England Rugby and Premiership Rugby joined forces to launch Project Rugby, a grassroots project designed to increase participation in under-represented communities. Project Rugby will specifically engage BAME people, as well as those from low socio-economic backgrounds and disabled people, aged 14-24. The project aims to reach more than 12,000 participants by summer '18 (England Rugby).
The National Rugby League will reveal 22 rounds of "Sunday afternoon Sydney blockbusters" in the '18 premiership draw in a move to "lure disgruntled fans back to the venues." The full draw will be unveiled at 10am on Thursday -- six weeks earlier than in previous years -- "to allow clubs to start planning their membership drives and early ticket sales" (Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH, 10/18).
Taekwondo has "generated the most corruption complaints among South Korean sports," a local lawmaker said. According to Rep. Kwak Sang-do of the Liberty Korea Party, 742 corruption cases were reported to the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism's center for sports corruption between '14 and Aug. '17. The most complaints were reported in taekwondo (106), baseball (71) and football (63) (YONHAP, 10/18).
The Irish Rugby Football Union has been criticized following the advertisement for a new women's head coach on only a "part-time/casual" six-month contract. Tom Tierney, the former head coach who left the role following the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup, had been appointed on a three-year, full-time contract. Ireland centre Jenny Murphy spoke out over the move to downgrade the length and terms of the head coaching role (London TELEGRAPH, 10/18).