Proposals in a new report will prohibit alcohol drink firms from sponsoring sport events, concerts or festivals in the Republic of Ireland if they are adopted.

The National Substance Misuse Strategy has recommended that drinks industry sponsorship of sport and other large events be phased out by 2016.

It supports legislation for minimum alcohol pricing.

It also calls for a “social responsibility” levy on the industry.

Another proposal is a 21:00 GMT watershed for alcohol advertising on television and radio.

Fiona Ryan, is chief executive of Alcohol Action Ireland, which is a member of the strategy’s steering group.

She said sports sponsorship was “very lucrative” for the alcohol industry and gave them access to the young male market.

Ms Ryan said alcohol was as much a threat to people’s health as tobacco and that one thirteenth of the country’s health budget was being spent on alcohol related illness.

“2,000 hospital beds a night are in terms of alcohol related causes, one in 11 kids tell us they are impacted by parental drinking, one in seven kids are in care because of parental drinking,” she said.

“Those figures are probaly an under-estimation and would compare quite literally with Northern Irish figures.

“We need to reduce alcohol consumption in the Republic of Ireland.”

She added that the recommendations would be subject to a parliamentary debate.

Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing and sponsorship at the agency Brand Rapport, said sports sponsorship by drinks companies was “invaluable” in the current economic climate.

“It is a very high-profile industry and a very easy target to say let’s ban sports sponsorship by alcohol companies, but all they are doing is to try and get their brand recognised,” he added.

“If you take it out of the equation people are not going to drink less, they are just going to have more of a problem deciding what they are going to drink.”

Manchester United have petitioned the Football Association (FA) about the number of tickets they have been allocated for next month’s FA Cup tie at Manchester City.

Under FA rules, United should be entitled to an allocation equivalent to 15% of the ground capacity at the Etihad Stadium, which would be 7,100 tickets.

Instead, City have offered 5,500 – exactly the same as United were granted for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final two years ago.

However, whilst that tie was agreed relatively quickly, the Red Devils are this time demanding their full entitlement.

City are refusing on the grounds that it would constitute a safety risk as there would not be enough space to keep the opposition fans apart, so the FA has been asked to intervene on the matter.

The issue came to light over discussions about the tie, and the potential for a replay. United would not offer City 15% of Old Trafford’s capacity for that.

However, they do have special dispensation from the FA due to the size of their stadium and City would be allocated 8,500 tickets – just over 11% of Old Trafford’s 76,000 capacity.

The row will merely heighten the atmosphere around a tie which will see the pair – currently first and second in the Premier League – meet at City in the FA Cup for the first time since 1955.

After decades of playing second fiddle to their neighbours, City have enjoyed better fortunes of late, winning last season’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley and then hammering United 6-1 at Old Trafford this term.

Although that Wembley encounter passed off peacefully thanks to a significant police operation, there was trouble around the previous Carling Cup encounter at City, when 29 supporters were eventually arrested.

James Ellington, the British sprinter who put himself on a eBay auction in a bid to gain sponsorship has already beaten his £30,000 reserve.

Ellington is the second fastest sprinter in the country, but the 26-year old lost out on sponsor backing after his career was blighted by four years of injury.

Despite having his best ever season and running the 200m in 20.52 seconds – the fastest time by a British athlete this year – he had no response to his calls for a sponsor.

Ellington, who has lived in Addiscombe for the past three years, put himself up for auction last week and with four days to go until the auction ends, bids already stand at £32,250.

He said: “I knew what I was doing was a unique thing that would attract some attention, but I didn’t realise how much I would get.

“On a lot of auctions, people can go crazy in the last 20 minutes, but I don’t know if it will happen with me, we will see.

“I am more than happy with the bid, £30,000 was the minimum I would need to train full time, anything else I get is a bonus.

“If the auction did go crazy and out of control, the extra money would be used after the Olympics for the Commonwealth Games and World Athletics Championships.”

The sprinter who works part-time coaching children, says he is committed to helping young people coming through the sport.

He said “I’m definitely positive in terms of educating the kids and being the spokesperson for people coming through the sport. Whoever bids is investing in something good.”

With one year for the race to begin, Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 announced its tie up with IMG Sports Media as official television partner.

The racing will begin in Alicante, Spain on 29 October 2011.

“Our ambition is to create ‘event’ television that becomes ‘appointment to view’. A mix between live, highlights, short form and news programming will enable us to strike the right balance between the offshore ‘DNA/essence’ of the race, and made-for-television spectacles such as the in-port races,” says director of Television for the Volvo Ocean Race Adam Binns.

A host of programming will be produced and distributed by IMG including a series of ‘Golden Moments’ showcasing the footage of the ocean race.  Live video conferences, daily and weekly news updates will also be broadcast around the world.

Binns says, “IMG and SNTV are the perfect fit for us. Our race will be consumed when the viewer wants, on all kinds of devices so it is essential we work with a company whose experience across television, mobile, broadband and IPTV is unrivalled.”

The hub for the regular updates will be the new NASA-inspired Race Control room in the Spanish Race Headquarters

Six teams have confirmed for the race.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad says, “I believe the syndicates we are working with have had great success since the end of the last Volvo Ocean Race. We have managed to jointly, with the teams, raise over 210 million Euros in sponsorship and rights fees in this rocky economic climate and, while that is an amazing achievement, we continue the push to bring more boats to the start line next year.”

Says Frostad, “Our ambition is to become one of the top sporting events in the world and we have directed our attention towards a few key areas which we believe will help us to achieve this goal.  One component is the way in which we communicate the event to a wider audience, which has led us to appoint IMG as our television partner.”

The other partners for the race are Inmarsat, BCG, Thrane & Thrane, Puma, Volvo Penta, Ericsson amongst others.

During the nine months of the Race, which starts in Alicante, Spain in October 2011 and concludes in Galway, Ireland, during early July 2012, the teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient.

The World Squash Federation (WSF) have awarded Egypt the 2015 Women’s World Junior Team Squash Championship in Cairo. 

Egypt, winners of the biennial title for the fourth time in a row in Poland in 2013, last hosted the event in 2003.

The Men’s & Women’s World Junior Individual Championships precede the Women’s World Junior Team Championship, and while Egypt won the female individual championship again this year in Namibia, when Habiba Mohamed triumphed, they will be keen also to regain the men’s crown after the title went to Peru’s Diego Elias in Windhoek.

Welcoming the 2015 Championship to Cairo, subject to facility finalisation, Egyptian Squash Federation President Assem Khalifa said: “We are proud of the achievements of all our juniors and it will be our great pleasure for them to have the opportunity to compete for the World Junior titles in our own country.

“We are also delighted to be able to welcome all the best young overseas players so that they can experience Egyptian hospitality.”

WSF President N Ramachandran added: “Egypt not only has a rich and long tradition of squash excellence but this is coupled with their formidable production line of juniors. We are delighted that they will again be hosting a WSF event and look forward to an excellent edition.”

The planned dates are 25-30 July 2015 for the World Junior Individuals, followed by 31 July – 4 August for the Women’s Junior Team Championship.

English rugby union outfit Leeds Carnegie have announced they will be rebranded Yorkshire Carnegie from next season in a bid to increase the awareness and appeal of the club.

The proposal to change the name was made earlier in the year and that has now been confirmed.  

Chief Executive Gary Hetherington commented on the change: “Everyone has been very supportive, link particularly the rugby union fraternity.” 

“They can see the wisdom, viagra buy ambition and common sense approach that can build a team to go into the Premiership that carries the name of Yorkshire and pulls the rugby network in the county together. 

“We will be pulling in the same direction and working for one common good and players can aspire to play for Yorkshire at the highest level. 

“Hopefully, every rugby union fan in the county can become a supporter of the Yorkshire team.”

Sports agency MB Partners have welcomed a new client with footballer Sam Chaney joining their ranks. 

The midfielder signed a two-year scholarship with Torquay United in 2012 and has a promising future ahead of him. The 18-year-old has been a regular player in the youth team since he joined the club and has made the reserves squad several times.

Commenting on signing with MB Partners, Chaney said: “I am delighted to be joining MB Partners, as I know they can support me off the pitch and I can then focus on my football a lot more and really push on. It’s nice to know they have my best interests, which was showed during our meeting and are passionate about bringing players like myself forward.’

“We are delighted to have Sam on board”, said Jimmy Carter of MB Partners. “Sam possesses that wow factor that is needed to become a top midfielder in the English game and his development over the past two years has been really encouraging. We are all looking forward to working closer with him over the coming years.”