British Prime Minister David Cameron has asked England’s soccer leaders to provide a plan against racism in the sport after the game has been marred a series of high-profile cases involving the Premier League. 

Cameron addressed soccer officials, former players and anti-racism campaigners at a summit on Downing Street, warning that abusive behavior by soccer stars is imitated by youngsters and must be stopped.

“We have some problems still today,” Cameron said. “We need to act quickly to make sure those problems do not creep back in … if everyone plays their role, then we can easily crush and deal with this problem.”

The English Football Association must provide a full report detailing how racism and other forms of discrimination can be combatted.

“We have committed to coming back with a detailed follow-up to this in two months,” FA chairman David Bernstein said.

The government announced Wednesday it will give $4.7 million toward the English Football Association’s new coaching center in a bid to encourage more people from ethnic minorities to become managers. There are no black managers in the Premier League.

In July, John Terry will become the first high-profile soccer player to stand trial for racial abuse following a confrontation with Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in October. The Chelsea player was stripped of the England captaincy this month in a move opposed by coach Fabio Capello, who quit in protest.

Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt said after Wednesday’s summit that soccer needs to address “how we draw the line between banter and offensive language.”

Liverpool, the 18-time English champion, was criticized for its support of striker Luis Suarez when he was banned for eight matches after racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in October.

Liverpool, owned by the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, was condemned by anti-racism groups for backing Suarez and allowing players and manager Kenny Dalglishto wear T-shirts featuring Suarez’s picture in a show of solidarity before a match weeks later.

This month, Suarez was criticized for refusing to shake hands with Evra in their first match since the confrontation. He apologized later under pressure.

“What happens on the field influences what happens off the field. You see children as young as 6 imitating the behavior they see on the field,” Cameron said. “So this is not just important for football — it’s important for the whole country … we want to make sure football is all about a power to do good, rather than anything else.”

by Ismail Uddin

IMG, a global sports and media company, has announced it will distribute the media rights to Cycling’s Flanders Classics.

Flanders Classics comprises of six races taking place in Belgium, France and Netherlands.

IMG have been selected to market the media rights for the Omloop Het Neuwsblad, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Gent-Wevelgum, Scheldeprijs, Brabantse Pijl, and the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, as well as the Paris-Brussels one-day race for at least three years from 2013.

Floris Weisz, IMG Media’s sales and acquisitions executive for the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Cyprus, said: “We are very excited to partner with the Flanders Classic organisation to further build their brand around the globe and we are delighted to be representing these famous races, which strengthens IMG’s offering to the world’s cycling broadcasters.”

Wouter Vandenhaute, chief executive of Flanders Classics, added: “Cycling is Flanders and Flanders is cycling. The way cycling races are experienced in Flanders is simply unique, from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to Brabantse Pijl, Flanders presents itself as the centre of cycling. Flanders Classics groups six great races together, in order to maintain their strong position in springtime. We are happy to partner with IMG Media and to have our races broadcast worldwide, with the fierce competition and the unique Belgium landscapes available to view across all platforms in every continent.”

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia’s biggest sports content provider, today announced the extension of its broadcast of The Masters Tournament, on multiple platforms across its footprint in Asia (excluding South Korea), continuing its coverage of golf’s most revered championship.

As in previous years, ESS will showcase The Masters ‘live’ coverage with comprehensive presentation packages including half-hour daily highlights and ‘live’ on-ground reports in English. 

Peter Hutton Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports said, “We’re delighted to sign again for such a unique and special event, with a remarkable character and history. We look forward to doing the event justice with our team in Augusta bringing that history to life for our viewers all the way across Asia”. 

The Masters tournament is just one of ESS’s stable of marquee golf properties which include Golf Majors such as The Open Championship and The US Open. In addition, ESS has also secured multi-year rights to the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, OneAsia, the Royal Trophy, PGA Euro Pro Tour, and Ladies European Tour, further cementing the network’s position as truly being the ‘Home of Golf’ across Asia.

British and Irish horse racing broadcaster GBI Racing Limited has signed a deal with independent bookmaker Marathon that will see its coverage shown in Russia and parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

GBI Racing is a joint-venture between Racecourse Media Group and At The Races and provides betting shop operators with live multi-camera coverage of horse races from every one of the UK’s 60 racecourses in addition to Ireland’s 26 tracks and finalised similar agreements in April with Danske Spil AS and Woodbine Entertainment Group to bring its coverage to venues in Denmark and Canada.

This latest deal will see the GBI Racing TV channel broadcast British and Irish horse racing to Marathon-operated fixed-odds betting outlets Russia, sale buy Armenia, cialis buy Azerbaijan, cough Belarus, Georgia and Moldova while Leeds-based Independent Content Services (ICS) is to provide Russian-language commentary services and voiceovers.

“The reach of GBI Racing is continually growing and this partnership with Marathon will allow British and Irish racing to enter a previously untapped part of the world,” said Richard Brooke, Chairman for GBI Racing.

“The tone of the voiceovers and commentaries will be very much to demystify and educate the newcomer to the sport and we believe this will generate interest and excitement around British and Irish racing.”

For its part, Marathon was established in 1997 and holds licences registered in the Netherlands Antilles and the UK.

“We have worked with GBI Racing and ICS to present UK and Irish horse racing as an entertaining, engaging and quality product,” said Graham Luke, International Operations Director for Marathon.

“We have felt from the start that, [if] presented in the right way, our customers would understand it and enjoy it and so it is proving. We will continue to work together to ensure we are responsive to our customers and to ensure the continued success of the project.”

Following rumours that the Venky brothers will soon sell Blackburn Rovers FC, fans have created The Blackburn Rovers Supporters’ Investment Trust, with plans to buy the club if the opportunity arises.

The current owners have faced pressure from supporters since purchasing the club in November 2010 and are now rumoured to be looking to sell, and this fans group feel they would be the perfect people to take control.

The takeover effort is being fronted by Wayne Wild, a director of one of Blackburn’s commercial partners and sponsor who late last year voiced his displeasure at Venky’s handling of the club.

Fans have become frustrated by continuing underachievement after narrowly avoiding relegation last year and remaining around the drop-zone this season.

“At some point, and maybe soon, we believe Blackburn Rovers will be put up for sale,” Wild said.

“We believe the best ownership model for Blackburn Rovers is to be entirely owned by the supporters through a trust.

“We are seeking to engage with the current owners to advise them of our plans and we ask that they consider our proposals seriously as a credible and respectful way to pass on ownership of the club.”

The plan for the trust is to persuade supporters to commit to purchasing shares in the club to try and help the movement gain some weight and force the Venky brothers’ hand into selling.

“At this stage we are asking Blackburn Rovers supporters if they would be willing to buy a share in their club. The more fans who pledge to buy a share, the stronger and more credible our bid will be.

“We will raise funds to buy the club by issuing a sufficient number of shares to meet a realistic valuation at the time of purchase.

“It is clear that any fair and realistic valuation will be based on the position of the club within the league structure at the time of purchase together with a true assessment of the clubs assets and liabilities.

“It is not, therefore, possible at this stage to put an exact figure on the amount of capital we will need to raise to be successful.”

by Ismail Uddin

beIN SPORT, herbal the new independent 24-hour global sports network have announced it will be carried by Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will offer the network in English and a separate network in Spanish on TV and on demand. Additionally, apoplectic both networks will be made available to authenticated subscribers through the TWC TV website and applications inside the home as well as through Bright House Networks BHTV app and through beIN SPORT’s website and applications inside and outside the home.

With beIN SPORT, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers will have access to exciting soccer and international sports programming, including top soccer leagues and tournaments from Europe and South America, including games from Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, South American World Cup Qualifiers and Copa America 2015. The network also carries the away games of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team in the qualifying rounds of the 2014 World Cup.

“U.S. international sports fans are underserved and beIN SPORT fulfills that need. Our original programming and vast, exclusive coverage is designed to meet the desire of viewers to ‘be in’ the game and be involved in the international sports community,” said Yousef Al Obaidly, managing director of beIN SPORT. “We are excited to offer Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers the unmatched play of international competition captured only on beIN SPORT.”

Derby County’s pursuit of Ross Wilson has ended after the Hornets’ football business director indicated to the Rams that he sees his future at Vicarage Road.

Watford’s Harefield Academy was a big attraction for Wilson when he arrived last summer and with the Scot heavily involved in the club’s preparatory work for their EPPP proposals, alongside head of Academy Nick Cox, a move away from the club so soon after his arrival always seemed unlikely.

Derby have made it clear they are looking to strengthen their football business operations, however Rams’ boss Nigel Clough is said to be unhappy about a proposed role.

Wilson has been linked with the Derby post on a few occasions in recent months, with the Daily Mirror this week claiming the Championship club hoped to secure the former Falkirk man before the end of the season.

by Ismail Uddin

The Premier League has announced that DIRECTV PanAmericana and SKY Mexico have been awarded the live audio visual broadcast rights for all 380 Barclays Premier League matches per season for seasons 2013/14 – 2015/16 in South America (excluding Brazil), ampoule Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic.

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, said: “We are extremely pleased to have new partners in DIRECTV and SKY Mexico in South and Central America.

“We look forward to working with both broadcasters as they deliver a premium offering that will showcase the Barclays Premier League to our Central and South American fans.”

President of DIRECTV PanAmericana, Jacopo Bracco, added: “We are excited to begin offering the most extensive coverage of one of the most respected leagues in the world. DIRECTV is making significant efforts to offer memorable coverage of worldwide sporting events and the Barclays Premier League will be no exception. We are confident that our coverage of the BPL will be welcomed enthusiastically by our subscribers.”

SKY Mexico CEO, Alex Penna, commented: “We are greatly enthusiastic and positive about our partnership with the Premier League. We will look to provide the highest quality live coverage of all Barclays Premier League matches to our subscribers in Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, and will reinforce SKY´s leadership and commitment to consistently provide the top sports events in the markets in which we operate.”

Arsenal’s century-old links with Rangers in Scotland have been severed after the Glasgow club’s owner, Craig Whyte, sold its stake in the Gunners to businessman Alisher Usmanov days before the Scottish champions went into administration.

The move reportedly raised £230,000 for the Ibrox club, but according to the Daily Record that money somehow ended up with a stockbrokers in Bournemouth rather than Rangers’ bank account.

The purchase inches Usmanov’s stake in the Gunners closer to the 30 per cent mark. If his holding reaches that figure it will entitle him to a seat on the Arsenal board of directors. That, in turn, would give him access to the club’s accounts and details of transactions, including wages and transfers. His current stake is thought to stand at around 29.6 per cent.

Usmanov has an agreement with American Stan Kroenke, who now owns 66 per cent of the club, which means he will not have to launch an official takeover bid if he does reach 30 per cent.

Not only does the sale increase Usmanov’s stake, it ends one of the longest associations in football, dating to 1910. “The close friendship forged between Rangers and Arsenal spans back to the turn of the last century when the Londoners were experiencing financial trouble of their own,” reports the Record.

“It’s believed Rangers attempted to help out by buying two shares in Woolwich Arsenal because their manager, George Morrell, had previously worked for the Ibrox club. Around 20 years later, a much stronger and vibrant Arsenal gifted Rangers with a further 14 shares in return for their support during troubled times.”

It all adds to the intrigue at the Emirates as Kroenke flies in for Thursday’s shareholder meeting. The American is expected to throw his weight behind under-fire manager Arsene Wenger and, according to The Guardian, the half-yearly accounts will reveal profits of around £55m which will be handed to Wenger to rebuild the team.

by Ismail Uddin

The BBC has resolved their issue which initially prevented the British free-to-air broadcaster from airing radio coverage of England’s tour of India will go ahead as planned.

It had been feared the Test Match Special team would be denied access because of a demand for a reported £50,000 facility fee.

It has not been disclosed whether the BBC has agreed to pay more to cover the four-Test series.

“Test Match Special will broadcast England’s cricket tour of India from the grounds after agreement was reached with all parties,” a spokesman said.

The first Test begins in Ahmedabad on 15 November.