Stephen Lee Set to Appeal Ban for Snooker Match-Fixing

Former professional Snooker player Stephen Lee will appeal against his 12-year ban from the sport and the findings at a tribunal into match-fixing.

The former world No 5 was found guilty of seven match-fixing charges by an independent tribunal last month and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association has confirmed he will challenge the findings

A statement read: “The WPBSA has received notice of appeal from solicitors representing Stephen Lee.

“He is appealing against the finding of the tribunal, and the sanction and the costs awarded. The WPBSA has asked Sport Resolutions UK to manage the appeal process and appoint an independent QC to chair the Appeals Committee.”

Lee received the lengthy ban after an investigation into eight matches – four at the Malta Cup in 2008, ed two at the UK Championship in 2008, doctor and one each at the China Open and the World Championship in 2009.

The suspension has been dated to start from 12 October 2012, when the interim ban was imposed, leaving Lee unable to play again before 12 October 2024, his 50th birthday.

Cycling Team Europcar Applies to Join WorldTour

Pro Continental tour team Europcar has revealed it has applied to the International Cycling Union (UCI) for a place on next season’s WorldTour.

The French team are currently part of cycling’s second tier, but their title sponsor is keen for them to step up in order to guarantee participation in all of the sport’s biggest races.

Pro Continental teams have to rely on invites to events such as the three Grand Tours and while Europcar are a regular fixture in most French races, including the Tour de France, they regularly miss out on the likes of the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana.

Confirming to the Sud Ouest newspaper that the application has been lodged, Europcar team manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau said: “Now we have to wait for the verdict. Our sponsor wanted to participate in all the big races, including the Vuelta a Espana.”

There have been 19 teams on the 2013 WorldTour but two of those, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Vacansoleil-DCM, are set to fold at the end of the season after failing to find replacements for departing sponsors.

The WorldTour has traditionally only had 18 teams, but it was expanded by one this year after Katusha successfully appealed against being left off the original list of 18 and were later added.

Should the UCI choose to return to an 18-team WorldTour, one place will become available for the 2014 campaign. Europcar are the current highest-ranked team on the Pro Continental tour.

MLB Rookie Yasiel Puig Signs Panini Authentic Memorabilia Deal

Yasiel Puig has signed a limited autograph memorabilia deal with Panini Authentic, therapy a division of Panini America, the leading global publisher of sports and entertainment collectibles and an official licensee.

In addition to the memorabilia agreement for Panini Authentic, Puig will also participate in a marketing appearance for Panini America at the 2013 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago in early August. 

“Yasiel’s rocket-like ascent this season has been one of the most captivating stories baseball has produced in quite some time, and we look forward to working with him,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “We’ve already incorporated some of Yasiel’s first Rookie Cards into products that will be releasing soon, but we wanted the relationship to be more than that by delivering his authentic autographed memorabilia and by having him help us entertain our most important fans, collectors and partners at our VIP event at the National Sports Collectors Convention.”

Puig will sign a customized Panini Authentic photo as part of the special #PaniniVIP event.

Jockey Club Racecourses Reveal Strong 2012 Attendances

Jockey Club Racecourses, which owns 15 courses in the UK, have revealed strong attendances in 2012,.

The Cheltenham Festival in March attracted a record 236,700 people for four days, the John Smith’s Grand National Meeting saw a record three-day crowd of 154,000 at Aintree and in June, Investec Derby Day welcomed the biggest crowd in a sports venue in the UK in 2012, with more than 130,000 people descending on Epsom Downs.

Total average attendances across the 336 fixtures staged at Jockey Club Racecourses’ 15 courses in 2012 increased year-on-year by 1.5% (5,278 people from 5,199).

Total attendances were 1.8 million in 2012, compared to 1.9 million in 2011, as a result of staging 29 fewer fixtures.

This included 26 fixture cancellations due to adverse weather, with prolonged periods of rain impacting crowds at fixtures that did go ahead at these times.

Paul Fisher, Group Managing Director of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “2012 was a strong year for Jockey Club Racecourses and we look forward to publishing our annual results in due course, which will show a growth in our racing business and once again the amount we have contributed to prize money to support the sport and its participants.

“Star horses like Kauto Star and Frankel captured the public imagination, supported by the likes of Camelot and Big Buck’s helping to increase British racing’s profile and appeal. Our biggest events, from the Cheltenham Festival to the John Smith’s Grand National Meeting, have never been bigger.

“Against a highly competitive backdrop and the second wettest year on record, we’ve managed to grow our average crowds at Jockey Club Racecourses, which is a great indicator of the health of British racing.

“That’s despite losing some fixtures due to the inclement weather that would have attracted sizeable attendances, as well as those conditions consistently dampening walk-ups for periods when the sun is normally shining.

“Whether you look at our average attendances being up or if you take out the impact of the weather from our total attendances, the popularity of racing at our courses increased year-on-year.

“That’s testament to the really hard work of our people on the ground and those helping us to promote the sport, and is a superb result when you consider the doom and gloom in the economy and the major sports events we competed with in 2012.”

Softball Approves Baseball Merger for 2020 Olympics

A potential merger between the International Softball Federation (ISF) and the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) loomed larger after ISF approved the merger to bid for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.

The resolution passed by a vote of 71 per cent in favour of a merger at a special congress in Houston.

ISF President, view Don Porter said: “I was pleased with the results and look forward to meeting with the IBAF officials for further discussions and continuing preparations for the IOC presentation in December. There’s going to be a lot of positive things that we can do together for both our sports, pills not just for the Olympics but in the long term.”

Both sports were voted off the Olympic program in 2005 and made a final appearance at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.

The two sports are competing against karate, roller sports, squash, sport climbing, wakeboard and wushu for one opening in the 2020 Games.

 

London Could Join World Series of Boxing Lineup

British amateur boxers may soon be in the World Series of Boxing after the British Amateur Boxing Association confirmed it is in talks to set up a London-based franchise in the series..

The global team event kicks off its third season in November and a prospective London team was provisionally included in Sunday’s draw, where it was placed in a six-strong Group B.

BABA chairman Derek Mapp said: “We have always been supportive of the ideals that underpin WSB. We recognise its potential to deliver alternative career options for young boxers and are keen to pursue this opportunity.”

The move could provide Great Britain’s Olympic medal winners with a financial alternative to turning professional, with all WSB boxers, whilst becoming centrally contracted to the organisation, receiving individual offers.

Six Irish boxers have already been drafted for next season’s competition, while Olympic silver medallists John Joe Nevin and Ken Egan have previously competed for teams in Paris and Miami respectively.

No British boxers have entered the draft stage yet, and there is no guarantee that they would fight for a prospective London team, as all franchises are run as strictly international entities.

But such a move could produce some relatively lucrative deals for medallists, in particular super-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who is yet to declare his plans beyond the end of his existing GB contract in March.

Great Britain have been wary of committing their fighters to the competition in the past, citing schedule concerns in the build-up to London 2012, and the financial implications of launching a franchise.

But officials are aware a WSB team could both convince some top stars to stay amateur and boost hopes of a bigger contingent of qualifiers for Rio 2016, with more qualifying places made available to WSB-contracted boxers.

Sport Needs More Heroes, Not More Millionaires- Ben Wells

 

Major events like the Olympics tend to spark a massive upsurge in media interest in sponsorship but rather than looking at the long-term role that sponsorship could play, there is often too much focus on what star athletes could rake in through endorsements as a result of their success. This was neatly summed up in Official Partner’s piece on Jessica Ennis last week. For Ennis, you could read Bradley Wiggins after the Tour de France, Andy Murray at Wimbledon and Rory McIlroy after winning the US Open last year.

Synergy wrote a very good piece just prior to the Games which outlines the vital role that sponsorship plays in staging major events. The relationship between sport and corporate entities has become symbiotic. It has become a cliche but major events genuinely just cannot happen without sponsor support.

British sport has benefitted hugely from the creation of the National Lottery nearly 20 years ago and lottery funding was a huge factor in Team GB’s success in London. There was a warm welcome for David Cameron’s recent announcement that the Government would be seeking to increase this funding into elite sport. So far, so positive as we need heroes to entice people (particularly children) into sport.

However, the Prime Minister’s announcement was countered by the ongoing debate on cuts in schools sports funding and there have been many articles in the week since the  Closing Ceremony contrasting the funding at the top level of British sport with the often run-down and under-manned facilities available to budding amateurs. Over the weekend alone I read articles which related to the poor state of repair of the facilities where Nicola Adams, Ennis and Greg Rutherford used to train. (It also highlighted the massive reliance we place on the altrusim of volunteers.) With ongoing public sector budgetary pressures, this isn’t going to improve on its own.

Ashling O’Connor picked up on this in the Times last week in an article which looked at the sponsorship revenue gap between sports in the UK. Some sports do fantastically well from the private sector and so do many of its star athletes. However, for every Ennis, there is a James Ellington who took to auctioning himself on Ebay to secure funding to get the medical treatment he needed to get fit for the Games.

I’ve already written here about my thoughts on the role that I think the private sector should (and I hope will) yet play in the development of British Sport. We should be pushing at an open door, offering a platform that can be activated across the country, which feeds off public good feeling and providing far richer stories for sponsors to tell in 2016 and 2020 than some of the tenuous product endorsements we’ve seen this time around. As many commentators have said this week, there is more to sport than just the elite. Lloyds-TSB’s Local Heroes campaign – in conjunction with the admirable SportsAid  – led the way at London 2012, who else will follow?


Ben has fifteen years’ experience in the commercial side of sport. Having spent six years at Chelsea FC, where he was Head of Marketing, Ben launched Ishtar Consulting in 2011 with a view to providing specialist sponsorship and marketing support to brands, rightsholders and agencies. Prior to his time at Chelsea Ben spent nearly four years at Redmandarin, the strategic sponsorship consultancy. Follow Ben on Twitter @ben_wells1 or get in touch via ben@thesportsconsultancy.com. This Blog appears regularly at http://benwells1.blogspot.com

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Host Boroughs Make Up 40 per cent of Security Workforce at London 2012

 

Thousands of security guards working at London 2012 will be from one of the six host boroughs, capsule and be part of the legacy of the Games.
G4S, the official security provider for the Games, announced that 10,500 people from the host boroughs are undergoing security screening and training, from a London-wide total of 25,000.
If most candidates pass the necessary checks, at least 40 per cent of the G4S Olympic workforce will be from one of the six boroughs – Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Greenwich and Waltham Forest.
Newham is top of the table, with 3,473 people currently undergoing screening and training.
Tower Hamlets comes in second with 1,630 candidates, while Redbridge, although not an Olympic borough, has the third highest number with 1,575.
Barking and Dagenham has 1,353 candidates, Greenwich 1,396, Hackney 1,296, and Waltham Forest 1,550.
Mark Hamilton, managing director of G4S London 2012, said: “It was always our intention to mobilise a large part of our workforce from the six boroughs around the Olympic Park in East London.
“I am delighted that we are on target to secure the services of thousands of local people who will help make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games safe and secure.
“I am also thrilled that so many have come forward to seek work; they have a very responsible, and I hope rewarding, part to play in the sporting extravaganza and they are helping to add to the buzz of excitement that is building around London 2012.”
Most of the jobs at the Games are temporary, but G4S says thousands of people will have gained Security Industry Authority (SIA) qualifications and licences.
Mr Hamiltan said: “The fact that we have so many new employees isn’t just good news for the Games, it is good news for London and Britain, particularly when you consider the issue of youth unemployment.
“The scale of our operation is so big that it will have a massive positive impact on jobs. The people who we are recruiting are gaining precious work experience but also significant volumes of training that will stand them in good stead for a permanent job once the Olympics is over, either inside G4S or in the wider jobs market.
“This will be a practical, enduring and broad legacy of the London Games.”
G4S said more than 105,000 people have applied for positions at the various Olympic venues, with more than 3,800 already deployed either working on the Olympic Park itself in Stratford, or across the country in other venues.
As the official security provider for the Games G4S will provide 10,400 security staff for the Games, and train and manage the bulk of the 23,700 strong security workforce.
A former secondary school in Newham has been converted by G4S into a training and recruitment centre, with up to 1,500 recruits passing through its doors every week.

The host boroughs for the London Olympics will be well represented in the security department at the Games as 40 per cent make up the security force G4S.

G4S, the official security provider for the Games, announced that 10,500 people from the host boroughs are undergoing security screening and training, from a London-wide total of 25,000.

If most candidates pass the necessary checks, at least 40 per cent of the G4S Olympic workforce will be from one of the six boroughs – Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Greenwich and Waltham Forest.
Newham is top of the table, with 3,473 people currently undergoing screening and training.

Tower Hamlets comes in second with 1,630 candidates, while Redbridge, although not an Olympic borough, has the third highest number with 1,575.

Barking and Dagenham has 1,353 candidates, Greenwich 1,396, Hackney 1,296, and Waltham Forest 1,550.

Mark Hamilton, managing director of G4S London 2012, said: “It was always our intention to mobilise a large part of our workforce from the six boroughs around the Olympic Park in East London.

“I am delighted that we are on target to secure the services of thousands of local people who will help make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games safe and secure.

“I am also thrilled that so many have come forward to seek work; they have a very responsible, and I hope rewarding, part to play in the sporting extravaganza and they are helping to add to the buzz of excitement that is building around London 2012.”

Most of the jobs at the Games are temporary, but G4S says thousands of people will have gained Security Industry Authority (SIA) qualifications and licences.
Mr Hamiltan said: “The fact that we have so many new employees isn’t just good news for the Games, it is good news for London and Britain, particularly when you consider the issue of youth unemployment.

“The scale of our operation is so big that it will have a massive positive impact on jobs. The people who we are recruiting are gaining precious work experience but also significant volumes of training that will stand them in good stead for a permanent job once the Olympics is over, either inside G4S or in the wider jobs market.

“This will be a practical, enduring and broad legacy of the London Games.”
G4S said more than 105,000 people have applied for positions at the various Olympic venues, with more than 3,800 already deployed either working on the Olympic Park itself in Stratford, or across the country in other venues.

As the official security provider for the Games G4S will provide 10,400 security staff for the Games, and train and manage the bulk of the 23,700 strong security workforce.

A former secondary school in Newham has been converted by G4S into a training and recruitment centre, with up to 1,500 recruits passing through its doors every week.

 

NFL Start New Screening Process on Fans Entering Stadiums

The NFL are going to beef up security at regular season games by using hand-held metal detectors as part of the screening process before fans enter the stadiums.

Beginning Nov. 20, for sale the detectors will be used at stadium gates because “we are always striving for ways to improve our security procedures at all of our stadiums,” an NFL spokesman says.

The Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns already have used them this season. The league has done so at every Super Bowl since 2002 in New Orleans.

In addition to fans, media and working personnel will be subject to the screenings, which will be phased in “so they will not necessarily be immediately used at every gate,” the spokesman adds.

Mayor of London Announces Heavy Investment into Grass-roots Sports in City

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced that over US$19 million will be invested into grass-roots sports projects in the English capital.

The move will see Johnson hit his target of channelling US$48m into sport ahead of the next summer’s London 2012 Games. 

The Mayor revealed plans to award grants from his Sports Legacy Fund to 14 large scale sports participation projects and 26 community facilities.

Johnson said: “From hockey in Hillingdon to karate in Kingston, we are storming ahead to revamp facilities and increase sports participation across the board.

“This investment, which sees some hugely important match funding being pledged, is fantastic news for Londoners of all ages and abilities from across the city.

“I am absolutely clear that to create a lasting legacy from the London Games, we must do all we can to get people out of their living rooms and into physical activity.”

Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson said: “The bid to bring the Olympics to London was built on the back of a promise that it would leave a lasting sporting legacy and inspire a generation to get involved in sport.

“This investment by the Mayor of London and others will offer hundreds of thousands of people of all abilities across the capital that opportunity.”

The Mayor’s Commissioner for Sport Kate Hoey added: “The projects we are announcing today all have the potential to make a real difference to the lives of ordinary people.

“For me, they are what hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games is all about.

“New facilities, fresh sporting opportunities and free sports coaching right across London – this really is legacy in action.

“I am hugely grateful for the Mayor’s ongoing commitment to this cause and I also want to pay tribute to all the fantastic people who volunteer their time and dedicate their lives to bringing the great joy of sport to their fellow Londoners.”