Chairman of English nPower League One soccer side Leyton Orient, the club closest to the newly constructed Olympic Stadium, Barry Hearn has written to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron to appeal against the expected decision to award West Ham with the venue rights.

Hearn has consistently voiced his concern that if the Premier League side to inherit the stadium, they would adversely affect the revenue and indeed threaten the future of his London club.

Hearn has reportedly requested that Cameron and mayor of London Boris Johnson, not to rubber-stamp the move, so that they can have time to put their case forward. 

Media reports indicate that Hearn is consulting with lawyers about a possible judicial review, which could significantly delay the process of confirming West Ham’s tenancy at the new stadium.

Hearn said: “How on earth has nobody even considered us and how on earth has the government or Premier League, or anybody else, not even had the respect to discuss it with us?

“It’s a question of due process and whether the Olympic Park Legacy Committee, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and even the Prime Minister have given consideration to Leyton Orient in these discussions.”

The Oreint chairman feels that West Ham’s likelihood to heavily discount tickets in order to fill the potential 60,000-seat capacity of the ground would impact on attendances at their Matchroom Stadium, and that this goes against FA and Football League rulings.

The final of the London 2012 Olympics soccer tournament will be played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 11 August next year, according to the Games’ schedule released yesterday, February 15. This will then impact on the inaugural curtain-raising event for the English Premier League – the Community Shield – which will need to relocate to accommodate for the Olympics match.

The Community Shield was scheduled for the following day, coinciding with the Closing Ceremony of the Games, due to the Premier League kick-off being put back in order to steer clear of the Olympics.

Speculation that the FA would use the opportunity to take the game overseas – as happens regularly with the Italian Super Cup which was in Beijing last year – has since been quashed by the FA. One would suggest that the game would move to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, but this is also not a possible alternative, with the men’s third place play-off being held at the venue on August 10.

An FA spokesman said: “The Community Shield take place at the traditional time at a prestigious stadium in England.” This makes Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground the favourite, since its last Olympic game is the men’s semi-final on Tuesday, August 7.

Related Discussion: FA Community Shield – by Michael Cunnah

While the January 2011 transfer window counted down news of big money transfers or stories of ‘the one that got away’, the period of 31 days was followed with a blend of a fans’ excitement and a professional’s close scrutiny, in a Zurich office.

Mark Goddard, the General Manager of the FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH, and his team have spent the last three years delivering a comprehensive education programme. Visiting associations and football clubs throughout the world, the mission was to explain the workings of FIFA’s new internet-based system aimed at making international transfers more transparent, as well as protecting minor players.

On 1 October 2010, the use of TMS became mandatory for all international transfers of professional players. With a clock in the system counting down the minutes to the moment a transfer window closes, clubs were in no doubt in 2011 that they had to close the deal in time or risk the transfer not going through.

One such transfer that just made the deadline was that of defender David Luiz, whose move from Portugal’s Benfica to Chelsea in England slipped in with two minutes to spare. Luiz’s move was just one of 2,451 international transfers recorded this January, a 104 per cent increase from this time last year, with a combined transfer compensation value of $320m.

More than 4,000 football clubs are now using the FIFA Transfer Matching System, with both buying and selling clubs having to ‘match’ a range of different data in order for the release of an International Transfer Certificate to be approved (see ‘The TMS explained’ to the right for more details).

The Integrity and Compliance Unit of the FIFA TMS closely monitors all of the transfers taking place, and while in previous year’s stories of late transfers were commonplace, FIFA’s rules are now much easier to enforce.

With an online system, all information regarding a transfer is available for analysis and review. Between 60 and 70 transfers from last month’s window are currently being reviewed by the FIFA Players’ Status Department. All the entered information is cross-checked in order to ascertain why an individual transfer was not completed before the applicable deadline. Until that process is complete, the player involved in the transfer is unable to play for the new club.

“At the peak of the window there were 115 Member Associations who were open for business”, said Mark Goddard. “In basic terms, that means that more than half the football planet was using our system, and we’re very pleased that we had no operational issues, whilst our Client Services team were able to provide support and guidance with almost 1,300 queries.

“The implementation of the system is a big step-change in the way that international football transfers are conducted, and we won’t be resting on our laurels. Next month we will start another series of workshops and visits to gain feedback from FIFA’s member associations to see if we can improve things further.

“As a football fan following the endless transfer speculation, it can seem that a club is in negotiations for a player constantly throughout the window. The reality, however, is that once the two clubs agree on all the details, the actual processing of the transfer online in the TMS can take as little as 20 to 40 minutes.”

Introducing lie detectors into the game of sport is a radical suggestion to have been made in an attempt to beat corruption after a damaging year for cricket.

The Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) World Cricket Committee, which includes former players such as Steve Waugh and Courtney Walsh, will put forward the proposals to the MCC Laws sub-committee for consideration in February. The recommendations will then be forwarded to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for approval.

The suggestion is just one of a number of ideas to have been generated including legalising and regulating betting markets in India, the inclusion of anti-corruption clauses in playing contracts, and the non-selection of so-called “tainted” players.

“The MCC World Cricket Committee has recommended that the laws of cricket be amended specifically to forbid the corruption or attempted corruption of any aspect of a match,” read a statement from the MCC.

The measures have been discussed in the wake of a scandal involving Pakistan trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. The three players were suspended under the ICC anti-corruption code in September over allegations of spot-fixing.

The MCC statement continued: “The Committee is concerned at the scale of the problem, and the detrimental effect it has placed on the integrity of the game. The education of players should not be a meaningless formality; the message should be pressed home with regularity by figures known and respected by the players.”

Just 2 years after filing for bankruptcy and effectively ending a 50-year partnership with the golf circuit, ailment General Motors (GM) is to make a comeback as sponsor of the 2011 PGA Tour.

GM have signed a six-year deal to be the title sponsor of the World Championships at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami in March of next year through its Cadillac brand.

Cadillac marketing vice-president, order Don Butler said “The prominence of being associated with the PGA is the best players in the world playing at the highest level,”

“We were the standard of the world for the better part of a century and we do intend to regain that mantle.”

Cadillac is also hoping to create a new event in Detroit though the location and date are yet to be confirmed.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was full of praise of the carmaker which has supported the sport for many years. “We are partnering with a company that has demonstrated, over a long, long period of time, a tremendous knowledge for marketing. The problems that befell this company were not about selling cars.”

Canada has become the most respected country brand in the world. It bumped the US from the top spot as it leveraged the 2010 Winter Games to extend the global reach of its tourism brand.

The ranking comes from the Country Brand Index by FutureBrand, viagra buy a New York-based global brand consultancy. Michele McKenzie, anesthetist president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), order will be present at the formal awards ceremony on Nov. 11 in London, England, at the 31^st annual World Travel Market (WTM), one of the world’s largest travel, trade and media showcases.

As Ms. McKenzie sums up, “Several years ago, CTC set out to refresh Canada’s tourism brand in anticipation of being on the world stage in 2010. We believed that—with the right strategy—a legacy of the Games could be more interest in Canada as a travel destination, and ultimately more visitors.”

The CTC and our partners seized the once-in-a-generation opportunity provided by the Games to showcase Canada’s tourism brand internationally. We placed stunning video shot from coast to coast to coast directly into the hands of broadcasters from all the countries in which the CTC markets. Initial results of the CTC’s marketing campaigns conducted before, during and after the Games indicate that the number of trips booked has increased over 2009 as a result of the awareness created of Canada as a top-ranked travel destination.

The CTC’s Olympic strategy, which runs to the end of 2012, was funded by a $26 million federal investment.

English Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has extended Lindley Group’s contract for public concourse catering at its north London ground to 2013 in a deal worth more than £2m.

Stadium specialist Lindley has been awarded the extension a year before the contract was scheduled to expire in 2011. It has managed the public catering at White Hart Lane since 2001.

Alistair Spiers, head of sales at Tottenham Hotspur FC, said: “Over the past nine years, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and Lindley Group have worked successfully together to deliver the highest standards of public catering to in excess of 35,000 fans every matchday.

“As the club enters an exciting new era of Champions League competition, this contract extension demonstrates the commitment of both parties to continually improve the matchday experience at White Hart Lane.”

Paul Biffen, sales and marketing director at Lindley, added: “We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Spurs. It’s testament to the quality of food, service and the strength of the relationship that the Lindley team has developed with the club over the last decade that they have already committed to extending our contract for a further two years beyond the expiry of the existing contract.”

The news follows a recent announcement by Kudos Hospitality, which has also had its contract with Spurs renewed. Kudos has provided hospitality at the club for nine years and in September it was awarded a new two-year deal worth £6m.

The 106 member countries represented at the 2010 Congress of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) today voted by acclamation for Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu from Chinese Taipei to serve a second four-year term as the President of the Association.

The result returns Wu, a member of the International Olympic Committee and AIBA member for 25 years, for a further four years as the head of the association which he has headed since 2006, when he put an end to the tenure of former president Anwar Choudry from Pakistan on a reform ticket.

As the only candidate for the election, Wu was voted in by acclamation as the delegates gave him a standing ovation. Furthermore, four Confederation Presidents were also re-elected as Vice-Presidents of the Association: Dr Abdullah Bessalem for the African Boxing Confederation; Domingo Solano for the American Boxing Confederation; Dr Humbert Furgoni for the European Boxing Confederation and Keith Walker for the Oceania Boxing Confederation.

“I want to thank all the delegates for your confidence and trust placed in me,” Wu said after the election. “I clearly remember four years ago in Santo Domingo when I was elected President I delivered my election speech. The first thing I said is that the President of AIBA is a servant of boxing for AIBA and for our national federations. I now repeat this. With your confidence and trust I will continue to give my
commitment to you. In the past four years I have travelled over 300 days a year. Maybe over the next four years this will be over 350 days a year.”

“We have a lot of work. Although we have achieved many things, you have all demonstrated that you want the new AIBA; you want continuous reform; you want a very clean, honest and transparent organization. I give this commitment to you: I will do everything I can to make sure we are a clean organization. We have a lot of prospects, a lot of vision and a lot of new work ahead of us. I need you to really unite with me. No organization can survive and have strength if it is internally divided. So with this plea from me, let’s work hand in hand for the next four years.”

Wu presides over the world’s third biggest international sports federation after the Congress delegates ratified three new provisional members today, bringing the organization’s total number of member federations to 195. The new members are Guinea Bissau, Tanzania and Kiribati, one of the world’s smallest countries by surface area.

Jockey Club Live, stomach the joint venture between the UK’s leading racecourse group, allergist Jockey Club Racecourses, and live music and entertainment experts Live at the Races, today announced a partnership with live music promoters, AEG Live.

Under this new agreement AEG Live will book artists to appear at Jockey Club Live music events from 2015 onwards and add to the venture’s live music promotion expertise. At its launch at the start of 2014, Jockey Club Live outlined its aim to increase the popularity and commercial success of the live events at The Jockey Club’s 15 racecourse venues nationwide, including through access to popular artists, which this partnership with AEG Live can help to provide.

Jockey Club Live was launched in 2013 by Andrew Wilkinson and Simon Halden, in partnership with The Jockey Club, which runs the biggest racecourse group by turnover in the UK. Wilkinson and Halden have between them worked with numerous international artists including Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Take That and Kylie Minogue among others. Wilkinson is the founder of leading concert tour production and management company KingStreet Tours, while Halden founded Sports & Outdoor Media International PLC and The Frontiers Group.

More than 300,000 people attended the first season of Jockey Club Live music events throughout summer 2014 at venues including Newmarket’s July Course, Haydock Park, Epsom Downs and Sandown Park.

This new agreement is a further boost to Jockey Club Live’s already strong music industry credentials following the announcement in May that Tim Clark and David Enthoven the co-founders of ie: music, the international artist management firm behind Robbie Williams, Passenger and others, had joined the board of Live at the Races as Non-Executive Directors.

Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of Jockey Club Live, said: “We are delighted to welcome AEG Live to the Jockey Club Live team. Jim King and his team are hugely successful and internationally respected live music promoters who bring a huge amount of expertise and experience to the table. Under their guidance we feel sure that our 2015 programme of events will be amazing and will build upon the success of our first year.”

Jim King, Senior Vice President, Live Events at AEG Live, said: “We are delighted to be working with Jockey Club Live and look forward to bringing together a diverse roster of acts to play the renowned racecourses in 2015.”