singer Morgan Evans.

One of the first tracks is Miss Me More, a slinky stomp in which the singer describes how her ex-boyfriend slowly eroded her identity.

"I retired my red lipstick 'cause you said you didn't like it," she sings. "I didn't wear my high heel shoes / 'Cause I couldn't be taller than you."

"In a lot of young relationships, you fall in love for the first time and you give every part of yourself to make it work," she explains. "But sometimes, when it's not treated right, that's how you lose yourself.

"I think it's really a beautiful moment when you get to the other side, and you're looking in the mirror and you're like, 'Huh, I thought I was going to miss him but - actually - I miss me!'"