Fulham FC Foundation and Barclays Spaces for Sports (BS4S) have announced a new three-year partnership that sees the two organisations collaborating to provide a football and sport employability development programme for local people.

Targeting young people not in education, shop employment or training (NEETS), capsule it aims to increase employment opportunities for 300 16-25 year olds by helping them develop life skills such as communication and team work, as well as giving them work related training. 

With a £350,000 investment from Barclays, young people in Surrey and South, West and Central London will take part in a series of 10 week programmes providing the opportunity to improve employability skills and confidence and gain accreditations to help them enter or return to the labour market. Participants will benefit from a range of interventions, including: work related learning (through volunteering), CV writing workshops, careers talks and tours, money  management skills, literacy/numeracy/IT lessons alongside sporting activity. Barclays employees will be encouraged to volunteer to mentor participants in the programme. 

Fulham FC Foundation has designed this bespoke football and sport employability programme in partnership with BS4S and will engage with local small and medium size businesses to facilitate employment opportunities for graduates of the programme. 

David Wheldon, Head of Brand, Reputation and Citizenship, Barclays commented: “As part of our Citizenship agenda Barclays plays a broader role in the communities in which we live and work beyond what we deliver through our core business activities; we do this through community investment programmes and the direct efforts of our employees. By empowering young people with appropriate skills we can help them achieve economic independence and security now and in the future.  We are delighted to be partnering with Fulham FC Foundation on this unique programme which brings together the independent interests and expertise of each organisation to do just that.” 

Steven Day, Chief Executive, Fulham FC Foundation said: “Fulham FC Foundation is very excited to be working with such a prestigious organisation as Barclays. This innovative new programme underlines the club’s philosophy of working alongside the local community to assist in ‘building better lives through sport’. This programme adds another element to our portfolio of sports and education activities, through which we engage with in excess of 6,000 young people a month.  We will use our expertise in this field to ensure that this project and partnership is a great success. We will hopefully start to see this through the development of the young people in and around London who are participating, gaining employability skills and are supported to get back into work or training.” 

Danny Murphy, Fulham Football Club Captain added: “This fantastic new three-year project partnership between the Fulham FC Foundation and Barclays Spaces for Sports will help young people to enhance their skill sets to either get back into a training programme or to gain employment. To see two well-known organisations using the power of football to develop and deliver a rewarding programme is very encouraging, and I am delighted to support it.”

by Ismail Uddin

France has beaten competition from Spain in being awarded the right to host the Ryder Cup in 2018

The competition will be played at Le Golf National near Paris, a highly-regarded stadium course famous for its dramatic use of water – particularly on the back nine – and the outstanding spectator viewing.

Spain was the last nation to stage the event in mainland Europe back in 1997 when the late, great Seve Ballesteros captained Europe to a memorable victory at Valderrama.

Many had predicted that Spain would be awarded the hosting rights again in tribute to Ballesteros but instead the French bid – funded in part by a one-euro levy paid by every registered golfer in the country – won out over rival bids including Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.

The European Tour appear to be preparing to honour the charismatic Spaniard in a different way, however, with a statement on the Tour’s website confirming that they are considering changing the Tour logo to show Ballesteros instead of legendary English golfer Harry Vardon.

Formula One racing team, see Williams are pushing through with stock flotation plans and  Williams Grand Prix Holdings Plc are offering shares at a rate of 24  – 29 euros (US$32.7 – $39.5) apiece.

The individual share prices mean that the company is valued at $361m at the mid-point of the pricing according to a statement emailed today, February 9.

Williams F1 isn’t raising new capital in the offering, which enables existing shareholders to sell down part of their holding “to allow investor participation.”

Penske Racing have secured their third new sponsorship deal of recent times. Although founder Roger Penske failed to obtain full-season primary sponsors for all three of his IndyCar drivers the team are adding the money together from recent sponsorship contracts so they can race a full schedule.

Izod, a sports clothing company, has been signed as a sponsor for all three of Penske’s IndyCar entries ahead of the new season. The company will become the primary sponsor of the No. 6 car of Ryan Briscoe, though it will be an associate of all three cars throughout the 2011 season.

Team Penske Presient, Tim Cindric spoke of the teams sponsorship intentions: “Our first mission was to keep all three guys and provide them with a full season next year and it wasn’t really until about a month ago that we felt pretty strongly that we could do that,

“We see ourselves continuing to build a la NASCAR. We have Verizon for a full year and the other two we won’t have a full season of sponsorship.”

Penske’s team is the best-known in the IndyCar Series.

ZOLL Medical Corporation, cialis a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, viagra buy has announced a partnership with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the organisation to use ZOLL AED Plus devices to distribute to its 47 member associations across Asia to protect their football players in the event of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

The AED Plus units will be present during all football matches. In all matches sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), of which AFC is a member, a match cannot start without the presence of an AED at the bench of the 4th official.

Dato’ Alex Soosay, AFC General Secretary, commented that at the recent South Asian Football Federation Championship Games in Nepal, immediate use of AED equipment saved the life of a player from Afghanistan who had a cardiac arrest during the match between Nepal and Afghanistan. Thus, such incidents reflect the importance of collaboration and investment in medical equipment.

He explained that one of the key reasons that the AFC selected the AED Plus is its Real CPR Help feature, real-time audio and visual feedback that guides the rescuer to the correct depth and rate of chest compressions. Not all victims of sudden cardiac arrest will need a shock, but all will need CPR.

“The AED Plus is simple to operate and user friendly, even to the layman,” said Dato’ Alex. “Its availability in multiple languages provides added user confidence. The AFC Medical Committee unanimously endorsed its use.”

The ICC Champions Trophy Local Organising Committee have appointed Two Circles, viagra a customer data consultancy, medstore who specialise in enabling sports rights holders to drive their commercial growth.

The appointment is highly significant and indicates the strategic importance the Local Organising Committee is placing on creating great customer experiences for the cricket fan in 2013.

Next summer will be an English cricketing summer and the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 will offer the chance to attend a global cricketing tournament bringing together the world’s best 8 one day teams.

Two Circles will help develop a sophisticated ticket sales & marketing strategy. The data driven strategy will profile existing and new cricket customer segments to identify who these customers are, viagra buy what & when they will purchase and the key barriers to purchase allowing marketing activity to be targeted & personalised. Two Circles will operate a data warehouse which will capture ticket transactions & campaign results allowing measurement & optimisation in real time. The project is designed to create great customer experiences and achieve ticket sales targets.

Tournament Director, Steve Elworthy commented: “The Olympics showed the importance of full stadiums and arenas to create the best atmosphere for top class sport. Cricket will take centre stage in 2013 and we have to plan ahead to take full advantage of this opportunity and promote what a great day out the ICC Champions Trophy will be with capacity  crowds.  We are extremely confident that working with Two Circles will enable us to achieve that goal.”

Gareth Balch, Director of Two Circles said: “It is great to be given the chance to work on such an important global event and an exciting challenge for us.  The new techniques and sophisticated tools that we will use to sell tickets should result in a groundbreaking approach to selling global tournament tickets. International cricket tournaments present a particularly unique challenge targeting the very wide range of fans that are passionate about the game.”

Two Circles is the leading exponent of data driven marketing specialising in the sports marketing sector.  The agency has worked very closely with major sports rights holders such as Manchester City, the England and Wales Cricket Board, Harlequins, Ascot Racecourse and the Youth Sport Trust.

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) is set for a major revamp after all 12 clubs unanimously agreed on plans to restructure the top flight of Scottish football.

Following last month’s talks, the SPL decided to seek the expansion of their membership, with a proposal to split the two leagues into three divisions of eight after 22 games.

After Monday’s three-hour meeting at Hampden, SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster revealed there had been full support for a new “24-18” team model.

This would involve the top flight divided into two divisions of 12 teams. The ’18’ refers to the remaining Scottish Football League clubs not included in the top leagues.

Doncaster told Sky Sports: “I’m delighted to say that we have unanimous agreement in principle from the 12 SPL member clubs to the 24-18 team model.

“We are looking forward to sitting down with the Scottish Football League and the Scottish FA to talk about the details.

“What we aim to have is a consensus model that cares for all of Scottish football and that’s got to be the objective going forward.”

These proposals will now be discussed with the SFA and SFL on Thursday.

The SFL’s 30 clubs have previously voted in favour of three leagues, comprising of 16, 10 and 16. The SPL has spoken informally to SFL clubs and it is felt there is sufficient support for the changes.

Manchester City have begun work on a £100million-plus training complex, unhealthy which will open prior to the start of the 2014-25 Premier League season.

The new 80-acre site facing the Etihad Stadium will be transformed with 16 football pitches, order a 7,000-capacity stadium for youth and reserve-team matches and a first-team training building.

The facilities will contain an indoor pitch, classrooms for 200 youth-team players, accommodation and staff offices.

The reigning English champions have provided 5.5 acres on the corner of the site to the local council, where a sixth form college will be built, as well as £3 million for public leisure facilities.

The club spend several months studying and researching an estimated 30 clubs, in various sports, from around the globe before conjuring up blueprints on the development, which has been named ‘City Football Academy’

Patrick Vieira, Manchester City’s Football Development Executive and Arsenal legend, said:  “What I find really exciting is that before designing the facilities they have been to the football world, the basketball world and the NFL world, so a lot of hard work has been done.

That is why I believe it is the best project around in all sports.”

Having spent vast sums of money on players again during the transfer window, the project plans are part of the club’s attempt to become self-sustaining in the light of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules (FFP).

Uefa, who last week upheld prize money from 23 clubs, have excluded infrastructure, training facilities and youth development costs are excluded from the FFP equation, therefore City’s multi-million will not be factored by the time the rules are enforced from 2014.

 

The consortium seeking to rescue Bradford Bulls have formally submitted their bid, buy administrator Brendan Guilfoyle has confirmed.

Administrator Brendan Guilfoyle confirmed the consortium had submitted a bid to buy the club, ampoule but also says the offer is a conditional one. The lease for Odsal Stadium must be sold back to the club, and the Bulls must have assurances from the RFL over the Super League future of the club. 

The new buyers are a group of Asian businessmen from the Bradford area, and are known only as the ABC consortium.

Guilfoyle said: “The consortium has made an offer that is a basis for negotiations with both the administrators and the Rugby Football League.

“Their offer is conditional on the RFL selling back Odsal and on the Bulls retaining their Super League status. The next few days are going to be critical for the club. I can’t speculate on what the outcome will be.

“The ABC consortium, the RFL, the administrators and professional advisers for all parties will be focused on trying to get a deal over the line.”

The RFL board of directors are expected to announce the points deduction the Bulls will incur after the club fell into administration.

Bradford travel to Headingley on Friday night to face Leeds.