STRANGE story this week suggesting that the 2016 Olympics might be moved to London if the Brazilians don't pull their finger out and get on with building the facilities in Rio.
That has since been denied, but if all goes pear-shape at the World Cup this summer, who knows? They would have to put the Olympic Park back together again, re-locate all the now permanent residents in the Athletes Village, recommission the TV spoof now Twenty Sixteen - and pacify the people in Surrey who would not be happy about yet another cycle race.
On the other hand, most overseas venues import British turf technology, British mowing equipment and British groundsman - so why not make the UK a permanent home for the Olympics? After all we could all do with another happy, smiley feel-good factor after all the tedious electioneering that we are going to endure for another 12 months.
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THE first issue last week of Turf Pro Weekly Briefing was a toe-in-the-water experience for us all - but we were delighted when over 4000 people opened and read the e-mail. It also gave us an indication of the news stories that are the most popular - the item about the search for the UK's Worst Football Pitch was the runaway Most Read story (OK, we now know how to 'pitch' future stories!)
Over the weeks, we shall be adding new features. Our editorial is now From the Dugout and will pick up on the news items that have caught our eye during the previous seven days - and we are introducing a TURF PRO OF THE WEEK, someone in the turf industry who has performed beyond the call of duty.
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Greg Dyke's suggestion of a newly created league for the top flight's B-teams to play in, inserted in between League 2 and the Conference, seems to run roughshod over non-league clubs.
If the concern is too many foreign players in the Premiership adversely effecting the England team, place sanctions on the Premier League. Make them only play with a maximum of 6 foreign players. But of course that would never happen because that's where the money is.
We keep hearing 'the grassroots' being banged on about - well actually help out the grassroots local clubs. If they all had decent quality grounds and facilities we might get to stage where promising youngsters would be keen to start off developing their skills for their local non-league team - rather than immediately joining training academies of the big teams, only to be dropped as soon as they hit 21.
Presumably some of Manchester City's B-team earn more in a week than some non-league outfits can spend on pitch improvements in a year.
It would also seem that forcing Conference clubs to play Premier League B teams will not bring extra paying customers through the turnstiles as a) there's no rivalry history there and b) people who support those Premier teams would presumably want to pay to watch the actual team - not the second reserves.
And there must be a very real risk of Conference clubs over-stretching themselves financially in order to remain competitive in any newly created league.
