Politicians are always keen to appear at sporting events.
Tony Blair presented this year's London Marathon awards and appeared alongside Kevin Keegan in 1997. Both Charles Kennedy and William Hague are football fans, supporting Inverness and Rotherham respectively. Sporting success triggers all kind of events. When Barnsley were promoted to the Premiership in 1997, the town's productivity went up by 10 per cent. This week a host of British teams appear in high-profile sports events.