The National Basketball League "stood down two referees and made an
immediate rule change in the aftermath of Melbourne United's
controversial last-second win over New Zealand Breakers on Sunday." The
Breakers led Melbourne until the final seconds when the game referees
mistakenly assessed Breakers guard Corey Webster with a "dead ball
foul." A league review on Monday found Webster's foul happened at the
same time as Melbourne's Majok Majok fouled Breakers center Alex
Pledger to stop the clock -- this means that "the two fouls should have
cancelled each other out leaving the Breakers with the ball and still in
the lead." League bosses immediately changed the NBL rules "so any
decision in the last two minutes can be referred to the video referee
and this can happen at the game referees' discretion" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 11/9). ... Four years have passed since Australian Football League side Essendon "plunged into the dangerous and potentially performance-enhancing drug program." But only now, as a result of the two charges leveled at and accepted by the Bombers following a lengthy WorkSafe investigation, "has the club faced sanction in a court of law." The outcome against Essendon "appears to have been negotiated." The Bombers made it clear in their statement on Monday that they had been working alongside WorkSafe and had "accepted" the charges (THE AGE, 11/9).
