Sporting group fails to finish meal (3)
I believe the answer is:
tea
'meal' is the definition.
(tea is a type of meal)
'sporting group fails to finish' is the wordplay.
'sporting group' becomes 'team' (a sports team).
'fails to finish' means to remove the last letter.
'team' with its final letter removed is 'TEA'.
(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "leaves much to be desired?" , "brewer's product" , "Beverage from leaves" , "Refresher course" , "going to pot?" .)