Lords - the home of...archery?

The banner flew proudly from the back of a helicopter when the Test v the West Indies was played earlier this month: Lords - the home of cricket. At the time I wondered why we needed reminding and wondered who was paying for that helicopter...after all we clearly had no doubt about where we were sat. But perhaps it was decided that we needed a little reminding that Lords was the home of cricket as it was only shortly before today's big launch of London 2012 at 12:30. After all, for a short while in 2012, Lords will be the home of archery.

While Lords is obviously steeped in tradition, the building of the NatWest Media Centre showed that there were people willing to look to the future without forgetting the past. Back in 2005, Lords was the stage for an archery demonstration during the Bangladesh Test match that year and Lords will be used to host the archery tournament in 2012. London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe was impressed back in 2005 "the atmosphere generated by the spectators in the ground today offers a tantalising glimpse of the levels of support Archery would enjoy at a London Games in 2012. Today's archery demonstration highlights one of London 2012's key selling points - our ability to combine state-of-the-art new facilities in Olympic Park with existing iconic venues such as Lord's and Horse Guard's Parade.

I couldn't agree more. Just keep off the square.