National Rugby League side Canterbury coach Des Hasler fired a "stunning broadside at the NRL, slamming highly paid officials at headquarters for failing to resolve the Origin scheduling dramas that ravage his football team." Hasler's team had "just been beaten 28-14 on the Gold Coast by the Titans and although he listed a range of reasons for their defeat, the NRL copped a spray for continuing a competition" that becomes "irrelevant" when the 34 best players are taken away from clubs. Hasler: "The competition is irrelevant, let's not pull any punches" (FOX SPORTS, 6/14). ... The Brazilian National Commission on Arbitration of Football (CONAF) launched a new insignia, which identifies every member of the arbitration team. The symbol will be used across all four Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) leagues and will have special, customized characters (CBF). ... The European Athletics Council has backed President Svein Arne Hansen's proposal to provide a support package for a new competition to be organized by the Small States of Europe in the Olympic year, starting in '16. The goal of the event is to provide an int'l team competition opportunity for athletes from the 10 countries of the Athletics Association of the Small States of Europe and other smaller countries in place of the European Athletics Team Championships, which is not staged in the Olympic year (European Athletics). ... Former women's basketball player Clarisse Machanguana is committed to the future of the game in Mozambique. The Machanguana Foundation (FCM) teamed up with the NBA to unveil the Junior NBA FCM League in Mozambique's capital city of Maputo. The league is aimed at around 450 girls -- between the ages of 12 and 14 -- from 30 local schools, and will give the youth the opportunity to develop their basketball skills through healthy competition (FIBA).
