Soccer’s governing body FIFA have rejected the Football Association’s (FA) appeal for England players to be allowed to have Remembrance Day poppies on their shirts this weekend for their friendly with Spain.

Rememberance day is a memorial to the fallen armed forces that died in World War 1 for all Commonwealth countires and the FA had made a special request to FIFA for permission to wear the poppies for Saturday’s international friendly against Spain in honour of members of the armed forces.

But world body have issued a “final statement” rejecting the plea.

A letter from FIFA to the FA read: “We regret to inform you that accepting such initiatives would open the door to similar initiatives from all over the world, jeopardising the neutrality of football. Therefore, we confirm herewith that the suggested embroidery on the match shirt cannot be authorised.

“There are a variety of options where The FA can continue supporting the cause of Remembrance. One of them already was approved by FIFA, the Period of Silence.”

Earlier, Britain’s FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce added his voice to calls for the world governing body to permit international teams from the UK to wear poppies on their shirts.

“Personally I think there has to be a bit of common sense used when requests like this come in,” the Northern Irishman said. “Armistice Day is a very important day in the FA calendar, as it is with other associations, and I don’t think it would offend anybody to have a poppy on the shirts.

“I am not involved in the decision and I do understand there have to be rules. But as this is a special request from a member of FIFA and is not of a political nature I believe that common sense should prevail and that it should be looked at in a different light.”

FIFA have allowed a minute’s silence to be held before the sell-out game, for the England players to wear poppies on their training kit at Wembley on Friday, and to stand for the traditional two minutes’ silence to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month on Friday.

FIFA’s rules prevent anything of a political nature being worn on shirts and although the organisation does not regard poppies as political, they are concerned it would open the door to countries wanting to wear various different emblems on their shirts, some of which would be overtly political.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron added his voice to those condemning FIFA’s snub, saying: “This seems outrageous. The idea that wearing a poppy to remember those who have given their lives for our freedom is a political act is absurd.

“Wearing a poppy is an act of huge respect and national pride. I hope that FIFA will reconsider.”

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The world’s biggest sports apparel and shoemaker Nike Inc. has announced that its net income for the fiscal third quarter rose by five per cent to US$523m from $497m.

Despite this rise, the quarterly figure posted is a lower-than-expected net income as the company continued to struggle with higher cost of materials, labor, and freight.

Based on reports, Nike’s net income rose by five per cent, or $1.08 per share from the same period last year.

Additionally, company revenue also rose by seven per cent to $5.08bn as worldwide market sales surges due to introduction of new product line. However, the figure still failed to beat analysts’ expectations resulting to a drop in company shares in after-hours of trading at the end of last week.

The Oregon-based company warned investors over the rising cost of materials and labor, saying that it would most likely cut into its profit margins in the second semester of its fiscal year.

Despite this warning, many were expecting stronger margins of around $5.15bn in revenue or $1.12 per share.

Nike expects global demand for its product to pick up in the coming months, noting that orders for the upcoming season has already spiked up by 11 per cent. The company also revealed cost-cutting plans, which they said would pay off anytime soon.

HP Enterprise Services and NASCAR today unveiled the NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center (FMEC), a business solution designed to better serve NASCAR’s industry, media, fans and sponsors by facilitating real-time response to traditional, digital, broadcast and social media.

The FMEC, the culmination of a collaboration between NASCAR and HP announced in June, leverages HP’s broad portfolio of services and solutions including: business solution design and implementation services, servers, displays and Autonomy software to provide an integrated solution only HP can deliver. This solution helps NASCAR analyze fan sentiment, identify emerging issues and discover topic trends for instantly actionable insights. Based on that, NASCAR and its partners will be not only better informed to take advantage of local and national coverage opportunities, but also able to conduct regular media analysis to help shape business practices.

“The Fan and Media Engagement Center will serve as a showpiece of NASCAR’s strategic technology vision,” said Steve Phelps, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, NASCAR. “We believe this center will be the best of its kind in sports. Thanks to HP’s consultative approach to our vision and their technology, software and services, NASCAR will be able to provide added value to our fans and industry.”

Combined with its media and entertainment industry consulting services, HP leveraged itsAutonomy Explore, Autonomy Intelligent Data Operating Layer and Autonomy Media Aggregation Service applications to provide NASCAR with access to a complete analysis of all key forms of media, including print, television, radio, video, images and social media. Unlike other monitoring and measurement systems that focus on only social or digital media, the FMEC platform will give NASCAR a unique perspective into analyses that combine several different types of media.

The FMEC also will leverage offerings from Jive to enable cross-enterprise collaboration and disseminate information from Autonomy to various NASCAR organizations including marketing, leadership and sponsors.

“The ability to monitor information and sentiment to adapt quickly to changing environments can provide tremendous competitive advantage,” said Charles Salameh, vice president — Americas region, Communications, Media and Entertainment Industry, Enterprise Services, HP. “HP’s integrated solution not only benefits NASCAR’s complex ecosystem but shows HP’s strategy of delivering unique, customer-centric solutions that make it all work in action.”

NASCAR’s Integrated Marketing Communications department will operate the FMEC, which will work closely with NASCAR Digital Media.

Rugby Canada has announced Enterprise Canada has become its agency of record for all public relations initiatives in 2012.

Enterprise Canada will be responsible for the comprehensive development and execution of targeted media relations strategies on behalf of the national rugby organization.

“We are pleased to be working with Enterprise Canada to build the brand of Rugby Canada,” said Graham Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Rugby Canada. “Rugby is a fast, exciting sport that people would love if they had more exposure to it. Enterprise Canada is invested in our organization and our game in a way that will help us make more Canadians aware of the great athletes we have playing this great game.”

With some 35 consultants in offices in Toronto, Niagara and Ottawa, Enterprise Canada has been a leading strategic communications, government, media and public relations firm serving the private, public and not-for-profit sectors for more than 60 years. Enterprise Canada will help promote the events and players of Rugby Canada, building the profile of both the organization and the sport, which will make its Olympic debut at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Enterprise Canada’s goal for the upcoming year is to help reinforce and maintain Rugby Canada’s current position within Canada as a progressive and well-administered sport organization.

Stephen Murdoch, Vice President, Public Relations for Enterprise Canada, said: “We are very excited that Rugby Canada has chosen to form a partnership with Enterprise Canada. We are very invested in ensuring Rugby Canada continued success. We are confident that this partnership for 2012 is the beginning of great things to come this year.”

by Ismail Uddin

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) have announced that the WWE Raw World Tour will visit for the first time the Zayed Sports City, ailment | International Tennis Complex in Abu Dhabi from Thursday, treat February 9 through Saturday, tadalafil February 11, 2012.

This marks the second time within a year that WWE is bringing its World Tour to the Middle East.

WWE currently has a strong TV presence in Abu Dhabi reaching more than 20 million households across the region with its flagship weekly shows, WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown. WWE Raw is broadcast on MBC and the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, with WWE SmackDown seen on Orbit Showtime Network.

Patrick Talty, General Manager of the Zayed Sports City, said: “WWE is the biggest name in family entertainment today. Their Superstars are some of the most talented performers in the world. The fans will not be disappointed when they get to experience all the WWE excitement live and in person. We are proud to be hosting their inaugural trip to Abu Dhabi.”

Dominic Hayes, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, WWE International, added: “Hosting three live events in Abu Dhabi for the first time is a testament to the growing demand for the WWE brand in this region. As part of our continued international expansion, we are very excited to bring our unique form of live, action-packed entertainment and the biggest WWE Superstars to our passionate fan base in the Middle East.”

QPR owner Tony Fernandes has revealed the Premier League club is searching for a bigger venue in west London to replace Loftus Road.

The 18,500-capacity Shepherd’s Bush ground is the smallest in the English Premier League and Fernandes, who has been in charge of the club for just over three months, said they were looking to expand.

“It’s still premature at the moment. The key this season is to survive, but we would like a bigger ground, and we are looking,” Fernandes said.

“It has to be in the area. It makes no sense to move out from where you have spent most of your life, and where the fan base is.

Fernandes, who also owns F1’s Team Lotus and budget airline AirAsia, told Press Association: “So west London is where we are and where we’d like to be.

“I’ve built airlines and Formula One teams, but building a stadium is not the easiest thing in the world. There are opportunities in west London we are looking at.”

The key question for Fernandes is deciding on the capacity of the new stadium.

“Some fans are saying ‘We don’t have a fan base bigger than 20,000’,” Fernandes said.

“My gut feel is 40-45,000. That’s double where we are right now, but we’re in London and there’s a strong catchment area.

“Of course, there is nothing worse than a half-empty stadium, but I’m the king of sizing.

“If you start an airline with two planes, and then you buy 150 planes, the same question can be asked.

“As I say, it’s just a gut feel, but we’ll do some studies first.”

Of primary concern for Fernandes is ensuring QPR survive, with the Malaysian entrepreneur promising manager Neil Warnock up to four new players when the January transfer window opens.

Governing body, clinic UK Anti-Doping and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) have signed an agreement to share Athlete Biological Passport data and other doping-related information to assist in the fight against doping in sport.

The Athlete Biological Passport is a programme based on the monitoring of selected biological variables which can reveal the effects of doping. Athletes on the system are profiled over time and should show consistent levels of the variables. Any changes to the levels could suggest doping and will result in further investigation and target testing.

As the UK’s National Anti-Doping Organisation, pills UK Anti-Doping uses this information to monitor the levels in an athlete’s profile. The agreement signed with the UCI will allow both organisations to share this information and build their combined target testing capabilities.

UCI President Pat McQuaid said: “The UCI is very pleased with this agreement which marks another important advancement for the fight against doping. By pooling knowhow and resources at national and international level, overnight sale by efficiently using technological tools and the extensive Biological Passport data available, we are one step closer to permanently eradicating doping across the globe.

“The UCI is delighted to see its vision shared worldwide by important leading anti-doping bodies such as UK Anti-Doping.”

Andy Parkinson, UK Anti-Doping Chief Executive, added: “In the countdown to next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, UK Anti-Doping is delighted to work with the UCI, who have led the way in maximising the benefits the biological passport offers.

“Establishing this formal partnership is vital in our ability to tackle doping and crack down on those who insist on dishonestly enhancing their performance. It also reinforces our joint ambition to pool resources and expertise in the fight against doping, not just in this country, but globally.”