Filed under: Sport
Posted by Becky
This week those of you who applied for tickets to the London Olympics 2012 will find out if you have been successful and what events you’ll be seeing, With this knowledge in hand you can start planning your London break and enjoy the build up to the world biggest sporting event. With just over a year to go until the big event, Olympic officials have now announced the route that the Olympic torch will take across Britain.
A symbol of the Olympic Games the torch is steeped in history, since the 1936 Games the Olympic torch has followed the tradition of being lit in its ancient home of Greece and then embarking on a relay of Greece before travelling to the host country for a tour. Arriving in the UK on 18th May 2012 the torch will leave Land’s End on the 19th May and travel 8,000 miles on a 70 day relay. The Torch will travel through many cities across the country including York, Manchester, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, Oxford, Southampton and Dover as well as taking a trip to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and the Hebrides. With over 8,000 Torchbearers expected to take part there are plenty of opportunities to get involved before the Torch arrives at the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony on the 27th July.
Will you be visiting London during the Olympic Games, or perhaps take part in a tour of the Olympic Park. Are you on the torch route? Has it missed your bit of the country out? Will you be nominating anyone to take part and be a torchbearer?
May 18, 2011
So far 2012 is looking to be a huge year in London; we have the Olympic and Paralympic games, the Queens Diamond Jubilee and Robert Redford has announced a four-day arts event based on the Sundance film festival to take place at the O2 arena. People from all over the world are expected to attend these massive events and hotels in London are expecting to see a huge demand in the coming few months as more details are confirmed.
2012 Olympics
On March the 15th 2011 the London 2012 Olympic tickets went on sale as hype around the event begins to grow. With the unveiling of the countdown clock in Trafalgar square marking 500 days until the opening ceremony, the UK is certainly on its way to a huge Olympic event. But less than a day after Rowers Pete Reed and Andy Hodge and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson revealed the clock it ran into a few technical difficulties and stopped at 500 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds.
Sundance London
Also expecting to draw huge crowds of people to hotels near the O2 Arena is the announcement of a four-day arts festival; Robert Redfords Sundance London will run from the 26-29 April and will include films, discussions and live music acts. The four day multi-discipline arts festival has previously been a showcase for independent cinema and launched the careers of Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Amy Adams, as well showcasing popular films such as The King’s Speech and Winters Bone.
Diamond Jubilee
Another big year for the Royal Family will happen in 2012 with the extended weekend in June to mark the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Celebrating 60 years of the Queens reign the festivities will run from June 2-5 and to add to the event the late May bank holiday has been pushed back to Monday 4th June, with an additional Jubilee bank holiday on Tuesday 5th June.
2012 is going to be one heck of a year in London and these events are just a small selection of what will be happening, will you be visiting any of these huge events?
March 16, 2011
The Olympic Schedule has been released for the London 2012 Olympic Games giving you plenty of time to decide which of the sports you want to see before tickets go on sale from the 15th March.
With 8.8 million tickets on sale for over 600 sporting sessions millions of people from across the Globe will descend on London between 25th July and the 12th August. Over 2.5 million tickets will be available for £20 and under so visiting the London Olympics doesn’t have to cost you the earth. However as with previous host cities prices in London are expected to increase during the Olympic period so finding an inexpensive meal or London hotel could be a challenge.
The majority of Olympic events will take place around the Olympic Park in East London but some sporting events such as Mountain Bike Racing and Sailing spread out into other areas of the country. The football events take place in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Coventry and Cardiff as well as the infamous Wembley stadium.
London last hosted the prestigious games in 1948 but only won 23 medals, three of them Gold. While at the last Olympics in Beijing Great Britain won 47 medals, 19 of which were Gold. Will you be going to the London Olympics or hiding away from the hustle and bustle? Do you think Team GB will triumph at the games?
February 15, 2011
There are many things people will be questioning this morning and one of those has to be is Fernando Torres who was sold to Chelsea FC really worth £50m and will Andy Carroll joining Liverpool FC for 35m change everything? Between the two clubs they spent a massive £128.8 million in the hope of climbing to the top of the Premier League.
It was a chaotic day for everyone involved and up until the last hour everyone was trying to secure new players some which were only just signed with minutes to spare. The British transfer record was broken twice in one hour and it is reported that premier league clubs spent over £200m in fees this month compared to £29m last year. As record breaking deals were signed Torres became the most costly British transfer in history and Carroll is now the eighth most expensive purchase in football history.
Many Liverpool fans are disappointed with Torres about the way he played in his last few days but once again Kenny Dalglish put it all into perspective with his press conference speech telling the fans and players that no one is bigger than the club. But to add more drama to this record breaking week Torres is expected to make his debut this weekend at home in Stamford Bridge to Liverpool. I am sure fans will travel down to London for this match ready to show Torres exactly what he is missing out on.
What do you think about the clubs new signings?
February 1, 2011
Posted by Matt
After beating Australia by one innings and 157 runs in the 4th test in Melbourne, England have retained the Ashes for the first time in 24 years. This resounding victory in the 4th Ashes test put the series at 2-1 to England with just one game left to play.
If Australia win the last test match and make the series a draw, England will still keep the Ashes as they won them the last time the teams met in England 2 years ago. However, if the England team win the last match they will not only retain the Ashes but will have won their first test series down under since 1986/87.
Excellent test series performances from the likes of Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood have seen the England team dominate matches with both bat and ball. This coupled with a poor and at sometimes un-sportsman like display from Australia captain Ricky Ponting meant that England were able to retain the Ashes in Australia with one game to spare.
Although the England team and fans are sure to celebrate this momentous sporting occasion for a long while there will be many people already looking forward to the next Ashes series in 2013. With the Riverside Ground in County Durham and the Oval in London already confirmed as 2 of the host grounds for the 2013 Ashes series, it won’t be long before the great cricket rivalry between England and Australia heats up once again for the Ashes.
Do you think England will win the last Ashes match in Australia? And will anybody be going to any Ashes test matches in England in 2013?
December 29, 2010
Posted by Matt
For many people Boxing Day is all about cleaning up after the havoc of Christmas Day, watching cheesy films on TV and of course braving the mad Boxing Day Sales! For me however Boxing Day is about one thing and one thing only; the football.
Football matches on Boxing Day have been a tradition in England for decades and this year is no different. No matter what the weather, football fans around the country will make it out to watch their team on Boxing Day and hope for an exciting match, which there are sure to be plenty off given the strong fixture list this year.
In the Premiership there are many tasty fixtures to keep you excited this Boxing Day, including Newcastle v Manchester City, Aston Villa v Tottenham and Manchester United v Sunderland. Meanwhile in the Championship, top of the table QPR will be battling it out with Swansea whilst Hull and Sheffield United compete for bragging writes in a Yorkshire derby.
After stuffing myself on Christmas Day I will be going out to watch my beloved Leeds United take on Leicester City this Boxing Day. Will you be making out to watch a Boxing Day match this year? And who will you be supporting?
December 17, 2010
Posted by Matt
Last year F1 fans around the world were treated to one of the most heart stopping, edge of your seat seasons there has ever been! However, like with most F1 seasons throughout history, there was an ever present undertone of controversy in the form of Team Orders.
It all began at the Grand Prix in Germany where Ferrari’s Felipe Massa led for most of the race but then was sent a coded message to tell him to let team mate Fernando Alonso past him. Alonso went on to win the race but Ferrari was fined $100,000 by the FIA for using Team Orders which was against F1 rules.
The controversy of Team Orders continued when Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing hinted that he was being treated as a number 2 driver after the English Grand Prix. As Team Orders was against the rules in 2010 every mention of it was seen by many pundits as un-sportsman like and cheating the crowd out of a fair race.
However, although controversial and against the rules some fans asked why it was wrong? If a team employs 2 drivers is it not up to them to choose who is number 1 and 2? Well next year it will be as the FIA have scrapped the rule on Team Orders, meaning teams can talk openly about it and put the drivers in any ranking order they like!
So is this fair? Will the abandonment of the Team Orders rule make the 2011 F1 season better, fairer and most importantly more entertaining? What do you think?
December 10, 2010
Posted by Matt
Who cares! There is still an array of major sporting events happening across England in the next few years. First of all, let’s not forget that in less than 2 years time London will play host to history’s oldest and most famous sporting event; the Olympics!
Also, although we don’t have the football in 2018 we do still have a few World Cups to look forward to in England over the coming years. There is the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup and the 2019 Cricket World Cup all taking place on home soil.
Plus England is home to loads of world famous sporting events every year! We may not have the 2018 World Cup but this year, next year and the year after that you can look forward to world class sproting events such as Wimbledon, the Grand National, the F.A. Cup, Premier League football, Rugby Union, Rugby League and the British Grand Prix!
So although the World Cup isn’t coming home in 2018 we are still pretty spoilt for choice when it comes to live sport in England over the next few years. I for one know that even without the World Cup I have loads of live sporting events to look forward to this year and in the near future!
What sporting events will you all be going to watch this year?
December 8, 2010
Posted by Matt
Russia has won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, beating bids from Spain/Portugal, Holland/Belgium and of course England. Before the announcement was made that the World Cup would be help in Russia for the very first time in 2018 it had already been rumoured that England were out of the running in the first of 3 rounds of voting.
England began their World Cup bid in a strong position with one of the world’s biggest fan bases, one of the world’s most watched football leagues and some of the world’s best football stadiums in London, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. However, after controversy surrounding the FA Chairman Lord Triesman and a BBC Panorama programme that shed a negative light on World Cup bidding process, England’s bid was left in tatters.
The English World Cup bid was boosted in the last few days by rallied support from David Beckham, Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William. But it seems that the previous damage done to the World Cup bid was irreversible leaving England without the World Cup until at least 2030, which is the earliest they can re-bid for the competition.
The announcement for the World Cup hosts in 2022 was also made today with Qatar, a nation that has never even qualified for the World Cup, winning the hosting rights.
So did the right countries win? Should England have got the bid? Or did we damage our own World Cup bid with negative press and controversy?
December 2, 2010
Posted by Matt
2010 has been a fantastic year for British sport, with the Grand National, the Heavyweight Boxing Title and the Premier League of Darts all being won by UK sporting stars. As well as this, 2010 has seen a Brit take the world number 1 golfing spot, an excellent UK performance at the Commonwealth Games and fantastic British representation at the Tour de France.
All this means that the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year Award is going to be highly contested by an array of UK sporting greats. This year the glittering award ceremony will be held at the massive Birmingham LG Arena on Sunday 19th of December and the 10 sporting stars up for coveted award are:
Mark Cavendish – Cyclist
Tom Daley – Diver
Jessica Ennis – heptathlete
David Haye – Boxer
AP McCoy – Jockey
Graeme McDowell – Golfer
Graeme Swann – Cricketer
Phil Taylor – Dart Player
Lee Westwood – Golfer
Amy Williams – Bob Skeleton
As ever the Sports Personality of the year Award will be decided by the British public, with voting taking place on the night of the awards. The ceremony in Birmingham will also include presentations for many other sporting awards, including Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Young Personality of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
So who will win? Well if last year’s award ceremony is anything to go by then no one can be ruled out or pegged as favourite. In 2009 the ageing Manchester United star Ryan Giggs was the surprise winner, beating the like of F1 World Champion Jenson Button and the British Tennis Number 1 Andy Murray to the award.
Who are you backing to win the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year Award? And is anyone going to Birmingham to watch the award ceremony?
November 30, 2010
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