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headlines
David Beckham
continues to be off the team as a combination of injuries have left LA Galaxy to fend for
themselves - and they seem to be doing pretty well. The biggest first
prize in championship golf goes to the winner of The Open at Carnoustie with a grand prize
of over US$1.5 million. Thierry Henry broke Michael Platini's record of 41
goals for France when he scored two goals against Lithuania in a Euro 2008 qualifier -
which brings his total to 43! British Airways have added a
new cost to potential elite athletes as surfers are no longer be able to check their surf
boards on BA flights. TV rights for this year's England
Premiership football league will likely generate almost US$4 billion in revenues. A four
year deal brings the prestigious ATP World Tour Finals to London. The tournament is worth
over US$4,5 million in prize money with the top 8 singles and doubles tennis teams seeking
their share of the pot of gold. French transportation action did not disrupt fans
attending the Rugby World Cup Final at Stade de France. But a UK nationwide mail strike
made life difficult for fans waiting for their tickets for an England/Russia Euro2008
qualifier. Five hundred fans (the mechanical kind) are causing
the local residents of Wembley Stadium to complain that the noise is like "jet
engines" (with none of the advantages of living near Heathrow!) The
four top tennis organizations have introduced new deadlines for players - including giving
players a maximum 48 hours to tell the authorities if they are approached to throw
matches; or risk disciplinary action if they are found out. US$4.5 million
was the auction price paid for the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bib Rashid al-Maktoum's
shirt which he wore when he won the equestrian World Cup 2003 in Spain. But it was all for
a very good cause: a children's charity. Fifa, soccer's ruling body is looking to
impose limits on the number of foreign players on the field and will therefore challenge a
European Union ruling that prohibits national quotas.
spotlight on: to ban
or not to ban, that is the question
The IOC is considering how best to address the issue
of elite athletes failing drug tests. The latest 'configuration' is that athletes who are
sanctioned for more than six months will not be permitted to participate in the next
Olympic Games; while the most series offenders will get life bans. This new penalty
format will be enforced after Beijing 2008.
 Meanwhile, The first ever crew member in Americas Cup history has received a two year
ban after testing positive for a recreational drug. Simon Daubney has since quit the
Cup winning Alinghi team.
Similarly, the World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany uncovered a breach of
Intravenous Drip Laws by three Russian rowers. The whole Russian team was tested;
two crews - whose athletes were involved - were withdrawn; and an investigation is
now taking place to see whether the Russian Rowing Federation will be implicated. If
the Federation is found guilty they could receive a four year ban which would include the
Beijing Olympics.
hot spot: Paris,
France
The 2007 Rugby World Cup is seen as the
best competition ever; despite the fact that France failed to make it beyond the
semi-finals.
A seriously exciting championship with twists and turns that no-one could have predicted,
the final outcome South Africa 15:England 6 was seen as the culmination of a fantastic few
weeks with fans and athletes enjoying the usual thug free entertainment.
Meanwhile one of the biggest winners was the organizing country.
An average of around 47,000 passed through the turnstiles of each match - totaling well in
excess of 2 million fans watching live action.
Record TV audiences will likely generate profits of almost US$200 million; and those
profits will be re-invested into the game to develop some of the emerging countries
battling to one day claim the sport's most coveted trophy.
hot shot: construction
The construction of the modern sport/multi-purpose
sports stadium is an art form which is much more complicated than some might imagine. Top of the list is the
budget which may or may not prove adequate to meet all the aspirations of the owners which
in many case are a public/private consortium. Add to the 'no white elephants' mantra
of organizers of the 'main event' that acts as the catalyst for the stadium to be
built in the first place, and the construction process is often accountable to many
masters. From planning stage, to post event and legacy phase (when it may be the
bankers who are left 'holding the purse strings'), a stadium has to deliver in every
respect to be a success.
For example, few may be aware of the time and effort put into ensuring that the acoustics
are just right for an aquatics centre. Crowd noise has to be at the right levels to
bounce back into the space to give that feeling of excitement, while at the same time
allowing essential high quality sound for both media coverage and audible PA
systems.
Creativity and second generation use is also key to the construction equation. Host
city of the 1996 Winter Olympics in Lilliehammer in Norway dug a US$25 million hole in the
ground to house the ice-hockey stadium which now requires around 30 percent less energy
than a similar sized venue above ground.
London 2012 now have to find an economic solution to the unique challenge of covering an
80,000 seat new Olympic Stadium into a 25,000-seater athletics venue.
sidelines: acquisition
Nike's acquisition of Umbro will significantly expand the company's global leadership
in football. A key growth sport since the early 1990s, Nike has seen its football
revenues increase from around US$40 million to approximately US$1.5 billion.
Umbro’s Board of Directors unanimously recommended that
shareholders accept the offer of 193.06 pence per share, a price which effectively values
Umbro at around US$582 million.
Nike's reaction by President and CEO Mark Parker was enthusiastic:
"Umbro is a brand with a powerful heritage and deep experience in the world's most
popular sport and the world's biggest football market.
With its close links to The Football Association and the England team, Umbro's future is
even stronger than its past. This dynamic alignment of Umbro and Nike, with our
complementary strengths and numerous ways to segment and grow the market, will lead the
game at every level throughout the world.”
The response from Umbro CEO Steve Makin was equally effusive:
" We will be a stronger and better business as part of Nike and this deal will allow
us to accelerate our existing growth strategy by leveraging Nike's global resources and
expertise. We look forward to taking Umbro to new levels with Nike's support."
The deal has yet to go through.
fashion icon...... the science of sport
Fox Sports Net's
'Sport Science' is a new 13-part US TV series
which does what it says: it goes some way to explain the science of sport.
The series - which costs $500,000 per episode - is FSN's most expensive, and the cost is
for the production only with no expensive sports celebrity fees. A coup in itself!
As all the budget goes into celebrating the science, many top athletes (around ninety in
total) will appear in the series.
FSN has turned an LA airport hangar into a box of tricks sci-fi type lab. The space
allows them to do a number of weird and wonderful things including illustrating through
motion capture animation how for example, street basketball player, Chris
"Skywalker" Lowry jumping to make a basket is is equivalent to jumping over a
car. You also get to see major league soccer star, Jason Hernandez's legs on a
bicycle move as fast as a helicopters blades in flight.
Fascinating and sometimes amazing facts make science look very cool - which can't be a bad
thing - especially for the scientists!
home and away: losing your home
and sent away for a six-month jail stay
Despite all the stories in this edition of shortsandsports.com, there is one
that really stands out as a major disappointment.
Golden girl, Marion Jones became THE world renowned athlete after winning five medals at
the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
But after declaring herself innocent for a number of years, she recently admitted in
a New York Court that she did take performance enhancing drugs.
 There is little positive to say about the elite world
of sports when our heroes crash to the ground with such regularity. The seven year
pretence must have been a marathon performance. Jones was under scrutiny almost as soon as
Sydney was over and the IOC opened an investigation into her performance in 2004. But the
truth has caught up with her as she admitted to in a letter published in the Washington
Post that she had taken THG - an anabolic steroid - from 1999. She claimed in her letter
that her former coach, Trevor Graham gave her the drugs; and it is Graham - who faces
trial in November - who pointed the way to the well-publicized BALCO inquiry after he
tipped off doping investigators.
More like fiction than truth itself, it was BALCO (corporation) that finally pulled the
plug on the lie. Victor Conte, disgraced chemist and owner of BALCO claimed he injected
Jones with human growth hormone. Jones filed a US$25 million lawsuit for defamation
but was finally exposed as a liar after ex-boyfriend Tim Montgomery pleaded guilty to
money laundering and Jones was finally implicated.
Legal fees appear to have broken the will and the bank of this once much loved golden girl
who now faces six months in jail.
Hopefully she will stay on the sidelines and refrain from selling her story or making the
movie, but Jones - who some say is broke - has little to lose and much to gain if the
offer is on the table.
sport culture: the movie
diary
 The London Film Festival was filled with movies that made you
want to find a quiet corner of the world and hide away; but a sports documentary reminded
us that life is not all it seems - particularly when it comes to elite sport.
Substitute (France 2006) tells the story of Vikash Dhorasoo and his personal experience as
a member of a team of 23 French football players representing their country in the 2006
World Cup in Germany. Fred Poulet shares his role of Director of the movie
with Dhorasoo; as part of the deal when he gave the footballer a handheld Super 8 camera
(no sound) and asked him to make a video diary of his personal experiences as part of the
team.
And while Dhorasoo had played for his country in each of the qualifiers, by by the time it
came to the finals of the World Cup in Germany, he had been sidelined by the National Team
manager and spent much of his time sitting on the bench.
Through audio recordings the documentary provides an insight into the player who doesn't
get selected to play. Dhorasoo's frustration and disappointment is obvious from the
sound recordings; and this reality gives an interesting twist to an athlete at the top of
his game in every respect but one.
Poulet took the editorial decision to show a disenchanted and isolated member of the team
with few positive experiences; and this distortion of Dhorasoo's time spent in Germany is
a weakness in what would otherwise be a unique spin on elite athletes.
The reality was that Dhorasoo enjoyed a much more inclusive time in Germany; and despite a
lack of balanced reporting few of us can imagine what it would be like to be so very
publicly 'left off the pitch'.
Highly recommended as a new take on the life of footballers at the top.
starting blocks:
'special' case self-regulation requires serious justification
The IOC said in a statement that the organization was convinced that the creation of a
legal basis for sport in the EU Reform Treaty would ‘better address the needs of
sport and provide a sound legal framework for the future’.
The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, supported this plea
on behalf of the Olympic Movement in a letter to the governments of the 27 Member States.
“The responsibility sport has in society and the
autonomy with which it regulates itself are central to its credibility and
legitimacy”, Rogge said.
“Autonomy thus means preserving the values of
sport and the existing structures through which it has developed in Europe and around the
world. Sport can play its unique role thanks to its autonomy, and this role would be
seriously compromised if sport-governing bodies are subject to public interference.
Therefore the IOC and the sports movement as a whole hope that this aspect will be taken
into consideration.”
The discussions currently taking place in Brussels
will focus on creating a draft of a reform treaty agreed upon by the 27 Member States of
the European Union (EU) last June.
It should be noted that shortandsports have made
mention of a related issue in past issues: the legal fraternity continue to express their
concerns over the potential 'special' status re. total self-regulation with no higher
court, right of appeal.
life after..... rotation
Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter has been mulling
over a replacement scenario for the rotational continent model which currently rotates
between the five continents. With Brazil the only candidate for the 2014 World
Cup, Fifa is looking for a more competitive solution.
The rotation system, which was introduced to ensure that Africa got the 2010 tournament
and South America hosted 2014, has the Europeans scrambling to get back in the frame after
the success of Germany in 2006.
Change is just around the corner and the likely revised version will draw a line under the
rotation system and allow any continent which has not hosted the previous two World Cups
to submit a bid.
 Richard
Caborn, MP. Minister for Spo rt England)
In 2018 this will rule out Africa and South America; but countries already believed to be
clamouring at Fifa's door include Australia, Canada, China, England, Mexico, Russia, USA
and a joint bid from Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.
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Beckham back on the bench
