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Pilot National Association Financial Benchmarking Report

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The pandemic has had a significant impact on key revenue streams for national football associations. The UEFA Grow programme has responded by expanding the financial management services offered to UEFA’s member associations.

Future competition structure

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FUTURE COMPETITION STRUCTURE

When

For the 2022/2023 the Adult Male Future Competitions Structure will see a change to League Cups and Lower XVs from Level 3 and below.

World Rugby ups the pace of women's rugby with second phase of women's strategic plan

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World Rugby has announced that it will increase the pace of women’s rugby development through the second phase of its 2017-25 strategic plan. The transformative “Accelerating the global development of women in rugby” plan reflects the international federation’s commitment to increasing competitiveness, player, fan and commercial interest, and further advancing women in rugby around the globe.  

Raj Parker appointed to the BHA Board

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The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the sport’s governing and regulatory body, has today announced that regulatory and sports law specialist Raj Parker has been appointed to its Board.

Raj takes up his role as an Independent Non-Executive Regulatory Director on 1 January, and will replace Sir Paul Stephenson, who joined the BHA Board in 2015 and whose term expires on 31 December.

CAF President Dr. Motsepe heaps praises on new Egyptian FA Technical Centre

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CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe heaped praises on the new Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Technical Center at its official opening and urged other African countries follow similar route.

Over the weekend, Dr. Motsepe alongside FIFA President Mr. Gianni Infantino participated in the official inauguration of the new EFA Technical Center and Headquarters in the 6th of October city, Cairo.

LawInSport Weekly News Recap - 26 November

LawInSport Weekly News Roundup

Welcome to LawInSport’s weekly News Roundup.  This roundup highlights this week’s top news pieces from across the world of sport.

For further updates, please visit our news section.

We hope you find this useful. If you have any related questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

World Rugby statement: Dave Rennie and Rugby Australia

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World Rugby can confirm that it has issued a written warning to Rugby Australia and Rugby Australia’s men’s 15s head coach Dave Rennie for comments made immediately after Australia’s final Autumn Nations Series match against Wales in Cardiff on 20 November.

Match officials are the backbone of the sport, and without them there is no game. World Rugby condemns any public criticism of their selection, performance or integrity which undermines or threatens their role, the trust-based coach-officials feedback process, and more importantly, the values that are at the heart of the sport and must be upheld.

World Athletics publishes Online Abuse Study covering Tokyo Olympic Games

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• Female athletes were the target of 87% of all abuse

• 65% of all abusive posts warrant intervention from social media platforms


In line with its commitment to making athletics a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, World Athletics today publishes findings of a study conducted during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to identify and address targeted, abusive messages sent to athletes via social media.

RFU Annual Report published

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Reported revenues for the year are £97m (£167m in previous year) and profit to reserves £20.5m (loss of £27.1m in prior year).

Revenues in the year were nearly £120m less than pre-COVID forecasts with an underlying loss to reserves of £21.3m (c£30m worse than pre-COVID forecasts).      

Papa John’s Trophy rule amendment

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Following feedback from Clubs remaining in this season’s Papa John’s Trophy, the EFL can confirm Clubs will be permitted to make five substitutions from the seven they nominate for the remainder of the 2021/22 competition.

The amendment to Competition Rule 10.1 comes into effect ahead of the next round of ties which will take place during the week commencing Monday 29 November 2021.

The change was made after consideration of the proposal which highlighted concerns of a demanding fixture schedule over the coming months.

WADA Foundation Board unanimously approves further governance reforms

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  • Approval of Independent Ethics Board; additional seats on Executive Committee for an athlete representative and an independent member, and on Foundation Board for athletes and National Anti-Doping Organizations; and establishment of WADA Athletes’ Council
  • Athletes’ Anti-Doping Ombuds Program to be piloted next year
  • New Confidential Sources’ Policy approved

ATP Announces Rule Changes To Speed Play

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ATP has announced new rules relating to toilet breaks, attire changes to come into effect from 2022, in addition to a proposed change to the Medical Time Out rule (start date TBC).

Toilet Break & Change of Attire (Effective 2022)

UEFA welcomes European Parliament Resolution on EU sport policy

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The European Parliament today adopted a comprehensive resolution on EU Sport Policy and called for action to protect European sport from the threat of breakaway competitions like the attempted European super league. Spearheaded by former Polish international football player, MEP Tomasz Frankowski, the Resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority of the European Parliament’s members from the 27 member states of the European Union.

UKAD announce Jane Rumble as new Chief Executive

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  • Jane Rumble joins UKAD from Ofcom where she is the Change Director
  • Starts role in March 2022
  • UKAD Chair Trevor Pearce ‘delighted’ with appointment and highlights Jane Rumble’s extensive regulatory experience

Shaheen guilty of breaching ICC Code of Conduct

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Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has been fined 15 per cent of his match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the second T20I against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday

Play Safe, a new national safeguarding campaign has been launched

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This weekend sees the launch of Play Safe – an ongoing national FA-led campaign to ensure everyone understands how to play their part in safeguarding children throughout football.

Play Safe is being run in partnership with the NSPCC and has the full backing of the Premier League, EFL, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship. It’s also supported and being run across every other level of the game.

IWGA entrusts ITA with the independent anti-doping program for The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama

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The International Testing Agency (ITA) is set to manage yet another independent and expert-led anti-doping program for a major event, after completing its missions for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. The International World Games Association (IWGA) has entered a collaboration with the ITA for its next major event, The World Games 2022, to be held in July in Birmingham, Alabama (USA).

Sports Minister says independent regulator in cricket is a possible option

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Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston has said that an independent regulator may be created for cricket following the ongoing racism scandal.

Following Azeem Rafiq’s testimony at a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee where he detailed the racism that he suffered throughout his cricketing career Huddleston said he found it “alarming” and “harrowing”.

AFC’s club competitions set for strategic reforms

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Kuala Lumpur: Eagerly anticipated reforms designed to elevate AFC’s club competitions to the next level are set to be introduced in the near future.
While addressing the AFC Executive Committee on November 21, 2021, AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said: “I am pleased to note that the AFC competitions continue to grow. There will be changes to the rules on foreign players, as well as to our competitions calendar. These are all part of the strategy to improve our players, clubs and national teams on the world stage.”

FIFA appoints normalisation committees in Guinea and Chad

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Guinea

The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Guinean Football Association (FGF) following a series of irregularities that took place during the electoral process of the FGF. In order to guarantee that the FGF can hold transparent and fair elections as well as to help restore trust amongst all football stakeholders in Guinea, the normalisation committee’s mandate will include the following tasks:

CGF Coordination Commission set for latest review of Birmingham 2022

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The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Coordination Commission will undertake its latest review of Birmingham 2022 preparations later this week. 

The Coordination Commission (CoCom) is responsible for delivery oversight of the Commonwealth Games and tasked with monitoring the Games to ensure it is delivered to scope, schedule and budget.

CAF Member Associations unanimously back FIFA World Cup every two years proposal during the Extraordinary General Assembly

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The 52 Members of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) today unanimously voted to support the proposal for a biennial FIFA World Cup.

The 13th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly met in Cairo, Egypt today.  The meeting was attended by Minister of Sport and Youth in Egypt, Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe and presidents from CAF Member Associations. 

IWF Election Postponed Pending Resolution Of Outstanding Legal Issues

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A meeting of the IWF Executive Board yesterday considered the written legal opinion sent by the independent IWF Legal Commission which made it clear the proper legal foundations for the planned IWF Elections had not yet been fully complied. Due to this reason the IWF Executive Board decided, that the Electoral Congress, scheduled for 20-21 December, will not therefore see voting take place on those days. However, the IWF wishes to move forward by holding a General Congress with all other points on the original agenda on 20-21 December 2021. Therefore, preparations will move forward with the same conditions as it was communicated by the IWF before.

Fan led review into English football calls for independent regulator

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A fan led review into English football has called for an independent regulator to stop it “lurching from crisis to crisis”.

Former sports minister Tracey Crouch chairs the review and told BBC Sport “This is a huge opportunity for football. We've seen football lurching from crisis to crisis over the past decade and unfortunately we haven't had the right levels of regulation in place to stop that from happening.” The review has commissioned by the Government, and it is understood that they would support the idea of an independent regulator.

UK Sport introduces pregnancy guidance for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sports

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UK Sport has for the first time introduced pregnancy guidance for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sport governing bodies.

The guidance includes advice for both pregnancy and continues once the athlete has given birth. UK Sport said “starting a family and being an elite athlete should not be mutually exclusive.” Five-time Olympic archer Naomi Folkard who gave birth in early 2021 before competing at this years Tokyo Olympics said “Female athletes should no longer have to make a choice between their athletic career and having children. I hope in a short time it will encourage sports science to not only begin to cover women and men equally, but also have pregnancy specific research projects for female athletes.”

The FA has appointed Navin Singh as its new commercial director.

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Singh joins English football’s governing body after five years with the prestigious United States Golf Association. As chief commercial officer, he led the USGA’s global commercial strategy for its assets including the major men’s and women’s U.S. Open championships.

Former Atlanta Dream Players Courtney Williams & Crystal Bradford Suspended

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 The WNBA announced today that former Atlanta Dream players Courtney Williams and Crystal Bradford have been suspended without pay for their roles in an altercation outside of an Atlanta-area club in May and for related health and safety protocol violations.  Williams’ suspension is for two games and Bradford’s suspension is for one game.

An open letter by Joel Bouzou, Oly

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I write to address the misunderstandings caused by an inaccurate and wayward attack on our International Federation in recent days. 

Discussions around the future composition of Modern Pentathlon and especially the Riding discipline have stirred emotions since UIPM announced the 5th Discipline consultation process on November 4. This is nothing new. There were question marks around Riding when I competed in the 1980s and early 1990s (even the IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, suggested after the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992 that horses should be replaced by bicycles). 

ICC launches strategy for Global Growth

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The International Cricket Council today unveiled its global growth strategy which places women’s cricket firmly at the heart of its long-term ambitions. The strategy which has been developed in partnership with ICC Members is aimed at strengthening, growing, and protecting the game with the vision of more players, more fans and more nations enjoying cricket.

The ICC appoints Geoff Allardice as CEO

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed Geoff Allardice has been appointed as the organisation’s permanent CEO after more than eight months in the role on an interim basis.

Allardice, a former first-class cricketer, was the ICC General Manager, Cricket for eight years having previously held a similar role at Cricket Australia. 

LawInSport Weekly News Recap - 19 November

LawInSport Weekly News Roundup

Welcome to LawInSport’s weekly News Roundup.  This roundup highlights this week’s top news pieces from across the world of sport.

For further updates, please visit our news section.

We hope you find this useful. If you have any related questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

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