Business of Sport/Daire Whelan: For the first time, GAA fans can now get their hands on the original 1916 Sackville Street rubble from Hill 16.

With the redevelopment of the famous terrace continuing apace, memento pieces of the Hill will shortly be available to the general public in two different forms.

There will be a limited collector's-item edition housed in a wooden case with engraving, which will be priced upwards of 100.

But there will also be a cheaper option for between 20 and 30, a simpler memento in the form of a piece of rubble.

These will be on sale to the public from March 17th in shops countrywide.

Following on from last week's look at smoking in sports grounds, John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, says he believes a smoking ban should be introduced to sporting arenas.

"I am against smoking in sports venues," Treacy said. "It is unfair to other supporters and is out of place at events that are concerned with sport and physical activity."

So why then such reticence from other quarters to call for a smoking ban in sports grounds to be introduced as well?

For instance, did you know that every year there are a number of formal complaints made to the GAA about smoking in Croke Park?

In such cases, stewards do ask the smokers to desist or they will get them an alternative seat if available, but legally there is nothing they can do if the smoker refuses to stop. So shouldn't we start contemplating a future in which smoking is banned at sports grounds?

The Department of Health don't think so and don't see it as a health risk - merely an annoyance. Fine Gael's spokesperson on sport, Jimmy Deenihan, doesn't see such a ban being introduced as it would be difficult to enforce, and at this stage he can't even see it being revisited as an issue by the Government.

"Where does one draw the line then? Every open-air event would have to have it applied, such as concerts and horse-racing meetings. Personally, I think it would be very hard to enforce.

"There is a health risk all the time even when you're walking down the street if someone is smoking beside you. Banning smoking in sports grounds would require a very strict interpretation of the situation.

"It's different with the boxes in Croke Park and Lansdowne where drink is being served and it is an enclosed space."

It's different there indeed, although patrons of the corporate boxes can smoke outside on the balconies - they just won't be able to do so inside.

For Peter McKenna, Croke Park's stadium director, it's a complicated social issue.

"We will be looking to see how the ban goes - at least indoors it's very clearcut, outdoors is an issue with subtleties that need to be worked out."

His personal view, though, is that management should consider the effect on all GAA venues and should meet to discuss this in the future.

Jack Wall, Labour's spokesperson on sport, is another who sees difficulties with the ban in sports grounds,

"It is difficult to see how it could apply in major sports arenas. If the smoking ban is a success it will be developed further as we've seen with the points system.

"Is there a health risk to supporters? We do see it in regard to confined spaces such as restaurants, but in open grounds it is a harder one to call and a bit of a grey area at the moment.

"We will wait and see how this ban works out, see what evidence comes from it and what the response from the public is like."

And yet, across the water, more and more clubs are looking to ban smoking from grounds.

The official line is that "it is a matter for each individual club in consultation with their own local safety authority", but new stadiums being built, such as Southampton's St Mary's, operate strict no-smoking policies, while Arsenal, after asking supporters for their views on the planned new stadium at Ashburton Grove, voted unanimously for it to be non-smoking.

bizofsport@eircom.net

The Irish Sports Council's root-and-branch restructuring of local Irish sport is extending across Ireland with 2.4 million being spent on the Local Sports Partnership initiative for 2004.

Based on research and models from the UK and New Zealand, LSPs are seen as the new way to drive sport in local communities with all related agencies - from VECs, sports clubs, health boards and educational institutions - getting involved and having a say.

There are 16 LSPs currently in existence, with Mayo, Westmeath, Kerry and Kilkenny coming on board recently.

Local sport is seen as one of the most important areas of influence as it provides a direct link at grassroots and juvenile level and expected results from the scheme will be increased levels of local participation, especially among specific target groups such as the disadvantaged and the young, enhanced local coach deployment and club development.

The SuperBowl's half-time show, the "Lingerie Bowl" is still going ahead despite main sponsor Dodge pulling out of the pay-per-view event.

Under pressure from the American Family Association and inundated with emails of protest from across the USA, the car giant pulled the plug on their involvement with the event.

But, as they say, "the show must go on", and the Lingerie Bowl producers are insistent that their half-time entertainment is going ahead.

Pitting 14 scantily-clad women against each other in a tackle football game before a live crowd at an undisclosed location, the organisers are looking for sports fans to sign up in their thousands to see the game for $19.95.

"It would take a lot of porn-watching males buying Dodge trucks to offset the financial loss they might have experienced from angry customers," said Don Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association.

But with or without Dodge, the inaugural Lingerie Bowl will go on. "Half-time has never been this sexy," say the producers - beats the Artane Boys Band though, doesn't it?