Australian Football League side Richmond wants to host Collingwood at Punt Road Oval "and mark the historic arrival of the AFL women's league." A stand-alone opening fixture of what is "guaranteed to be a radically different season" has been "pitched formally to the league by the Tigers." Among eight clubs vying for four licenses, Richmond is "proposing male AFL players will present jumpers to female footballers sharing the same number to add to the inaugural match occasion." The Tigers have "submitted the Australia Day game be a free annual event with pre-match clinics and a boardroom function" for family members of the first cohort of elite female AFL players and sponsors. Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said, "Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs have done a great job building the profile of women's football, but we think a marquee game, involving two new sides, would quickly broaden the competition in the minds of supporters" (THE AGE, 4/29).
Greek football club PAOK Salonica Owner Ivan Savvidis pulled his team out of the Greek Cup on Wednesday after it failed to appear for its semifinal, second leg against Olympiakos Piraeus "because his conditions had not been met." Russian-born Greek businessman Savvidis warned in March that he would "not bring his team to Athens for the match unless a foreign referee was appointed" and Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) President Giorgos Girtzikis resigned. While a FIFA mission to Athens, including talks with the EPO, "helped persuade" Deputy Minister for Sport Stavros Kontonis to "reverse his initial decision to cancel the cup competition," the measures Savvidis demanded were "not implemented" (REUTERS, 4/27).
In 43 days the French national football team will “open its Euro 2016 campaign against Romania at the Stade de France.” UEFA announced that there are “still seats available for the match on its online ticketing system.” The tickets are “mainly in category one and two, meaning the seats that offer the best visibility and thus the most expensive,” going for €395 ($452) to €495 ($567) a piece (20 MINUTES, 4/29).
The FIM and Dorna WSBK Organisation announced the cancelation of Round 10 of the 2016 Superbike World Championship. After extensive efforts made by all parties involved to come to an agreement allowing the 2016 season to cover a full 14-round calendar, no accord with any replacement circuit for the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza has been reached (WorldSBK).
