Derbyshire County Cricket Club have announced they will scrap their previous board committee in favour of a newly elected supervisory board who will govern the English team.

The 15-person committee previously responsible for running the club has been disbanded in favour of a supervisory board of six. The proposal, mind which required a 66% majority, doctor received overwhelming support, sales with 614 votes in favour and just 26 against.

Chris Grant, re-elected as chairman immediately after yesterday’s Special General Meeting, will serve as finance director on the new board, with David Booth, Kevin Dean, Sir John Gains, David Griffin and Robert Tice also handed new roles.

“I am clearly delighted with the overwhelming vote in favour of the changes we proposed,” said Grant.

“The magnitude of the ‘yes’ vote provides a ringing endorsement of a desire to take Derbyshire County Cricket Club forward on behalf of its members.

“It is now the job of me as chairman and that of the newly elected supervisory board to deliver the vision we have set out.

“This starts with securing the £1m of ECB funding for ground development for which, ahead of this special resolution result, a considerable amount of work has already been done to give us the best possible chance of success.

“With an exciting season of Division One cricket ahead and our players raring to go, Derbyshire County Cricket Club is in a very good place.”

Derbyshire chief executive Simon Storey added: “Our new supervisory board carries a wealth of knowledge and experience to take the club forward on all fronts.

“This is a significant moment in the history of the club and it allows us to press forward with our six-point strategy aimed at delivering cricketing success supported by long-term business sustainability and financial security.”

Derbyshire have also announced that Willie Tucker, the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, has accepted an invitation to take over from Derek Morgan as club president.

The international governing body for all Olympic equestrian disciplines (FEI) joined the IOC as one of five co-sponsors of the Fourth International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport in Zurich (SUI) this week.

The two-day conference, rx which was held at the FIFA headquarters on 1 and 2 November, order was also sponsored by FIFA, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Rugby Board (IRB).

IOC President Jacques Rogge welcomed delegates to the conference via a video message, before the official opening by FIFA Executive Committee member Michel D’Hooghe and IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

Delegates attending the conference represented a number of sports, including football, rugby, ice hockey, American football, Australian football and boxing, as well as equestrian sports.

Allen Sills, a US neurologist representing the FEI, was amongst the speakers at this week’s conference as part of a panel discussion on how professional team sports and Federations have responded to guidelines produced at the previous conference in Zurich four years ago.

“A presentation today by Paul McCrory from Australian football demonstrated that the order of magnitude of concussions in equestrian sport is higher than the incidents in soccer and American football, which tend to receive most of the focus in these injuries,” Dr Sills said after the conference. “It illustrates the great opportunities, and the challenges, for the FEI to continue to educate athletes and to continue to improve our rules and medical oversight for competitions.”

FIFA’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak said: “What we are expecting is to develop very practical, simple, easy to use tools. With such powerful partners like FIFA, the IIHF, the IRB, the International Equestrian Federation and the IOC we can make a big impact.”

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Wheelchair Tennis Committee has increased the amount of tournaments, asthma where both women and quad players receive ranking points.

On the women’s side, hospital the ITF have introduced one more ranking tournament on the Wheelchair Tennis Tour, order from seven to eight.

Similarly, for quad players, their circuit will now consist of seven ranking tournaments.

The men’s circuit will continue with nine ranking tournaments.

The structure of the ITF was proven influential in sustaining and boosting the popularity of wheelchair tennis, making it one of the most efficiently organised Paralympic sports.

In total, there are 170 tournaments in the calendar in over 40 countries, with a prize money pot of more than $1 million (£616,000/€761,000) in a year.

Every single one of the four Grand Slam events on the able bodied tour – the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open – include wheelchair tennis, bringing greater awareness to the sport and its competitors.

Dame Kelly Holmes, the 2004 double Olympic Gold medallist, believes brand sponsorship in Athletics is ‘critical’ in the sport.

Speaking to Marketing Magazine during Jaguar’s Academy of Sport event, Holmes said: “Every sport is quite different. But generally, it is quite expensive to be involved in sport.

“Everybody who starts young, like me at the age of 14, wants to be Olympic champion.

“It is critical to get the support of brands. Athletes are under a lot of psychological pressure, so the last thing they need is the pressure of not being able afford to compete. That is where sponsors come in.

Holmes also made the point that Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, two Olympics sponsors which some believe should be banned from sponsoring major sporting event, are responsible for some vital investment in athletics.

She said: “These companies put money into helping fund grassroots sports.”

McDonald’s works with the Football Association on grassroots football, supporting coaches and volunteers, while Coke has also been involved in working with grassroots sport.

by Ismail Uddin

Chris Cairns has asked the High Court for substantial libel damages over an accusation of match-fixing which had turned his achievements to ‘dust’. 

Cairns, 41, a former New Zealand captain, who notched up the rare double of 200 wickets and 3,000 runs in his 62 Tests, is suing Lalit Modi, ex-chairman of Twenty20 franchise the Indian Premier League (IPL) over an “unequivocal allegation” on Twitter, reports ESPNstar. 

His counsel, Andrew Caldecott QC, told Justice Bean, who is hearing the case in London without a jury, that Modi’s January 2010 tweet was picked up by cricket website Cricinfo. 

When Cairns complained, Cricinfo withdrew their report, paid damages and apologised – but Modi declined to apologise and pleaded justification, maintaining that the charge was true. 

Cairns’ case was that the allegation was “wholly untrue” and a very grave libel which would – if uncorrected – destroy all he had achieved over a distinguished 20-year career. 

In evidence, he said: “The defendant’s allegations have also had a profound effect on my personal and private life. It put a strain on my marriage. It hurts that my wife may think that I am not the man she thought I was. 

“It hurts me too that friends, many of whom are former cricketing foes, will question my integrity as a man and a sportsman and that all I achieved in the great game of cricket is dust.” 

Caldecott said that all-rounder Cairns, who lived in England as a child when his father Lance played here, and had himself played seven seasons for Nottinghamshire, had considerable affection for the UK and minded about his reputation here. 

At the time of the tweet, Modi was one of the most powerful men in the cricket world and any statement of his was likely to be treated as soundly-based. 

Counsel said that, in 2007 and 2008, Cairns captained the Chandigarh Lions in three competitions in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which flourished briefly before the ascendancy of the IPL. 

The allegation made by Modi related to the second and third of these competitions, between March and April 2008 and October and November that year. 

Caldecott said that, in October 2008, Cairns was called to an ICL directors meeting in a hotel room where, according to the cricketer, his denial of rumours of his alleged involvement in match-fixing appeared to be accepted. 

“No specific charges of match-fixing were ever put to Cairns. No names of any accusers were mentioned. 

“He was never informed after his departure that statements had been taken – mainly later – from Indian players alleging corrupt activity by various players including him.” 

Counsel said that Cairns was then effectively suspended for not declaring an ankle injury which had been exacerbated by a 1,000-kilometre charity walk completed in memory of his late sister. 

He returned to New Zealand for an operation, was never contacted with any complaint and, in 2009, was entered for the IPL auction. 

Caldecott said that the initial publication of Modi’s tweet in the jurisdiction was up to 95 people while the initial publication of the Cricinfo article was between 450 and 1,500. 

“Of course these receivers are bound to be cricket fans – it’s the classic kind of allegation which runs and runs – one fan to another to another – match-fixing is a subject which is always topical. 

“Be in no doubt that to everyone who hears it – Mr Cairns’s entire career is tainted.” 

He told the judge: “Preserving the integrity of any sport depends as much on vindicating the falsely accused as it does on convicting the guilty.”

by Ismail Uddin

The London 2012 website for ticket resales which was suspended Friday is still offline Monday.

The site was suspended Friday afternoon due to problems arising after tens of thousands of people went online to purchase unwanted tickets for the London Games.

A spokesman for London 2012 said, “we asked Ticketmaster to suspend the site and address several issues”. He said one of the main problems appeared to be a delay in updating the site once tickets had been sold.

The spokesman added, “we are working to get the site up and running as soon as possible”.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Ticketmaster said he didn’t have the full details as to why the site was taken offline.

The ticket resale site was to be available until February 3, but it’s not clear if the deadline will be extended following the site’s suspension Friday.

The European Football Merchandising Report 2010 has been released by Sport+Markt, allergist along with PR Marketing, symptoms revealing that the clubs in the five European top leagues generate merchandising and licensing revenue of US$866.8m.

This is one of the key results of the report, cough which interviewed a total of 182 top flight clubs and over 10,000 people from ten countries. In the 2009/2010 season, the clubs from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were able to increase their income by more than 6 per cent in comparison to the 2008 investigation.

For the first time, the clubs from Spain‘s Primera División, which generated revenue of approx. $261m in the past season, occupied first position in the rankings. However, whilst almost 80 per cent of their income can be allocated to the two global clubs, Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona, the $230.8m generated by England‘s clubs is distributed much more evenly. With merchandising income of $178.5m, the German Bundesliga follows, clearly ahead of Italy‘s Serie A ($105.8m) and France‘s Ligue 1 ($92m).

According to Dr. Peter Rohlmann of PR Marketing: “The boom in European football merchandising is on-going. However, it is primarily the less established leagues that can look forward to significant growth, as they are gradually identifying the importance of club merchandising in brand management.”

Merchandise bearing the logos of Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona are in the strongest demand.  English clubs Liverpool FC (3rd) and Manchester United FC (6th) were also amongst the top 10 clubs in terms of retail revenue.

The top selling item of merchandise for European clubs remains the jersey with 13.7 million replica shirts were sold in the 2009/10 season. The two sports equipment giants, Adidas and Nike, enjoyed a combined market share of approx. 83 per cent, whilst the remaining 34 kit manufacturers in the ten leagues sold a mere 2.3 million jerseys in total (17 per cent).

Andreas Ullmann, Senior Consultant SPORT+MARKT, stated: “Jersey sales represent the core business of many clubs and are often responsible for around 50 per cent of merchandising revenue. Cultural differences do exist regarding preferences for certain products. Russian or Ukrainian fans, for example, tend to buy more warm scarves, whilst English fans like to buy mugs bearing the logo of their favourite club.”

Major League Baseball (MLB) side the New York Mets’ owners, the Wilpon family, aren’t willing to sell a controlling interest in the franchise accoridng Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon who reiterated their stance after several ownership candidates surfaced in recent days.

Along with chairman Fred Wilpon, Jeff’s father, the owners announced that they may seel as much as 25 per cent of the franchise on Januray 28, because of a lawsuit tied to the Ponzi scheme created by Bernard L. Madoff.

Jeff Wilpon told reporters that his family won’t be forced to give up control of the franchise, stating: “We’re not selling controlling interest in the team. It’s not on the table.”

Trustee Irving Picard wants to recover US$300m in alleged phony profits from Madoff’s scheme made by Sterling Equities Inc., which owns the Mets, and as much as $700m in principal, his lawyer, David Sheehan, said on Feb. 11.

The comments came the day after executives from the investment bank and brokerage firm Tritaurian Capital Inc. created BuyTheMets.com, which would sell $999 shares in an ownership group that would give fans a voice in running the team.

Other reported interests have surfaced from the likes of Martin Luther King III, billionaire Donald Trump and life-long Mets fan and co-founder of Glaceau Vitaminwater sports drink, Michael Repole.