Ireland

Preparations for the British Lions rugby union tour of Australia are in trouble after the foot-and-mouth disease crisis put the entire Six Nations tournament in doubt.

Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis hit the Six Nations on Tuesday when the game between Wales and Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday was postponed in an effort to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Austrian and Swiss soccer officials will meet in Bern on March 9 to discuss a possible joint bid to host the 2008 European Championships, officials said on Tuesday.

The future of Irish soccer?s planned Eircom Park remains uncertain with the Football Association of Ireland now considering scrapping the project altogether.

A number of leading UK sports events could be axed amid fears over the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

St Andrews golf course has pulled out of the running to stage the 2009 Ryder Cup in an attempt to increase Scotland's chances of hosting the event.

Shares in Britain's bookmakers have fallen after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease threatened the Cheltenham Festival, one of the racing calendar's biggest events.

A new Celtic League involving teams from Scotland, Ireland and Wales will start in August, rugby union officials have said.

The Australian Football League has confirmed that Carlton & United Breweries would replace Coca-Cola as the AFL's naming rights sponsor from this year in a four-year deal, as reported by sportbusiness.com last week.

The International Cricket Council has approved South Africa?s proposals for the format of the 2003 World Cup.

Manchester United supporters have expressed concern at their club?s deal with the New York Yankees.

The Williams tennis sisters Venus and Serena have won their cases to evict cyber-squatters from contested domain names, arbitrators have ruled.

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) managing director John O'Neill wants France and England to join Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in the Tri-Nations series, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The possibility of entering British men's and women's soccer teams in the 2004 Athens Olympics has been the subject of high-level talks between British Olympic chiefs and the English FA.

The venue for the 2009 Ryder Cup could be decided next month when a meeting of the competition's board will discuss the issue, the PGA European Tour have announced in a statement.

Online and telephone betting service betinternet.com have signed an exclusive broadcast and betting agreement with the Irish Greyhound Board, offering access to the Irish Tote.

In New Zealand the upcoming All Black rugby tests against Argentina, Ireland and Scotland could struggle to find a decent sized television audience after it was revealed that the latest broadcasting rights had been sold to newcomer TelstraSaturn.

The development of a "Belfast United" team aiming at a place in the English Premier League is one of a series of initiatives being considered in order to revive the sport in Northern Ireland.