Australian Football League club Sydney Swans coach John Longmire's message to rival clubs who link Sydney's on-field success to the controversial cost of living allowance is to "mind your own business." Longmire said that his team's strong performance is "a result of hard work rather than any perceived advantage gained from COLA, which allows the club an extra 9.8 per cent allowance on their salary cap." COLA "is tipped to be phased out in 2015-16 and replaced by a rent subsidy" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/2). ... The Sports Authority of India "is seeking" an additional Rs 80 crore ($13.4M) from the newly formed government to meet the athletes' requirements ahead of next month's Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in September. SAI Secretary Neeraj Kansal said that the nodal agency "has written to the sports ministry for the amount over and above" the Rs 165 crore ($27.8M) allocated to the National Sports Federations (PTI, 6/2). ... The Qatar FA, Qatar Stars League, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence "are cooperating" with the English FA "to kick-off the initiation phase of 'FA-Qatar Football Family Grassroots Development Project.'" The idea of the project "stems from the long-term relationship between QFA and the English FA which started over the past year for the purpose of cooperation, knowledge sharing, and advisory services" (GULF TIMES, 6/1).
