Traditional football fans have had "another victory of sorts" with the
Australian Football League lifting restrictions on the size of cheer squad flags at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is a win "engineered from the grassroots, after Geelong cheer squad
stalwart Troy West, otherwise known as 'Catman,'" wrote an "impassioned
plea" to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan about the "suffocating"
regulations imposed in recent years. McLachlan, who had already
declared '15 to be the "year of the fan," was persuaded by West's
letter to speak to MCC officials about the issue (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 11/11). ...The AFL would have been regarded as a "patsy" had it not assumed a "major role in the Essendon supplements investigation, the full Federal
Court heard on Tuesday." Essendon coach James Hird's appeal against the Federal Court finding in September "concluded at lunch time on Tuesday." There was no time frame "given for a decision, although all parties hope it can be reached before Christmas" (SMH, 11/11).
DO THE TIME: Germany is set to make doping in sport a crime for the first time,
"with jail terms of up to three years for athletes found guilty." The draft is scheduled to be presented by ministers on Wednesday with the law going before parliament in the spring (BBC, 11/11). ... Iran on Monday rejected as "unfair" a decision by
volleyball's governing body (FIVB) to "ban the country from hosting"
int'l tournaments as long as women are barred from watching
men's games. The FIVB announced its decision
on Sunday, a week after a British-Iranian woman, Ghoncheh Ghavami, was "reportedly jailed by a Tehran court for trying to attend a match" (AFP, 11/11). ... The Bombay High Court has dismissed a public int'l litigation
(PIL) that had challenged Int'l Cricket Council Chair N. Srinivasan's "conflict of interest while running the affairs" of the Board
of Control for Cricket in India. The PIL allegedly stated that the BCCI was being used as a "platform to
serve the personal interests of few people including that of Srinivasan" (INDIAN TELEVISION, 11/11).
MIXED REVIEWS: Batsmen and bowlers at the Sheffield Shield are "getting used to it but spectators have been forced to take a dim view of cricket’s pink ball experiment." That’s because they "cannot see the ball." Or "at least are struggling to." Reports from Queensland's just completed Sheffield Shield match against
Western Australian in Perth "revealed the experiment is making progress
with the new dark green seam improving its visibility for players" (Brisbane COURIER-MAIL, 11/11).