Australian Football League side Hawthorn President Andrew Newbold "has backed Collingwood's Eddie McGuire in raising misgivings" over the AFL academies in Sydney and southern Queensland, and urged the league to work toward a "pure draft." Newbold called for an "overhaul of both the academy and the father-son bidding system." Newbold: "I think Eddie's right to question this. For there to continue to be anomalies in the draft when we are contributing A$1.3 million to help equalize the competition is wrong. Why wouldn't we want a pure draft?" (THE AGE, 7/16). ... DEN Networks-owned DEN Soccer announced the launch of the Delhi Dynamos FC, a Delhi-based Indian Super League club. DEN also announced an alliance with Dutch side Feyenoord Rotterdam. Feyenoord's academy has been voted the Netherlands' best five years in a row (INDIAN TELEVISION, 7/17). ... Rugby league crowds have "finally surged ahead of last year's figures as the code prepares for more record attendances to salute fallen hero Alex McKinnon this weekend." So far 2,048,853 fans have "gone through the turnstiles after 128 games of footy in a phenomenal comeback from what appeared to be a crowds crisis earlier this season" (Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH, 7/18). ... Council for East and Central Africa FAs Secretary General Nicholas Musonye said that CECAFA is "planning to start a regional Champions League." He said, "We are impressed with the growth of the Kagame Cup. With the type of sponsorship coming on board and the rise in competition we are now planning to start our own Champions League" (STANDARD MEDIA, 7/13). ... South and North Korea "ended their first round of talks Thursday on the forthcoming Incheon Asian Games without being able to narrow their differences on key issues" (YONHAP, 7/17).
