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Earls
Court 2011+1 The organisation set up in the UK to run this global event, which happens every four years, has had a couple of laws passed in the UK to stop people using certain everyday English words and event logos etc, this include the name and a very familiar logo which features five interconnecting coloured rings on a white back ground. These are now called "Games Marks" and according to the organisers web site [ http://www.london2012.com/about-us/our-brand/using-the-brand.php ] "special laws have been passed to give extra protection to some of the Games' Marks: the Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection) Act 1995 (OSPA) protects the Olympic and Paralympic symbols, mottos and various words. Added protection is provided by the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 (the ‘2006 Act’). This prevents the creation of an unauthorized association between people, goods or services and London 2012." Two years ago both myself and Volleyball England had our wrists slapped by the event organisers for putting the words "Team" and "GB" next to each other in a sentence, apparently they have taken a copyright out on these two very innocent every days English words!!! I was amazed that they could do that but apparently these two words can now only be used during the games themselves and not at any other time. Unfortunately
the list of everyday words and symbol's that people can now not used has now grown and
include the
following: As I'm not part of the organisations, a sponsor or a licensee, myself and many others may now have a problem, I can say Beijing 2004 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 but because I live in England, it looked like I would be taking a risk if I said the name of my capital city or the year which comes after 2011, hence Earls Court 2011+1 (I think I'm safe on that one). Not wishing to have my wrists slapped again, I dived deeper into the small print and then I found it... "The words protected by OSPA can, however, be used in editorial news pieces without our authorisation and journalists are, in certain circumstances, able to use our emblem etc to illustrate an editorial piece about the Games. This exception does not however apply to businesses which produce newsletters....." Excellent, I have never make profit, I'm not a business... I'm now looking forward to the London 2012 Olympic games (not sure about that emblem - what does "in certain circumstances" mean?) London 2012 Question: Earls Court is going to be converted into a 15,000 indoor volleyball stadium and will host the largest ever volleyball event in the UK, my question is, what was the previous largest volleyball event in the UK?
To kick this off, I remember watching England women play against Canada, Cuba and Russia in a three day (mid week) Mikasa sponsored exhibition tournament at the G-MEX centre in Manchester in
1990. The event was part of Manchester’s 1996 Olympic bid, the final match was Cuba v Russia, the two best teams in the world at the time, I recall counting 4,500 spectators in a 5,000 seat stadium. Two days earlier I joined 3,500 to watch Canada v Cuba or Russia (I can't remember which), England played their matches in the afternoon, which unfortunately I could not attend. Richard Callicott has been involved with organising many of our top events over the yeas and has sent us the following details: “The biggest audience was over 30,000 at a match between Sikh Temple and Haden Hill on the West Bromwich Albion ground immediately before the football match between West Brom and Notts Forest. All right, a bit of an exhibition match but the crowd was there!! Afterwards we had to go round and pick up all the skewers in the ground, count them in and count them out!! Can you see this happening now? The year in question was I think, 1976. The indoor events were as you rightly point out, the finals of the World Student Games in Sheffield, we estimated the audience around 5,000 and it was the first event to be held in the Sheffield arena. It is appropriate therefore that our team is preparing there for London 2012. You are also right about the event in Manchester but don’t forget the Alexandra Palace event, also in the 80’s when we played Cuba v Russia women.” Richard Callicott richard@reddenhill.co.uk
Another Options, the Women's Spring Cup in 1983? TV Viewing Figures 3.5 million watched the live coverage of the Royal Bank of Scotland International Tournament from Aston Villa on BBC One (Grandstand July 1989) and almost 2 million viewers per week watched Channel 4's coverage of the Women's Internationals in London in January.
Volleyball was also listed in England, as a top ten participation sport (Sports Council survey 1975-1985), with 25,000 registered players in 1,200 affiliated clubs.
Can anyone add anymore details to the above events, crowd sizes or even better, have a copy of any event programs, photo's etc, or can someone dive in to the history archives with their collection of Volleyball World magazines and find a bigger event, please let us know what you find. |
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