Outside Edge: Bright spots and night spots

An uneasy calm reigns on the footballers' party front. The loudest thing about the Manchester City do the other Saturday was the clothing; apparently bored of light blue, the players turned out in garish polka-dot outfits. There was a no-show from Carlos Tevez, despite the fact that he had organised the event. Perhaps the (by now probably former) captain couldn't face being spotted out on the town. There were plenty of bleary eyes but no misbehaviour as some of the Spurs team left a West End nightclub in the early hours of Thursday. It may be easier for their manager, Harry Redknapp, to keep tabs on them next year, as Jermain Defoe's mother has submitted a planning application to build a nightclub in the basement of her Essex mansion. When West Ham signed the 16-year-old Defoe from Charlton 12 years ago, 'Arry was manager at Upton Park. Apparently the deal-clincher was a promise to buy Defoe's mum a fridge. Let's hope the relationship hasn't cooled.

12th

England's 2011 ranking among the teams who compete for the Homeless World Cup, a drop of two places after coming 15th out of 68 in the recent tournament in Brazil. Expect an improvement as the recession bites.

Wigan pieman eats into record

After mentioning the competitive eating scene in the States recently, Edge is pleased to report a record-breaking feat on British soil last week. Neil Collier stormed to victory in the annual World Pie-Eating Championship at Harry's Bar in Wigan. The 42-year-old civil servant from Bolton outguzzled the other 17 competitors by downing his traditional pastry, meat and gravy concoction in 23.91 seconds, demolishing the previous record by nearly 12sec. Curiously, the website whoateallthepies.tv have yet to mention the event, sticking rigidly to their footballing brief; coincidentally this week's offerings include an in-depth look at Wigan FC, plus a photo-feature entitled Premier League Managers When They Were Young. Worth a visit just to see Mick McCarthy's moustache and Ian Holloway's falsetto-inducing shorts in his Bristol Rovers days. He'll never find himself in a tighter squeeze as a manager.

Good week

William Trubridge, the New Zealander became the firstfreediver to reach 100 metres and return unassisted, holding his breath for 4min 10sec... Madron FC, the Cornish side who let in 77 goals in two games will get training help from Plymouth Argyle's manager, Peter Reid... and Robbie Savage, the Derby County footballer's newspaper column has won the sports category in the Plain English Campaign Media Awards.

Bad week

Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback's record of starting 297 consecutive NFL games dating back to 1992 was ended by injury... Paul Nicholls, the champion National Hunt trainer's multiple Grade One winner Twist Magic had to be put down after falling when leading the Peterborough Chase at Newbury... and Baron Davis, a basketball player for the LA Clippers, whose owner, Donald Sterling, has taken to heckling him at home games from his courtside seat.

Fair game for Paris, dark days in Oz

Blondes are reputed to have more fun, and the party-loving hotel heiress Paris Hilton appears to have dedicated her life to proving the proposition. Her latest wheeze is to enter a team in next year's 125cc MotoGP series, though for once she won't be getting into the saddle herself. An Australian blonde, Simone Callaghan, is less happy with life at the moment, as sharing a name and good looks with the ex-Mrs Shane Warne is leading to confusion and relentless media hounding. "Whenever there's a drama with Warne they'll contact me, and knowing Warne there's always a drama," she said. Another Australian fair is also fed up: the spinner Nathan Hauritz, dropped from Australia's Ashes squad in favour of the unknowns Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer, was spotted last week sitting outside his front door with a big cardboard box, getting shot of all his Cricket Australia-branded gear. No more blond ambition for him, it seems.