Tag Archives: atmospheres

London 2012 Olympics ticket farce exposed

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Just ONE ticket made available to paying public as Team GB stars win silver during Olympics

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UPDATED:

17:37 GMT, 19 December 2012

The full extent of the ticketing farce at the London Olympics has been exposed by the publication of a full review of the ticketing programme.

The dense 976-page document highlights the gross number of tickets available to the 'Olympic family' compared to the relatively few available to the paying public for the most popular events and sessions.

Extraordinarily, there was a sailing finals day on August 9 – the day Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell won silver in the men's 470 – where 851 tickets went to sponsors and only one single ticket was available to the public.

Farce: Despite demand for tickets there were empty seats at the Olympic Games

Farce: Despite demand for tickets there were empty seats at the Olympic Games

Furthermore, for Danny Boyle's iconic opening ceremony – one of the most in-demand tickets of the fortnight – only 44 per cent of the tickets were available to the public while 66 per cent went to the Olympic family.

On the day in the velodrome when Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Phillip Hindes won the men's sprint final, only 43 per cent of tickets were available to the public.

During Novak Djokovic's opening Olympic match on Centre Court at Wimbledon, 97 per cent of the available seats on court were given to the Olympic family.

Empty seats were one of the few negatives of a successful Olympics, with atmospheres at too many venues dented by swathes of empty seats allocated by the IOC but not taken up by sponsors.

New balls: Ninety-seven per cent of seats during Djokovic's match were given to the Olympic family

New balls: Ninety-seven per cent of seats during Djokovic's match were given to the Olympic family

In total 10.99 million tickets were sold out of a total 11.3 million tickets available. 8.21 million of these tickets were Olympic Games tickets and 2.78 million were Paralympic tickets.

A total of 659 million was raised for LOCOG's operating budget to stage the Games. 319,000 tickets (263,000 Olympic and 55,000 Paralympic) were unsold, the majority of these being early rounds for Olympic Football.

76.3 per cent of all Olympic and 91 per cent of all Paralympic tickets were sold through the UK application process against a target of 75 per cent. This amounted to an unprecedented 8.8 million tickets sold.

Liverpool v Manchester United is perfect for Mark Halsey – Graham Poll

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Halsey will use personality to control Liverpool and United clash

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UPDATED:

10:53 GMT, 21 September 2012

Refereeing appointments are eagerly pored over each week. Some officials will be delighted with the matches they've been chosen to officiate, but there will be others who are disappointed and some that are daunted by the potential difficulties they face.

Select group match officials are emailed on a Monday every week with the upcoming appointments. Only then can they confirm, or all to often, postpone social arrangements with wives and friends. Yes, referees have social lives, too.

The ref and the smooth: Officials are given their schedule every Monday

The ref and the smooth: Officials are given their schedule every Monday

Most supporters will look at the back page of their programme to see who they can blame should their team lose and, heaven forbid, if it is 'that ref who cost us last time.

Here, Graham Poll, assesses this weekend's appointments.

The big games

European football affects appointments as those refereeing on a Thursday in Europe are not supposed to officiate on the Saturday following and those with Champions League games on a Tuesday cannot be appointed the Sunday before.

So this weekend, with two huge televised clashes on Sunday, the select group are without the refereeing talent of Howard Webb, Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson. The latter is at Ipswich while Webb and Clattenburg are taking part in World Cup training.

There really are two huge games this weekend and both are being played on Sunday.

Main man: Mark Halsey

Main man: Mark Halsey

Liverpool v Manchester United – Mark Halsey

At first glance a surprising appointment given that Halsey has only refereed one Premier League game so far this season, Tottenham v Norwich, in which he harshly dismissed Tom Huddlestone.

However, the lists oldest member at 51 has plenty of experience of big game atmospheres and there are none better than this clash when played at Anfield. Usually there is palpable hatred coming down from the stands but given the significance of the game, all involved will be hoping for much more considered reactions.

Halsey likes to use his personality rather than his cards and if the players want to play football his low key approach should enable a good game to develop. If the temperature rises though there is an unpredictability in Halsey’s refereeing which could make this an absorbing 'ref watch'.

Manchester City v Arsenal – Mike Dean

Dean returns to The Etihad for the first time since he handled 'the best game of my life' at the same venue. City against QPR on the last day of the season was refereed superbly by the Wirral referee who is one of the select group's safe pair of hands. This fixture has had its difficulties in the past; Mario Balotelli was sent off last time these two played and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has bemoaned City’s tackling on several occasions, but City are not alone there. Expect goals and possibly a penalty or two in another not to be missed encounter.

Other appointments

Southampton v Aston Villa – Jon Moss

West Brom v Reading – Michael Oliver

West Ham United v Sunderland – Lee Mason

Wigan Athletic v Fulham – Lee Probert

Newcastle v Norwich City – Neil Swarbrick

Tottenham Hotspur v QPR – Phil Dowd

Best of the rest

Chelsea v Stoke City – Chris Foy

Billed as a clash of styles, this game could have flashpoint or two as Stoke City’s big defenders try to stop Eden Hazard. They will be incensed if Hazard wins Chelsea another penalty but hopefully they will avoid the violent clashes which caused Andy Wilkinson to be rightly charged after video evidence caught him striking Mario Balotelli off the ball last week at The Britannia. Expect Foy’s patient approach, which has seen him issue just four yellow cards in as many Premier League games, to be tested.

Swansea v Everton – Anthony Taylor

Everton travel to the home of their nemesis from Monday evening’s draw with Newcastle, assistant referee Ceri Richards, who ‘cost them two goals’ at Goodison Park. Of course referees are always aware of situations that have occurred recently and that will add pressure to Taylor who will not want to be seen to cost Everton again. Richards has no Premier League appointment this weekend.

The season so far
RefereePremier League appearances
Yellow cardsRed cardsMartin Atkinson 4160Mark Clattenburg 23
0Mike Dean 350Phil Dowd2
6
1Roger East242Chris Foy 34
0Kevin Friend 3
71Mark Halsey 111Mike Jones 210
0Andre Marriner 36
0Lee Mason
3
8
0Jon Moss150Michael Oliver 35
1Lee Probert290Antony Taylor20
0Howard Webb 3
8
0

*Neil Swarbrick was appointed to Sunderland v Reading which was called off

Carl Froch delays Lucian Bute rematch for home IBF title defence

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Froch eyes home title defence in November after pushing back Bute rematch

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UPDATED:

19:35 GMT, 5 July 2012

Carl Froch has delayed his rematch with Lucian Bute in order to accommodate a home defence of his IBF super-middleweight title.

The 34-year-old produced one of the finest performances of 2012 to stop Canada-based Bute in the fifth round in Nottingham, but the Montreal rematch that was written into the pre-fight contracts will not now take place until March 2013.

Froch intends to fight again in the UK in November, though an opponent and venue has not yet been named.

Destructive: Carl Froch (left) beat Lucian Bute in Nottingham earlier this year

Destructive: Carl Froch (left) beat Lucian Bute in Nottingham earlier this year

Eddie Hearn, Froch’s promoter, said:
‘Froch vs Bute has already gone down as one of the greatest nights in
British boxing history. It generated record television audiences and a
sold-out arena where fans were treated to what many respected pundits
and fighters have described as one of the best atmospheres ever felt in a
British fight.

‘Of course, like any fighter Lucian is
keen to avenge this defeat and as per our agreement has the opportunity
to try to make that happen.

‘Both myself and Lucian’s promoter
Jean Bedard feel that it is the best interests of both fighters and any
future rematch that both fighters will take an interim fight later this
year. Froch vs Bute II in Montreal is a massive event and I’m sure that
impressive victories for both men later this year will add further fuel
to the fire.’

Bute added: ‘That was not the real
Lucian Bute in that Nottingham ring on May 26. I spent the last few
weeks reflecting about what went wrong, what happened, and the only
thing that is crystal clear in my mind is that I want my rematch with
Carl Froch as soon as possible.’

Chelsea v Barcelona: Petr Cech urges referee to be on top of his game

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We don't want a repeat of 2009! Cech urges officials to raise their game for Barca clash

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UPDATED:

13:29 GMT, 18 April 2012

Goalkeeper Petr Cech has urged the match officials to be on top form when Chelsea host Barcelona in Wednesday night's semi-final clash.

Chelsea were denied a place in the 2009 Champions League final when Andres Iniesta scored in stoppage time to put the Spanish giants through on away goals.

Making his point: Cech is hopeful Chelsea's semi-final clash will pass off without any controversy

Making his point: Cech is hopeful Chelsea's semi-final clash will pass off without any controversy

But the tie was marred in controversial refereeing decisions, leaving the west London club to claim they were robbed of a place in European's showpiece final.

Chelsea's then-boss Guus Hiddink claimed Tom Henning Ovrebo's performance was 'the worst I have ever seen' by a referee, and Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa were both sanctioned for protesting at the final whistle.

'I hope there won't be any controversy this time,' said Cech.

In training: Chelsea will face Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night

In training: Chelsea will face Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night

'It is always a pity that we have had fantastic games with great atmospheres against Barcelona but there was always so much controversy which put those brilliant games in the back of everybody's mind.'

Ovrebo turned down four credible penalty appeals during Chelsea's second-leg tie four years ago.

Ref justice: Chelsea claimed they were robbed in 2009

Ref justice: Chelsea claimed they were robbed in 2009

But Felix Brych, who is in charge of Wednesday's game, will, unlike Ovrebo, be able to call on the officials standing behind the goal – something Cech hopes will help the home side.

'There is always a lot of pressure on the officials, the players, everybody' said Cech.

'Now there are five officials around the pitch so it might help them.'

Just Fab: The former Arsenal skipper and ex-Liverpool midfielder Mascherano were in good spirits o Tuesday

Just Fab: The former Arsenal skipper and ex-Liverpool midfielder Mascherano were in good spirits o Tuesday

Barcelona are strong favourites to land a spot in their second consecutive European Cup final, and Cech conceedes Chelsea must avoid defeat in tonight's first leg to stand any chance of progressing.

'We play the first at home and we need to get ourselves in a good position to go to Barcelona We must avoid defeat and ideally win the game. It's a huge test for us', said Cech.

Simply the best Chelsea will have to contend with Messi and Co during their last-four clash

Simply the best Chelsea will have to contend with Messi and Co during their last-four clash

'They won't look forward to playing
us. We will see what is going to come this time but it is a brilliant
challenge. We know we can hurt them as we did in the past.

'It has been three years since that
semi-final defeat. What we would like to do is play the same game, put
them under pressure and make them make mistakes and suffer at the back.
That will mean they have to play on their limits to win.

'To beat them you need to take your chances and put them under pressure. They can always score goals and are comfortable in this situation. We need to make them feel disturbed and under pressure from the start to finish.

'If they feel comfortable on the pitch they can destroy you.'