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European Season will finish in August

The European Season will finish in August according to the European body soccer president Aleksander Ceferin. He said UEFA has a plan to finish the 2019/20 season, as well as the Champions League and Europa League.

Most of the European leagues were cancelled due to the coronavirus where the Premier League has been severely impact in terms of finance. A few leagues have now returned, while others will return over the next few weeks. However, French football authorities along with the Dutch league cancelled their league, but the German Bundesliga resumed on Saturday. Ceferin has said he expects 80% of league to finish.

Speaking to Bein Sport, Ceferin said,  “We have an idea but we have to wait for the executive committee of UEFA to confirm the dates. I can say that the European season will be finished, if everything is as it is now, in August,”. He continued, most leagues will finish the season. However, he said for those that don’t they will have to play qualifiers to play in European competition such as the Champions and Europa League. He said, “I think the majority of leagues will finish the season. The ones who will not, it’s their decision. But they will still have to play qualifiers if they want to participate in the European UEFA competition.”

Ceferin said discussion have also taken place in regards to Euro 2020 (which will now take place in 2021). He said that UEFA had conversations with nine cities. He said “three cities have some issues”. However, he outlined that the goal is to do it in the 12 cities. But if not 10 cities, 9 cities or 8 cities. “In principle, we will do it in 12 cities but if not, we are ready to do it in 10, nine or eight, he said”.

List of Irish horse racing fixtures for June 2020

We have the updated list of horse race meetings to be held in June once racing returns in Ireland.

JUNE FIXTURES (Flat unless otherwise indicated)
June 8 Naas
June 9 Leopardstown
June 10 Navan
June 11 Gowran Park
June 12 Curragh
June 13 Curragh
June 14 Leopardstown
June 15 Fairyhouse, Roscommon
June 17 Gowran Park, Limerick
June 18 Fairyhouse
June 19 Tipperary, Gowran Park
June 20 Naas
June 21 Leopardstown
June 22 Roscommon, Limerick (NH)
June 23 Navan
June 24 Naas, Roscommon (NH)
June 25 Fairyhouse
June 26 Curragh, Tipperary (NH)
June 27 Curragh
June 28 Curragh
June 29 Limerick, Kilbeggan (NH)

 

The Board of Horse Racing Ireland met yesterday and agreed a number of fixture and prize money recommendations.

It sees Irish racing return behind closed doors at Naas on June 8, with National Hunt racing resuming at Limerick on June 22. The 2000 and 1000 Guineas will take place at the Curragh in the first week of action, with the 2000 Guineas on Friday June 12 and the 1000 Guineas on Saturday June 13. The Irish Derby retains its traditional date on Saturday, June 27, as does the Irish Oaks on Saturday, July 18. Irish Champions Weekend will take place on September 12 and 13.

Return to Sport Group established by Government

The Government have established a Return to Sport Group which will provide guidance to the sporting bodies to prepare a phased process to sporting activity in line with government roadmap set out earlier last week.

The acting Minister for Sport, Shane Ross and Minister for State with responsibility for Sport, Brendan Griffin will be the chairpersons on the group according to RTE Sport. It is thought these will work along with medical experts from Sports Ireland and the sports sector. Additionally, officials from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will also be involved, along with Sport Ireland.

Shane Ross said of the new group, “Like every sector in society, those involved in Irish sport at all levels have been hugely affected by the Covid-19 crisis.  They are understandably most anxious to return to normal business as soon as possible, both those involved at a high performance level and those eager to return to playing and participating in the sports they love within their communities”.

Ross said that sporting organisations are putting protocols in place and the Expert group will look at these protocols to assess the consistency of the arrangements and to make sure they are in line with the roadmap the government had set out. He said, “In my view, it is essential that the public can have confidence in how sport is being restored in Ireland and I believe that this initiative is an important confidence-building measure.”

Sport Ireland CEO John Treacy also said that sport will play a vital part as the country looks to put the coronavirus pandemic behind us. He said, “Sport will play an important role as the country looks to emerge from the current crisis”. He went on to say that the establishment of the Expert Group is a welcome step. Mr Treacy said that he understands there is a clear appetite for sports to return and the Expert Group along with the government and health officials will make this happen in a clear and safe manner.

The list of those on the new Expert group include:

Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport: Peter Hogan (Chair), Betty Griffin, James Lavelle.

Sport Ireland: Paul McDermott, Dr. Una May, Niamh O’ Sullivan, Shane Califf, Dr Jim O’Donovan (Sport Ireland Institute)

Sport Sector: Dr Rod McLoughlin (IRFU), Dr Alan Byrne (FAI), Feargal McGill (GAA), Niamh Daffy (CARA)

Top 3 Hurling Managers not to win a senior All-Ireland

When it comes to hurling gaa managers there have been plenty of good ones down through the years. Let’s take a look at the top 3 hurling managers not to win an All-Ireland. This does not take into account their playing careers, just management careers.

  1. Derek McGrath – McGrath managed was appointed Waterford manager in 2013. He would lead them to a league title in 2015. Waterford lost the 2017 final narrowly to Galway, 0-26 to 2-17. McGrath has been involved with Wexford club Faythe Harriers over the past few months.

2. Anthony Daly – Dalo won All-Ireland’s as a player with the Banner in 1995 and 1997. The Clarecastle native finished his inter-county hurling career in 2002. Daly was appointed Clare manager in 2003. In that first year Clare were hammered by Waterford, in 2005 they exited the provincial series early again with defeat. They progressed to the All-Ireland semi-finals with Cork. However, Cork who were behind by 6 points, fought back and won the game by a point. Cork hammered Clare in 2006, however through the qualifiers they progressed and reached the All-Ireland semi-finals. They would lose to Clare and Dalo would resign.

Daly took up the mantle as Dublin boss in 2008, following club management stints at Kilmoyley and Kilmihill. Daly lead Dublin to a Leinster title 2013 and a National League title in 2011. The Leinster title was Dublin’s first in 52 years.

3. Anthony Cunningham – Cunningham has been heavily involved in management since 2004. He would go on to coach the Roscommon hurlers, St Brigids (Roscommon), Garrycastle (Westmeath) at club level. Cunningham took the mantle of Galway U21 boss in 2009. The St Thomas’ club man won an All-Ireland title in 2010 as Galway U21 boss. Anthony was appointed Galway senior boss in 2011. He stepped down in 2015. He guided them to a Leinster title in 2012, before losing to Kilkenny in the final later that year. They lost the final again in 2015 to Kilkenny.

That is my top 3 hurling managers not to win an All-Ireland.

 

Silverstone to host two British Grand Prix’

Silverstone will host two British Grand Prix’ this season according to BBC Sport. The owners British Racing Driving Club and F1 have been far apart in terms of racing behind closed doors. However, an agreement between both parties has now materialiased.

However, the UK government have issued plans two impose a two week quarantine for all international arrivals meaning more discussion will likely have to take place to get the two races at the Silverstone track. Stuart Pringle, who is the managing director at the track told BBC Sport,  “I am delighted to confirm that Silverstone and Formula 1 have reached an agreement in principle to host two races behind closed doors this summer”. He continued, “I would like to thank all our fans who have been so supportive throughout this and to assure them we are determined to do all we can to help Formula 1 put on a show this summer”.

Meanwhile F1 have been trying to secure an exemption for it’s staff which would see international travellers having to quarantine for 14 days. No date has been given when this will begin though. 7 out of the 10 teams are based in the UK. The issue arises as staff would have to travel international tracks, as well if a car is involved in an accident they ould have to return to factories to be repaired. Races are set to resume on the 5th and 12th of July in Austria, before then moving to Silverstone for two races. BBC Sport say that F1 are looking at running around 16 to 18 races.

The Belgian Grand Prix will go ahead at the end of August. The race will take place on August 30th behind closed doors at Spa-Francorchamps. Among the other tracks which are set to races are in countries Spain, Hungary, France and Italy. Germany’s track, Hockenheim is on the standby list.

 

Johnny Allen wins another Adelaide Group 1 with victory in The Goodwood at Morphettville

Victoria-based Cork-born jockey Johnny Allen, fresh from his Group 1 victory in the South Australian Derby on Russian Camelot at Morphettville last Saturday, returned to the Adelaide track today to claim another Group 1 success, this time aboard the Godolphin-owned Trekking in The Goodwood.

The Cork-native, who has won more than 600 winners and earned A$30 million in prize-money since emigrating to Australia in 2011, was claiming his fourth Group 1 in Adelaide, having previously won the South Australian Derby on three occasions.

Trekking, a five-year-old gelded son of Street Cry, trained by James Cummings, grandson of the legendary Australian trainer, Bart, came with a late charge to deny Lightning Stakes winner and race favourite Gytrash in today’s 1200m (6 furlong) Group 1 contest.

The eventual second, Gytrash, moved clear with 200m to race before Allen’s mount, Trekking, wore him down in the latter stages to win by a short half-head. The win gave Trekking his 11th career success and second Group 1 victory, having won the Stradbroke Handicap in Brisbane last year, while another Godolphin representative, Lyre, was another one-and-three-quarter lengths further back in third in the $400,000 six-furlong handicap.

Speaking of Trekking, his 10th career Group One win, Allen admitted:

“It was my first time riding him and when I got out to the mounting yard, I was surprised how small he was. He was tough and he had a super run but the runner-up (Gytrash) gave a really good kick. I thought when I got out that we were going to catch him but he (Gytrash) kept kicking. To my lad’s credit, he really fought and kept kicking to the line.”

Today’s win was 35-year-old Allen’s first win at the highest level over a sprint distance with the majority over 2000m and further although he won the Coolmore Legacy Stakes on Kenedna last year in Sydney over 1600m.

Unfortunately, similar to last weekend, the Irish rider incurred a suspension, having being adjudged to have caused interference aboard the winner. As a result, the Corkman has been suspended for six meetings for careless riding to go with the five-meeting ban handed down to him last Saturday by the South Australian stewards.

The initial suspension commenced immediately following this morning’s Morphettville card and runs through until May 27 with the Trekking suspension to follow, meaning Allen will be out of action until June 8.

AFL to make return in June

The Australian Football League (AFL) will make a return on the 11th of June. ABC News report that the Grand Final will now likely be played in October.

Gillon McLachlan said that all clubs can return to training from Monday the 18th of May. He went on to say that full contact training can resume a week later on the 25th of May. He said, “Today’s a significant step in getting footy back for everyone, our fans, clubs players, coaches … and all who love the game,”. He continued, “We know as the situation continues to evolve, we need to remain agile and flexible, to be able to adapt where necessary.”

McLachlan did state that staff and players will be tested for the virus, while also getting some education around the virus itself. The measures will mean that each player and staff member will be tested twice a week. Furthermore, he said, “We have bi-weekly testing of every player at least 24 hours before the contact sessions and we’ll have the results back before they’re allowed to do contact sessions or play games,”.

He said that a burden must not be put on the healthcare system in Australia. He stated,”We must not place any burden on the public health system,”.”Our industry understands the opportunity we have been given, we also fully understand and accept our responsibility to our football family and to the wider community.”

However, four teams based in Western Australia and Southern Australia will have to relocate in hubs in eastern states where exemptions have been granted. Fremantle and Gold Coast Suns will complete pre-training at home before moving to the Gold Coast ahead of their first games. Furthermore, Port Adelaide and Adelaide will move in the next days or so. McLachlan acknowledged that the AFL schedule will have to flexible for it to not conflict with other sports. He said, “So if it plays out that we’re coming into the T20 World Cup or racing we’ll work around it with them and we’ll get an outcome that works for sports fans and for other sports, for everyone.

Australia have faired out quite well with their lockdown procedures. For a large country they only reported 7,000 or so cases.

Arrest warrants issued for NFL stars

Arrest warrants have been for NFL stars Deandre Baker and Quinton Dunbar. The pair are thought to be behind an armed robbery at a house party.

Deandre Baker who plays with the New York Giants and Quinton Dunbar who plays with the Seattle Seahawks are said to have robbed guests at gunpoint according to BBC Sport. According to local reports no man has been arrested yet with the police issuing warrants for the NFL Stars. A spokesperson for the police department said they were in touch with the NFL and a lawyer for one of the players. Miramar county police spokesperson, Tania Ruis said, “Obviously, there are attempts to get them to turn themselves in”.

The arrest warrant which was issued by the Miramar county police  stated that an argument occurred at a house party, where guests were playing cards and video games. BBC Report that Baker allegedly took out a gun. Baker, along with Dunbar and another man, started taking valuables and cash from people. The man who is not named was thought to be wearing a red mask.

All three men left the scene of the robbery in three separate cars according to reports. The cars seen leaving the scene were a mercedes benz, a lamborghini and a MMV.  According to witnesses at the scene, some said that they felt the vehicles were parked in a way to which it was easy to leave the scene. This giving the impression that the robbery was planned. According to the arrest warrant Baker is facing eight charges. These are broken down into four for aggravated assault with a firearm and four for armed robbery. Meanwhile, Dunbar will be charged with four counts of armed robbery.

The New York Giants have issued a statement. They said, We are aware of the situation. We have been in contact with DeAndre,”  “We have no further comment at this time.” The Seattle Seahawks also issued a statement in which they said, “We are aware of the situation involving Quinton Dunbar and still gathering information. “We will defer all further comment to league investigators and local authorities.”

Brugge crowned Belgium champions

Club Brugge have been officially crowned Belgium football champions. The Pro League confirmed the news, following last month’s announcement to halt the season due to Covid 19. It will be Brugge’ third title in five years and in total will be their 17th in club history.

Brugge were more than likely going to win the league either way as they were points clear at the summit of the table. There was one match in the regular season left before the pandemic. However, they were declared champions today. They will now take the automatic spot in next seasons Champions League group stages.

A general assembly of the Pro League declared Brugge champions. In which they stated “The general assembly voted to confirm the standings after 29 rounds as the final outcome of the season”. Ghent who finished second will compete in the early rounds of the champions league, while Royal Antwerp, Sporting Charleroi and Standard Liege will represent the country in next season UEFA Europa League. In addition to this, the Pro League said that bottom side Waasland-Beveren will be relegated. Although the club did come out and say they will be contesting this decision. Whether they will be successful or not in doing so only time will tell.

The league have also said that the Belgian Cup final will take place. The two teams that are in this final are Club Brugge and Royal Antwerp. A date has yet to be announced.The game was due to take place in April. However, the coronavirus pandemic put an end to it. Furthermore, the league have said that next seasons league will see only 4 teams contest the play-offs or a mini league if you like. In fact since the 2010 season the top 6 teams in the table contest a mini league to decide the title, this will be cut to four.

The new Belgian season will begin on the 7th of August. Currently, all sports events in the country are suspended till July.

 

 

Irish racing to return behind closed doors on 8th June

Horse racing in Ireland, behind closed doors, is to resume on 8th June, under strict protocols set out by the Government.

Following consultation between Horse Racing Ireland and the Government, the resumption of the sport has been brought forward from the 29th June date announced last week by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive Brian Kavanagh had stressed to Government that Irish racing could again be safely staged behind closed doors, just as it had been for 10 meetings before the March shutdown.

Horse Racing Ireland has welcomed the confirmation from the Government that race fixtures in Ireland can resume behind closed doors on June 8.

HRI has announced that only key personnel necessary to run the fixture will be permitted to be on site where they will be subject to strict Covid-19 protocols. All those in attendance will be subject to health surveying in advance and thermal temperature screening on entry.

Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland, said:

“We are grateful to be one of the sectors permitted to go back to work and acknowledge the responsibility on everybody in racing to ensure the events are run in a safe way.

“We know from our own experience in March when we safely ran ten meetings behind closed doors – and from what is happening in other countries like France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and America – that racing can be staged safely within the requirements of social distancing.”

Among the new protocols that will be enforced when fixtures restart behind closed doors in Ireland are:

1. Only key personnel will be permitted to attend race fixtures.
2. All attendees will be subject to health screening in advance and thermal temperature screening on arrival – anyone presenting with elevated temperatures will be denied access and instructed to consult with their GP.
3. Mandatory wearing of face coverings for many attendees including jockeys, stalls handlers, medical professionals, security staff, those working inside etc.
4. Social distancing will be strictly enforced by a dedicated Covid-19 protocol officer at each fixture.

Horse Racing Ireland will publish full protocols tomorrow and on Sunday will release a revised fixture list up to the end of June, including confirmation on when the Classics, traditionally scheduled for this time of year, will be run.

Racing restarted behind closed doors in Germany on May 7 and in France on May 11, while in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong the industry continued operating behind closed doors. In Britain, the British Horseracing Authority plans to resume racing on June 1.

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