HELEN CHAMBERLAIN left "Soccer AM" after 22 years as host of the Sky TV show. She first presented the show alongside TIM LOVEJOY in '95, which "catapulted her to fame among the football community." Comedian LLOYD GRIFFITH and former Fulham, Wigan and Hull midfielder JIMMY BULLARD will join Soccer AM from September (London EVENING STANDARD, 8/8). ... Scotland national rugby team dropped ADAM WALKER from its provisional squad for this year's World Cup after the player "failed a drugs test." The 26-year-old tested positive for cocaine after his Super League club, Wakefield Trinity, beat Widnes on July 14 and "was suspended" by his club and Rugby Football League (BBC, 8/8). ... Endurance athlete DOUGLAS WAYMARK died while attempting to swim the English Channel. Waymark, who had previously reached the summit of Mount Everest, "was taking part in the near-300-mile Enduroman Arch to Arc triathlon when he got into difficulty on Monday night" (London GUARDIAN, 8/8). ... Former Formula 1 driver JACKIE STEWART criticized complaints about F1 introducing the halo cockpit protection device for '18. The triple F1 world champion led a safety campaign in the '60s that "met a backlash at the time, and feels halo critics are comparable to his opponents back then." Stewart: "My view is: if you can save a life ... and if some of these people had been to as many funerals as I've been to and wept as much as I have and seen close friends die [they wouldn't object]" (AUTOSPORT, 8/7).
