Give your pub a sporting chance

Pubs need an extra boost - and a top year for sport could be the key to a packed pub, says Noli Dinkovski

When it comes to British sporting success, 2007 will most likely be remembered as the year that nearly was. In football, domestic glory in the Champions League looked a sure bet after three of the Premiership's big guns made the last four, only for an Italian side - AC Milan - to topple Liverpool in the final.

In motorsport, rookie Lewis Hamilton was on the verge of Formula One championship glory going into the final race in Brazil, when over-exuberance on the starting grid pushed him down the field, and subsequently out of reach of the title.

England's rugby team did the nation proud at the World Cup in France, but they too fell short at the final hurdle, finally succumbing to South Africa.

And in boxing, Mancunian Ricky "Hit Man" Hatton lasted 10 rounds in his world welterweight contest before suffering his first career knockout to Floyd Mayweather, who cemented his position as the greatest current pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

But these four "failures" all have one thing in common. This time last year no one really would have expected these sportsmen and teams to go as far as they did. An out-of-sorts England to make the World Cup final? A racing driver in his first season to be in with a chance of being F1 Champion going into the final race? You would have got extremely long odds on either scenario a year ago.

All of which makes this year's calendar of sport one to savour. What exactly this year's set of heroes will achieve can only be the subject of speculation, but, win or lose, there's one thing for sure, the unpredictability of sport will make it an exciting journey.

Over the next seven pages we pick out the best of what's to come in the five sports most associated with pubs - football, rugby, cricket, horse racing and golf.

In all of the sections we include an on-trade success story related to each sport, and tips and advice from a leading brand on how to market that sport in your pub. Meanwhile, our handy sporting calendar will help you to track the forthcoming main events.

Away from our featured five, there are, of course, a great number of other sports which will be blazoned across our TV screens in the coming months. None more so prominent than the most important sporting event of 2008 - the Olympic Games in Beijing. Running from 8-24 August, it could easily unearth the sporting story of the year.

Athletes will compete in 302 events across 28 sports, and from a British point of view there's lots to look forward to. In athletics, there are two main gold medal hopes. After her failure in Athens four years ago, many will be rooting for Paula Radcliffe to come up trumps in the women's marathon. There is also optimism in the women's 400m, where our current world champion Christine Ohuruogu comes up against current world number one Sanya Richards of the US.

British hopes of medals will be high in rowing, equestrianism, cycling and swimming as well. With the time differential, most events will take place in the morning, but why not take advantage of the morning crowd by offering breakfast or lunch specials around certain events? Competitions can be run on, say, guessing the time of the 100m men's final winner, or the number of medals won by the British team on any given day.

By preparing in advance of the major sporting occasions of the year, pubs can avoid missing out any opportunity to promote and create an occasion around them. Of course, there are the usual events such as the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race (29 March), Wimbledon (23 June to 6 July) and the Superbowl (4 February), but it's worth keeping an eye out for the events that are not yet confirmed.

Boxing is usually a good one - Hatton is hotly rumoured to be making his way back into the ring in front of a crowd of 40,000 at the City of Manchester stadium on 24 May, and if the fervour generated by his last fight was anything to go by, pubs should be packed to the rafters. Don't forget BBC Sports Personality of the Year Joe Calzagie as well, who defends his unbeaten record against Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas on 12 April

So, all in all, it promises to be another bumper year for sport, and irrespective of the fortunes of our sporting heroes, good forward planning will guarantee you success whatever the result.