Australian Football League side Essendon coach James Hird would need to
find A$100,000 ($782,000) "just to launch a High Court appeal and must
then be prepared to wait another year for a judgment." Having lost his
appeal in the Federal Court over the lawfulness of the joint AFL and
Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation, Hird "has the
option of taking his case to the High Court." He said on Monday night
that he "was still considering that option." Having already had "hefty
costs awarded against him when his Federal Court appeal failed on
Friday, the Essendon coach must now weigh up whether he has the finances
-- and conviction -- to have another year in the courts" (THE AGE, 2/2). ... The National Rugby League’s specially formed committee "charged with addressing the way the game monitors and handles mental health issues will convene for its first meeting" on Tuesday, with an urgent review of the current U20s structure at the top of the agenda. The league community is "still reeling following the deaths of two promising young players over the Australia Day long weekend." Rising stars Regan Grieve and Hayden Butler "took their own lives within a horror 24-hour period, the latest in a series of deaths among young players" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/3).
RIDING THE WAVE: As ACT Sports Minister Shane Rattenbury handed out A$2.6M ($2M) to
community sport, he "took the opportunity" to label Canberra bashers
such as WA Premier Colin Barnett as "jealous" of the ACT's ability to
host world-class events. Rattenbury "expected the momentum gained from
the massive success of the Asian Cup to flow on to this month's Cricket
World Cup, which has three games played at Manuka Oval." Two of Canberra
Stadium's seven Asian Cup games "were sellouts and a CWC game is
already close to one" (CANBERRA TIMES, 2/2). ... Two men "face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty" of charges laid Monday following a 10-month race-fixing investigation that sparked dawn raids by police on five Victorian properties. A 31-year-old man from Merbein, on the outskirts of Mildura, "is facing a total of six charges while a 57-year-old man from Birdwoodton which is 14km northwest of Mildura, has been charged with two offences" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/3). ... Russian state auditors have accused the country's basketball federation of wasting government money through "ineffective" management and the filing of illegal financial accounts. The Audit Chamber said that despite "significant government support" amounting to 416.7M rubles ($6M), men's and women's national teams showed "a low level of preparation" (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 2/3).
