Super Rugby champions, medic the Chiefs have announced their new board to take over the governance of the Chiefs under the new license agreement recently issued by New Zealand Rugby.

After a comprehensive recruitment process, drugs the Appointments Panel selected the new Board, which is comprised of five independent directors and two investor appointees.

Dallas Fisher, Matthew Boyd, Jon Mayson, Tony de Farias and Craig Norgate were appointed as the independent board members with Craig Vincent and Philip Brown selected as the two investor appointments.

The new board members provide a strong mix of commercial and rugby experience and provide good representation across the Chiefs region. 

Dallas Fisher is the former Chiefs Limited Chairman and a Breakers Basketball founder who has many business interests and directorships; Matthew Boyd is a professional board director and was the recent Deputy Chairman of the former Chiefs board; Jon Mayson is the former Chief Executive of the Ports of Tauranga and a professional company director.  Tony de Farias is a former Bay of Plenty Rugby Union board member and sits on multiple boards in the agri-business sector; Craig Norgate is a former independent director of the NZRU, Taranaki Rugby Union and was the founding CEO of Fonterra; Craig Vincent is the current CEO of Architectural Profiles Limited in Hamilton and Philip Brown is a Taranaki based entrepreneur and developer who founded TenderLink.com.

Chiefs’ CEO Andrew Flexman is excited by the composition of the new board.  “I believe this group of people offer us the right blend of commercial, sporting and governance experience to take our organisation to the next level,” said Flexman. 

A Chairman of the new board will be appointed in the near future.

Pac-12 Enterprises, the new content and multiplatform media company of the Pac-12 Conference, has chosen SnappyTV, the leading live cloud-based social video publishing and distribution platform, to enable Pac-12 Digital platforms with innovative content sharing capabilities of Pac-12 video content via their cloud-based editing and publishing platform, it was announced today.

Pac-12.com, the online home of Pac-12 Networks and the Pac-12 Conference, provides fans 24-7 access to content highlighting the Pac-12’s championship-caliber athletic programs including video features, game highlights, original reporting and live viewing access to all seven Pac-12 linear networks via Pac-12 Now.

“Pac-12 Digital is committed to delivering Pac-12 fans up-the-minute digital video content and highlights around the events and teams they support,” said David Aufhauser, Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media, Pac-12 Enterprises. “The integrated SnappyTV and Ooyala solution plays a central role in empowering our team to achieve this goal with great efficiency.”

Working together with Ooyala, the leader in online video management, SnappyTV has delivered a solution that streamlines how Pac-12 Digital can edit and publish content from TV and live streams to its digital platforms including Pac-12.com, university athletic website, the Pac-12 Now mobile app, social media and Pac-12 Network affiliate partners. The result puts the biggest highlights in the hands of Pac-12 fans quickly, furthering Pac-12’s goal of delivering the most innovative and interactive sports experience available across all channels, particularly leveraging social channels.

“People aren’t watching sports the way they did 10 years ago. They watch something on TV or at the event and immediately want to share that experience on Twitter and Facebook,” said Mike Folgner, CEO of SnappyTV. “Our editing and publishing platform makes it easy for organizations like the Pac-12 to quickly capture, edit and share their content with fans — making sports events and game highlights available to them however and whenever they want to consume it. With our cloud-based solution, Pac-12 editors, editors from the Universities and even fans can edit and publish digital content, changing the way that fans experience their favorite sports.”

Kent County Cricket Club announced the appointment of Sittingbourne company JM Recruitment as the Club’s official Recruitment partner.

After fulfilling a smaller role with the Club in 2011, illness providing temporary staffing at a number of fixtures, ed JM Recruitment have committed to both an Official Supplier and Sponsor position with Kent. The partnership includes not only a core staff provision and training role, apoplectic but an association with Kent’s main corporate lounge, the Harris Room. The second floor facility within the Colin Cowdrey Stand will now be known as the JM Recruitment Harris Room.

JM Recruitment Managing Director and former St Lawrence and Highland Court Cricket Club member, Mike Bailey said: “The team at JM Recruitment love their cricket and have very ambitious goals set for the next few years.

“We look forward to working hard beside the Kent Cricket team and ensuring that the County goes from strength to strength and is noted for its excellent staff.”

Kent Cricket CEO Jamie Clifford added: “It is always great to form partnerships with enthusiastic, Kent based businesses. Mike sets very high standards for his company and has ambitious plans – Kent Cricket is proud to feature in these. He recruits excellent staff, that are a valuable addition to the Club staffing and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

by Ismail Uddin

Tottenham Hotspur’s new training ground is currently under construction, and on schedule for completion by the beginning of next season.

The ground covers 67 acres, which include 11 pitches and an impressive training centre designed by KSS Architects, featuring curved steel sections fabricated by Barnshaws Section Benders.

Designed around a 70 x 50m indoor artificial pitch, the training centre will feature a transparent ETFE roof, and will act as an integral part of the landscape. The centre will contain state of the art facilities, such as a gym, media centre, medical facilities, hydrotherapy/ swimming pool, and a learning centre.

Barnshaws were commissioned by Watsons to undertake a significant amount of metal bending work for the £45m ($71.6m) project. Sections curved include 305 columns, 323.9 x 16 tubes, and 152 tees all multiple radius bends in the same length bar. Metal bending for the build was carried out across 4 months, afterBarnshaws won the contract based on their technical expertise.

World Snooker is set to make fundamental changes to the structure of the World Professional Tour in an attempt to help grow the sport.

At a recent board meeting it was agreed that the number of players competing on the professional circuit will increase from 96 to 128 from the 2013/14 season.

It was also agreed that players gaining a tour card after Q School next May will keep their card for a period of two years rather than one.

These decisions are part of a complete review of the structure of the tour, medic currently being made in conjunction with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).

A further part of this review will include the option of fundamentally changing the ranking system so that it is based on prize money earned, medic rather than ranking points.

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn, said: “Our sport is changing and we need to adjust the structure of the pro tour to reflect that.

“We are expanding on a global scale and we need to provide more opportunities to international players, and allow all players to develop their careers with the most talented ones rising quickly to the top.

“We are currently in a consultation process and will continue to work closely on this with the WPBSA. Further updates will be announced in due course.”

Victoria has secured the right to host the first ever ranking snooker tournament to be staged in Australia, the Australian Goldfields Open, taking place from July 18-24.

IMG Worldwide, the Victorian Government and World Snooker announced the deal to stage the event in Australia for each of the next three years at Bendigo Stadium.

Australia’s Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher stated: “The Australian Goldfields Open will provide an outstanding opportunity to see top sporting action in regional Victoria. The Australian Goldfields Open is the latest addition to Victoria’s award winning major events calendar of exciting, world-class events that is sure to thrill and entertain Victorians and visitors alike.”

IMG will act as the promoter of the event while IMG Media will produce and distribute worldwide television coverage of the tournament to a global audience, and Martin Jolly, senior vice-president and managing director of IMG Asia Pacific, added: “As part of IMG’s long-term relationship with World Snooker, it is our strategy to expand the World Tour into the Asia Pacific region. Victoria has an enviable reputation for staging world-class sporting events and it is therefore fitting that they will host the first World Snooker event in Australia.”

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said: “Snooker is going global like never before as we also have new events in Thailand and Brazil within the next few months, plus many more in the pipeline.”

The Australian Goldfields Open will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, which has provided coverage of several leading snooker events such as the Grand Prix Snooker, Premier League Snooker, Snooker Masters and the UK Championship.

The Cleveland Browns have announced today that Chief Executive Officer Joe Banner has stepped down from his role.

The team also promoted Ray Farmer to General Manager. Farmer will immediately take the over the team’s football operations and lead the Browns during free agency and the draft. 

Additionally, troche the team announced that General Manager Michael Lombardi is departing the organization. President Alec Scheiner will continue in charge of the organization’s business operations.

Owner Jimmy Haslam made the announcement: “First of all, medstore we wanted to capitalize on the knowledge, experience and character we’re fortunate to have in Ray Farmer. Ray has a tremendous football IQ, he’s compelling, and he understands the types of players we need to acquire and develop in order to win in Cleveland. He embraces his partnership with Mike Pettine, which is critical in helping build the right team. Ray will provide excellent leadership in our front office. 

“We appreciate Joe’s contributions to the Cleveland Browns, especially in helping us as new owners. He was committed to creating a successful organization and bringing in talented individuals. We thank him for his work and dedication. We wish him and his family the best. 

“Alec will continue in his role as President of this team. I think he’s one of the most intelligent and innovative young executives in the NFL. 

“We’re also grateful for Mike Lombardi’s efforts and commitment since rejoining our organization. He is an experienced and creative NFL executive with a unique ability to see the big picture. He has tremendous instincts and I know he’ll be a valuable addition to any NFL organization. We simply wanted to give Ray this opportunity that he’s earned. We wanted to move forward under his leadership and capabilities. 

“The purpose of these moves is to unify our team with one, unequivocal goal: Provide our fans with the winning organization they have long deserved.”