The number of women’s teams playing top-level domestic cricket "could be cut" from 35 to 10 and the number of women paid to play the game could increase from 22 to at least 120 from '20 under "radical plans" being discussed by the England & Wales Cricket Board. The governing body will not be announcing anything until later this year. The intention is to "streamline" the structure of women’s domestic cricket and to introduce a 50-over and Twenty20 competition to be contested by 10 teams (LONDON TIMES, 1/29).
Australia's top sporting codes, including the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, will be "subject to a sweeping new anti-corruption regime overseen by a national watchdog to tackle match-fixing and cheating in Australian sport." The "shake-up," set to be announced by the federal government, aims to address "growing risks to sporting integrity caused by the expansion of online and unregulated betting markets" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/31).
Demand from past players wanting to know their prognosis led the AFL to delay planned concussion research in favor of setting up a "clinical pathway." The league, in conjunction with the AFL Players' Association and the Florey Institute, sent out a survey in '14 to around 1,500 past players "asking them for information on symptoms relating to concussion." However, when many players contacted the league wanting to know more about their respective symptoms, the AFL "opted to change tack," deciding to establish means for follow-up assessment and analysis of players instead of a "costly study that may not have provided definitive results" (THE AGE, 1/29).
