Poland president Bronislaw Komorowski steps up security ahead of Euro 2012

Poland’s president has approved legislation stepping up security and banning most alcoholic beverages from mass events ahead of the 2012 European Championship.
The regulations signed by President Bronislaw Komorowski this week significantly extend prison terms and raise fines for breaches of the law during large-scale gatherings and represent a tightening of existing security measures. They come as the country tries to send a message that it will not tolerate the kind of violence that has plagued football matches in Poland in recent years.

The new law states that beverages sold in and around the stadiums during Euro 2012 matches can contain no more than 3.5 per cent of alcohol. Most beers in Poland have an alcohol level of four per cent or more.

A spokesman for the Polish organisers of Euro 2012 said Uefa is not planning for any alcohol to be sold in and around stadiums during matches.

The new legislation also bans hard packaging made of glass, metal or hard plastic in stadiums as a precaution against them being used as weapons. Knives and other sharp objects are forbidden, and spectators will not be allowed to cover their faces in the stadiums.

Other new provisions allow for rowdy fans to be tried in summary procedures from the stadium via a TV link to a court. Convicted hooligans will be given chips and will be submitted to electronic surveying.

Read more - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/european-championships-2012/8782802/Poland-president-Bronislaw-Komorowski-steps-up-security-ahead-of-Euro-2012.html

Pitfalls loom on the Euro 2012 run-in

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When Wales substitute Robert Earnshaw missed an open goal that would have levelled the score against England at Wembley in a crucial Euro 2012 qualifier earlier this month, punters who rely on short-priced “certainties” drew a big sigh of relief.
The spread betting firms had already done well, as England, at 2.2-2.4 on goal supremacy, were playing at home against a team 113 places below them in Fifa’s world ranking, and were heavily backed to make the less than generous goal and match performance spreads.
“We saw an awful lot of customers getting with England in Bulgaria on the Friday before at 0.9-1.1 goal supremacy [England won 3-0], and they came back to play up profits from that game,” says Andy Wright, football trader at Sporting Index.
The lack of goals in England’s 1-0 win against Wales proved to be a problem for the betting exchanges. “We saw £9.2m ($14.2m) traded on the game, and would have expected more if there had been more goals,” said Andy Lulham, Betfair spokesman.
Things have gone more to plan for spread betters eager to cash in on the wide gulf in talent at these early stages of the competition: Group A winners Germany put six goals past Austria, Italy won twice in five days to top Group B, and world champions Spain scored six goals without reply against minnow Liechtenstein to qualify for the finals in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

Read more - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/55e337b8-e032-11e0-ba12-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Ym23YmGp