The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has appointed TSE Consulting, ailment the international management consulting firm specialised in sport, and to expand wrestling worldwide.

Their initial agreement covers a period of 12-months starting in April 2013.

There is widespread discussion throughout the wrestling community suggesting various changes be made to FILA and the sport itself. FILA believes that putting a strategic plan in place will ensure that the leadership remains focused and that a common framework is created within which the sport, sale represented by the national governing bodies around the world, can work together towards common goals for the future.

TSE has vast experience working with international federations on their strategic planning. For example, they lead the development and implementation for both the IAAF Athletics World Plan and the World Archery Plan, among many other organisations at both the international and national level.

Acting President of FILA, Mr. Nenad Lalovic, commented: “We need to renew our organisation and our sport to ensure a stronger future. A long term strategic plan is exactly what we need right now to deal with the challenges that we are faced with. TSE Consulting was recommended to us from a variety of sources and their extensive experience working with other international sports organisations speaks for itself. It is good for our sport to be working with such professionals and I believe that the future for wrestling will benefit tremendously.”

Mr. Lars Haue-Pedersen, TSE Managing Director, commented: “The development of a new strategic plan for not only FILA, but for the sport worldwide, is a fantastic opportunity. It will modernize the sport and ensure it remains relevant for a broad audience and the various worldwide stakeholders in the coming years. Strategic planning is often difficult for a sports organisation as it requires a lot of dedication and commitment to change. Wrestling is ready for this challenge and we look forward to working with them.”

London Welsh have confirmed they are not currently in negotiations over the purchase of the Kassam Stadium – their home stadium in Oxford.

This statement is subsequent to the lead story this morning on the ‘BBC Radio Oxford Breakfast Show’ with Phil Gayle. This news item referred to a recent radio interview with John Taylor, former Managing Director of London Welsh, who was quoted as saying that the club were in active negotiations to look at the possibility of buying the Kassam. This information is incorrect according to the Rugby Union side.

Tony Copsey CEO of London Welsh has replied today: “There is no doubt that we as a club have enjoyed a very successful start to playing our home matches at the Kassam Stadium. We have worked hard to begin bedding into the local community in Oxfordshire.

“Achieving an over 10,000 crowd at the recent Wasp’s match, supports our belief that there is a good appetite for Rugby in the Oxfordshire area. However any talk of us as a club buying the Kassam, is premature at best. Our immediate focus is on Premiership survival and developing our club as a business to compete within the top echelons of English Rugby. Certainly any purchase of the Kassam in the future, if we remain in the Premiership, would be something we would consider, but not without consultation with many stake holders including Oxford United Football Club.”

The International Rugby Board has confirmed that the next two editions of its premier age-grade tournament, the IRB Junior World Championship, will be held in New Zealand and Italy in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

While it will be the first time that New Zealand will have the honour of hosting the IRB Junior World Championship, it will be the second time the tournament visits Italy after a hugely successful 2011 edition in the Veneto Region.

New Zealand won the prestigious Under 20 title four times in succession and will hope to reclaim the crown they lost to South Africa in 2012, in order to welcome the world’s best teams to their shores as defending champions in 2014.

The awarding of the next two editions of the showcase global age-grade event by the IRB Council after a robust tender process, reaffirms the IRB’s commitment to provide future hosts with a longer lead-in time to maximise the benefits of delivering and hosting an event that is firmly established on the international Rugby calendar.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset welcomed the decision and said that the announcement is set to usher in a stellar future for the IRB Junior World Championship, following a record-breaking event in South Africa in 2012 and what promises to be a spectacular tournament in northern France in 2013.

“We are delighted to announce that New Zealand and Italy will be hosting the IRB Junior World Championship in 2014 and 2015 respectively. I’m sure that the teams and travelling fans will be treated to high-quality tournaments set against a backdrop of outstanding hospitality and atmosphere in both countries,” said Lapasset.

“The IRB Junior World Championship, which continues to break new ground in broadcast and attendance records year-on-year, is hugely important to the IRB in terms of providing a competition and education platform for the next generation of stars to showcase their skills on the international stage and develop into truly elite players.”

“New Zealand and Italy certainly have all the facilities and infrastructure to ensure that the tournament will be organised to a very high standard, which is vital for its further growth.”

“The strategic decision to announce future hosts well in advance will give the respective Unions the best-possible platform to prepare an exceptional event for the future stars of world Rugby and maximise the benefits and impacts of hosting this wonderful event to attract more men, women and children to the sport.”

The announcement of host country for the 2016 tournament will be made at a later date.

New Zealand will welcome the world’s best Under 20 players to its shores in 2014 less than three years after the phenomenally successful Rugby World Cup 2011 and the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) is keen to build on that momentum.

NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew said: “We are very proud to be given the rights to host yet another important tournament in the international Rugby calendar. We proved to the world last year how well we as a nation could deliver a complex global sporting event and I am sure we will again deliver an excellent tournament that does the country proud.”

Matches will be played in the Auckland region, at North Harbour Stadium in Albany and the ECOLight Stadium in Pukekohe. Eden Park is also being considered as a possible venue for the final.

Rugby World Cup winner and former IRB Junior Player of the Year Aaron Cruden is one of more than 180 players who have graduated from the IRB Junior World Championship to the Test arena since the inaugural tournament in 2008.

The All Black fly half captained New Zealand to the JWC title in 2009 and just two years later was part of the team that lifted the Webb Ellis Cup on home soil, so is excited by the prospect of New Zealand hosting the 2014 tournament.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for all players as the Junior World Championship provides a real springboard to higher honours. It certainly helped me to go on and realise my dream of becoming an All Black,” said Cruden, one of nine All Blacks to have cut their teeth at JWC level.

“New Zealand really turned it on for players from around the world at Rugby World Cup 2011 and I know we’ll be great hosts again in 2014.”

Italy will host the next edition just months before Rugby World Cup 2015 kicks off and looks set to whet the appetite for what is going to be an action-packed year for world-class Rugby.

“To host again the IRB Junior World Championship in Italy in 2015 is a great honour and privilege for us,” said Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) President Alfredo Gavazzi.

“The 2011 tournament in the Veneto Region was very successful and proved how Rugby has grown in our country at all levels of the game. We are committed to improving the quality of the Championship we hosted in 2011, both in terms of figures and organising standards.”

“This is going to be both a privilege and a challenge for our Union. Our focus will be delivering an unforgettable edition of the world’s top junior Rugby tournament to our country and to the whole Rugby family, while also showing that Italy is now ready to host more and more prestigious Rugby events.”

Thirteen players have graduated from the IRB Junior World Championship to Test Rugby with Italy, the most capped of them being former Under 20 captain Tommaso Benvenuti.

“The tournament was a great experience for me, both as a player and a young man. It represents a key moment in the career of emerging players who want to develop at the highest level,” said Benvenuti.

“I’m especially happy to know that in 2015 many young, talented Italian players will be allowed to experience such an important moment in front of their home crowd.”

Australian architect Bob Harrison is to build a world-class 18-hole golf course on the small Scottish Hebridean island of Jura.

The course will become part of the 14, anabolics 000-acre Ardfin Estate, unhealthy which occupies the southern tip of an island best known for its single malt scotch whiskey and with a current population of just 180. In announcing the new development Harrison described the Ardfin site as the “most beautiful I have ever seen in my time in golf”.

Harrison is one of Australia’s most respected golf course architects, sale having designed 9 of the country’s Top 100 courses during his tenure as lead designer with Greg Norman Golf Course Design – including 3 of the Top 10. Four of his courses were ranked among the Top 100 in the world outside the USA (2012) by Golf Digest Magazine.

A 30-year industry veteran, Harrison noted that he had been fortunate over the years to work on some spectacular sites in Asia, the USA and Australia, but said “Nothing I’ve seen anywhere in the world competes with the sheer beauty of the Jura site. I love Scotland in general and, by a pleasant coincidence, had been a devoted fan of The Machrie Golf Course on nearby Islay for many years. Jura has become my favourite place on earth.”

The routing at Ardfin will be arranged in two loops along the edge of a series of elevated bluffs. There will be spectacular views across the ocean from every corner of the property. Designed to cause minimal disturbance to the coastal landscape, Harrison’s holes will be ‘dropped’ onto existing fields, and constructed without substantially modifying the form of the land.

Harrison stresses the determination to remain naturalistic by “preserving all of the existing burns which cross the fields, and the large areas of particularly sensitive wilderness (such as wetlands) even where they lie within the playing areas of individual golf holes. Ancient stone walls on the site will be incorporated into the design, while new walls along with the beautiful cliffs will dictate the strategy for many holes by asking players to choose a brave line if they hope to reach a short par 4 or gain a better angle of approach. The strategy in many places will resemble holes like the 14th at St Andrews and the 13th at North Berwick.”

Olympic sponsor adidas have agreed a deal with the Metro to have cover wraps on every edition of the English publication during the Olympics, help at a cost of £2.25m ($3.52m): making it the largest print campaign Adidas has ever run.

The cover will run on the 17 ‘main’ days of the Olympics, starting tomorrow, and will feature illustrations of stars such as Jessica Ennis, Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Tom Daley; each scheduled to appear on the day that pictured athlete is competing.

The campaign was created by ad agency Sid Lee, with media buying handled by Carat.

Nick Craggs, UK marketing director at adidas, told the Guardian: “A consecutive cover wrap of this scale has never been done before, and demonstrates our commitment to driving stand-out as a partner of London 2012.”

Arcadius Sports Ltd have announced it has reached agreement to acquire a minority interest in RPD Motorsport Ltd (“RPD Motorsport”) for an undisclosed fee.

RPD Motorsport, cheap pills founded in 2007 is an Essex based racing team currently focused on the Formula Renault series in the United Kingdom as well as providing technical training courses in motorsport and car rebuild services. RPD Motorsport has competed in the BARC Formula Renault Series over the past few seasons and hopes to expand to run additionally in the newly formed, doctor live televised Formula Renault Junior Series in 2012.

The Company will acquire a minority shareholding in return for the injection of an undisclosed amount of capital allowing RPD Motorsport to grow its business and provide a wider range of options to its clients both for full season racing and testing programs as well as one-off test days. RPD Motorsport is currently looking for drivers to participate in the BARC Formula Renault and Formula Renault Junior Series for 2012.

Chris Starling of Arcadius Sports, said: “We have been incredibly impressed with the RPD Motorsport team as we have worked with them over the past year. Despite being formed in 2007 the team has managed to develop a reputation for providing a high quality service and we believe the team has the potential to grow over the next few years both within the Formula Renault series and beyond and we are delighted to have signed an agreement to assist in their development. The RPD team has worked incredibly well with our own drivers in 2011 so we are confident of the high standards they have set themselves”

After it was reported that new BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten was willing to drop one of the broadcasters major sporting agreements in a bid to cut the company’s budget, it has been widely suggested that it’s Formula One coverage could be the one to go.

The BBC is searching for ways to cut costs in the wake of the recent licence fee settlement and Patten holds the BBC World Service in the highest regard and is willing to trim its sports coverage in order to save BBC Four, according to the latest rumblings.

Lord Patten had recently indicated the corporation was thinking about closing one of its digital television channels as a money-saving measure, however it has now emerged that others at the BBC have different ideas about how it can trim its budget to cope with the financial realities of the licence fee being frozen until 2017.

A source told the Sunday Times, senior executives are thinking about dropping its F1 coverage when the current contract expires in 2013 and will include the idea in a detailed cuts proposal to be presented to the BBC Trust later this year.

The corporation pays £60 million a year for the rights to the 19 F1 races and the cost of covering F1 is believed to be more than the entire annual budget for BBC Four, which would be saved if the broadcaster goes ahead with the plan to drop the motor racing.

Axing F1 from the schedules would allow it to continue showing Wimbledon and Match of the Day.

 

The reports have led to angry responses from some of the highest profile professionals at F1 and chief Bernie Ecclestone has insisted that he will push to convince the BBC to renew its £200m deal to stay as Formula 1’s UK broadcaster.

 

Ecclestone stated: “We want Formula One to stay free to viewers. That is 100%. The BBC have done a great job for us and we like their shows and the people obviously like it because so many are watching. They did warn me that they were facing problems but, so far, nothing more has been said. I hope they want to keep us because it is such a success and I will do my best to keep Formula 1 on the BBC.”

 

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has also urged the BBC to rebid for Formula 1 when its five-year deal expires in 2013, hitting out at what he claims are “significant inaccuracies” in a Sunday newspaper report alleging the corporation is poised to axe the sport as part of its cost-saving drive.

Following the publication of an article written by Prashant Dayal in the Times of India claiming corruption activities in the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup match between Australia and Zimbabwe, prostate  ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has made the following statement.

“An article by Mr Dayal in yesterday’s newspaper made a number of claims about an ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 match between Australia and Zimbabwe that can only be described as fictional.

“We do not comment on the activities of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and for good reason. However, after several misleading and downright false stories appearing in recent weeks it is time for us to show our displeasure and expose those responsible for affecting the integrity of the media.

“It is also patently false of the reporter to claim that the ICC ever suggested to it that the match was corrupted. The ICC confirms that, in terms of its policy, at no stage did anyone from the ICC speak to the journalist on this topic.

“To uphold the integrity of the media I expect Mr Dayal and the Times of India to retract such baseless stories.”

London will have to wait to find out if the NFL will return again next season.

The San Francisco 49ers came from behind to beat the Denver Broncos 24-16 on Sunday night in the fourth regular-season game to be played at Wembley. However, it is unclear if the NFL will be able to return to London next year.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in terms of learning from what happened here and getting feedback from players, officials and coaches on how this works and we’ll continue to do that,” NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood said. “But we won’t be able to move forward on the International Series until the collective bargaining agreement is reached.”

National Hockely League team Arizona Coyotes have hired Darcy Regier as their new Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager. 

“We are very pleased Darcy has decided to join us in Arizona,” said Maloney. “Darcy adds intelligence and experience to our management team. The wealth of knowledge he has garnered as a long time General Manager in the National Hockey League is invaluable to us. He is a great addition to our staff.” 

Prior to joining the Coyotes, Regier spent 17 years as the General Manager for the Buffalo Sabres, which was the longest tenure of any GM in the franchise’s 44-year history. Under his guidance, the Sabres advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999 and made four Eastern Conference Final appearances (1998, 1999, 2006 and 2007). 

While with the Sabres, the 58-year-old Regier oversaw all aspects of Buffalo’s hockey operations, as well as the Rochester Americans, its AHL affiliate.  

Previously, the Swift Current, Saskatchewan native served in roles with the New York Islanders as director of hockey administration, assistant coach, and assistant general manager.