Manchester have shown little or no regard for the Rugby World Cup by staging rugby league’s Grand Final at Old Trafford on the same day as England play Uruguay in their last group game at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

And this ridiculous clash of rugby codes in Manchester on October 10 — when police never allow United and City home games to clash — follows Old Trafford opting out of hosting three proposed Rugby World Cup games, having supported the bid.

England Rugby 2015 were partially rescued by City putting on one England game but lost out on the use of the stadium with the highest capacity in the Premier League for two fixtures.

Manchester have shown little or no regard for World Cup by staging rugby league’s Grand Final at Old Trafford

United accommodating the Grand Final —with all the Super League ballyhoo that entails, including British indie band The Charlatans playing during the interval — will certainly succeed in drawing attention away from the England team.

Sir Alex Ferguson, former United manager, has to take a lot of responsibility for the United U-turn — not wanting a union game on his precious pitch, having witnessed how much it was cut up when England played Argentina there in 2009.

Fergie was less concerned about damage done by rugby league because it is mainly played on top of the surface rather than through it. But United are making Fergie’s World Cup snub all the worse by shamelessly staging the rugby league showcase as a rival attraction.

A United spokesman said: ‘There’s no doubt rugby league is less harmful to our pitch but we didn’t set the date for the Grand Final.’

The game is on same day as England play Uruguay in last group game at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium

There seems to be one rule for Thierry Henry and another for other Sky football pundits — and not just over pay. Jamie Redknapp was blocked by Sky from taking up an unpaid, part-time coaching role with Chelsea’s reserve team as part of his coaching badge qualification.

They said at the time they didn’t want one of their main football voices compromised by working with a club. Yet Henry, studying for his UEFA B licence, has been taking training sessions with Arsenal Under 19’s ahead of their UEFA Youth league campaign that started last night away at Dinamo Zagreb. Sky said there was no issue with £4million-a-year Henry’s moonlighting and that Redknapp’s issue occurred under different management.

There seems to be one rule for Thierry Henry (right) and another for Sky football pundits like Jamie Redknapp

With government sports strategy determined to increase participation, it was interesting to watch the All Blacks play touch rugby — an ideal introduction to the game — as part of their training warm-up routine.

It was interesting to watch the All Blacks (pictured) play touch rugby as part of their training warm-up routine

The TUC Congress had FIFA reform on their agenda on Wednesday. It would have been far more relevant to have debated why one of their unions, the Professional Footballers Association, paid chief executive Gordon Taylor — the highest-paid union official in the world —a £2million bonus in 2014 for long service.

The TUC Congress should have debated why Gordon Taylor received a £2m bonus in 2014 for long service

Tasteless Shaw picture

Gary and Phil Neville, along with Gary Lineker, are ambassadors of social media platform BreatheSport — founded by former county cricketer Luke Sutton, who manages England’s Jimmy Anderson.

The trio should be embarrassed to be associated with the sports debate site after a Breathesport instagram post following Luke Shaw’s horrific broken leg suffered during United’s Champions league defeat.

It pictured a tree trunk split to a 45-degree angle with the tasteless comment: ‘Luke Shaw’s injury from a different angle.’ Sutton said: ‘There were a couple of complaints, the post was removed.’

BreatheSport should be ashamed for an Instagram snap they posted following Luke Shaw's horrific injury

The start of the Rugby World Cup on Friday has been excuse enough for the all-party parliamentary rugby team to bunk off Westminster to play their own tournament, featuring three games in five days this week.

The start of the World Cup on Friday has allowed all-party parliamentary rugby team to bunk off Westminster

The lame response from Zurich to the scandal of President Sepp Blatter’s signature being on FIFA contracts selling World Cup TV rights for 2010 and 2014 to Jack Warner for knockdown prices — allowing him to make an £11m profit — was that it was a profit share deal on which Warner reneged before it was cancelled in 2011. Yet that termination only followed Warner being banished from football.