91Èȱ¬

Now that the storm surrounding 'Linogate' has died down, there is an opportunity to perhaps reflect on what the whole episode tells us about football's attitudes towards women in 2011.

The comments and behaviour of have been rightly condemned by fans, equality groups, the football authorities and the media.

And it is interesting to note once again the sport's power to shine a light on issues which go far beyond the confines of the pitch.

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David Bernstein might have been speaking to the on Tuesday when he talked of the scope for "sensible, progressive reform" but the new chairman knew only too well that a far wider audience would be listening.

Just last week the and with the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee about to start its inquiry into the way the game is run, Bernstein takes over the FA at a time of intense scrutiny.

His remarks, given in a speech to the council , made it clear that the sport's governing body needed to adapt to ensure it was running the game credibly.

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MPs investigating the state of English football are to travel to Germany to look for lessons on how the game could be run better in this country.

Members of the select committee will visit Frankfurt and Munich in the next few weeks as part of a key fact-finding mission.

Ever since by an exciting young German team, English football has been going through a period of introspection. That process became more intense after England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup was eliminated with only two votes in Zurich last month.

German football has long been considered the role model for other countries to follow. Officials there make a greater investment in youth development, have strict quotas on foreign players in the Bundesliga and boast tighter club ownership rules that prevent any one "outside" investor from holding more than 49% of the shares in a club.

But the most crucial factor - the one which allows rules such as these to stick - is that the Deutscher Fussball Bund has retained control over the whole of the game in Germany - and, crucially, the Bundesliga. In England, the Football Association has lost ground and influence over the best part of the last two decades to the Premier League.

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This stark image is what the London Olympic Stadium would look like if to turn it into an athletics-only arena after the Games was seen through.

The 91Èȱ¬ has obtained previously unseen designs for what the stadium would look like if the promise made in Singapore was kept

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Monaco

Lamine Diack's comments on the future of the are the strongest and most significant intervention yet in the battle between West Ham and Tottenham.

The president of the is the first to admit that English is not his strongest language. But no one involved in the process to select a legacy tenant for the £500m stadium can be in any doubt about what he believes after his .

Diack told me it was "unacceptable" that Britain was even discussing an option which did not include athletics at its heart. He added that the country's credibility would be "dead" if London reneged on its promise, given five years ago in Singapore, for the stadium to be retained as an athletics venue after the Games.

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The ICC spot fixing tribunal investigating corruption claims against the three Pakistan players might have left us all waiting a little longer to discover the outcome of this crucial case but there were still two interesting developments on Tuesday.

The first was the admission from Michael Beloff QC, the chairman of the independent three man panel, that in addition to the alleged deliberate no balls at Lord's last August, they were also asked by the ICC's prosecution team to investigate claims relating to the preceeding Test at the Oval.

I first reported the fact on Monday night that the tribunal was looking at the Oval as well as Lord's but on Tuesday all but one of the charges relating to that game was dropped.

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the country is facing more international embarrassment, this time over its plans for the .

An inspection team from the International Cricket Council is due to fly to India and Sri Lanka next week to examine progress at a number of venues which have fallen way behind schedule.

but, Eden Gardens in Calcutta, venue for England's group game against India on 27 February, and Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, where the final will be played on 2 April, are not finished.

It's worth remembering, of course, that every major sporting tournament faces questions about its readiness just before it starts. They always start on time and the problems tend to be forgotten afterwards.

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Doha
The Fifa president Sepp Blatter was in relaxed mood as he gave a briefing to journalists in his hotel suite.

In Qatar for the start of the Asian Cup - a dress rehearsal for the bigger event in 11 years time - Blatter was in fact so relaxed that he gave the most definitive statement yet on the timing of the World Cup in 2022, saying he expected it to be in winter and not summer.

Ever since Qatar shocked the football world by winning the vote last month, there has been a drip, drip, drip of speculation that the tournament would be moved from its traditional summer slot.

It might be a long way off but those two former footballing greats Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer were the first members of Fifa's executive committee to raise the possibility, suggesting the punishing 50 degree heat in the summer might make it dangerous for the players.

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Doha

Amid all the euphoria of England retaining the Ashes in Australia, the shambolic climax to Pakistan's tour last summer feels like an awfully long time ago.

Qatar is an unlikely setting for cricket to hold such an important case. The tiny oil rich state is still coming to terms with and is getting ready for the start of the Asian Cup on Thursday.

And yet it is the scene for the most important inquiry cricket has staged since .

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