Former Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin has sensationally claimed that
the several of the most high-profile Olympic sports are likely to be
rife with drug cheats.
Many of the former Arsenal forward’s Russian compatriots were banned
from competing at the Rio Games after the the World Anti-Doping
Agency recommended a blanket ban, upheld by the Court of Arbitration for
Sport, on the nation’s athletes following claims of state-sponsored
doping.
Which high-profile Russians were banned from Rio
Yelena Isinbayeva – pole vault
Yekaterina Koneva – triple jump
Daria Klishina – long jump
Anna Chicherova – high jump
Sergey Shubenkov – 110m hurdles
Valery Borchin – race walker
Sergey Kirdyapkin – race walker
Olga Kaniskina – race walker
Sergey Bakulin – race walker
Vladimir Kanaikin – race walker
Lilia Shobukhova – 5000m
Yevgeniya Zolotova – 800m
In an interview with a Kazakh sports news site, Arshavin was quoted
as saying that success in sports which require constant repetitive
movement is ‘simply impossible without doping’, and added that Russia’s
ban was politically motivated.
‘In my opinion, all cyclic sports involve doping. It’s simply
impossible without doping. That means swimming, skiing, cycling. I think
everyone dopes,’ he told prosportkz.kz.
‘Russia is paying for its political decisions, including in sport. Is
it fair or unfair? Life isn’t fair. Of course, this is a great tragedy
for the athletes, especially the Olympians.
‘For them, this is the World Cup and European Championship for
footballers. We have every two years, with good players, earning good
money at clubs, and they have the reverse.
‘[They have] almost one or two chances in life to get an apartment, a
normal premium. Of course I understand them, they are not in the best
condition now.’
A woman in a love triangle lost her baby after being terrorised for three days
An expectant mum caught in a love triangle lost her unborn child
after being terrorised by the baby's father and his ex-girlfriend.
Chantelle Murray suffered three days of torment with cruel threats from Roderick Cuthbert.
The 28-year-old was also “battered black and blue” by fellow thug Jennifer McIlravey, the Daily Record reported .
Her ordeal only ended when she escaped through a first-floor window of the flat the three of them were sharing.
They were living amicably at the home in Dundee until McIlravey discovered Chantelle was carrying Cuthbert’s baby.
Chantelle
said: “They had been in a relationship but it had ended and me and
Roderick were now together but we all lived together.
“Jennifer
had given us her blessing. But when she found out I was pregnant, she
totally flipped. She punched and kicked me in the face and stomach,
pulled my hair – I was battered black and blue. Chantelle Murray was subjected to a three-day ordeal
“She screamed at me at one point, ‘I’ll make you have a miscarriage’, and kicked me in the stomach.
“They were totally getting their kicks out of it. They acted like absolute animals.
“She was obviously enjoying attacking me.”
Chantelle
said she was subjected to three days of terror at the hands of Cuthbert
and his former partner McIlravey in January this year.
She revealed she lost her child after her ordeal in a flat in the city’s Strathmartine Road.
Chantelle described the moment she made her escape.
Even for some of us who are not good football fans, have recently taken note of some developments in this aspects of sports — the matter of financing our football clubs and their ownership. Discussions have ranged from share ownership, to leasing of a club for a period of time, to debt financing, etc.
We had to take note because these three key words i.e. club’s ownership by way of shares purchase, or leasing a club for a shared return on investment or debt financing of club’s activities are financial terms, whose broad meaning may not so understood to many of us as they represent financing mechanisms for enterprises as well as determines the manner in which businesses are owned, financed and operated.
As is for any form of businesses, football sports organizations included, and I may be corrected, are entertainment enterprises. I understand professional football sports teams sell entertainment for an income, they are (or may be) businesses whose investment can be financed through various means; equity financing, debt financing, lease financing, members’ contributions, corporate sponsorships, etc. For obvious reasons, I will limit this article to equity (share) financing.
‘Stadium bonds’
Before I dwell into share financing, it is important we underscore the fact that, in whatever form of financing — success, progress and revolutions anticipated depend on plans and strategies as to what is it that a club intends to achieve, for example why the need for financing, and why in this form and not the other? what is it that funds will be used for? is it for funding of sports facilities such as a sports arena, a ballpark or a stadium in which games are played and hence provide the quality of experience that such facilities will offer to fans? is it for investment in people/players or is it for investment is sports technology? what is it for? — the answer to these questions will inform the choice of financing tools; for example, if the need for funds is to construct a stadium, then many sports strategists would recommend teams to “Stadium Bonds”, which may be a better option because bonds, especially under special-purpose vehicle (SPV) structure and “ring-fenced” revenue sources, typically offers investors a periodic repayments compared to share financing. Shares issuance are not often used in to pay for facilities (such as stadium) construction, why? mainly because of ownership restrictions and public involvement which make share financing less desirable and unnecessary.
And once financed — what kind of governance and management structure that the club/company will pursue to guarantee investors returns? where will the money to repay investors returns come from? Yes, the usual revenue sources for sports clubs are: tickets sales; sponsorship revenues; merchandising sales, media outlets/audiences fee, etc — but the real question is, how will these revenue streams be well managed so that investors returns are guaranteed? I presume these questions can properly be addresses, now let’s focus into the intended topic, shares ownership in sports clubs.
Issuing of shares means selling a percentage of the company to an investor or investors in exchange for cash that gets invested so that periodically the company give its investors profits. For publicly traded companies, equity (or share) financing means that the company will sale shares to many people, sometimes with minimal choice as to who should be a shareholder.
For a sports club to sell shares, like for many other business formations i.e. sole proprietorships, partnerships, companies limited by guarantee, clubs; cooperatives, etc it has to change its legal form into being a company limited by shares — such a company may choose to be either a private company or a public company. A public company is the one that invites members of the public to subscribe into its share capital, it may then be publicly traded by being listed in a stock market, or not. I will come into this later.
As we know, club ownership may take different forms and each has its benefits and drawbacks; i.e (i) community ownership, (ii) fans ownership or (iii) company ownership.
Let us briefly describe the first: community ownership; this is not so common in professional sports, this despite the fact that community ownership of a club does not necessarily mean that the team will be a publicly traded company, no — it may either be a publicly traded company or a club owned by local organization or a local government may own a team in one way or another. It could also mean local residents owns some forms of shares in the team.
When this exists, there is usually some local board that control the team and it may be operated through either a local government, or a municipal or city, or another entity, or a community organization. As said, this is not so common as a means of club or team ownership.
Fans ownership — there are many examples and experiences of a club being owned by fans which then allow fans to make key decisions about the club. I would not dwell on this, because it is commonly known.
‘Artificial beings’
In company ownership form: let me start by clearly stating that, a company is a legal entity with all of the rights of citizenship, except for the right to vote; companies in essence, are considered “artificial beings” created by the law and given all of the rights in business that individuals enjoy.
Normally, companies are governed and overseen by a board of directors who are chosen among shareholders or represents shareholders interests. Shareholders (who owns shares in a company) owns the company. Those shares could be held by a single individual, or a small group of family members or unrelated individuals, or by many people.
The shares themselves could be publicly traded in the stock exchange; but the shares and the company may elect not to be listed on a stock exchange. If a company is not listed, then shares can not be publicly traded, but could be privately traded among individuals. Shareholders benefits by receiving profits in the form of dividends from the company.
Although the company might retain some current profits to increase investments in future profits; the goal of most companies is to maximise the value of shareholders interests. The board of directors, elected by shareholders, makes general policies for the company and addresses the use of profits, among others matters.
The benefit of company over other ownership structures is that it limits owner’s liability, in the sense that investors can loose their investments, but they are not legally liable for any fiscal losses and can not be held financially responsible in any lawsuit against the company, except for shareholders who are also directors.
So, what have we said? what we have tried to say so far is that shares represents equity financing in a company where in return investors depends on the dividend payments that will normally rise and fall according to the company’s performance. Shares also gives investors the voting rights and decision making power to a company — this is very critical for any company’s governance and decision making, those will majority shareholding in a company has more power for decision making compared to those with minority shareholding or mere members and fans of a club, but who are not shareholders.
Benefits
If by issuing shares, the company will elect to be listed in a stock exchange (such as the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange) and publicly traded, the following are some of the benefits: a potential for capital growth following appreciation of shares prices where shares are efficiently priced based on market forces; it enhances more transparency and good governance of a company for its own growth and sustainability; there is a potential for issuing more shares or corporate bonds in the case of any future needs of financing by the company; listing into the stock exchange provides an efficient exit strategy for shareholders who would want to liquidate their investments and exit from the company at any moment; it also provides free publicity to a company mainly because listed companies tends to attract media attention; listed companies tends to attract and retain good employees — people likes the prestige that goes with working in a company that is listed in the stock market; and it is easy for mergers and acquisitions to be arranged for a listed company compared to non-listed, this aspect is key for enterprise growth that is non-organic. In the case of Tanzania there are several fiscal (i.e. tax) incentives provided by the government for both listed companies and its shareholders.
Despite of many benefits that accompanies a company that sales it shares and get listed into the stock market, there are some perceived disadvantages as well; i.e. the cost of issuing shares can be costly in some cases; going public can be a burden on the company; all inside information is open to competitors (team’s prices, margins, salaries, and future plans); owners may not own 50 percent or more of the business — this makes it easy for key shareholders of a company to be voted out by others; with a listed company strategic flexibility may be limited; and accounting and tax requirements may somehow be expensive. In many cases the benefits of being listed outweighs the perceived disadvantages.
Finally, for one to tell how much money is for what percentage of ownership of a company which owns a club — valuation and hence share price based on various analysis has to be thoroughly carried out by professional investment advisers.
Mr Marwa is chief executive officer of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
As it was, Dome Boutique in Bowness-on-Windermere took two years to complete
His absence has been noted by paying customers. Some claim they have been left chasing £1,000 deposits and say they have struggled to get hold of Gaukroger to find answers.
And websites that formerly described the property in glowing terms are no longer accepting bookings.
Mum of-three Claire Farn was hoping to spend a week at the Dome in August after paying £1,000 for two families to stay. She heard nothing back for a month when she asked if her booking was still valid.
What may have worried her more is that Gaukroger has been trying, in vain, to sell the house for some time.
The whole build process was recorded and shown on Channel 4's Grand Desgins
Last year the property was put on the market for £2.3million. Within months the price had plunged to £1.45million. It now appears to have been removed from sale altogether.
Earlier this year it emerged Gaukroger was planning to split the building into separate apartments and sell them off. There is little evidence to show that venture got off the ground, with architect Gaukroger still listed as the registered owner of the property.
The 7,000 sq ft contemporary wooden structure has a curved wild grass roof and suites with Scandinavian furnishings.
Peter Powell / Sunday People
Customers have complained about silence from the firm when they try updating bookings
When presenter McCloud took his famous walk through the completed property in 2010, he raved over its pool, hot tub and sauna, four-poster beds and stunning views.
At the time, the owner was equally enthusiastic. He said: “Not only do I have a home but what looks like a flourishing business. After Grand Designs we had 100 bookings in a week.”
But since then some customers have complained about silence from the firm when they try updating bookings.
Channel 4
Kevin McCloud took his famous walk through the completed property in 2010
Mrs Farn heard nothing from Dome Boutique for a month. She received an email offering a full refund only on Friday morning after the Dome Boutique was contacted by the Sunday People. She said: “We couldn’t get in touch with anyone and were really worried about our holiday.
“I’d seen it on Grand Designs and thought it would be amazing to stay there. I found them on eBay for about £1,400-a-week. They said they could do a deal if we contacted them directly to avoid the eBay fees.”
After paying for the holiday they received a booking confirmation. But then things went quiet for weeks.
TripAdvisor
Dome Boutique was designed to double as a family home and luxury self-catering holiday apartments
Claire said: “We started to get nervous. Then their website disappeared and so did the listing on eBay. We’ve tried phoning but there was either no answer or it was engaged.
“We finally got a response on Friday saying there had been problems and promising a refund.
“But do they realise how stressful this has been? Why didn’t they reply a month ago?”
TripAdvisor
Kevin McCloud raved over the pool, hot tub and sauna, four-poster beds and stunning views
Other customers turned to Facebook to try to find out what was going on. One wrote: “Dreadful behaviour, the way they’re treating people who have booked and paid up front for accommodation. Not at all honorable!”
Another posted: “I have a family booking for July 2016. I have emailed the owners but have not had a reply. Does anyone have an update? This may be serious for many people.”
In another post he wrote: “I have booked July. I cannot get a response from them. It’s all very suspicious. I have paid £1,490.” Neighbours said they had seen no guests at the Dome for 10 to 12 weeks.
One said: “If it is in trouble, it’s a real shame. It should be thriving. At the height of the season that place should be making £10,000-a-week.
TripAdvisor
Last year the property was put on the market for £2.3million
“We know it’s been on the market for a while but they’ve not been able to find a buyer by the looks of things. It’s getting a little overgrown, they’ve not been maintaining it.
“It’s in a fantastic location and is a wonderful building.”
A spokesman for Dome House admitted they had been experiencing problems and offered refunds. They said: “We have had a number of issues, including the pool heat and house heating system, which due to the bio-mass system had cause problems.
Peter Powell / Sunday People
Gaukroger and wife Milla told the Grand Designs show the whole project cost in excess of £1million
“The property had to cancel a booking at Easter. We already have May blocked out as a planned break. The follow summer season was intended to be the last season the property was to be offered as self-catering accommodation with a view to converting the property to affordable apartments.
“We have been looking into whether these bookings could be accommodated. Due to the nature of the bio-mass wood heating it does seem the house does not lend itself to self-catering with this system. If the electric back-up heater for the pool and heating fails it is unsatisfactory.
“With this in mind we are writing to guests to arrange refunds for the small number of bookings we have left.” Gaukroger and wife Milla told the Grand Designs show the whole project cost in excess of £1million.
Grand Designs followed the process of the home to luxury bolthole
They took out a £600,000 mortgage but had only another £100,000 in the bank when costs began to spiral.
They were relying on other business deals to finance the project but the economic climate worsened and the couple were left with a half-finished house.
Further problems saw them unable to pay creditors or the mortgage and a repossession order was issued. But after the house appeared on Grand Designs a woman offered them a loan. Gaukroger said: “She said it was clear this was my dream and she wanted to help.”
Robert Gaukroger
Robert and Milla Gaukroger who built Dome House, Bowness with their children Maya and Joe
After completion the couple had to open part of the building as a bed and breakfast to earn cash to pay off the loan. They later changed it to self-catering.
When he put the property on the market last year Gaukroger said he was going to complete a postgraduate architectural qualification in London while building a new family home in Kent.
He said: “We have a loan to pay that we don’t want hanging over our heads. We will never be able to replace this house.”
One guest who had stayed there wrote on Trip Advisor: “Total disappointment. No heating or hot water in half the house. The pool was not working. There was a leaking radiator and a faulty freezer.”
Another said: “Although the house is potentially an amazing property, it did not meet our expectations.”
The last one month has seen a number of turns and twists within the country’s main opposition party Chadema.
From the countrywide crusade dubbed “Operesheni
Pamoja Daima” to last week’s by-elections in 27 wards, the party found
itself in a voluntary self-assessment situation.
Chadema’s dismal performance in the by-elections
has left many observers wondering whether the party is making any
headway or is shrinking as was the case with most local opposition
parties.
Chadema won in Kiboroloni Ward in Kilimanjaro Region, Sombetini Ward in Arusha Region and Njombe Urban Ward in Njombe Region.
The murky showing by Chadema comes at a time when
the ruling party, CCM, seems to be gaining more ground especially in
areas where it was thought that the party was losing popularity.
CCM captured some seats that were under Chadema in the recent by-elections.
Chadema was towards the end of last year embroiled
in a leadership wrangle that saw its party deputy secretary-general
Zitto Kabwe stripped off all his party positions.
He rushed to apply for a court order to stop any
further actions from his party which went ahead and stripped off posts
of its two other senior members.
CCM was crisscrossing the country by then,
strengthening its roots and drumming for support, the move which some
observers say might have contributed to Chadema’s poor performance in
the by-elections.
Their general feeling is that the party is losing
grip on the ground despite the enthusiasm that is evident among its
supporters in most parts of the country, especially in townships.
According to former Chadema senior member and
University of Dar es Salaam lecturer, Dr Kitila Mkumbo, the opposition’s
party’s future looks bumpy if the recent by-election results are
anything to go by. Dr Mkumbo says even as more people see the need to
replace the ruling party with another party, Chadema doesn’t seem to fit
the need.
He says although Chadema has managed to expose the
weaknesses of CCM, there was nothing different that could be taken as a
lesson from the opposition party.
“It is not that Chadema does not have good policies. No,” the
education psychology lecturer says, accusing Chadema leaders of being
obsessed with digging poles into CCM policies and deeds and throwing
sound bites without substance.
Emmanuel Chonza, a political analyst based in Dar
es Salaam, says Chadema made a grave mistake of misjudging its rival’s
position and changing its campaigning strategy.
“Chadema should have focused on the elections as
an independent case instead of a series of rallies to selected regions
in the name of Pamoja Daima Movement (PDM),” he says.
As a result, there were no focused campaigning
strategies to counter those of the ruling party’s. “Chadema should not
point an accusing finger at anyone other than its top leadership for
lacking appropriate winning strategies for the by elections,” he adds.
Despite the visibly slip up by Chadema, party
officials still see light at the end of the tunnel. John Heche, the
party’s youth wing national chairman says: “I know most Tanzanians have
been disappointed by the results…but for us, the results mean a lot.”
In over a half of the contested wards this year,
Chadema did not field candidates in the 2010 General Election owing to
different factors.
But the party had good candidates in all wards this time around, who made it garner over 41 per cent of all votes.
“This shows our network is vastly growing in every corner of the country,” he says.
The party’s sole challenge was to ensure all the youth were registered in the voter’s book and keep their voting cards.
“The playing field was not level…but our members have to keep vigil and guard our votes,” he cautions.
Senior press officer Mr Tumaini Makene says those
criticising the party’s performance in the elections are making a grave
mistake by relating the results with the PDM.
The operation was meant to arouse the electorate
to understand key issues facing the country including the constitution
making process, the spiraling tough living condition and others of
national importance, but never a campaign for the by-elections.
“Our critics should compare how we did in these elections
‘vis-à-vis’ the 2010 General Election...in Njombe Urban Ward, for
instance, we did not have a candidate altogether in 2010.”
He urges them to consider votes Chadema got even
in the wards CCM candidates were announced victors, saying “the gap was
very slim.”
He, however, promises that the party would make a
critical evaluation of what happened so as to prepare for the coming
elections.
The CUF deputy secretary-general for Tanzania
Mainland, Mr Julius Mtatiro, blames the poor performance by Chadema and
other opposition parties in the recent by-elections on “unfair playing
field”.
“If the situation will continue, the current political environment in the country will remain unchanged,” he cautions.
The governance mechanisms give the ruling party an
upper hand, with officials doing whatever it takes, including dirty
tactics, to win the elections.
“… there are no elections in this country…no free and fair elections,” he laments.
cene of
arrest and detention for a Member of Arusha Urban, Godbless Lema
(Chadema), on charges of sedition, limeibua new chapter after Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM) mentioned that behind this strategy,
Lema who is still languishing in custody three days after being denied bail, he began undergoing sights on the police force after yesterday morning 's wife barred not leave a toothbrush or tea.
MP
he was arrested on the orders of the Regional Commissioner of Arusha,
Magesa Mulongo, who claimed that he urged students of the College of
Accountancy Arusha lectures leader him and well again his car with
stones.
Yet, one day before the arrest Lema showed reporters
news SMS mobile phone was yotumiwa and Mulongo he threatened to opened
any case he wishes.
"Umeruka blacksmith
first, I will show that I am the government, the whereabouts I will find
and will give you a case I want to me,'' the readable message sent via the phone number 0752 960276 which Lema claimed is Mulungo.
Also
great force used to arrest an MP that night at 5:30 with soldiers and
security officers surrounding his house, imehojiwa and some people, they
doubt that there are secrets in it.
Claims Mulongo be Lema
incited the students clash with proof video to suggest that the member
spent all kinds of influence plead and no after companion, Elly Kago
(22), killed by unidentified persons close to campus.
Speaking
to this newspaper yesterday, the wife of Lema, Grace, said that he came
to the police station the morning he sent tea, but he explained that he is not allowed to send him tea.
said that he phoned the head of intelligence of the region where he told ampelekee and he came again center soldier who turns began to search the bag of grace to stick, then he ordered Lema be given, except to drink for three minutes.
During opens a bottle of tea and poured into the cup, the soldiers told her that left one minute, step iliyomuudhi Lema claiming is abuse, so he could not drink .
When he intended to be a toothbrush , the soldiers refused to be the same material can be used as a weapon, it is not allowed to be given.
Tanzania
Daima Sunday lilizungumza by several laws and politicians wabobezi
about the saga, of which some claimed it is the strategy of CCM to cause
sorrow Chadema in elections of councilors next to the county four.
"Tomorrow
you can hear Lema he opened a case of strange fiction and at this time
the campaign start to court will ikiisikiliza series that should have
the opportunity to participate fully.
"This strategy is not to
Mulongo alone but is a method of CCM remaining to ensure they captured
Arusha. But see if they exceeded kujimaliza, "said the politician one
who asked preserved his name.
politician from Arusha Region
hinted also the confusion of the National Commission on Election (NEC)
recently announcing four wards repeat elections and let one of Sombetini
which councilor CCM moved Chadema .
"Know CCM doing things
without measuring the impact, Arusha is a tourist city but is now
ogopeka to the violence of the police and politicians, but tomorrow you
will see when Lema was taken to court.
"Here is the stronghold
of Chadema even as Lema did not exist, now NEC have simply enshrining
Sombetini for fear being cut all moving Chadema will be councilors over
CCM, so Nishu mayor rose again, yes they decided to use Mulongo make
this game of risk, "he said.
Alipopigiwa phone yesterday evening and asked about the allegations, Mulongo spoke violently saying: "You're an editor you can me a call asking such a question?" ..
He went on to rap saying: "Let us do everything in politics, you are the police to know Lema why he caught it, I quit I'm with my guests," he said and cut the call.
Chairman
of the Association Lawyers Tanganyika (TLS), Francis Stolla, raised the
issue of the arrest of Lema saying that great powers and the procedure
used to arrest him was not reasonable.
Stolla said: "In
accordance with section 58 and 59 of the law of evidence, the police or
even if it is at the behest of the governor's arrest had to choose
another way of insight.
"army can have broad authority to
arrest or even if it is for a court order, to be used wisely. Lema is a
member, is well known and its availability is very controversial, is
accused of desirable police discretion is used to call or write him go,
not kumvizia as they did, "he said.
Attorney else who asked
stored name, he explained that "the President alone Commander. The
president is the commander in chief to ugawanyiki border regions.
"the
president is the commander in the constitution, can not be governors or
district. Yes he who ordered the police in the region is the commander
of the regional police, and the district is the presence of the officer
who commanded (OCD), "he said.
added that the law allows the
governor and district issuing orders to arrest someone if there is no
soldier but suspect arrested should he be told is arrested for an
offense What and who is arrested should introduce.
said that
the day of the event at the university, police were present when Lema
speaking to students and did not find any fault him why they did not
arrest him, now how can the governor to come to order.
Referring
to the forces involved in the arrest Lema, Chairman of the Council of
Young Chadema (BAVICHA) Tanga Region, Aaron Mashuve, he asked the police
to focus such in helping people with albinism (albino).
said
such powers as barley killers they would have been arrested instead of
the police wasting time struggling with politicians who can not even be
called station went willingly.
At some point, Chadema in
Arusha declared Thong accused the head of the province for allegedly
threatening legislator them by text message, also asked him to confirm
claims that the death of a student has a relationship with political
issues.
Secretary region of the party, Peace Golugwa, said
procedures to address both these issues continue under the panel of
lawyers of the party.
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A woman in a love triangle lost her baby after being terrorised for three days
