The Australian National Basketball League "will welcome back a team from Brisbane next year," while interim CEO Steve Dunn "hopes the de-merger with Basketball Australia will finally go ahead in the coming weeks." Those behind the relaunched ANBL "have identified an urgent need to regain a foothold in the Brisbane market." Although "there won't be time to achieve that ahead of the coming season," which tips off on Oct. 10, it is "almost certain to be given the green light for the following year" (AAP, 8/20). ... National Rugby League side Canterbury CEO Raelene Castle visited NRL headquarters on Thursday "to discuss conditional releases and other options open to the Bulldogs as they try to resolve the Ben Barba issue." Castle met ARL Commission officials "and also discussed the salary cap, contracting and other registration issues." She "confirmed the 'Barba clause' was one of many the club was reviewing" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/23). ... The "administrative wrangling" in the suspended Indian Boxing Federation "could end up costing the country's boxers a chance to compete in this year's World Championships." The national trials for the event were scheduled to be held last week in Patiala, India, but were "postponed till the end of this month with neither the boxers nor the coaches having any clue about the reasons" (PTI, 8/22).
AFL NEWS: Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou said that 2013 AFL club membership had reached 756,717 members nationally -- the highest recorded figure in the game's history and a 6.94% increase from last year (AFL) ... AFL GM of Football Operations Mark Evans said the AFL would trial the Vision-Stacking System to assist with scoring decisions it had tested earlier in this year, with its use in 12 matches across the final two rounds of the Premiership season. The Vision-Stacking System, which enables a decision to be reviewed across multiple camera angles on one screen in real time, was tested earlier this year at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and would now be trialled in live match situations across five venues and three states over the final two rounds (AFL).
