The Premier League has turned down prospective club owners "too many times to mention" in the past five years, EPL Chair Richard Scudamore said. Investors wanting to buy English clubs must pass the owners' and directors' test which came into effect in '13. Scudamore said that the number rejected runs into "at least the tens, probably into the twenties" (BBC, 5/21).
The failure of A-League side Western Sydney Wanderers to tackle online homophobic material among fans is "a joke," Matildas striker Michelle Heyman said, as images of an offensive banner "continue to be shared from the club's supporters' social media accounts." At the inaugural Pride in Sport awards on Friday, Australian women's cricket team vice-captain Alex Blackwell called on sponsors and football's governing body to be "tougher on homophobia." She said that it needed "action not words" (London GUARDIAN, 5/19).
League One side Millwall footballer Steve Morison said that his club's fans "absolutely ruined" its League Championship promotion party at Wembley Stadium on Saturday after an "unsavoury pitch invasion." Morison's 85th-minute winner was the difference in the League One playoff final but "some Millwall supporters ran on to the pitch to goad Bradford's players at full-time." Security was "forced to step in." Bradford Manager Stuart McCall said that he felt "close to clocking a couple" of fans as they squared up to him (London DAILY MAIL, 5/20).
