Following the allegations of racist abuse at a Holland training session, UEFA have pledged they will take action against racism during the Euro 2012.

Members of Bert van Marwijk’s squad were allegedly subjected to monkey chants at Wisla Krakow’s Miejski Stadium on Wednesday, with captain Mark van Bommel branding the incident “a real disgrace”.

Having been satisfied by the Dutch FA’s initial assurances the abuse was not racially-motivated, UEFA announced they had been made aware of “isolated incidents of racist chanting”. European football’s governing body confirmed they would consider increasing the number of stewards at open training sessions in order to eject fans if there was a repeat.

UEFA said in a statement: “UEFA has now been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting that occurred at the open training session of the Dutch team. Should such behaviour happen at further training sessions, UEFA would evaluate the operational measures to be taken to protect the players.

“UEFA has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discriminatory behaviour and has given the power to referees to stop matches in case of any repeated racist behaviour.”

Holland winger Ibrahim Afellay, who is black, said in De Telegraaf: “The only thing that you can say is that there are more madmen roaming than trapped. I hear certain things. When you’re a footballer, you must be strong, because you hear it all the time – when you enter the pitch, when you take a throw-in, or when you take a corner.”

abortion helvetica, ed sans-serif;”>The Hive Football Centre of Excellence has been chosen by  the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) as the Match Officials Training Venue for the football tournament at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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The 85 Officials, a combination of Men and Women from all over the world, will be using the state-of-the-art training facility as their base in between matches for the duration of the tournament. They will be stationed at the centre of excellence, where Barnet FC’s First Team trains, from 18 July – 12 August. Whilst there, the Officials will be using 2 full-sized pitches to run through drills, replicate match scenarios and participate in other training exercises.

By training at The Hive, the Olympic Officials will follow a host of International and Club Football Teams who have used the Camrose Avenue facility as their footballing headquarters, including The Swedish National Team, Egyptian National Team, Montenegro National Team, Parma FC, and FC Gabala, amongst others.

John Blasebalk, Senior Manager at Barnet FC, said, “It is an absolute honour to be selected by LOCOG to host the Olympic Officials during the course of the London 2012 Olympics. The Games are the biggest sporting event in the world so to be associated with it in some way is something all those associated with The Hive, Barnet FC and the local community should be extremely proud of.

“The Hive has been growing in notoriety since it opened in 2009 and it shows how much recognition we are now receiving after having International Football squads training here, and now the Olympic Officials. Our aim is to constantly provide state-of-the-art, top level training facilities for elite athletes and local residents alike.”

Infront Sports & Media and the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) will continue their partnership after they signed a deal that will last them until the end of the 2014/15 season.

The respective agreement was signed today at the SPORTELMonaco convention and runs for four seasons. The partnership covers the worldwide media rights for the Men’s and Women’s FIBT World Cup and the FIBT World Championships. It also includes an expansion of Infront’s role with the FIBT in representing international marketing packages for the sport’s top-tier sponsorship programme on an exclusive basis.

Increasing media coverage boosts sports exposure and as part of the agreement, Infront will continue to market all forms of media and electronic media rights including TV, radio, internet and mobile communications worldwide. Infront offers segmented packages market-by-market, including live, delayed and highlights coverage. The FIBT will produce its own, high-quality television coverage for the
FIBT events.

Since 2003, Infront Sports & Media has embarked on a path of expansion resulting in impressive levels of international broadcast coverage for the top FIBT events. Over the last six years, there has been an 84% increase in the cumulative audience (across all disciplines) and the hours of coverage have also grown impressively – up a huge 313% from 2004/05.

In the 2010/11 season, FIBT World Cup competitions were broadcast across 59 TV stations in 23 countries reaching a cumulative audience of 747 million viewers and a total of 988 broadcast hours.

Continuous exposure throughout the season in addition to the media rights distribution, Infront will exclusively represent the FIBT’s international marketing programme for the FIBT World Cup and World Championship events, offering sponsors a continuous, wide-reaching communication platform throughout the bobsleigh and skeleton season.

Along with the growing appeal of the FIBT events to fans and commercial partners, Infront’s efforts on the marketing side have resulted in very good results in terms of sponsorship. Among other agreements, Infront secured title sponsor Bauhaus and main sponsor Crystall Lefortovo for the FIBT World Championship – both long-term agreements that boost the stability of the platform into the future.

Ivo Ferriani, FIBT President, said: “Infront, as the leading expert in winter sports marketing, is undoubtedly in the best position to increase the impact of our marketing and media rights platforms. Top bobsleigh and skeleton events gaining popularity and it is therefore highly beneficial for us to have a marketing partner on board that holds the ‘big picture’, one that can harness this growth opportunity and help drive our sport forward on the long term.”

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports, said: “Over the four seasons, the aim will be to enhance various elements of the communication platform and to further strengthen the international appeal of the FIBT competitions on the road to Sochi and beyond. Working closely with the FIBT to offer a highly attractive broadcast product, we will increase the exposure of these premium winter sport events market by market and across all platforms – with particular focus on exploiting the new media potential.”

For the 2011/12 season, sponsors, fans and media can look forward to exciting bobsleigh and skeleton events across the world’s most prestigious tracks, including the ones in St Moritz (Switzerland) Winterberg (Germany) and Cesana (Italy). The 2011/12 VIESSMANN FIBT World Cup will start in Igls, Austria on 2 December and culminate with the BAUHAUS FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, USA in February 2012.

Indian cricketer, Nilesh Kulkarni, who announced his retirement from the game yesterday, has launched the Indian Institute of Sports Management.

The Institute aims to provide a structured sports marketing and management programme through its undergraduate and postgraduate diploma in Sports Management in association with Jai Hind College in Mumbai.

Kulkarni said: “I have retired in order to focus on developing the younger generation in the field of sports. I am now ready and excited to move into the next phase of my life which will be of paramount importance.

“Sports has always been my passion. IISM aims to deliver sports education with a global perspective and I’m confident that my students will find their tenure with us an enriching experience.”

The launch was attended by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief administrative officer, Prof Ratnakar Shetty. He added: “Sports management is a huge area which is untouched in India. Sports today have got various areas of specialisation.

“Cricket only used to be related to cricketers but today it is a career, you have an umpire who makes a career, you have a statistician, you have a video analyst. So I think avenues are open for people, it’s only how you look at it and go into areas where you want to understand and create a career for yourself.”

Kulkarni played three Tests and ten One Day Internationals for India. He became the only Indian ever to take a wicket on his very first delivery in a Test match.

Xirrus, the leader in high-performance wireless networks, has partnered with the European Tour to provide spectators with high-performance Wi-Fi at its golfing events.

The deal began with the use of the Xirrus Wireless Arrays system at the Wentworth Club headquarters for the BMW PGA Championship in May. This covered the 2,000 seat grandstand as well as the PGA Village and hospitality sections of the course, providing fans with access to a raft of services such as on-demand video and digital content to improve their event day experience.

Graham Gifford, ICT Director at European Tour, said: “Wireless is playing a fundamental role in helping us entice fans away from watching golf on their TV screens at home, to get out and enjoy the live event itself. The delivery of high-performance Wi-Fi from Xirrus allows us to provide spectators with a home entertainment type experience on the golf course, enabling them to enjoy video and interactive content, visit online communities and share their experiences with friends on social media.”

“The European Tour environment has very specific requirements, with multiple temporary structures that need to be rapidly constructed and deconstructed week-on-week. We needed a Wi-Fi provider that could quickly deploy the network, offer high quality coverage and then relocate the network equipment in a very tight time frame. Other vendors quoted up to six weeks for this process, whereas Xirrus had our Wi-Fi up and running in just a few days.

Xirrus worked closely with channel partner, AJP Solutions, a specialist network analysis solutions supplier on the deployment. The strong working relationship between AJP, Xirrus and the European Tour was instrumental in delivering a successful launch at the BMW Wentworth Championship.

The European Tour used the Xirrus Management System (XMS) to provide full monitoring and management of the network, which provided a wealth of rich user data, such as identifying which areas experienced higher user density and tracking typical visitor movements. This will enable the organisers to learn from this user behaviour and structure the next event accordingly.

Sean Larner, VP International at Xirrus, commented: “The use of Wi-Fi on the PGA European Tour is a clear demonstration of the flexibility of Xirrus’ wireless offering and the speed at which we can get these powerful networks up and running for our customers in demanding environments. We’re seeing more sporting venues tap into Wi-Fi as a way to provide fans with tailored digital content and value-add services, while also providing the venue itself with new revenue streams for them and their partners.”

The UEFA Executive Committee has awarded the commercial rights management of its national team competitions to CAA Eleven, a company that will be exclusively dedicated to managing the broadcasting, sponsorship and licensing rights on behalf of UEFA.

The decision was made by the UEFA Executive Committee at its meeting in St Petersburg on 1 October 2012. It means that CAA Eleven will manage the centralised commercial rights to the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying competition, the European qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 24-team UEFA EURO 2016 final tournament.

“Our strategic aim was to exploit the commercial rights for our national team competitions under one roof,” said UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino. “This would then allow us to offer a coherent approach in optimising overall revenue streams for our member associations going forward. A similar centralisation of commercial rights has helped to strengthen European club football over the past two decades.”

Founded in June 2012, CAA Eleven was formed by CAA Sports, a division of the world’s leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Commercial rights experts Olivier Guiguet and Stéphane Schindler will serve as CAA Eleven’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer, respectively. The company is currently assembling a staff of employees, who will be headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland.

“We are honoured to have been selected by UEFA to represent the prestigious rights for UEFA’s national team competitions,” said David O’Connor, managing partner of CAA, which represents many of the most successful professionals working in film, television, music, video games, theatre, fashion and the Internet. “We look forward to working closely with our partners at UEFA, one of the world’s most respected governing bodies, and its 53 member associations, to create precedent-setting opportunities around the globe for these highly-coveted media assets.”

CAA Eleven’s mandate comes into immediate effect, so the commercial rights for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Israel and the 2013 UEFA Women’s EURO final tournament in Sweden will be managed as part of their portfolio.

The competitions concerned by this agreement are:
UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
UEFA European Under-17 Championship
UEFA European Women’s Championship
UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship
UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship
UEFA European Futsal Championship
FIFA World Cup, European qualifying competition

Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) chief executive David Gallop will leave his position effective today.

The commission issued a statement thanking Gallop for over a decade of service but says it needs a change in direction.

”David understands the need for a fresh approach,” commission chairman John Grant said.

”Taking this into account and with the interests of the game at heart, the board and David have reached an agreement that the game needs a different style of leadership detached from the past for the next stage of its development.”

Gallop signed a deal to be chief executive of the code for the next four years when the commission was formed in February but there has been speculation in recent weeks that he would leave the post.

Gallop has temporarily been replaced by National Rugby League (NRL) strategic general manager, Shane Mattiske, while the commission seeks to find a permanent replacement.

“It’s been a privilege for me to lead the game over the last 10 years and see the game’s resurgence,” Gallop said.

”I love the game and wish it well. Given there’s never a good time to give effect to a decision such as this, the commission and I have both determined it’s best for me to depart immediately.

”I would like to thank the clubs, the players, my staff and the fans of the game. It has been an exhilarating and challenging period, but no one can do this job forever.”

Gallop took over as chief executive of the NRL in 2002 and dealt with sex, drugs and assault scandals involving players as well as gambling issues and breaches of the salary cap.

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Bristol City Council have approved Gloucestershire County Cricket’s plans to upgrade their ground with a new development.

The club drew up new proposals in March after their initial application was rejected due to concerns over the height of the redevelopment of the County Ground.

It appears that move has proved fruitful after the officer’s report, which has been welcomed by Gloucestershire chief exectutive Tom Richardson.

He said: “We are pleased that our proposals are recommended for approval.

“We have worked hard over the past few months with local residents, councillors and community groups to respond, where we have been able, to their concerns.

“We feel that the development plans have been improved by this consultation and we hope that this is recognised when the application is debated and decided upon by members at the committee meeting next Wednesday, May 30.”