ARKWRIGHT


What’s On? SGB’S GUIDE TO JUNE


Jun 7-10 Darts: Bolton: UK Open.


Jun 7-11 Cricket: Third Test, Edgbaston: England v West Indies.


Jun 8-Jul 1 Football: Euro 2012.


Jun 9-10 Swimming: Olympic Open Water qualifi cation.


The Independent Voice A


s the London Olympics draw ever closer, I wonder what events you will be watching this summer – apart from


the Ladies Beach Volleyball matches of course. There are 26 sports to choose from in


the Olympics and 20 in the Paralympics so there should be something to appeal to most people. I’ve always fancied having a go at


Archery, but Mrs Arkwright refuses to stand with an apple on her head while I practice. The last time the Olympics came to


the UK was in 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War. The event came to be known as the Austerity Games due to the economic climate and post-war rationing. So not a lot has changed there then! Combined with the Queen’s Diamond


Jubilee, there will, no doubt, be an upsurge in patriotic pride this summer and we will be dressing up the shop and our windows to make sure we are seen to be part of all the celebrations. A year or so later, people probably won’t remember that we did this – but you can bet your last 10p that they will remember if we didn’t. Talking of window displays, we tend


to change these on a monthly basis and always involve our suppliers who are happy to provide us with appropriate display materials and props. When we first started doing this, we drew up a calendar at the beginning of the year and would have a tennis display leading up to Wimbledon fortnight, a golf display in the week leading up to the British Open and so on. I think our


42 | SGB-SPORTS.COM


very first window displays featured Fred Perry and Ben Hogan – I remember them well. So – which of the 26 Olympic sports will


be hot and attract the most attention of sports fans? Inevitably, it will be those where we


have realistic medal prospects such as cycling, rowing/sailing, swimming and athletics. Interestingly, the Guardian did a survey amongst its sports writers last year and came up with a list of the 50 most likely gold medal winners. One notable absentee was the men’s football team although the women’s team just crept in as the 49th most likely to win gold. I bet Roy Hodgson is glad Stuart Pearce will be managing the UK football team! We are planning to stock small


amounts of clothing and equipment for those events where we expect the GB participants to do well and will have as much stock in the children’s range as the adults. Talking of children, one of my son’s,


Aristotle Arkwright, thinks he is a marketing expert (he has recently been on a two-day course) and he has finally persuaded Mrs A and I that we need a website which will also have an online shop. No problem there. However, he thinks that www.


ArkwrightRetailSportsEquipment.co.uk is too much of a mouthful and that we should follow the trend of abbreviating company names like the ECB (the England & Wales Cricket Board), the PGA (the Professional Golfers Association), the LTA (the Lawn Tennis Association) etc. I will leave you to work out why we ignored him on this occasion.


Jun 10 Motor Racing: Montreal: Canadian Grand Prix.


Jun 12-Jul 8 Cricket: First round of T20 group matches.


Jun 14-17 Golf: US Open.


Jun 16 Cricket: First ODI, Lords: England v West Indies.


Jun 19 Cricket: Second ODI, The Oval: England v West Indies.


Jun 20-23 Swimming: Sheffi eld, Second stage of Olympic qualifying.


Jun 22 Cricket: Third ODI, Headingley: England v West Indies.


Jun 22-24 Athletics: Birmingham: World Trials and UK Championships.


Jun 24 Cricket: T20, Trent Bridge: England v West Indies.


Jun 24 Motor Racing: Valencia: European Grand Prix.


Jun 25-Jul 8 Tennis: Wimbledon: The Championships.


Jun 26-Jul 1 Athletics: Helsinki: European Championships.


Jun 27-Jul 1 Rowing: Henley Royal Regatta.


Jun 29 Cricket: First one-day international. Lord’s: England v Australia.


Jun 30-Jul 22 Cycling: Tour de France.


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