Liga MX announced in a statement the creation of the Supercopa MX, a "match that will pit the winners" of the two annual Copa MX tournaments, the Apertura and Clausura, with the goal of "giving the winner a place in the Copa Libertadores." The first two teams to compete in this event will be Morelia, this year's Copa MX Apertura champion, and Clausura champ Tigres. The Supercopa will include two legs, the first on July 9 at Morelia's stadium and the second on July 12 at Tigres' stadium (GOAL, 6/21). ... The National Rugby League "has commited to investigating compensation for junior development by next season." NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg was highlighting the Canberra Raiders as one of the clubs which deserve to be recognized for its ''heavy lifting'' at the grassroots level. While at present all NRL clubs "receive the same annual grant" of about A$7M ($6.6M), a differential funding model "would recognise the different strenths and weaknesses of all clubs." Instead of dividing funds equally to all 16 clubs, it "would set individual targets and could provide funding incentives for areas such as junior development, and compensate for inequalities in broadcasting opportunity, corporate sponsorship and membership" (CANBERRA TIMES, 6/20). ... Racing New South Wales has confirmed that prizemoney from Testarhythm's win in the listed Ortensia Stakes at Scone last month "has been withheld as part of the investigation into trainer Darren Smith's use of cobalt." Racing NSW Deputy Chair of Sewards Greg Rudolph said that Testarhythm's cobalt level at his Scone win "had raised concerns, leading to the prizemoney being withheld" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/22). ... Australian Football League Greater Western Sydney Chair Tony Shepherd has returned fire at Collingwood President Eddie McGuire, saying the AFL's equalization strategy "was not socialism but 'good business sense.'" Shepherd said that the AFL "needed to help the league's poorer clubs in order to have a 'vibrant and growing national competition'" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/22).
... Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund will launch a representative office in Singapore. The aim is to reach out to existing and potential BVB fans in the region, nurture contact to local media and expand commercial partnerships. The plan is to open the new BVB office in Singapore in time for the start of the '14-15 Champions League season (Borussia Dortmund). ... The Badminton World Federation said that "it plans to test a new scoring system from August to make matches more exciting, despite players' opposition to the rule changes." The BWF said that the new system "would be based on five games rather than the current three."
Each game "would be played to 11 points, instead of 21, and the winner would not have to be ahead by two clear points -- a requirement of the existing system" (AFP, 6/20).
