Euro Basketball 2015 – The continuation of an Odessa sporting makeover?

As many will recall, Ukraine held the Euro 2012 football championships – Odessa was not a host city – but it built a new football stadium anyway – and very good it is – albeit the biggest names to play there thus far have been bands such as Linkin Park and Garbage.

Less well known is that Ukraine is to host the EuroBasket 2015, European Basketball Championships.  Neither Ukraine nor Odessa have particularly shabby basketball teams.  Championship winners they may not be, but bottom of the league they are not either.

Anyway, it appears that Odessa will have two brand new multi-functional stadiums and an extensive refurbishment of the existing Sports Palace on Prospect Shevchenko (opposite Victory Park) in order to host part of the EuroBasket 2015 competition.  The construction of, and refurbishment of these premises will cost UAH 42 million (about $5 million) and will be carried out by Ihor Kolomoisky’s business group.  Ergo, we had better hope that parts of his empire like Privat Bank survive, whilst other parts, such as AeroSvit go bankrupt (deliberately or otherwise).

The new stadium will be built on the grounds of what is currently known as October Revolution Plant and will have seating for 10,000 or more people.  The plan is that is will also be able to host hockey, 5/7-a-side indoor football etc after the EuroBasket competition is over.

On the outskirts of Odessa, it is planned to build a multi-purpose training facility.  Location as yet unknown/identified apparently – very much like the UAH 42 million to pay Mr Kolomoisky for his efforts – as the source of this funding is also currently unknown.

Nevertheless, it appears that Odessa will soon have not only the new and very good Chernomoretz football stadium, but also one extensively refurbished, and one new multi-purpose indoor arena, together with a multi-purpose training facility.

Ignoring all the possible shenanigans and probably nefarious mechanics behind the who, where and how of this project, I have one hope – the design and facilities will be conducive to disabled access and sporting participation long after the EuroBasket 2015 circus has left.

Too much to hope for?

The Diplomatic Games – Moscow 4-8 October

Well, we’ve had the Eurovision, Euro 2012 football tournament, Olympics 2012, and the Paralympics 2012 begins in effect today.  That is to name just a few major sporting events in 2012.

A veritable sports-fest for those inclined to either participate or go along as a spectator.

But, my dear readers, with the conclusion of the Paralympics, international pride in the sporting arena does not end there this year.

Between 4th and 8th October in Moscow, The Diplomatic Games takes place.  Possibly the very pinnacle of international sporting events and gladiatorial achievements to be held in 2012.

Taking part are diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Britain, Japan, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Croatia.  Least they are the nations that have already confirmed their participation.

The nations of the USA, India, Serbia, Kazakhstan have all expressed an interest to compete in future games, although not the forthcoming event.

The winning nations of this prestigious event receives a loving cup depicting 5 figures holding a globe mounted on a very nice malachite base!  Corrrr!

So what are the disciplines within The  Diplomatic Games?  Finding a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian issue?  Creating a stable Pakistan?  Formulating the best plans to deal with militancy?  Finding clever and smart answers to climate change, global economic imbalances or world hunger?

Maybe something less tricky.  Maybe who can think up the best, most quirky and funny acronyms?  Who can deliver the fastest speaking note without stumbling or becoming incoherent?  A diplomatic bag relay perhaps?

Errrm – Well no.

The national diplomatic teams will be competing in the disciplines of mini-football, lawn tennis, table tennis, chess and badminton.  This reaches a crescendo on the final day with a Diplomatic Best 11 verses the Russian diplomatic crops in a gala football match.

Well blimey!

The previous UK Ambassador to Ukraine, Leigh Turner, was a bit of a star at table tennis.  There was ( and possibly still is) a table tennis table in the UK residency that was in fairly regular use – and rumour has it, (in fact more than rumour), that several bloody good paddlings were handed out via this table tennis table to visiting foreign diplomats and various other persons of assorted import that had occasion to attend the UK Ambassador’s residency in Kyiv.

A note to the FCO, if Mr Turner is not in the UK diplomatic table tennis team then there is something wrong with the selection process.

Indeed, our current Charges d’Affaires in Kyiv is also a bit of a sportsman, cutting a very trim figure, and no doubt would prove a very nimble player in the mini-football.

One wonders also, whether retired FCO diplomats are allowed to take part.  Charles Crawford, according to his own historical records, was a bit of a whiz at chess in his Oxford days.

The question that has to be asked, is whether William Hague will be acting as team manager or whether that will fall to a senior FCO civil servant.

I will contact HM Embassy Kyiv and try to find a Team UK list for this prestigious event over the coming weeks.  I will also try to get a similar team list from Ukraine.  Naturally come the closing ceremony, I will announce the winning team.

All those Union Jacks waved with such vigor during the Jubilee, Euro 2012, Olympics and Paralympics are quite likely to need a year off in 2013 to recover – but don’t put them away just yet – wait until the sporting event of 2012 is over!

Korolevska welcomes Andrey Shevchenko to her party

Following up on the political aspirations of Ukraine’s most famous footballer, Andrey Shevchenko, I mentioned two days ago, he has joined the party of Natalia Korolevska, “Ukraine Forward”, and quit football with immediate effect.

We now have two of Ukraine’s most famous sportsmen in the shape of Klischko (UDAR) and Shevchenko (Ukraine Forward) in parties that are outside the United Opposition, but are in opposition parties.   It seems Mr Shevchenko sees “Ukraine Forward” as “one of Ukrainian parties of the future.”

One wonders just how much they may effect the voting for the United Opposition, particularly with the United Opposition having allowed the polarising ultra-right Svoboda into their ranks only last week.

Prima facie, a nice boost for Korolevska who has only a 2.8% popularity rating prior to Mr Shevchenko’s announcement, meaning Ukraine Forward would currently fall short of the 5% threshhold necessary for any proportional representation in the RADA.  (Apparently Andrey Shevchenko will be the second name on the party list after Ms Korolevska.)

Certainly not bad news for the ruling PoR who are currently sitting on about 22% of the national vote, but possibly not good news for the United Opposition on about 20% as it is their voting base that seems most likely to be affected by Mr Shevchenko’s choice (if it is affected at all).

Add any voter drift because of Shevchenko’s hero-like status in Ukraine to that of Klitschko, whose party is on about 8.5% and growing, again the majority of those voters are also likely to come from the United Opposition ranks.

As for Mr Shevchenko’s belief that Ukraine Forward is one of the political parties of the future, well maybe, but  not very likely looking at Ms Korolevska, his party leader’s political past I’m afraid.  Well, unless Ukraine’s political future is just as bad as its political present and political past – or she genuinely turns over a new leaf (which is possible even if incredibly unlikely).

Another international PR disaster for Ukraine – Or is it?

In yet another international PR disaster, forgetting the domestic ones, it seems Volodymyr  Gerashchenko from the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee has been caught in a British media sting relating to the sale of Olympic tickets on the black market.

In a nutshell, he apparently agreed to sell about 100 Olympic tickets to a journalist posing as a ticket tout, although no tickets were actually sold and indeed no juicy details such as prices are mentioned in the article suggesting this story broke before it got to the stage of financial negotiations.

Anyway, on the face of it yet another international PR disaster for Ukraine, although not of the government’s making this time, that includes robust statements from British MPs and the Metropolitan Police investigating the allegations relating to a well placed, senior Ukrainian official and corrupt practices.

However, if the Ukrainian authorities move quickly and bring Mr Gerashchenko back to Ukraine with immediate effect whilst inquiries are underway in the UK, accompanied by the right diplomatic noises and statements relating to his removal pending the investigations, there maybe some mileage in it for the current authorities and their so-called fight against corruption with an international spin.

The question is, will the Ukrainian authorities do something that proactive?

European Council (of Foreign Ministers) – Ukraine football boycott

As many of you dear readers will know, the EU works on the principle of Dante’s many circles of hell, the workings of which I have outlined for you previously.

Yesterday on 14th May, the European Council (which comprises of Ministers from the sovereign nations that make up the EU met under the chairmanship of Herman Von Rumpoy and Baroness Ashton) with a fairly lengthy agenda upon which  Ukraine was listed.  Here is that agenda.

Whether discussing Ukraine during lunch aids or hinders the digestive system, who knows?

Anyway, given some very stern and robust views from certain Member States and other with more tolerant views, quite how the anticipated press releases would read was somewhat unknown.  The wording of said press releases have to be agreed by all concerned after all.

Prior to the meeting, Carl Bildt was talking sense again.  Of course I would say that.  I have said the football is the wrong stick to hit Ukraine with given the need for EU personalities to interact directly with the Ukrainian people.  As He rightly states, the future of Ukraine with regards to the EU should rest upon how the elections in October are run and then the situation duly and impartially assessed.  After that when the undoubted cheating will surface, then condemn the current leadership.  It is after all not the number of electoral violations, (they occur in every nation),   but the nature of said violations.

This, however, is what we got just before lunch regarding a boycott, which Baroness Ashton fully supports.

Much later in the afternoon, Carl Bildt tweeted  “EU is strong on urgency of the rule of the law as well as free and fair elections in Ukraine. Only that will truly open the door to Europe.” – Hardly a telling sign that a consensus for a boycott as championed by the European Commission had been achieved,  Yet another disunited front from the 27 EU sovereigns upon the horizon?

No.  There seems to be unity.  At least unity amongst the European Council where none present stated they would stay away from the Euro 2012 in Ukraine.  That is not to say all will come of course, each nations will decide individually no doubt, but an EU wide boycott as called for by the European Commission?  Apparently not – as confirmed by Baroness Ashton in this clip (4.37).

The difference, as I have written before, the European Commission represents no nation taking part.  Sovereign heads of government must answer to voters if they are not there to support the national teams.

As I have repeatedly stated, this is the wrong stick to beat the current government of Ukraine with from amongst a very limited bag of sticks held by the EU.

Now let us see what comes of the 2 day EU-Ukraine summit led by Prime Minister Azarov over today and tomorrow.  The language of the press releases will be interesting not only in what they say – but also what they don’t!

Fans Consulates – Euro 2012

Now here is an interesting concept.  It maybe not a new idea directly out of the box of new ideas, but it is certainly an interesting concept for Ukraine.

“Embassies for fans” situated along side relevant national embassies –  Blimey!

Me thinks the UK Consulate building is more appropriate than a tent pitched in the back garden of the Ambassadorial residence.  It simply wouldn’t do to have the lawn at the rear trampled and muddied by several thousand drunken Englishmen seeking advice having been conned by a landlord or leggy Ukrainian lovely let alone roughly refused entry into certain Kyiv clubs because they are the wrong colour Englishman.

What is more interesting still, is that it seems the fans will be advising the fans – Really?

One look at the Expat forums in Ukraine or about Ukraine and a fan can find all the bad advice they could possibly wish for.   Some forums are better than others, however the better ones will state what the law is as written and immediately follow it up with a caveat that whilst the law maybe consistent, interpretation and implementation can vary dramatically from region to region.  Thus even 100% correct information provided can in practice be completely irrelevant to circumstances faced by an individual.

Which fans are going to work next to their Embassy’s/Consulates and provide advice that may have absolutely no grounding in fact, or if it is indeed factually correct, proved irrelevant by local authority interpretation?

Would a national Embassy/Consulate want such a facility temporarily planted next to them?  Would it not be easier to simply have those with “issues” speak with the Consular staff as they normally would when in the mire?

Does a “Fans Embassy” situated next to the official Embassy/Consular building provide some form of faux authority and inference that any advice given is representative of the relevant government?

Does Ukraine think that the UK Embassy and Consulate in Kyiv will be completely unprepared for Euro 2012 and not already have plans (and hopefully contingency plans) in place?

Given the advice and personal assistance that the UK Embassy can and does give on a personal level for a UK citizen who comes unstuck in Ukraine, unless a fan loses their passport, dies or gets arrested, there is very little that will be done on their behalf.  Quite rightly too, the UK Embassy is not your mother and there to wipe your nose, read you a bedtime story and tuck you up in bed feeling all snug, warm and loved-up!

What more, exactly, is a “Fans Embassy” going to do?  In fact, considering it can’t replace your passport,  could possibly repatriate your dead body (but nowhere near as efficiently as the official UK FCO representatives), and would not be given access to visit a Brit in a cell, the question should be, what will a “Fans Embassy” actually do?

Hand out maps of Kyiv and Donetsk cities with the name written in English in case you get lost?  Hand out telephone numbers for English speaking lawyers, dentists, doctors and police?  Such things no doubt will be posted on the UK Embassy website temporarily during the competition.  They may even be available as an “App” download if the FCO is on the ball and tech savvy.

What is highly unlikely is that a “Fans Embassy” will get involved with a landlord dispute or mediate a resolution with a leggy Ukrainian lovely who some drunken fan feels wronged by after she has allowed him to wine, dine and dance the night away without the resulting Slavic notch on his bedpost.

A small handbook of Ukrainian/Russian phrases in English to point at when our drunken fan cannot get his tongue around such “complicated” sounding words?

A liaison point for taxis to the airport possibly?

Just what will the “Fans Embassies” be telling the fans that the existing Embassies/Consulates cannot or will not and just what exactly will the official Embassies and Consulates be prepared to let “Fans Embassies” tell those that find their way to them in some inferred “official” capacity?

Is it not going to be easier to simply set up twenty or so temporary “tourist/Euro 2012″ information centres dotted around the hosting cities that have no inferred governmental affiliation to nations of visiting fans and thus any advice given will not result in a tempest of complaints to Foreign Ministries should the advice be “suspect”?

What, exactly, is the point of “Fans Embassies”?

Sticking with Euro 2012…….and nationalism

Following on rather neatly from yesterday’s post about police strategy for the Euro 2012 football tournament, whilst diligently passing a empirical eye over nationalism in Ukraine for those who pay (bless them), I came across a report on football and those to the far-right of the ideology spectrum.

The report covers nationalism showing its face at football matches in Poland and Ukraine from 2009 to the beginning of 2011 in both nations and quite rightly was supported by UEFA during its compilation.

For those who are old enough and remember Britain in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s, it would probably read as any similar report would have read if written about the England and Wales Football League at that time.  In short, rather grim but not an epidemic.

Where it would differ in a comparison to UK football of the late 70′s/early 80′s, is the overt support offered by both Polish and Ukrainian MPs and political parties and the reluctance of  the clubs, police and relevant national league administrations to seriously address the situation.

What should also be noted is that in every stadium in both nations that are home to the fixtures in the Euro 2012 tournament, all are identified as having a regular and hard-core far-right contingent within its attendees.  When it comes to Ukraine, unsurprisingly Lviv and the Svoboda Party get repeated mentions, although only FC Kyiv Arsenal get a mention for having no obvious far-right contingent.  In fact they are mentioned for their active anti-fascist/nationalist/Nazi banners and symbolism.

Given that international sporting events, and particularly football, have historically had numerous violent clashes outside the stadiums both before and after the games in numerous countries, undoubtedly this will be a concern for the politicians on both Poland and Ukraine, not to mention Europol and the local the police at each venue.

However, all things should be kept in perspective.  Just because things can happen doesn’t mean they will when it comes to violence.  As for the symbolism, most people have no idea what they mean once you get past the obvious images such as the swastika.  If you are a Buddhist, that particular symbol has a completely different meaning to a European.

Anyway, back to doing what I am being paid for!

Euro 2012 – Policing and terrorism strategy

Well dear readers, amongst the myriad of websites I trawl through daily looking for things pertinent to Ukraine is Statewatch.

Often there is very little to do with Ukraine, however a quick perusal has led me to the EU handbook “with recommendations for international police cooperation and measures to prevent and control violence and disturbances in connection with an international dimension, in which at least one member state is involved.”

Rather relevant considering Ukraine co-hosts the Euro 2012 football tournament in less than 12 months time.

A little further digging revealed the results of an EU questionnaire relating to “police cooperation with non-EU countries in the area of sports events security“.  Needless to say, Ukraine did respond to the questionnaire.

All jolly interesting.  However, “According to some countries (BE, BG, CY, PO, PL, RO, ES, SE, HU, UA), certain general aspects regarding cooperation with non-EU countries (such as basic standards, recommendations) could be included in the “Football Handbook”, but it would not provide a legal basis for this kind of cooperation”.

So, have the huge legal issues of national sovereignty, cooperation and the necessary sharing of data relating to individuals and groups been overcome?

Ukraine, as highlighted in the national abbreviations above, quite rightly is seeking a legal framework over these issues.  A matter, somewhat made more complicated when the co-hosts happen the be the EU Member State of Poland, with the inherent herds of EU citizens heading into Ukraine and equally non-EU citizens from nations like Ukraine and Russia heading into Poland (and thus the EU), possibly under a temporarily waved Visa regime for the non-EU citizens.

Is this another occasion where the road to good intentions is paved with great big blobs of sticky legalities and where the cracks in the European continent’s pavement can lead to extremely unfortunate outcomes through bureaucratic limitations relating to the flow of information?

It will be terribly difficult to explain or justify unwarranted violence, or worse a terrorist act, due to the flow of intelligence being stuck to a nasty globule of legality on one side of a border.

Anyway, it won’t stop a practical assessment of how things are at the moment thanks to the Ukraine verses Sweden  friendly on Wednesday.