Irish firm wins Barcelona contract
Support in Sport, an Irish owned business which employs 80 people around the world, has won a lucrative contract to build a new training pitch for European soccer giants Barcelona.  The company recently won contracts with Sport England, in Dubai, Iraq and Angola, and was responsible for relaying the pitches at Lille, Galatasaray and Athletic Bilbao stadia amongst others in the last 12 months. www.supportinsport.com
UK Schools Games secures €10M sponsorship
An initiative to encourage elite athletes of school age in the UK will run for at least another four years after a €10 million sponsorship package was announced by food retailer Sainsbury’s.  This year’s games for 1600 children across 12 Olympic and Paralympic sports will take place at four London Olympic venues in May.  The games will be viewed for free by 35,000 friends and family, while 700 coaches will be on hand to provide advice and training.  It may reflect something of the ethos of our own community games or the Allianz supported Cumman na mBunscoil but this kind of investment is on a massively larger scale.  Investment in youth sport will have multiple long term benefits for all. www.2012schoolgames.com
Danish court shows importance of fan self control
A Danish court has doubled a fine imposed on a national team soccer fan for attacking a referee to more than €250,000.  The incident occurred in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden when a fan, whose identity has not been revealed, entered the pitch and set about the match referee.  An original fine of €120,000 was doubled after a failed appeal.  The Danish FA, to whom the fine is payable has said it will negotiate payment with the offender and fans have set up social media accounts to help him pay the fine.  He does not contest his guilt, saying he was drunk at the time of the incident.