The chairman of English nPower Championship soccer side Crystal Palace, Steve Parish, has insisted that Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur’s legal challenge to their failure to secure the Olympic Park Stadium site will be unsuccessful.

The London club’s chairman has insisted that his club will press on with plans to re-locate to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre (NSC) site.

As a main aspect of their bid to inherit the Olympic Stadium, Tottenham proposed to revamp the NSC site for the purposes of athletics, and have now asked their lawyers to investigate how binding the recommendations made by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), which chose West Ham United to take over the Olympic Stadium post-2012, really are.

However, Parish remains convinced that Tottenham’s enquiries into an appeal – with a view to launching a costly judicial review – will be fruitless, stating in an interview with the Croydon Advertisers: “None of their fans want it, no one wants it. It’s just not going to happen.

“The recommendations by the OLPC were all approved and rubber stamped. I just can’t see anyway they would overturn that decision.”

Parish and his partners are currently in the process of trying to arrange a meeting with the London Development Agency (LDA) who hold the lease for the site at Crystal Palace.

“It’s a very difficult process but we are still positive we can make it happen. I seem to have spent the last couple of months in various meetings with all sorts of different people.

“The key thing for us to do now is sit down with the LDA. They are the current lease holders and we won’t be able to get much further unless we can arrange a deal with them.

“But I think we’re getting somewhere with that and hope to meet them in the next few weeks. It’s been tough, such a huge public project was always likely to be. 

“We do have a plan B that we’ve been working on as well which is to redevelop Selhurst Park. But I’m still confident that won’t be needed.

“I’m very keen to make this happen and believe we can do it.”

Chris Mater, therapy the Red Bull USA Head of Sports Marketing, has taken a new role with the company by becoming the General Manager of its Northern California business unit.

He will oversee business, sales, marketing, distribution and legal from central California to Oregon. He is working out of Red Bull’s Bay Area offices. 

Sean Eggert has taken Mater’s position as head of sports marketing at Red Bull.

Mater said, “I love working in sports marketing but from a personal and a professional perspective, I want to run the business and it was a requirement to learn sales and distribution. Fortunately for me, they did a restructure and created these regional general manager roles that allowed me to go from have less responsibility but overseeing a broader area to have much more responsibility in a smaller area.”

Mater, who is Australian, joined Red Bull in 1999 and was part of the company’s launch in that country. He relocated to the U.S. in 2004 and took over as head of sports marketing in North America in 2007. 

Cardiff are set to bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, according to BBC.

A draft of the latest plans for a bid promises to “develop a bid to host the Commonwealth Games that in itself delivers immediate and lasting benefits”.

First Minister Carwyn Jones confirmed last month that consultants are working on detailed technical advice on potential venues in Cardiff.

The draft plan states that “Cardiff’s track record of delivering major sporting and cultural events has brought the city a number of benefits. It is therefore appropriate that the administration has the aspiration for Cardiff to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The city’s major event strategy for the next five years will provide a roadmap for realizing this aspiration whilst delivering immediate and lasting benefits, whatever the outcome of our bid”.

The document sets out a four-point strategy for the bid planning process over the next four years.

The Welsh government is supporting the program leading up to a bid, and has appointed consultants to review the technical details of potential venues. 

In a written answer to the assembly in January, First Minister Carwyn Jones, said that study should be completed by April.

“We will continue to work with partners on a potential bid and will take full account of the costs and benefits of the 2014 games in Glasgow ahead of any final decision regarding a bid.”

The last time the city hosted the event was in 1958, when it was known as the Empire Games, when 35 nations descended on Cardiff Arms Park for the opening ceremony, with more than 1,000 athletes taking part.

The London organising committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) have confirmed that an extra 3,000 tickets were sold last night for today’s events following public outcry over empty seats at the Olympics.

The lack of seats being filled at venues across London 2012 was highlighted over the opening weekend, prompting London Mayor Boris Johnson to claim that more tickets are likely to be sold to the public over the next fortnight. 

It is understood that 3,000 tickets were sold after a host of sports federations returned their tickets, 1,000 of which were for the gymnastics event. 

Locog are believed to have stated that tickets are likely to go on sale to the public the evening before the day’s events.

Jackie Brock-Doyle, Locog’s director of communications, said: “We talked to the International Federations yesterday, we were able to put back into the pot for sale around 3,000 tickets last night, they have all been sold,” she said.

“That includes about 600 for the gymnastics event today and we’re going to do that on a day-to-day basis.”

Discuss the empty seats and ticketing system here

British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the regulatory and governing body for horse racing in Great Britain has agreed a partnership with Presagia with the athlete health management system  providing on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis that the BHA will use to record, track, and analyze injuries and other medical data for licensed jockeys.

Horse racing is big business in Great Britain – it is the second biggest spectator sport after football, with an annual economic impact of more than £3.4 billion ($5.2 billion USD) according to Deloitte’s ‘Economic Impact of British Racing 2009’ study. The attention and stakes involved puts a lot of pressure on the BHA and their work to support the health of the jockeys and the sport.

The BHA collaborated with Presagia to configure Presagia Sports for the unique needs of the sport. The solution provides a consistent framework for its 238 doctors to track falls, injuries and health status for the more than 800 jockeys that compete at 60 different racecourses across Great Britain. The British Horseracing Authority preside over 1,456 fixtures per year, 40% of which are Jump racing fixtures where, on average, a jockey will have one fall every 14 rides. Presagia Sports has allowed the BHA to transition from a legacy paper-based system that had been used for more than 25 years, to a sophisticated and centralized database that is accessible anytime, anywhere over the Internet.

“The BHA reviewed a number of different systems before choosing Presagia, the only system that was able to fulfil all of the key requirements of this professional sport,” states Paul Lifton, Statistical & IT Analyst at the BHA. “The system had to ensure that busy racecourse medical teams could easily view and update the jockey’s medical database in real time.”

“It had to be simple to use, secure, robust and flexible enough to cope with all the special requirements of a sport that takes place nationwide, on every day of the year,” explains Dr. Michael Turner, the BHA’s Chief Medical Advisor. “Above all the system needed to allow the medical teams in the field to manage and share all this information in real time with the London-based BHA Medical Department.”

With the new system in place, the BHA expects to see major improvements in its workflow and record keeping processes, as well as in its ability to perform statistical analysis on medical data.

by Ismail Uddin

The English Football Association (FA) has announced it will abstain from the FIFA presidential vote on June 1, after chairman David Bernstein had hinted at the decision last week.

The decision by the FA is a clear snub to incumbent chief Sepp Blatter, whom the body blame as a major factor in England’s World Cup 2018 bid, but also to his Qatari challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Many felt that the FA would opt for change in voting for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, but after last week’s allegations made against Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup, the association has abstained from voting.

FA chairman Bernstein confirmed: “The FA board has today [Thursday] agreed to abstain in the vote of the presidency of FIFA. There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.

“The FA values its relationships with its international partners very highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both UEFA and FIFA. We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.”

The news came as a shock to current incumbent Blatter, who claimed that abstaining would suit no one – least of all the reputation of the FA itself, stating: “I think it is a little bit strange when the number one association in the world, in other words the FA, has two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support.

“Of course you can abstain but, as I explained to Mr Bernstein when I saw him, the part the FA has played in the development of football, specifically in the development of football and the laws of the game.

“The Congress gave the four British associations special privileges in 1948. Mr Bernstein asked me when I saw him what FIFA could do for England. I put it the other way – what can England do for FIFA?”

The Swiss added that the FA’s decision ahead of the upcoming election would send the wrong message, citing “the importance of the FA in world football.”

He added: “They (England) have a lot of rights but it’s also a responsibility. I think Mr Bernstein got the message, he knew exactly what I said. But I don’t know if the whole board is on the same track.”

Have your say in our Related Discussion: The FA bites back – Steven Falk

A press release from AEG Europe, buy buy | owner and operator of The O2 Arena, London, has revealed that a study commissioned by the leading sports and entertainment company revealed figures that show the venue generates an additional income of £405m (US$657m) a year for the English capital.

In November 2010, AEG Europe commissioned independent business consultancy Why Not to assess the social and economic impact of The O2 since its opening in June 2007. The study looked at The O2’s position as a visitor attraction, employer and catalyst for regeneration.

The findings revealed that as well as the additional income created, the O2 attracts up to 7.2 million visitors a year – which equates to more than the number of international tourists received by India or Australia per annum. In addition, the venue has already generated a total economic impact equivalent to more than double the original investment in the Millennium Dome – whilst providing a range of additional social, environmental and commercial benefits.

Alex Hill, Senior Executive Director of AEG Europe said: “Through a combination of state of the art facilities, scale and quality of customer service The O2 has been able to attract a series of fantastic new events to the UK. We host the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the world’s best attended indoor tennis event, and have just hosted the first ever NBA regular season games to be held in Europe.”

Councillor Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council said: “AEG has been a great asset to Greenwich and London. Greenwich Council continue to support AEG throughout all of their operations and development, and in partnership we have delivered real tangible benefits for local residents including jobs, community initiatives, learning programmes and access to a great facility. As well as the world’s most successful arena, we also have plans for London’s first cruise liner terminal at Enderby Wharf and London’s first cable car from The O2 to Excel.”

Hill added: “The O2’s first four years of operation have seen exciting changes for Greenwich and London, but there is more to come. Planning permission has been granted for a 4-star 450 bedroom luxury hotel which will include London’s largest clear span banqueting and meeting space. With AEG’s plans to further develop the site at The O2 and to continue to attract new and innovative content, we will continue to drive employment and contribute millions of pounds to the London economy.”

A second athlete has been expelled from his team following comments on Twitter with Switzerland footballer Michel Morganella being the latest victim.

Switzerland stripped Michel Morganella from their London Olympics team after he posted a racist message on Twitter.

Morganella was part of the Swiss team that was defeated by South Korea 2-1 on Sunday.

After the game he posted on Twitter: “I am going to batter the Koreans, burn them all… bunch of ‘trisos’.”

Trisos is a French slang word for people with Down’s Syndrome.

His remarks were met with firm action from the Swiss Olympic Team as their team chief Gian Gilli held a press conference on Monday.

Of the post, he said, they “discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korea football team as well as the South Korean people”.

Swiss newspaper Le Matin published the tweets from the players account but the tweets have since been deleted following the furore.

The 23-year-old defender is the second Olympic athlete kicked off a team for offensive Twitter comments.

Greece dropped triple jumper Voula Papachristou last week after she posted a comment mocking African immigrants.