As England's Euro 2012 squad acquaint themselves with their Krakow base and the disconcertingly low‑key buildup to their first match continues – free of tub thumping or metatarsal prayer mats – the announcement of the long list for Team GB's Olympic football squad is something of a sideshow.
When the list of 35 names is unveiled before the end of the week, however, it will again reignite some of the most heated debates that will surround the London Games. Not merely whether David Beckham or Craig Bellamy are worthy of a place in the squad, but the place of football in the Games itself and our attitude to it.
The lengthy buildup to Team GB's first appearance in the Games for 52 years has inevitably centred on two things. One, the row whether there should be a Team GB competing at all, given the reservations of the home nations. And, two, the identity of the players who will fill the three overage berths.
The former has receded slightly, as it has become clear that despite their ongoing reservations there is little the home nations can do – although it remains to be seen how enthusiastically the team is greeted in Wales for its third match. For the second, the smart money is on Beckham, Ryan Giggs (who, in marked contrast to his attitude to releasing other players, Sir Alex Ferguson has said he will allow to play) and Craig Bellamy (who appears to have let the cat out of the bag early).
But all of that obscures wider debates. At a time when the International Olympic Committee is again beginning the process of deciding whether any new sports are worthy of a place at the Games – with squash leading the way – there will be those who ask whether football is worthy of a place.
Like tennis and golf (due to be included from 2016), critics say the Olympics do not represent the pinnacle of the sport and should therefore not play a part. It is a position with which many managers Рnot least Ferguson and Ars̬ne Wenger Рwould probably agree as they contemplate the added headache of a tournament that ends the day before the Community Shield.
But it is not one with which I agree. The Olympic football tournament is a different beast from the rest of the football firmament – as long as it is treated as such.
Those countries that take the Olympic football tournament seriously across South America and Africa use it as a breeding ground for youth and a chance for promising players to experience the atmosphere of a big tournament. For Messi (who won gold in 2008), who so valued his place that he took Barcelona to court in order to play, to the Brazilian Ronaldo (bronze in 1996), it was seen as a hugely important formative experience in their footballing careers. For many it is a glimpse into the footballing future. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a whole generation of Nigerian players announced themselves to the world in winning gold.
In Britain, however, we seem more obsessed about which already iconic player will make it the swansong of their career, rather than as a breeding ground for youth. Given that the FA is constantly pushing the rhetoric of a governing body that has belatedly woken up to the importance of bringing players together through the age groups, you'd think more focus would be on this aspect of the Games.
The nation's attitude to the Team GB football team in particular, and the tournament in general, is also a serious concern for organisers. The London Olympic organising committee, Locog, still has more than 1.2m football tickets to shift – and the prospect of embarrassing swathes of empty seats is becoming more real with only 50 days left to shift them.
The hope was always that once the draw was made, the kit was unveiled and the squad was announced, excitement would build. With two of those three milestones down, it seems safe to assume that the group stage matches of the men's GB team should sell out, along with the semi-finals and final, but that it will be an uphill struggle to ensure full stadia for the rest.
Despite that, it also seems safe to assume that once Roy Hodgson's team troop home from Poland and Ukraine, interest will build exponentially. The biggest opportunity of all is perhaps for Team GB's women. If they can emerge from a difficult group and reach the semi-finals, it could provide (with apologies in advance for employing the most overused phrase of the summer) a genuine once in a lifetime boost for the sport.
Sir Steve fears for new Olympic dream
Sir Steve Redgrave, catching up with old friends at the unveiling of Team GB's rowing squad, said he was disappointed to be listed as a short-priced favourite to light the Olympic cauldron on 27 July. Not because he didn't want to do it, but because he was desperate to be picked – and was aware that the favourite rarely prevailed. With Roger Bannister having publicly ruled himself out, Redgrave is a popular choice. David Beckham, having already performed the role at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and accompanied the flame back from Athens, would appear to be out too. But Daley Thompson, the favoured choice of the London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe, (who has ruled himself out too, and absented himself from the decision making) would seem a decent outside bet. Those who believe the bookies are rarely wrong might also note that following the Jubilee weekend, the Queen herself has also seen her odds slashed. For now, the guessing game will continue.
GB rowers to shun opening ceremony
Another hardy opening‑ceremony perennial is the never ending speculation on the number of athletes who will take part in the parade. Despite the best efforts of organisers to take advantage of the proximity of the Athletes Village to the stadium, and promises from Stephen Daldry and Danny Boyle to keep the ceremony moving as quickly as possible, the 52 rowers are all set to shun it. The performance director, Dave Tanner, said the advice from the BOA was not to do so, given that they will be staying near the lake at Eton Dorney where they will be competing in the days following the opening ceremony. Britain's sailors, currently competing in the Sail For Gold Regatta on the Olympic waters in Weymouth, will face a similarly difficult call.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Law School Should Remain Accessible to All - Huffington Post
The legal profession and, in roughly the last 110 years or so, law schools, have always been a route to advancement in America. At the presidential level, lawyers include, among others, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Lincoln, Cleveland, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nixon, Clinton and Obama. The numbers of state and federal legislators who have been lawyers are legion. The same for governors. Many high corporate officials have been lawyers. And none of this is even to mention that lawyers are prominent at professional and civic levels ranging from Wall Street to small towns.
So it is important that law schools and the law remain open to -- remain a route of advancement for -- the middle and lower economic classes. But such access is increasingly difficult to come by. The reasons have to do with elitism, failure to teach students what they need to know in order to practice, and costs. The elitism has been with us for scores of years. The failure to teach the skills of practice have been with us almost as long. The staggering costs (tuition) are a more recent phenomenon. All of this, and much more, is discussed in a new book by Brian Tamanaha, formerly a dean of the St. John's Law School and now a law professor at Washington University of St. Louis. Many of Tamanaha's criticism and suggestions mirror the views and practices of the Massachusetts School of Law since its inception in 1988.
The criticisms made of law schools include the following: law professors' salaries are very high (sometimes ranging into the mid three hundred thousand dollar range or averaging over $250,000). They are far higher than in any other academic field except medicine. In part due to very high salaries, law school tuition is very high -- often being between $35,000 and more than $50,000 per year. Law professors teach few hours of class, making it necessary to have more professors in each school, which again pushes up tuition. Law professors are entirely research oriented (although their research is of little or no benefit to students); they have very little experience in practice, lack knowledge of the arts and skills of practice, and cannot teach such skills to students though most students wish to become practicing lawyers. In pursuit of higher U.S. News and World Report rankings, law schools seek students with, and give available financial assistance to, students with high LSAT scores. This forces other, "lower ranked" students, who pay full tuition, to in effect pay the way of the students with high LSATs. Again in pursuit of high U.S. News rankings, some law schools have told falsehoods about their students' LSAT scores, undergraduate grade point averages, chances of employment after graduation or starting salaries after graduation. Law schools have failed to prepare students for bar examinations. By increasing tuition to astronomical levels, law schools have made it necessary for students to take on very high amounts of debt, often ranging between $100,000 and $135,000. These amounts of debt play hob with students' lives after they graduate.
A way to cure these problems, and to make legal education and its associated social and economic mobility available to middle class and lower class students, is to reverse the current practices (as our school has done). Professors should have extensive, and often continuing, experience in practice, so that they can teach the arts and skills of practice to students. Professors should teach reasonable numbers of hours, not low numbers of hours. They should focus on good teaching, rather than on research of little or no value to students. They should earn good but not astonishingly huge salaries. Schools should eschew the elitist LSAT. They should prepare students for the bar examination. And, by use of these and similar techniques, tuition should and can be kept low -- it can be kept to between $15,000 and $20,000 per year, instead of being 35 or 40 or 45 or $50,000 per year.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
London increases share of UK IT workforce - Computer Weekly
Hardware
PC, Servers, Storage, Data centre, Mobile, Networking, Chips & processors, Printers
Enterprise software
Operating systems, Open source, Windows, Developer, Mobile, Database, Business applications, SOA, Web, Middleware, BI, Virtualisation, Collaboration, Licensing
IT services
Outsourcing, Consultancy, Hosting, Cloud, Offshore, Startups
Source: www.computerweekly.com
London 2012: Why Sponsors Need to Create Olympic Content, Not Just Badge It - The Drum
As London 2012 Olympic activity ramps up with just over a month until the event itself kicks into life, Kath Hipwell planning director who oversees Red Bee Media's content strategy rounds up some of the content strategies being implemented by brands and media partners aiming to get as much out of the sporting occasion as they possibly can.
Creating relevant content is now an essential part of 21st century marketing. Particularly, it would seem, when the goal is to own an event such as the London 2012 Olympics. So many powerful brands are fighting to get their pound of Olympic flesh that sponsors need to leverage their VIP access in every way they can.
Four years ago, Coca-Cola, BMW and Sainsbury’s may have just made conventional ads or attached their logo to pieces of content. But in today’s world where brands are increasingly seeking to be the content, not interrupt it, they have created something much more engaging. As part of their London 2012 sponsorship activity, Coke will create more than 120 pieces of content compared with a measly three TV ads and six posters for Beijing 2008.
Coca-Cola – Move to the Beat
Never mind the smell of Olympic success then, Coke have decided to bottle the sound of sport. One of their initiatives, ‘Move to the beat of the London 2012 Olympic Games’, is a collaboration between Coke and Mark Ronson which hopes to record the sounds of Olympic sports and transform them into something approaching music.
The attempt is captured in a 25 minute film aired on E4 which makes for entertaining viewing. It also captures the optimistic, global, youthful spirit reminiscent of Coke’s iconic ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ ad from 1971 – another global harmony co-created by Coke.
BMW – The Ultimate Performance
BMW has taken a more philosophical approach, using Olympic athletes as a metaphor for their product as they explore what it takes to produce ‘The Ultimate Performance’. They created four short documentary films, directed by award-winning documentary makers and released one a week to keep consumers coming back for more.
One of the most successful is arguably ‘Power, Speed and Endurance’ directed by Asif Kapadia, the BAFTA winning director of Senna. He draws parallels between the golden age of athletics and of automobiles, so the audience can’t help but view both as high performance machines. It’s then just a short hop to ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’.
adidas Bodycare – TomDaley.TV
From the ultimate driving machine, to the ultimate diving machine, in the form of Britain’s very own Tom Daley. Arguably one of the most marketable Olympic athletes, Tom has been busy creating some content of his own at TomDaley.TV. Brands were not too far off the scent though and adidas got involved by taking over Tom’s official web TV channel for the month of May. The sponsored videos inform us that he trains for a gruelling six hours a day, six days a week, and that adidas Bodycare will be “keeping Tom cool under pressure”.
The content shares some of his impressive skills and Tom delivers his pieces to camera with such well-groomed charm that you can’t help but smile. There are plenty of smiley faces in the incredibly supportive tweets being streamed on the site too. In fact, it all feels rather perfect – right down to the Union Jack duvet cover and coordinating adidas deodorant can…
Sainsbury’s – Sainsbury’s and Channel 4 Present…
A series of 10 short films aired on Channel 4 and channel4.com helps Sainsbury’s amplify their sponsorship of the Paralympic Games. Paralympic athletes, including gold-medal winning swimmer Ellie Simmonds, share their tales of dedication to their sport and the sacrifices they are having to make on the way to the Games. The resulting stories feel compelling and intimate, although unfortunately Sainsbury’s sponsorship is bolted onto the end in quite an ungainly manner, which rather breaks the spell. That said, the series is highly watchable and affords Sainsbury’s a platform from which to share its commitment to promoting healthier, more active lifestyles for all ages and abilities. A laudable goal indeed and one in line with the event it’s sponsoring.
British Airways – Boy
Perhaps the most ambitious, brave and emotionally powerful work though is from British Airways (BA). Their Na href="http://www.britishairways.com/travel/great-britons/public/en_gb">‘Great Britons’ programme has led to the creation of a stunning film entitled ‘Boy’. This incredibly moving and beautiful nine minute story was penned by Great Britons winner Prasanna Puwanarajah and features Timothy Spall. The story is one step removed from the Olympic Games and feels more original and authentic for it, while elements set in the Olympic Park’s Velodrome ensure its relevance. It will be seen by up to six million BA passengers this summer; the fact that it is a silent film makes it all the more transportable.
With incredibly subtle branding, save for the end credits of their film, you might ask what’s in it for BA? Certainly they’re not getting the product placement of adidas or the overt meshing of their logo with the 2012 Olympics that Sainsbury’s nail on to the end of their work. But for my money their modest approach is hugely powerful and shifts my perceptions of the brand in a way their recent advertising has failed to do. I admire them for their respectful and sophisticated engagement with the Games and I bet when passengers watch Boy on BA flights there is much sobbing in the aisles. And if you can make your audience cry, you’re halfway there.
It feels like a new era of sponsorship is dawning.
One in which associations can and should be made to say a whole lot more about the brand than merely a proud supporter of…
The changing media landscape means that brands no longer have to interrupt audiences to get their attention; instead we can create conversations and gripping content that they’ll choose to engage with. At Red Bee Media, we believe content is the key to making sponsorships much more effective, achieving not just logo awareness, but a real attraction to your brand. Use content well and you’ll raise awareness, deepen engagement and convert an audience into a customer base.
What do you think? Is content now an essential part of 21st century sponsorships? Can non-sponsors use content to create an association not possible elsewhere due to tight regulation?
Source: www.thedrum.co.uk
Sussex v Surrey at Horsham: Play abandoned - wscountytimes.co.uk
Sussex have struggled to 90-6 on a rain affected second day of their County Championship match against Surrey at Horsham.
Resuming on 81-2, having dismissed the away side for 124 yesterday, Sussex were soon in trouble when Mike Yardy fell to the first ball of the day, fending a short Stuart Meaker ball into the hands of Mark Ramprakash at gully.
Joe Gatting soon followed, clean bowled by Meaker in his second over of the day, the Surrey paceman uprooting Gatting’s off-stump for two. That was the final action before a 40 minute rain-break, and upon the resumption Luke Wright last five balls before he feather a catch behind to Steve Davies off Murali Kartik. Surrey wicketkeeper Davies had been called into the England squad, but rushed back to Horsham this morning after Matt Prior was passed fit to play in the Third Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston.
The last action of the day saw Ben Brown (1) trapped LBW by the lively Meaker, before the rain arrived to force the teams off before lunch. With the Cricketfield Road outfield now sodden, play has now been abandoned until tomorrow morning
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Print this pageSource: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
London Welsh file promotion appeal - Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 7 June 2012
The Exiles won this season's Championship after beating Cornish Pirates in both legs of the final.
But the Richmond-based club were told just hours before the first leg kicked off in Cornwall they did not meet minimum standards criteria set down by English rugby's Professional Game Board for Premiership entry.
London Welsh played the final's second leg at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, which is thought to be their preferred venue should they gain top-flight status.
As things stand, Newcastle will remain in the Premiership next term despite finishing bottom by a point behind Wasps this season.
But should London Welsh succeed in overturning an original decision that went against them, then they will go up and the Falcons be relegated.
In a statement, the RFU said: "The Rugby Football Union has today (Thursday) received London Welsh's appeal against the decision that the club failed to meet the minimum standards criteria set out by the Professional Game Board for promotion to the Aviva Premiership.
"It is proposed that the appeal hearing, which will take place before an independent panel, will be held on June 21 at the London Bloomsbury Hotel.
"An expedited timetable has been agreed with London Welsh, with the proposed date of June 21 the earliest possible time to allow for the exchange of cases and evidence.
"During the appeal, no further comment will be made."
Source: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
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