Why 'Dead' Sub-Continent Pitches Maintain Test Cricket's Negative Undertone!

After being bored to death watching two test matches between India and Sri Lanka over the last week or so, it got me thinking about how lifeless pitches and bore-draw results are not good for the game. In the last few years due to the rise of the IPL, Twenty20 cricket is now probably the most popular form of the game with lots of people claiming Test cricket is too ‘dull’. With that argument comes another view that if cricket is to have a future that Test cricket will slowly be phased out with more One Day cricket being played.

Although I’m a fan of Twenty20 cricket and the fact that it makes batsmen have to play their shots and that its all action every ball, I do feel that Test Cricket on its day is still the best the game can offer. Why would I say this? Well firstly test cricket requires a lot more concentration and tactics than the ‘bash-bash’ version of Twenty20. It’s also the purest version of the game and requires different kinds of play according to the game situation. Of course we love to see fine centuries and teams getting 350 runs on the first day of the test, but equally there’s something mouth-watering about a team trying to save a test match.

Of course in both situations you can have dire periods of play with there being nothing in the pitch for the bowlers and the batsmen being more worried about what variety of drink they’re be having a the next drinks break rather than worrying about the pace of the bowler. Equally it can also be dire to watch a team that has no chance of winning a game, just making sure that they don’t get out – only playing defensive shots when they need to. But still if the situation requires that, then credit to the batsmen for putting it in action, it’s not pretty but it’s effective..

Going back to the India/Sri Lanka test series that has been going on over the last week or so. The first test started well for Sri Lanka and they were on top early on grabbing 4 early wickets early on in first day’s morning session. Good batting from Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni got India back to terms with a score of 426 in their first innings.

Sri Lanka then went out and scored a mammoth 760 in reply with Tillkeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and the lesser known Prasanna Jayawardene hitting centuries. India’s response was good and they saved the game by scoring over 400 as the match was called a draw.

The second test started great for India this time, and they had probably their best ever first day of a test match as they scored 417-2 wickets with both their openers Gambhir and Sehwag hitting centuries followed up. It was pretty easy batting for the hosts as they treated the likes of Murali and Ajantha Mendis - 2 of the best spinners currently in cricket – as if they were batting against my gentle off-spin in my back garden!

There was little in the pitch for either bowler and incredibly Herath grabbed 5 wickets as the Indian batsmen ‘collapsed’ at the end losing 6 wickets in the space of no time. It wasn’t a collapse as of such, as with the score over 600 there was basically no chance of a Sri Lanka win so the pressure was firmly of the Indian tail enders. At the time of watching the end of the Indian innings, I really couldn’t see the point of them batting as surley it would have made sense for Dhoni to declare as soon as the team reached 600 and try and get more time to bowl against the Sri Lankan batsmen who I feel wouldn’t struggle on the pitch.

To my surprise I was wrong as the pitch suddenly came to life with the Sri Lankan batsmen playing some poor shots and after being dismissed for a poor 229 followed on and lost the game with Harbajan Singh amongst the wickets. However even with this test having a ‘result’ unlike the boring last one, I couldn’t help but feel cheated with the state of some of the cricket pitches on the sub continent.

There was a little bit of criticism this summer during the decisive Oval test of this year’s Ashes series. Some Australian’s felt that it was slightly unfair that the usual flat batting-track pitch at the Oval was slightly ‘over baked’ in the sense that the pitch was set up in order to get a result. Whether that was the case or not, i don’t feel that England did anything wrong in that situation because they wanted the game to end in a result, and not just a bore-draw which is usually the case. Yes the pitch was a lot more difficult than it could have been, but that’s what test cricket is about – testing batsman out in conditions which they shouldn’t find easy. Making them work for their runs, according to my dad and the same should apply for bowlers..

..Which is sadly the case in some of the pitches in the sub-continent which have been doctored for batsman and the game only comes to life if you’re lucky by the fourth day of the test. It’s not just on the sub-continent in Asia where there some pitches that are dead, it’s in the Caribbean as well and there have been some really lifeless pitches, which has been highlighted in some ridiculously high-scoring draws in recent memory.

Cricket gets bad press because some periods of play cannot be exciting and Twenty20 obviously is great because it’s fast paced and you only have to wait a maximum of 3 hours to get a result. However it has been argued that there has been too much Twenty20 cricket played and where it was a nice luxury to have, in some situations the longer form of the game is being targeted because of poor games of cricket. It was good to see Sachin Tendulkar come out the other week and say that for him test cricket is still what motivates him.

Hopefully the future of the sport which is being heavily influenced from decisions made from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be marked and controlled by the ICC, will make sure Tests are still valued highly. ODI’s and Twenty20 forms of the game do have their place and it’s good for the game to expand into other countries and make the sport stronger. The ICC need to keep the standards of the game up and the only way of doing this is to make sure that there are rules in place that kill these dead pitches once and for all.

Posted by Adam Dennehey - SportTrades Report Manager

Chelmsford Ice Updates With Pete Lewis

As ever on Sports Trades Report, we start the week with Pete Lewis's Ice-Hockey updates with the two Chelmsford teams, the Chieftains and the Warriors! Chieftains had the long trip to take on the Cardiff ENL Devils on Saturday night before hosting the Oxford Stars on Sunday. The Warriors were away againgst the Basingstoke Buffalo. Anyway i'll let Pete do the talking and as ever if you want to comment, please do!

SportTrades Pete Lewis Reporting:

Saturday night saw the Chieftains make the long trip to South Wales to take on rivals the Cardiff ENL Devils. Goals were exchanged early on and the first period break saw the score tied at 3-3 with the Chieftains goals coming from Sean Easton, Danny Wright and Richard Whiting. The referee from the start annoyed both sets of players by alloweing a large number of clear infringements to go unpunished early on, causing tempers to burn into the second period of the game.

Referee Riddell was at the centre of controversey midway through the second period when he awarded the Chieftains net minder Andy Moffat a 10 minute penalty for asking Riddell why the team was not allowed an ‘equipment time out’ to fix the protective equipment that had broken on Moffat’s pads.

Some time was spent getting the pads fixed, but not to Riddell’s liking and he forced back up net minder Ben Clements in goal for a few minutes while running repairs went on off the ice on Moffat’s pads. It was a strange decision to say the least and caused lots of head scratching in the crowds, who could not understand the decision.

Chieftains went ahead from a wonderful goal from Aaron Connoley which simply flew past a stationary Mike Brabon in the home goal. However the visitors were not in the lead for long and just six minutes later the game was back to 4-4. Luke Piggott finding a gap in the home defence before slooting past Moffat who had returend to his goal. Deep into the third period the winner came for the Devils. A great pass from Brent Pope sent in Steve Fisher, who skated past two Chelmsford defenders before shimmying the puck past Moffat to score the winner. Thanks to Tim Bowers for the photo of Chieftains #61 Blaho Novak which was taken in the Chieftains defeat at Cardiff over the weekend.

With memories of the defeat in Cardiff still fresh in the Chieftains minds they knew that they needed to bounce back againgst Oxford the next night. The Stars were determined in their play and came back from 4-0 down to end the first period only 4-2 down. Chieftains scorers were BT Williams, Darren Brown and Danny Hammond who hit 2. The Stars battled back into contention in the second period and Nick Oliver scored for Oxford to poise the game nicely at 4-3 going into the final period; not that Chelmsford's support would have wanted it that way!

The third and final period was very tense and Oxford were delighted when they equalised on 54minutes, through a fine strike from Ken Forshee. That goal set the game up for a frantic final 6 minutes and amid a few scraps on the ice, Jerry Pavlus popped up out of nowhere to grab a goal minutes from the end to win the game. A great goal from Pavlus who is certainly one of the names to watch over the coming season. The game was also special for Richard Whiting who became the all-time highest apperance leader for the Chieftains with a staggering 490 games under his belt.

Also last Sunday the Warriors returned to action after a few weeks breaks and struggled in Basingstoke after showing some early promise. After Sean Martin netted for the Warriors in the first period, it was pretty much one way traffic afterwards as the Buffalo steam rolled the Warriors to win 11-3. Craig Metcalf joined Martin in scoring consolation goals for the visitors. It may have been a bad result, but hopefully it's one that the Warriors will learn from.

Sol y Futbol: Rojillos Still Without Away Win

SOL y FUTBOL Ian Lane reports

LEGANÉS 2 LANZAROTE 1

U.D. Lanzarote once again fail to increase on their solitary point picked up on their travels this season despite a gutsy performance in Madrid.

The Rojillos began the game well. A long pass from Rúben Rodriguez was neatly controlled by Toñito, the winger then beat his marker but his shot fell straight into the arms of the Leganés goalkeeper Raúl Moreno.

The Madrid side then began to use both wingers on either flank which opened the defence of the Rojillos. In the 10th minute ex Rojillo Anibal Zurdo fired in a shot from the edge of the area and Rojillos keeper did well fisting away to safety.

Minutes later and Lanzarote had a great shout for a penalty. Striker Rosmen controlled the ball inside the box and a Leganés defender handled but unfortunately the official was unsighted and waved play on.

In the 23rd minute the home side was in front. Following a series of poor clearances defender Faruk tracked Carlos Martinez and the midfielder seemed to slip. The Ref surprised all the players and the 1500 crowd by ordering a spot kick. The midfielder rose from the deck and converted the penalty to send his side into a 1-0 lead.

The Rojillos heads did not drop as has happened in previous matches and began to enjoy the majority of the ball. In the 26th minute Toñito broke down the left wing but again his strike was too weak to test the Leganés keeper.

Five minutes later and the Rojillos deservedly drew level. A corner from the left was swung in and the Madrid defence seemed reluctant to clear, the ball fell kindly to striker Echedey who made no mistake blasting in his first goal for Lanzarote.

Moments later and the Rojillos could have been 2-1 down. A long ball was hoisted deep into Lanzarote territory and Lanzarote keeper Floro hesitated for a moment which allowed midfielder Juli to reach the ball first, he succeeded in chipping over the advanced keeper but fortunately for the Rojillos his effort also cleared the bar sparing the blushes of Lanzarote´s number one as the score line remained at stalemate one apiece going into the break.

Man of the match Carlos Martinez looked the most influential for Leganés. On the hour mark a good strike from distance by the danger man flew just wide. Five minutes on and the same player centered a cross to team mate Gustavo Miguel but his effort was easily saved by Floro.

The Madrid team enjoyed the majority of possession without causing much threat but in the 75th minute Carlos Martinez crossed in from the right and the ball was headed into the far post by Sub Quini leaving Floro flat footed and with no chance of saving the well angled header and Lanzarote found themselves 2-1 down.

A few minutes later a superb run by José Manuel flying threw various defenders ended with the winger crashing down inside the box. The Ref ignored the pleas of all of the Lanzarote players for a penalty as Leganés drew a sigh of relief.

With two minutes left on the clock the home side was reduced to ten men as striker Iván Zarandona received his second yellow card. From the resulting free kick the ball was passed short for Ayoze Pérez who struck the ball with venom only to see his effort fly inches wide as did Lanzarote´s chances of getting anything from the game.

Next Sunday Lanzarote play their most attractive game of the season against the B team of Real Madrid in Arrecife at 11am. The all whites have been struggling recently and have only won once in their last nine outings and this always seems to be an encounter which produces goals.

Guadalajara remain top following a 1-3 away win and Alcorcon spurred on by their demolition of Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey move up into fourth position occupying the final play off spot after a 0-1 away win against Tenerife B.

Dream Pairing At McLaren For 2010

One of the key talking points of this week other than the Thierry Henry handball that broke Irish hearts was the revelation that broke earlier in the week. The news that I am of course talking about is Jenson Button’s move to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, which means that the new world champion will be partnering the 2008 World Champion in Lewis Hamilton. It truly is a mouth watering prospect and the British Media already are hyping this as the best driver pairing in recent memory along with the Aryton Senna / Alain Prost pairing at McLaren in the late 1980’s.

As an F1 fan, it’s a move that i hope will work out wonders. Hopefully the 2010 season will be just as exciting as the second half of this year’s championship was with good competition amongst the cars throughout the whole grand prix weekend. McLaren ended last season well, partly due to the fact they were running KERS whilst everyone but Ferrari hadn’t bothered with it the whole season but also due to the fact the overall package had been improved. The second half of the season saw Hamilton produce some fine performances including two wins at Hungary and Singapore and a dominating performance in the season finale at Abu Dhabi before retiring whilst leading due to a brake problem.

Brawn on the other hand had a much harder end to the season, but when it really mattered Jenson got the results that he needed and rightfully claimed this year’s driver’s title. However towards the end of the season there were small rumours emerging that his future at Brawn was not 100% certain. Mercedes had obviously noticed the potential of the team and probably due to the controversies surrounding McLaren over the last couple of years (Spy-gate and Lie-gate notably) said that they would be thinking about investing in Brawn for 2010.

Obviously they were not just thinking about investing slightly into Brawn and giving them precedence over McLaren! After buying 75.1% of the team from Ross Brawn and Nick Fry earlier in the week it was announced that the team would be rebranded Mercedes Grand Prix. This is big move for the German manufacturer and is a clear intent that they want to go head to head with Ferrari to see who the best manufacturer is in the sport. Also it’s been rumoured that the powers that be at Mercedes want two German drivers running in the team. Nico Rosberg having left Williams is 99.9% certain to be one of the drivers for the team. Nick Heidfeld could be an option for the second seat and even today there’s talk that Michael Schumacher could come out of retirement to race for the team. Whether that’s true or not no-one knows, Eddie Jordan seems to think it could happen so it shouldn’t be ruled out at first.

But back to Button, why Mercedes wouldn’t want to keep him and have the Number 1 on their car seems abit strange as it would work wonders to have the World champion in their car alongside the improving Rosberg, but that’s F1 for you. It’s not about the money as supposedly Button is earning less at McLaren than he would at Mercedes as he claims he’s moving there for the challenge to go there and beat Hamilton at his own job. That challenge is being questioned by former F1 greats such as Jackie Stewart and John Watson who claim that it will be awfully difficult for Jenson to beat Lewis over the course of the season, because Lewis has such a good relationship with the team.

I can fully understand their views and it’s easy to think back to 2007 and how Fernando Alonso’s relationship with the team turned sour after Lewis matched him throughout that season. However Button is a different character to Alonso and is more laid back and down to earth than the Spaniard. That’s not to say that Alonso isn’t the better driver as i think he is, but the fact that Jenson and Lewis appear to get on well should hopefully mean that there are not any problems like that for 2010.

Hamilton appears to be pleased that Lewis has moved to the team. In a way it will bring out the best in him and I think it will make him a better driver having got the new darling of the grid alongside him. Button will match him for pace and I think could surprise Lewis early on in the season if he gets a chance to. Hamilton learnt much as a driver and as a person during 2009, after starting the year badly due to the ‘Lie-gate’ scandal and having to drive a poor car, he improved as the year went on and was probably the guy to beat towards the end of the season. As a person he’ll know that some parts of the media will want there to be a breakdown at McLaren next season so I’m sure he’ll just do his talking in the car where it really matters. The same applies for Button who has a good relationship with the media and has always been praised for his smooth ‘old-school’ driving that was so fluent at times this season.

In conclusion, it’s a great move for British Motorsport which puts our best two drivers in F1 head to head in one of the top teams in the sport. McLaren as I’ve said before ended the season well and should be challenging for race wins next season. It’s a challenge for Button who will be in a different environment to the one at Brawn/Honda where he was familiar with and the move to McLaren will bring pressure to him. The pressure of being the World Champion, the pressure to perform to win races and the most important pressure to beat Hamilton over the season and prove the doubters wrong. As a big fan of F1 and both drivers, it should be interesting to see how they do next season and how McLaren manage the two drivers.

If you were to ask me which driver I think will finish higher in the driver’s standings, I would say Hamilton but I don’t think it will be by much and think both drivers will do well next season. Whether either will win the Championship or not is another question as I feel that a rejuvenated Fernando Alonso at Ferrari - who will themselves will be looking to bounce back after a poor season – is probably the favourite for the title next year as he aims to put himself back on the top of the sport.

Posted by Adam Dennehey, SportTrades

Sean Yates Joins Team SKY

The new British Pro-Cycling team Team Sky who are bound to turn some heads in the 2010 Cycling season have announced that Sean Yates, a respected and well known figure will join the team in the New Year as Sports Director.

The 49-year old Englishman rode for Peugeot, Fagor, 7-Eleven and Motorola in his 14-year pro career and was a team mate of Robert Millar and Lance Armstrong. He became the third Brit to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, in 1994, and rode 12 Tours during his career. Sean Yates has previous experience as a sports director heaving held the role recently at Astana since 2008 and before that was at Team Discovery Channel and Team CSC.

Sean Yates said; “I’m extremely excited to join Team Sky. Obviously for me, to be part of a British team at the highest level is something truly special. I have a lot of experience in a winning team and I look forward to helping Team Sky to fulfil its goals. The scope and the ambition of the project is unique and I think we have put together a great team. I really believe we can be contenders on all levels in the future and I’m proud to become part of that.”

Dave Brailsford, Team Principal for Team Sky, said: “Sean brings a wealth of experience and we’ve been very keen for a long time to bring him on board. He’s well known as a hard-working sports director with a deep understanding of the sport and good connection to his riders and staff. He will be a true asset to our management team and a great colleague for the other Sports Directors we have signed.

“Our ambition is to have our Sports Directors collaborating with the best available expert knowledge on all the relevant aspects of sport and we believe that it will provide Team Sky with a unique fundament to perform and win. Sean and the other Sports Directors will be working in a performance driven team where I’m convinced we can bring out the very best in the riders.”

Yates will join Team Sky in the New Year as Sports Director. He will join Scott Sunderland, Steven De Jongh and Marcus Ljungqvist, the other Sports Directors for the team.

Team Sky will compete from the start of 2010, beginning with the Tour Down Under, and hopes to gain an invitation to next year’s Tour de France. The initial squad of around 25 riders will be supported by a team of coaches, technicians and support staff drawn from across the cycling world, many of whom work throughout the year with British elite and developing riders.

The Team Sky riders announced to date are; Geraint Thomas, Steve Cummings, Pete Kennaugh, Chris Froome, Ian Stannard, Russell Downing, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Thomas Löfkvist, Kurt Arvesen, Simon Gerrans, Juan Antonio Flecha, Kjell Carlstrom, John Lee Augustyn, Greg Henderson, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Morris Possoni, Michael Barry, Serge Pauwels, Chris Sutton, Sylvain Calzati, Nicolas Portal, Mathew Hayman, Dario Cioni and Davide Viagno.

When we hear more news on Team Sky, we'll let you guys know.

Drug Abuse, Cheating and Technology. A SHOUT Special

This is a Special Edition of Shout, the main postings for this feature will begin on the 4th December. Rashid Ramzi the Gold Medal holder of the Olympic 1500 will be stripped of his title by the IAAF. The move has been welcomed by the Vice President of the organisation, Lord Coe.

The advancement of technology for testing of drug abuse has been significant. The detection in Mr Ramzi of Cera, a blood booster, was evident when the tests were repeated. Ramzi has been requested to return his medal and the record books accordingly rewritten. Mr Ramzi is currently challenging the decision and has lodged an appeal with The Court of Arbitration in Sport.

This leads us nicely onto Mr Andre Agassi.

Agassi has long passed the time limit when tests can be checked, there were not any in the first place. Mr Agassi has taken the route of guilt and conscience, to declare to the world that he took performance enhancing drugs. Possibly a publicity exercise to increase sales of his book that is just me being cynical. We are unaware of the competitions exactly this cheating took place in, however, why don’t we strip him of all titles during the timescale of his abuse, cheating. He can also return the competition money won and for good measure a life time ban on attendance of future tournaments. I suspect the money will hurt most.

This is flowing smoothly, drug abuse to cheating, we can not let this special posting of Shout be complete without a comment on Mr Thierry Henry and cheating.

Should there be a replay? Well no, not without overturning the injustice of other incidents that took place in previous matches and within the actual finals not just qualifiers. There should be clear guidelines included within the competition rules before any tournament starts, covering evntualities and situations. We would be arguing forever otherwise and be constantly prone to knee jerk reactions. Should we include technology? Why not, football at this level is so soulless and far removed from reality we might as well. Just leave real football (Championship to Grassroots)alone, let us have our debates in pubs, clubs and living rooms. In introducing match technology, I believe the negatives are greater than the positives.

Let us briefly look at the match. Ireland were fantastic throughout. The performances of Liam Lawrence and Sean St Ledger were impressive. Richard Dunne, Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane and John O’Shea produced the consistency almost expected of them. Robbie Keane, for me, was Man of the Match, he was everywhere.Ireland, however, had opportunities to settle the play-off Damien Duff and Robbie Keane missed golden chances in the second half. Let’s fast forward the build up to controversy. The cross that preceded the incident, there was an offside, and then the ball was allowed to bounce by McShane instead of clearing it, then the incident.

The referee was solid, he was confident in his decision making and correct, but then we got to extra time. He perhaps had a restricted view; the ball was also on the blind side of the Assistant. The Official on the Goal line would spot it, but please let’s not go there. So we get down to the human instinct. Put yourself in poor Thierry’s place, what was going through his mind ‘I’ve handled it, Billy has scored, we’re probably through to the finals of the World Cup, the ref didn’t spot it, the President of UEFA is French, Ireland has voted yes in the Lisbon Treaty’. It comes down to the pure act of Sportsmanship, the best a man can get.

Robbie Fowler had it, but the officials still made him take the penalty. Thierry claims he advised the Ref he handled it and immediately confessed in his post match interviews. Should Officials be encouraged to listen to players confessions and act accordingly or do we open up a whole new can of worms. My next statement is not connected to Thierry or any player or official in the France v Ireland match. News is coming out from Germany regarding match fixing, officials reacting on players confessions during matches could alter the outcome and benefit the minority of unscrupulous people within the game. Officials have their hands tied, technology will without question go along way to solve this, but it is such a remote occurrence is it necessary? It will disrupt the flow of a game and eradicate the essential components of post match debate and intrigue. These are as much a part of the game as the playing itself. Ireland has certainly been unlucky and their performance deserved more. Perhaps like Mr Ramzi the FAI can take their appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, but don’t ask Roy Keane to be a character witness

Onwards to South Africa. Fifa will bring in CCTV FA, we will have a team of 8 match officials in striped uniforms and flags and life will be good. Opinions will be redundant because we will know without reasonable doubt; the game will have enough breaks to fit in about 2 adverts while decisions are made. Those of you who watch Super League will know that not every replay is conclusive and even the commentators call video feed back wrong.

People fear that without match technology being made available, there are concerns about future Sponsorship and funding for the game. Sit down and think, your company tag is visible at the point of the incident, it will be shown across the world time after time, or you sponsored the match that had a momentous controversial moment that will be mentioned time after time. Priceless!

This article is full of contradictions, highlighting the difficulties in producing a uniformed formula to police all sports from performance enhancing drugs and cheating. Technology in sport, regarding supporting decision making, is inevitable whatever your beliefs. First, however, it is important that all sports have a framework detailing pre tournament rules and conditions, no matter of the status of the offender within individual sports.

Clear guidelines must be agread before any compettion, covering all posibilities that can occur and the procedure to be followed. It is obviously impossible to predict all situations, so exceptional rulings may be required from time to time. The three incidents mentioned in this article are all far too common and a pre tournament agreement on structure of rules and procedures would be beneficial. So before technology, let sport agree to its terms and conditions, its frameworks and guidelines, let it make clear the punishment for drug enhancement, cheating and other wrongs and adhere to them.

Let us not forget that FIFA allegedly changed the rulings on World Cup play-off seeding for Europe, once the teams involved were confirmed. So before we start this World Cup and other tournaments around the world administrators must make the rules, conditions, and procedures clear, they must punish those who without reasonable doubt cheat or illegally enhance performance. I believe Thierry Henry is not a bad person and a mixture of instinct and the occasion got the better of him, Mr Agassi was pure greed and Rashid Ramzi the pressure of failure. Before technology sport needs to be guided by a framework of substance and clarity, before we call for the heads of officials, coaches and players lets look at the suitability of the administrators.

Shout was written by Rob McAvoy,SportTrades

Some of the Fantastic Deals Available at SportTrades

SportTrades have a number of fantastic opportunities to sponsor or advertise at sport organisations and clubs.

Girls in Football: An organisation that promotes women's football, the fastest growing participation sport in the UK. 1000 of clubs follow the organisations website to keep in touch with other clubs and to promote tournaments and competitions. The website is also used to advertise a variety of services and products. We have agreed with Girls in Football to create a number of groups that include clubs at a wide range of levels. The organisation will be responsible to distribute the sponsorship to the clubs, providing them with kit and finances that will help cover operational costs of each club. Each group is available for sponsorship and the kit for all the clubs within, will feature the corporate identification of the sponsor. The sponsor will receive significant press coverage once agreement has been reached.

Hainault Buldogs: The Bulldogs, Essex's premier Rugby League side, are seeking a main sponsor for season 2010. The club will wear the Sponsors logo on Match Kit and also the possibility that the leisure wear will include the sponsor logo. Hainault will play they home games at Dagenham RFC in Central Park for next season and beyond. Secondary Sponsorship is available, logos can be positioned on the back and on the sleeves of the match kit. Hainault Bulldogs have made their home in Dagneham and so a name change will be made in the future. They will keep Bulldogs within there title however Team naming rights are available e.g SportTrades Dagenham Bulldogs or simply SportTrades Bulldogs. Prices for all are upon request.

Braintree Town: The Irons play in the Blue Square South, and have made an encouraging start to the season. We have very competitive rates for perimeter and match operation advertising and also Stadia Marketing available. The price to display a board at the ground for 12 months is considerably cheaper than 2 months of local media advertising and more effective than solely website advertising. Call us for more details regarding the price or if you are interested in joining us on a pre Christmas game on Tuesday 8th December and meet the staff, send us your details and we will forward an invite for you to join us.

Plymouth Argyle: The Green Army are seeking sponsors to help fund their Centre of Excellence. You will receive local and regional press coverage and be offered first team incentives to entertain your clients and staff. You will also receive promotion of your company from the club and in the stadium. We also have partnerships available, for example Official Supplier of Insurance to the club, you will also receive corporate hospitality deals with first team matches and promotion of your company via the club and regional media.

Please contact us at info@sporttrades.co.uk for further information regarding all of the above deals.