RFU hand Harry send-off present

Prince Harry, soon to be deployed in Iraq in

his role as a second lieutenant in the Blues &

Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry, has

been given an honorary position by the RFU.

The last RFU council meeting voted unanimously

for Harry to be made vice-president of

youth, in acknowledgement of his strong

support for the England rugby team and the

work he has done coaching youngsters.

Harry spent part of his gap year before joining

the Army working at the RFU as an assistant

development officer and took a level one coaching

course that qualifies him to help coach rugby

to primary school children.

Harry, who is often seen at Twickenham cheering

on England, is known to be keener on rugby

than football, while his elder brother, Prince

William, who is president of the Football Association and will be presenting the FA Cup at

Wembley on May 19, prefers the round ball game.

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However, William, who holds an honorary role

with the Welsh RFU, caused some upset in Wales

during the last Six Nations tournament when he

opted out of attending a Wales match due to

tiredness from a heavy schedule, having been

seen at the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival

earlier in the week.

Tyldesley's slip not up to the Grade

ITV chief Michael Grade used all his

negotiating skills to capture the FA Cup

rights for his network, including getting the

FA to agree to an exclusive lock-in negotiating

period that prevented the Beeb from

matching his offer.

So Grade, along with the

rest of the ITV hierarchy, are unlikely to be

too impressed with their lead football

commentator Clive Tyldesley downgrading the

FA Cup on air.

Tyldesley pronounced, following

Chelsea’s Champions League exit against

Liverpool, that the FA Cup finalists, also trailing

Manchester United in the Premiership,

wouldn’t be winning a big trophy this season.

Pyrah technique fails to light Panorama story

Wally Pyrah, the voice of spread betting

bookmakers Sporting Index, was confined to his

office for a marathon two and-

a-half hour televised

interview with BBC’s

Panorama for their investigation

into cricket coach

Bob Woolmer’s murder. Yet

the Beeb used precisely

nothing from their chat with

Wally in the programme.

Sponsors hold fire

A substantial sponsorship from Chelsea

shirt backers Samsung to the European Olympic

Committee’s anti-obesity campaign is regarded

as such a sensitive issue that it won’t be officially

announced until after the vote for the 2014

Winter Games is held in Guatemala in July.

Samsung, who are strongly backing

PyeongChang’s bid for the Winter Olympics,

have done nothing against the rules but don’t

want their sponsorship to be interpreted as buying

votes for the South Korean city.

Meanwhile, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s support for the rival Russian challenge from Sochi is very much low key and behind the scenes.

Two heads are better than one

The Burns Report, which has exposed many

divisions and much dithering within the FA

over the last two years, is the cause of more

in-fighting ahead of the shareholders vote

over its Soho Square re-structuring proposals

on May 29.

The rival amateur and professional factions are

at battle stations again following veteran

councillor Ray Berridge tabling a late

amendment that two chairmen rather than

one should be appointed — one independent

to run the FA board and a councillor to chair

the council.

This led to harsh words being

voiced after the last board meeting, with

Blackburn’s Robert Coar understood to be

particularly vocal with criticisms about his

grass roots football colleagues.

The FA intend

to advise councillors to reject the amendment,

claiming not enough details or its potential

repercussions for other parts of the Burns

Report, have been addressed.