Australian Football League side Sydney Swans' "controversial cost-of-living allowance will be removed" by the start of the '17 season but the AFL will "compensate the Swans with a new rent subsidy, which the league will pay directly to footballers earning less than the average players' wage," according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. However, Greater Western Sydney "appears to have been successful" in its push to retain an additional A$1M ($930,000) in its salary cap, which the AFL will "continue to support in recognition of the unique challenges faced by the Giants as they battle to establish themselves." GWS players will "also receive the rental subsidy" from the start of '17. The "cost-of-living allowance" that affords the two Sydney-based clubs an extra 9.8% worth of salary cap room "will be phased out." Instead the AFL will "directly allocate" an estimated A$15,000 to every player on the "lower side of the wage spectrum." By '17 the qualification ceiling for rent subsidy is expected to "include all footballers earning below" an annual A$300,000 ($277,700) (THE AGE, 5/20). In Sydney, Jesse Hogan reported the AFL's "desperation to banish racism from the game is being hampered by lingering dissident fans," with Essendon and Western Bulldogs confirming a supporter of each "had made racist taunts within the space of a week." Essendon has "expelled a member for taunting Sydney champion Adam Goodes, a previous target of racism, at the weekend, while the Bulldogs are appealing to supporters" to help identify one of their supporters who "abused Melbourne's Neville Jetta on the preceding weekend" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 5/20).
