Sports Campus gets green light
The Government has announced plans for the National Sports Campus site in Blanchardstown which will see the development of significant facilities there by each of the GAA, IRFU, FAI and the Irish Hockey Association.
The plan was announced on Tuesday by Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar Work on access facilities at the site is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.  The likely investment over four years from Government is €19 million.
“All four bodies have agreed in principle to develop their sections of the Campus,” said Varadkar.  “For its part, the Government has allocated funding to develop the vital access routes and provide serviced infrastructure by the end of this year.”
The Government has also provided a limited and equal financial incentive of matching funding for each body to commence development of their own facilities as soon as possible.
All weather field sports facilities and a pavilion will be developed and building work on a new Sport HQ which will house 19 national governing bodies is expected to be completed within a year.
In addition the National Sports Campus Development Authority is to explore the possibility of philanthropic funding for the development of a national indoor athletics arena, gymnastics centre and hall for indoor court sports.
“We are totally committed to the creation of a world-class facility which will provide our sportsmen and sportswomen with the facilities which they deserve as they continue to do us all proud,” said Sean Benton, Chairman of the NSCDA.  “We are delighted with the Government’s renewed commitment to the project.”
Aviva strengthens link with school athletics
Aviva is to strengthen its support of schools athletics through sponsoring the Aviva School Mile Challenge which will take place this spring.
10,000 teenagers from 100 secondary schools throughout the country will run, jog or walk a mile at their school.
The emphasis will be on participation and the main purpose is to promote running or walking as part of a balanced healthy lifestyle.
Each school will organise the event during a school day. The time of every pupil taking part will be accurately timed and graded to show what category of runner each participant is. They will be rewarded with a coloured coded wrist band that correlates to the time they ran.
The event is organised by Athletics Ireland and the Irish Schools Athletic Association.  It was previously run as the Spar School Mile Challenge.
Aviva is in year two of a three year sponsorship of the schools track and field and cross country athletics programmes in Ireland and has been a supporter of grassroots and elite athletics in Britain for over a decade.
“We believe sport is crucial to children and young adult’s development and is at the heart of a healthy active lifestyle,” said Aviva Sponsorship Manager Mark Russell.  “Aviva is proud to support Irish Schools Athletics and the School Mile Challenge provides the perfect kick start and incentive for kids to participate in healthy exercise.”
Umbrella tournament aims to build Sevens Rugby future
The inaugural Umbrella Rugby Sevens Tournament will take place this Saturday, March 24th at Terenure College, Dublin. The rugby carnival style event is aimed at providing a starting point the underage development of sevens rugby in Ireland.  It is supported by Jamie Heaslip in his role as an ambassador for the Umbrella Foundation, and by Leinster Rugby, whose coach Joe Schmidt was on hand to launch the event.
The Umbrella Sevens is the first sevens tournament in Ireland to focus on schools rugby and aims to roll out into all provinces in the coming years. With sevens rugby reinstated in the Olympic games in 2016 in Rio, Brazil.
“It’s the same game effectively,” said Schmidt.   “The timing of your run, the pass and the ability to see space and play to it are all the same with the exception to the set but it’s still relevant.”
“Certainly if it starts to develop with the young players at The Umbrella Sevens Tournament they will get excited about the game and that will naturally follow through to senior level.”
Both St Michael’s College and Clongowes College from last weekend’s Powerade Senior Cup Final will be represented and Jamie Heaslip will be there on the day to support the tournament.
The Umbrella Foundation helps relieve the impact of poverty and war on children in Nepal.
The official Umbrella Sevens website can be found at www.umbrella7s.ie .
Irish Teams have sights on race to qualification
The Irish Ladies Hockey and Men’s Cricket teams have a vital few days ahead of them as they seek to secure qualification for the London Olympics and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup respectively.
The Hockey team beat Mexico 5-0 yesterday and will qualify for a Final Qualifying match against hosts Belgium if they beat Spain in their next game on Thursday.  Belgium beat Spain 1-0 yesterday.
The Men’s Cricket team completed a sixth successive win in their qualifying pool in Dubai by beating Oman yesterday morning.  They now face Canada in the first play-off match and need to win three more games to make it to the World Cup in the autumn.
The two sides are sponsored by Electric Ireland and RSA Insurance respectively.  Both have benefitted from additional TV coverage from RTE this week with the thrilling Men’s Hockey Qualifying Final shown live last Sunday, and highlights from Dubai being broadcast from Thursday evening on RTE2.