London 2012 Calling

To get Londoners into sport was the cornerstone of our bid for the 2012 games. The ConDem coalition now plans to cut the funding, in line with their 'Bugger Society' drive, that will achieve that promise, that aim. Cutting funding to the olmpic legacy - what have you done today, to make you feel proud?.

We won't abandon Wenlock and Mandeville, the saviour for 2012 is out there, contact us let us see if we can help. Whatever the project you had planned we may be able to find funding, we will search for free. Only upon the successful outcome of the search will we charge a commission.

Sport Inspires: Community, Individual, Partnership

contact info@sporttrades.co.uk

The New Look SportTrades

All change at SportTrades.

Below is the list of Directors to Account Managers and our new National Sales Centre in Derby.


Our head office will remain in East London, but we are close to agreeing a deal for a move into our new sales centre by August. (featured in the picture)

Our new sales team managed from our Derby office.

Director of Sales & Marketing - James Drew

Senior Account Manager - Henry Guyler

Account Managers - Dan Fullarton

Account Manager - Nathan Wood

We also have two Business Development Consultants working to increase our client portfolio.

Our Head Office will still house our Directors and Communication and Media Department.

Director of Communication & Media - Pete Lewis

Communication & Media Manager - Adam Dennehey

SportTrades Economics - Active Advertising

SportTrades Economics brought you Active Advertising. I thought I would take this opportunity, during this age of austerity to jog your memory.

Most advertising is static. The advert on the web will appear and disappear, the advert in the paper will be read once and thrown away, the television ad or radio will be watched or listened to and forgotten unless really annoying or expensive. The advert in the yellow pages will be passed during a frantic search for an emergency plumber. The adverts on public transport will not inspire or have expired. So active advertising is unique to sport.

Regardless as to whether you sponsor your local youth side or a nationally known professional side the effects are relatively the same. You sponsor your daughter’s football team or your friend son’s volleyball side, the reaction is uniform. If the people require using your services and competition is keen within your locality, customers will be drawn towards your business because of your support for local sport.

Active Advertising can be your ice breaker. During the introductions prior to negotiations, you mention that you sponsor a local basketball side, advertise at the local rugby league ground or sponsor a local community sporting initiative. It is statistically recorded that an increased sense of interest is shown, providing you with a convivial atmosphere to conduct business and increase your chance of success.

Each sporting standard the exposure received is relative. It is the ‘Two Shirts to be Worn’ theory, and covers all levels. The highest level is the easiest to gauge. If we placed two coloured shirts side by side with the sponsor of that football premiership team emblazoned on each. The results on recognition will be high. As we go down the levels off sport, recognition will not be as high due to degrees of exposure. At that point Active Advertising almost becomes a living thing. Each sponsorship or advert will come with different incentives. These will range from the use of facilities to be enjoyed by both staff and clients to hospitality available. You will be held in high regard from the regular visitors for your support and from those in the wider community. You will live the highs and lows of the life of a sports fan. You will all be in it together which can only benefit your company image. Unity through sport.

Active Advertising, your sport, your life.

The Future is SportTrades

SportTrades are looking to the future. We have a couple of projects we need your feedback with. Both are very much at an early planning stage, apart from the title, the projects are very much up there pinned on the drawing board.

The two initiatives are Sport Unity and the SportTrades Incentive Card (Sport I Card).

SPORT UNITY

Sport Unity, the talent exchange database, not an original idea, America for a long time had the SportBank. The standard idea is to transfer talent rejected in one sport and introduce them to another were their attributes and ability are more suited.

The bottom line spread our athletes who show exceptional sporting prowess across sports. It is an idea that is build around the elite, to maximise the potential of our sporting talent in full. Sport Unity will include this area with the hope of building a sustainable future for British sport by recruiting from other sports athletes who still wish to compete at the highest level, but due to rejection at their chosen sport thought the door had closed.

There are websites, databases and organisation who search for talent and promote opportunities. There is not a central database that can feature all, as far as we know. It would be fantastic to set up a database that can be used by sport coaches, to identify possible future recruits. Equally good for athletes at the point of rejection, look at Sport Unity and find other sports that they may consider better suited to they strength.

We would also look to promote sports within communities for all abilities. Our role will be to search for funding for the site, would welcome all suggestions, all those who feel they can contribute and all those companies who feel they can mange and create the database.
info@sporttrades.co.uk.

Sport I Card (SportTrades Incentive Card)

This is the sporting equivalent to a loyalty card for those on holiday, at home or abroad. It will be free to individuals.What does the Sport I card get us, well nothing at the moment.

The future will provide many opportunities. There are loads of packages where you can go and watch Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and all the famous and established clubs worldwide.

Your'e on holiday in Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote, you fancy watching a game of football.

That's handy UD Lanzarote are a partner with Sport I Card. Check with the contact details provided and they are playing at home, you get this incentive when you show the card - lets go.

The incentive details for many sporting events, venues, clubs, outlets and centres will feature on the Sport I Card website once agreed with providers.

The Sport I Card partners will be in the UK, USA and Europe.

We hope that Sport I will be distributed to clients from Tour Operators or when you book with online travel companies. We will inform you when negotiations are complete, our target is to have significant deals available from March 2011.

As mentioned, the card will be free. The downside will be your details will automatically go onto to our database and you will be contacted by SportTrades regarding opportunities we have available, your details will also be passed onto tour operators who distribute our card.

If you do not wish this to happen you must notify us upon application. it will not affect you benefiting from the opportunities provided by Sport I Card.As they say, watch this space for further updates.

SportTrades: Sport Inspires Projects.

SportTrades are passionate about this project. Sport Inspires will promote all the community work undertaking by local professional clubs covering many different sports.

This work is also done by local community groups and local authorities. Regardless of the standard of the individual, it is important that we take the opportunity that the power of sport presents us.

Through sport we can educate, we can unite and break down barriers. Our own strap line 'Unity through Sport' is so true. Sport builds bridges across divides and brings communities together as one. Most clubs and organisations provide community projects, that tackle the problems of society. Those who do not have such programmes is not through apathy, but simply economics.

Current Community projects are normally reactive rather than proactive, that is not a criticism just an observation. This policy is changing as the organisations are increasingly aware of the positives and are allocating more time and resources. The programmes are becoming increasingly more far reaching, including the whole of society and more innovative in their structure.

The projects at present concentrate mainly on the young, the lack of opportunity for social integration and activity leads to boredom and for some difficulties. Sport community projects will not eradicate social issues, but t will certainly help ease the burden and focus our youth. The projects within local authorities and other organisations must be available for all ages. With increased lifespan, exercise is important for all ages and the importance of keeping active is essential.

So what is Sport Inspires Projects from SportTrades going to do? SportTrades core business is to search for sponsorship or funding for professional to grassroots sports clubs. Our services are free to clubs, until we are successful in finding a benefactor. We then charge the club a commission. We can just as easily transfer our operation over to searching for funding for community projects, not just for the clubs mentioned, but also for local authorities and community groups.

If you have an idea at the planning stage or awaiting the green light, but finding funding difficult to attract, contact us and we will help. info@sporttrades.co.uk

March to the Arch 2010/2011

Welcome to SportTrades
‘March to the Arch’ new feature for the 2010/2011 football season.





Those of you, who are regular readers of the blog, will recall that last season we ran our SportTrades F.A. Cup Tracker. We started with Barkingside in the Extra Preliminary Round and ended backing Portsmouth in their Cup Final defeat against Chelsea. The tracker was also a friendly competition and we experienced the emotions similar to the actual tournament. Last seasons winner of the Tracker was Accrington Stanley with an impressive, 4 appearances during the tournament.

‘March to the Arch’ is similar, except we now follow 5 national cup competitions, the F.A.Cup, F.A.Trophy, F.A.Vase, F.A.Womens Cup and F.A.Youth Cup. We have updated our scoring system. The winner will be the team who have accumulated the most points gained through the new framework.

‘March to the Arch’ Step by Step.

1) A team will be selected in the extra preliminary round or preliminary round of each tournament connected to the feature. The selected team must be drawn at home in the first round.
2) We will follow our selected team in the relevant round of that tournament. We will then allocate points as per the scoring system in accordance with the match result and follow the winning team from that tie into the next round.
3) The winning team in each round featured will become our selected side and the process will be repeated until the final.
4) The winners of our trackers will be the team who have accumulated the most points. We will present a certificate at the end of each tournament to the victors.

‘March to the Arch’ Point System

1pt Home Defeat
2pts Away Defeat
3pts Home Defeat (After Replay)
4pts Away Defeat (After Replay)
5pts Home Win (After Replay)
6pts Away Win (After Replay)
7pts Home Win
8pts Away Win

2 bonus points will be allocated to teams who win the tournaments.

If points are equal after the final game is played, positions will be determined by *Appearances, Goal Difference, Goals Scored or if applicable, the result during the tournament, depending on whether the teams played each other. If all still equal then the position will be shared.

*Appearances applies to the number of times a team has featured in rounds throughout the tournament, replays do not count.

SportTrades selected sides to begin ‘March to the Arch’.

F.A.Cup

Once again Barkingside will kick us off in the F.A.Cup. They will entertain fellow Essex Senior League side Southend Manor in the Extra Preliminary Round in August. The winners of this tie will entertain Brentwood Town in the Preliminary Round. The victors in that round will proceed to the 1st Qualifying Round. The winners will again be at home and entertain Langford, Aylesbury United, Eton Manor or Bedford.

F.A.Trophy

Belper Town will be our first selected side in the Trophy. They will entertain Harrogate Railway Athletic in the Preliminary Round. The winner of the tie will proceed to the 1st Qualifying Round and face Ossett Albion or Salford City.

F.A.Vase

St Blazey is to be our featured side in the FA.Vase. St Blazey will play Dartmouth in the 1st Qualifying Round. The winner will go through to the 2nd Qualifying Round where they play Crediton United or Cullompton Rangers. The winners of that tie will travel to Brislington, Witheridge or Shaftesbury in the 1st Round Proper.

We will feature Barkingside, Belper Town and St Blazey in the next few weeks, with a brief history and hopefully an interview with people connected to the clubs.

We will also be including the F.A.Youth Cup and F.A.Womens Cup within March to the Arch. The final for both these competitions will not be played at the National Stadium. The scoring system for March to the Arch will also be applicable for these competitions.

We await the draw for the F.A.Womens Cup, but for the F.A Youth Cup we will be following St Albans City FC.

The Saints start their campaign in the Preliminary Round at home to Thurrock. The winner will then play in the 1st Qualifying Round when they entertain Ilford. The winner of that tie will progress to the 2nd Qualifying Round and entertain Brentwood Town, Stansted or Hitchin Town

A Cyclist In France: Andy's Take On The Tour So Far

We thought that with the Tour de France going on at the moment, who better to talk about the race so far than our own cyclist Mr Andy Phillips. Andy's a Cat 2 cyclist whose progress we have followed on the blog since the start of this year.

Andrew: I live on a road with two other houses. My neighbours are French and I don't see a lot of them during the month of July. I think they are glued to their TVs watching the tour. In fact Bernard's garden which is normally in tip top condition looks more than a little untidy after 3weeks.

This year everyone is very happy at the moment. A Frenchman has been in yellow twice . Not only that but a Frenchman from this region. Yes Chavanel is from the Poitou Charentes. I think he comes from a big cycling family and one of the guys from our club has been in a team either with him or one of his brothers. In fact I have been in a race with his dad. Small world hey?

I was pleased to see Chavanel back in yellow. It was a pity he lost it over
the cobbles. Normally the early stages are flattish and set up for the sprinters and he had quite a good lead which would have meant he should have stayed in yellow for a few days but the cobbles this year set the cat amongst the pigeons. I think he had two punctures. I am not sure what I feel about the cobble sections this year.

Good for the spectators yes, but not when as a result of punctures or crashes favourites could lose so much time that they could lose the Tour. But there again with the team back-up radio, communication between team cars and riders etc perhaps the Tour needs something like the cobble section to bring some excitement back. It has in some respects become all so predictable.

It is a pity that Frank Schleck crashed and has withdrawn from the Tour as a result of the cobbles. But that is cycle racing which is more than can be said for the stage prior to that which was closed down by Cancellara. What a nonsense that was.

Ok, might be able to understand that it was right for the peleton to wait but once it was all back together again they should have raced and there should have been a sprint. A lot of people took a day off work to go and watch the stage and many may have lost money. I would have been well cheesed off if I had waited hours at the finish line to see that. It was bad enough watching it on the telly. Was not impressed with Cancellara, but what can you do.

Team Sky are doing well. And I believe that at one point on Saturday's stage Geraint Thomas was in virtual yellow. I am also pleased to see that Mark Cavendish is back to his winning ways. A couple of really good stage wins. A lot of that is down to his team and his lead out men. But it was good to see him cry and it was good to see him thank his team. Perhaps he has been humbled! My opinion of him has changed a bit, perhaps the same can be said for other cycling fans as well.

Obviously I want Bradley Wiggins to win the tour but there is a rider I respect very much. He is as tough as nails and gives it 100% all the time and fights and fights untill the last. I generally don't like Australians but Cadel Evens is a worthy world champion. He is currently winning the Tour at the moment and I would love to see him win the Tour. I read somewhere that he's the first World Champion to lead the Tour de France in 20 years. It would be great for Cadel to win it as he was unlucky not to win in 2008 when Carlos Sastre suprisingly won after a tremendous time trial before the Champs-Élysées. Hopefully this time Cadel can do better, but it's still a long way to go yet.

Well I have not had a great deal of time to follow the Tour as much as I would like this year. Family, work, training, guests and life getting in the way. Is going to be interesting now we are in the mountains. I might just go and check on the nieghbours to make sure they are still alive.

Right that is it from me at this stage. Remember you can follow me on facebook by becoming a fan of ‘The English Cyclist In France’ or just join the facebook group ‘Help me Win in France’. I can also be found on Twitter @cyclistinfrance, where you're more than welcome to chat to me about all things cycling.