Sport is made for betting

Bayer Leverkusen announce a shirt sponsorship deal with solar developer Sunpower , one of several deals with renewable energy firms in German football. Bayern Munich have a deal with Yingli, Hoffenheim have one with Wirsol and I've probably missed one or two more... Meanwhile in England, we have clubs wearing sponsorship logos from 188Bet, 10Bet, 12Bet, 888, 32Red, Bodog, Fun88, Genting Casino, SBOBet, Sportingbet plus other deals with firms like Betfair, Blue Square and others I'm sure I've missed. German legislation re gambling aside, it says a lot about the state of the respective economies and their outlook for the future doesn't it?

This weekend ahead is the one I look forward to most in football - the expectation of are those recruits any good or a complete waste of money? Which team has flown under the radar and which manager just doesn't have a bloody clue? And the Football Leagues rathe than the Premier League hold much more excitement for me, far fewer overpaid diving prats.. Soccerlens.com is posting a series of season previews for all the leagues this week, here's the first for the old Conference, the Blue Square Premier League which we won't see on TV this season due to the demise of Setanta Sports. I follow this league with some interest, being a member of the fans conglomerate which is Ebbsfleet FC - it could be a long season ahead.

Blue Square and William Hill are reporting suspicious betting patterns on yesterday's Grays Athletic v Forest Green match in the Blue Square Premier League (Conference). According to Sky Sports News, one-sided betting action came for Grays to win the match after trailing at half-time. They trailed 0-1 at the break. The spokesman for William Hill the firm doesn't have a problem taking strong business on one outcome, when it is to exclusion of all others, then something is a bit suspicious. The story of the match was a penalty conceded jsut before half-time, then two goals in a minute after the break, and 'not one shot shot on goal in the final twenty minutes'. A little suspicious.... Further details here from SportingLife Neither firm has settled bets on the match yet, pending further investigation. Betting on end-of-season matches is always fraught with danger for bookies - look at the Accrington Stanley v Bury match last year or the plethora of matches with odds-on dra...