The "public pressure from rivals clubs" on Australian Football League side Essendon to reconsider its position on re-appointing coach James Hird after his 12-month suspension "continues to mount." Outgoing Sydney Chair Richard Colless said that he believed "key Bombers officials had failed to take proper accountability for their actions" in the fallout from the supplements scandal. Colless also described Hird as "anything but heroic." It comes after Geelong CEO Brian Cook and Port Adelaide President David Koch both took opportunities over the weekend "to publicly urge the Bombers to find 'fresh' people with no link to the supplements saga to take the club forward" (THE AGE, 9/4) ... The Bombay civil court "ruled in favour" of the Mumbai Hockey Association, "setting aside the state government's eviction notice and giving the local hockey body a free hand to operate and ensure a smooth governance of the sport in the city" (TNN, 9/3). ... China's National Games "was rocked by a scandal" on Tuesday after the Beijing team "threw the women's rugby final against the Shandong team in a protest to controversial refereeing" (XINHUA, 9/3). ... A "goon squad of nearly two dozen people, some of them carrying firearms, led by a deposed PCO judge of the high court, Khawaja Farooq Saeed, and a serving DIG of Police, Zafar Abbas Lak, stormed on the Pakistan Olympic Association’s headquarters and stiff-armed its way into the offices and harassed the handful of POA personnel in the premises on Monday afternoon" (PAKISTAN TODAY, 9/2). ... The Australian Football League's illicit drugs policy "could be under threat, with expectations the Coalition will revive its bitter campaign against the contentious three-strikes component if it wins Saturday's federal election" (THE AGE, 9/4). ... W-League Canberra United CEO Heather Reid "is pushing for the W-League to extend its season to 14 rounds to ensure no team is disadvantaged in the race to the finals." Each club plays 12 games in the eight-team competition, but Reid "is keen for the format to change to play every team twice a season" (CANBERRA TIMES, 9/3).
BCCI NEWS: Board of Control for Cricket in India President N. Srinivasan "is likely to get entangled in yet another legal battle" as Cricket Association of Bihar Secretary Aditya Verma "plans to file an application in the Supreme Court charging him with contempt of court." Verma, who had filed the public interest litigation against the BCCI in the Bombay high court, claimed that Srinivasan "has contradicted his own affidavit filed in the court by attending the working committee meeting" in Kolkata on Sunday (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 9/3). ... The BCCI board "sprung a surprise" by calling a special general meeting (SGM) in the southern metropolis on Sept. 25. The sole agenda of the SGM "is disciplinary action" against former IPL Chair Lalit Modi "for his financial bunglings in the cash-rich league." Modi, who currently stands suspended from the BCCI, "is likely to be expelled for life" (TIMES OF INDIA, 9/3).
