IAAF President Sebastian Coe urged on Thursday that athletics must become "a lot more entertaining" and follow the lead set by basketball and winter sports to attract younger fans. Coe, speaking in Doha, said that his sport "needed to adapt and use new formats and engage with its audience more on social media." Coe: "We have to make our sport a lot more entertaining and a lot more innovative for younger people, that means the speed with which they watch events. Our activity is athletics but our business is entertainment" (AFP, 5/5).
RIVERINA ZONE: Australian Football League side Sydney Swans has been "drawn into the controversy around Greater Western Sydney's Riverina zone, as Collingwood President Eddie McGuire and Giants Chair Tony Shepherd publicly stated their cases." Several Victorian clubs have "voiced concerns about GWS' exclusive access to talent in NSW, particularly in the Riverina area, an issue which has intensified after the Giants demolition of reigning premiers Hawthorn last weekend." On Wednesday, Shepherd said that "he would resign if the AFL changed its rules over recruiting zones." He said, "We have to apologize every time we win a bloody game. I've had enough." McGuire said that GWS was stockpiling talent and the situation was "getting out of kilter and now is the time to make adjustments before it goes too far." But Swans Chair Andrew Pridham said that the breakfast radio discussion was "typical rubbish from intellectual pygmies" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 5/5).
LEAGUE BRIEFS ...
The Pakistan Cricket Board "awarded 22 national women cricketers with Central Contracts for the ongoing year after the team’s impressive performances in the recent World T20 as well as for maintaining a decent record last year." the one-year contract is effective from Jan. 1 and "is divided into four categories" (DAWN, 5/4).
A Vietnamese delegation will travel to the U.S. to "select players of Vietnamese origin for the Việt Nam Basketball Association tournament." The event, Vietnam’s first professional basketball tournament, is scheduled to kick off in August. Six clubs from HCM City, Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and Cần Thơ will participate in the VBA. According to the event’s rules, "each club is allowed one foreign player, two players of Vietnamese origin and 10 domestic players" (VIETNAM NEWS, 5/5).
