Hill-Wood Angered By Liverpool Dinner Snub

The fact that Liverpool's joint owner Tom Hicks has called for the resignation of Rick Parry would seem to suggest that the Liverpool chief executive is a man in need of friends. So it is curious that Parry and the club's former chairman David Moores should have chosen to snub Arsenal's chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, at a dinner scheduled for the eve of the two clubs' Champions League quarter-final second leg at Anfield.

The rebuff became the talk of last Thursday's Premier League shareholders' meeting as club chairmen were aghast at the treatment of Hill-Wood. Liverpool executives had refused all requests for the meal date to be rescheduled for the day of the game, an appeal made so that the 72-year-old would not have to travel up the day before.

With the turmoil at Anfield dominating the news agenda, Hill-Wood was sensitive to Liverpool's response, making the 220-mile trip from his Chelsea home a day early. But, despite their unbending demands, not one senior Liverpool executive attended the meal. Hicks and his co-owner, George Gillett, were nowhere to be seen. But Hill-Wood is said to have been much more angry that neither Moores nor Parry turned up - neither having the courtesy to inform of their absence before he arrived. Parry said last night: "George Gillett arrived on the day before and wanted to meet. Not having seen him for a number of weeks, it was a high priority and we felt unable to avoid George's invitation."

No time to dine

Chelsea executives last night left a pre-semi-final dinner off the agenda, though the club would usually schedule one for overseas matches. Such dates with Liverpool have been avoided recently after neither club enjoyed a stimulating evening before the first leg of their three recent Champions League meetings.

Just the ticket for ICC

A government announcement on ticketing yesterday might have given the International Cricket Council the excuse it is looking for to withdraw the Twenty20 World Cup from the UK. The England and Wales Cricket Board is scheduled to host the tournament next year but the ICC has threatened to move the competition because of the ongoing row over Zimbabwe's status.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport, with the ECB, pledged to provide its "best endeavors" to ensure that the secondary sale of tickets for the T20 World Cup would be prevented. The decision yesterday not to legislate against the practice - such laws exist for football and the Olympic Games - might be interpreted as a lack of such endeavor. Instead the DCMS recommended the kind of voluntary code of practice that has failed in the past. Sports will give the voluntary code six months to see how effective it proves. That may prove too late to save England's Twenty20 World Cup.

Golf takes a swing

The Treasury's refusal to assist sports in negotiations with international federations over tournament hosting, revealed here last week regarding tennis players' suffering under UK tax law, has caused trouble in golf. Mitchell Platts, director of corporate affairs for the European Tour, has been lobbying on the issue, "so that the UK general public will continue to see the world's finest sportsmen and sportswomen compete in British events."

Big break for snooker

No doubt World Snooker officials were happy to see their world championship get under way on Saturday, hours after the Gambling Commission declared a clean bill of health over allegations of match-fixing. Several bookmakers had tipped off the commission over suspicious activity in in-play markets at the Malta Cup. The commission spoke to World Snooker and the Association of British Bookmakers but, although cheating has been made a criminal offense, the commission leaves it up to individual sports to make investigations. Given that World Snooker is almost unique among sports in repeatedly refusing to sign a memorandum of understanding with Betfair, its commitment to anti-corruption issues might be questioned.