Snooker’s governing body World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) have confirmed they are investigating “unusual betting patterns” involving Steve Davis’ win over Thepchaiya Un Nooh in a Players Tour Championship match on Saturday.

Davis crushed the Thai player 4-0 in their third-round clash in Gloucester, but considerable pre-match betting action in Asia have aroused suspicion.

The WPBSA are concerned that Thepchaiya’s price drifted from odds-on to odds-against hours before the tie.

A WPBSA statement read: “The WPBSA have become aware of unusual betting patterns on a match that took place during PTC3 on Saturday 8th September 2012 between Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Steve Davis.

“This matter has been referred to Nigel Mawer, head of the WPBSA’s integrity unit, to make preliminary enquiries to establish what has taken place and to consider if any action is appropriate.”

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson added: “The WPBSA take any potential breach of the members betting rules very seriously.

“Any player found guilty of such a breach is likely to be banned for life from snooker. Protecting the integrity of the sport of snooker is of paramount importance.”

It is believed that the WPBSA do not consider six-time world champion Davis to have breached any rules.

Heribert Bruchhagen, cialis Vorstandsvorsitzender von Eintracht Frankfurt, discount hat im Rahmen des Sports Venue Summit in der Münchner Allianz Arena vehemente Kritik an gewalttätigen Fans in Stadion geäußert.

“Diesen Problembesuchern – Fans wollen wir sie nicht nennen – fehlt das Verständnis für den Fußball. Wer Gewalt anwendet, link der kann Fußball nicht lieben. Wir wollen nur Leute, die Fußball lieben”, so Bruchhagen im Rahmen einer Diskussionsrunde auf der Hauptbühne in der Allianz Arena.

Zum Problem der Pyrotechnik in Stadien sagte Bruchhagen: “Selbst wenn Pyrotechnik in Stadien erlaubt wäre, dann wäre mit den Problembesuchern nicht Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen. Diese Pyrotechnik ist ein bloßer Ausdruck des Protests gegen etablierte Vereine und den Kommerz.” Bruchhagen weiter: “Die Zielrichtung von Eintracht Frankfurt ist deshalb, die Problembesucher noch tiefer an die Besonderheiten des Fußballs heranzuführen.” Sollte dies zu keiner Verhaltensänderung führen, müsse man “diese Problembesucher dauerhaft ausgrenzen”.

Der Vorstandsvorsitzende von Eintracht Frankfurt machte deutlich: “Das Martialische hilft uns hier nicht weiter. Wir müssen mit Überzeugungskraft in einzelnen Fanclubs den Selbstreinigungsprozess voranführen.” Sein Club beschäftige sich intensiv mit dieser Entwicklung, aber “der Prozess wird sich lange hinziehen”, so Bruchhagen.

Brazil president Dilma Rousseff has signed the document that will temporarily allow alcohol to be drunk at the 2014 World Cup.

 

World football’s ruling body FIFA had requested a change in the law following an agreement it signed with a major brewery.

 

The temporary amendment will also be applied to the Confederations Cup, to be held in 2013. It was finally published Wednesday following a long battle with members of parliament and of the Senate, who had approved the text on May 9.

The amendment includes a stipulation that will also be welcomed by students, the elderly and those less well-off.

 

After FIFA spent many months lobbying Brazil to soften its stance on beer in stadiums, Brazil secured from FIFA guarantees that it could sell a minimum number of match tickets at half-price to students, people aged over 60 and those who normally receive government hand-outs.

 

FIFA is set to put 300,000 tickets aside for Brazil to sell them on at half their face value.

High-flying German Bundesliga soccer side Borussia Dortmund has extended a sponsorship agreement with Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook.

The contract has been renewed for a further two-years and will see that the company have an advertising presence at the 80, asthma 720 capacity Signal Iduna Park, generic with their branding appearing on perimeter hoardings and interview boards.

A thirty-second advertisement will also be played on video screens at the ground at half-time during every Dortmund home game.

Dortmund recently conquered German giants Bayern Munich to stretch their lead at the top of the league to 12 points and according to Sponsors.de, the second tier sponsorship renewal comes as a financial boost, worth at least US$900,000 a year.

American broadcaster TNT averaged a 6.2 overnight rating for Sunday (February 20) night’s National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game, up 35% from a 4.6 overnight last year.

The net earned a 4.4 fast-national rating and 8.1 million viewers for coverage of NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm, marking the most-watched All-Star Saturday Night in the event’s 26-year history.

This year’s All-Star Saturday Night figures are up 13% and 23%, respectively, from a 3.9 rating and 6.554 million viewers last year while the telecast peaked from 10:30-11:00pm ET, with nearly 10.4 million viewers tuning in for Clippers forward, Blake Griffin’s winning dunk in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

The ’11 All-Star Saturday Night ranks as the most-watched NBA telecast on cable for the ’10-11 season.

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.

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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.”