The British Penny Farthing Championships

 

Transformational investment

Major sporting events and grassroots sport to receive £900 million funding

More than £900 million will be committed to major sporting events and grassroots sport across the UK in a “transformational investment” over the coming years, the Government has announced.

Euro 2028, the European Athletics Championships next year and the men’s and women’s Tour de France Grand Departs in 2027 are among the key events set to be hosted in the country that will benefit from more than half a billion pounds in funding.


It almost seems churlish to raise the issue, but presumably HS2 was supposed to be a "transformational investment" too. And Net Zero. 


Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Sport tells our national story in a way few other things can, uniting communities, inspiring millions, and showcasing our nation on the global stage.

“This major backing for world-class events will drive economic growth across the country, delivering on our plan for change.

It's the way she tells 'em.

Declining interest in the Olympics

Michael Cook has an interesting Mercator piece on declining interest in the Olympic Games.

Could the Olympics die with the baby boomers?

The pageantry of the Olympic Games are diverting attention from a question which must keep members of the International Olympic Committee awake at night: will the modern Games survive?

"If we don't get young people playing sport, we won't be here for very much longer," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said at a press conference last week. "We have to attract young audiences and go where they are... we have to attract young people to sport or we are dead, basically."

“Or we are dead”?

Did he really say that?


The whole piece is well worth reading, particularly the demographic and political stats.


According to Gallup, interest in the Olympics is falling across all socio-economic groups. But the political divide is reflected in who’s watching the Games. Democrats (46%) are far more likely to watch than Republicans (31%), college graduates (47%) than high school graduates (25%), richer households (44%) than poorer households (28%), over-50s (42%) than under 50s (30%).

If the IOC were a media organisation, it ought to be terrified by these stats. The Games is becoming entertainment for wealthy baby boomer Democrats – and millions of them drop off the perch every year. But the IOC is a media organization. According to the IOC, 61 percent of its US$7.6 billion in revenue in 2017 – 2021 came from media rights. Without an audience, how long will it be able to sell the games to broadcasters?

The Olympics TV Show

Paris Olympics opening ceremony has best TV audience figures since London 2012

 
The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on Friday has attracted more BBC viewers than the last two games, figures show.

About 6.8 million people watched the coverage on BBC One, between 5.45pm and 10.40pm, as Canadian singer Celine Dion performed French singer Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour at the Eiffel Tower.

I don’t watch TV at all and don’t miss it. I used to watch the Olympics, but it’s become more of a global TV show than a sporting event. It’s also about money, politics and sport of course, but the look and feel of it is TV show.

 In gold medal position – it’s the global TV show.

In silver medal position – it’s the money and politics show.

In bronze* medal position – it’s a sporting event.

* There may be some question about the bronze award.

Buying Power

Armin Rosen has an interesting Tablet piece on how Qatar acquired the rights to stage the 2022 World Cup. Not surprising, but yet another insight into how things are done on the world stage.


Qatar’s World Cup FIFA Bribe Documents Exposed

The moral and legal compromises FIFA and the Qatari government made to hold the 2022 World Cup in the Doha metropolitan area range from tolerating the host country’s ban on homosexuality to deadly abuses of migrant laborers at stadium construction sites. According to documents submitted to the record of a lawsuit in federal court late this afternoon, the road to the first Middle Eastern World Cup also began with a series of straightforward bribes.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) documents, included in a filing made by a Philadelphia-based policy organization fighting a subpoena from a former Qatari-hired American lobbyist, reveal the secret cost of Qatar’s bid to put on the biggest sporting event on Earth. The documents record over 210 million pounds in payments, then worth over $330 million, to members of the FIFA committee who voted on which country would host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in late 2010. They list specific names, bank account numbers, and amounts of money received.

The record of payments comes in the form of a balance sheet for an account at QNB belonging to the Qatar Diplomatic Mission in London. Between February of 2009 and December of 2010, the account paid over 350 million pounds ($553 million) to some 22 individuals, with the majority of the money going to 14 members of the FIFA executive committee, the body which chooses the host countries for the organization’s flagship event. Some of the payments went to close family members, although a majority of them were direct to committee members.


The whole piece is well worth reading, even for those who are not fans of the beautiful game.


The price of some FIFA committee votes was apparently higher than others. For instance, Nicolas Leoz, the now-deceased former head of South America’s soccer federation, got 5.4 million pounds ($8.5 million). But the highest payments went to Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s minister for sport between 2008 and 2016, chairman of the successful Russian bid for the 2018 World Cup, and deputy prime minister from 2016 to 2020. He got 46 million pounds ($72.6 million) on Feb. 19, 2009, followed by another 21.5 million pounds ($34 million) on Dec. 20, 2010.

No Lycra Here

 

Abandoned Olympics Venues

 

Source

In February 2022, during the Beijing Winter Olympics, James Grebey and Gabbi Shaw published an Insider piece on the fate of Olympics venues illustrated with 34 photos such as the one above. Worth a look.

34 photos that show how some Olympic venues are left abandoned after the Games end

• The 2022 Winter Olympics are underway in Beijing.
• Sometimes cities successfully repurpose parts of their Olympic set-ups, like in Montreal.
• But oftentimes these giant investments are torn down or abandoned, as these photos show.

There must be an explanation

 

 

Kneelers and the bull

'They were playing darts last night!': Roy Keane insists England have NO excuses for lifeless performance in USA stalemate

• England were held to a disappointing scoreless draw by Group B rivals USA
• Pundit Roy Keane said Gareth Southgate's side should have no excuses for result
• He said they should have focused for the 10pm kick-off, instead of playing darts

The Kneelers appear to be as erratic and disappointing as the old England team used to be before political gestures became as essential as beating the opposition. I believe there was some dispute over a misogynist armband too, but I didn't follow that. 

Jumper

It would liven up the Olympics

 

The roar of the crowd, the smell of the bureaucrat

Len Shackleton has a piece in CAPX on a proposed new football regulator.

The Government is planning to legislate to implement the findings of Tracey Crouch’s Fan-Led Review of Football Governance. This calls for major changes in the way English football is run, with the Government imposing an independent regulator (IREF) and mandating major changes to the way clubs are managed. However well-intentioned, implementing these proposals would be a mistake.

What fun. I don't know about well-intentioned though, this sounds much more like bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy.

Under the proposed regulatory model, clubs will be required to submit a wealth of information – including detailed business models and regular financial updates. There will be strict limits on permissible losses. Clubs will have to restructure their boards and put equality, diversity and inclusion programmes in place. They will have to set up arrangements for a fan body to hold a ‘golden share’ giving veto powers over certain club decisions, and separate arrangements for a ‘shadow board’ to be consulted regularly.

And let us not forget important issues such as the calorie content of the pies and Net Zero targets. No floodlights for those evening matches. 

Guy who wasn't deported wins Australian Open

Rafael Nadal wins Australian Open to become most successful man in tennis history

Roger Federer, who had been level with Nadal on 20 Grand Slams, paid tribute to his rival after the Spaniard's win against Daniil Medvedev. Federer hailed Nadal's achievement as "amazing", adding: "Never underestimate a great champion."

High in the water

Sky has this story about a dodgy Chinese swimmer

Sky Views: Podium protest against China's 'poster boy' shames swimming's governing body

There were several contenders for standout moment of the swimming world championships in South Korea this weekend.

Not least, Adam Peaty producing possibly the finest performance by a British swimmer in history, becoming the first person to break 57 seconds for 100m breaststroke.

But it was the image of Australian Mack Horton refusing to share the podium with China's poster boy Sun Yang that will endure.

The terms "drugs cheat," "dirty," and "doper" are already being attached to Sun Yang by his rivals before he has been convicted of anything, over and above a warning relating to the latest scandal.

But that is the environment FINA has created with its disgraceful approach to doping control and toothless punishments of drugs cheats.

The piece lists the evidence against Sun which, one might think, should be enough to have him barred from competitive swimming. Apparently not.

In other news, Chinese geneticists have a new breed of drug-free swimmers in the pipeline. With huge feet, webbed hands and a breathing hole in the back of their heads these super-athletes are expected to consign the whole sorry drugs mess to sporting history.  

Cyclists' hearts

Not sure what to make of this. We all know that major sports stars have to be dedicated but this feels more like madness than dedication.