The Athletics Australia will have a new President and Chairman after David Grace QC was unanimously appointed to the role by the Board of Directors.

Set to replace the outgoing Rob Fildes OAM, denture Grace has been involved with the sport of track and field for nearly 50 years. A competitor in interclub, state and national competitions as a sprinter and jumper, he has also been involved in coaching and administration at the Ajax Maccabi Athletics Club in Melbourne. He is a life member of that club.

Grace joined the Athletics Australia Board of Directors in 2006, with his responsibilities regularly relying upon his extensive experience in judicial matters relating to sport and its governance.  

He has been the Vice President alongside Nick Moore since 2011, with his involvement in our national sporting organisation commencing after his appointment as the Chairperson of the Athletics Australia Tribunal (2001-2006).

The Principal of his own individual law practice that specialises in appellate advocacy, Grace has also worked collaboratively with a group of lawyers to establish a large criminal, administrative and sports law practice in Melbourne. 

“My appointment as the President of Athletics Australia is something that I am very excited about, and I look forward to tackling the many challenges we face as a sport alongside a very capable team of Directors,” Grace said.

“While the pursuit of a possible merge with Little Athletics Australia will remain a key priority, it is important that we as a sport continue to execute our strong plans in the areas of able-bodied and para-athletics high performance, coaching development, competition and participation. It is vital that we work hard to assist in the delivery of the Australian Institute of Sport’s Winning Edge program and extremely important that while we continue to operate independently as Athletics Australia we explore all avenues that could lead to improved commercial viability for the sport.

“Athletics is something that has been in my blood for half a century, and I will bring an extensive understanding of our sport’s landscape to the role. I am looking forward to working alongside my capable Board of Directors, and the track and field community as a whole, for the betterment of the sport long term.”

Grace also lauded the performance of Fildes as President of Athletics Australia, and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

“Rob has been a true servant of athletics in Australia and I congratulate him on a job well done. He has left the sport in a much stronger position than when he took the reigns in 2005, with healthy capital reserves and a strong relationship with our key partners including the Australian Sports Commission, the IAAF, the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Committees and the Australian Commonwealth Games Association,” Grace added.

“I have no doubt that Rob’s retirement from the Board of Directors does not mean a complete retirement from the sport and I look forward to sharing the journey to Glasgow 2014, Rio 2016 and beyond with him in whatever capacity he chooses to remain involved.”

Fildes retirement comes after a eight-year tenure as President of Athletics Australia. 

A strong advocate for the merge discussions with Little Athletics Australia, Fildes has been extensively involved in the development of Athletics House at Lakeside Stadium, as well as the establishment of the IAAF Melbourne World Challenge as a fixture on the IAAF World Challenge series.

“It has been a very rewarding journey as the President of Athletics Australia and I thank my fellow Directors for allowing me to continue in the role for the period that I have,” Fildes said.

“I am proud of the position in which I will leave the sport for the next generation of leaders and I look forward to working alongside David and his team in a less formal capacity as we pursue the vital undertaking of working towards becoming one sport.

“Athletics Australia is a fantastic organisation to be involved with and I am confident that it will continue to develop and succeed in the years to come. It has embraced the Australian Institute of Sport’s Winning Edge program and continues to develop in the areas of coaching and participation. The sport is stronger now than it has been in many years and this is a humbling result given the extensive time that my fellow Directors and I contribute alongside the capable team of executive management and staff.” 

Grace commences his role as President and Chairman of Athletics Australia immediately. 

Matthew Mahon was also promoted and he will now take on the role of Vice President of Athletics Australia alongside the incumbent Moore. The Board of Directors also includes Anne Lord, Melissa Babbage, Peter Bromley and Nathan Deakes.

Los Angeles has been revealed as an interested party in a a potential United States bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote a letter to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) saying that Los Angeles is interested in bidding for the Games.

In his letter the Mayor said, “On behalf of the City of Los Angeles, I am pleased to confirm our enthusiastic interest in bidding to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We are proud of our city’s sports heritage and tradition, and we stand ready to work with you to bring the Olympic Games back to the United States.”

Last year Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution of support for a 2024 Olympic Games bid.

The letter to the USOC also included a letter of support from the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, which included signatures from Magic Johnson, Tom Hanks, Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans, and AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke.

Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics. The host for the 2024 Games will be awarded in 2017.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) intends to review procedures for issuing tickets at Olympics, after problems in London.

“We are definitely going to review the ticketing policy of the Games IOC president Jacques Rogge said at a pres conference today. “This is one of the issues that we are going to review in Rio in the general debrief and there will be a working group together with LOCOG to work on that.” 

According to Rogge the sale of tickets is “a very complicated issue because you need a good balance between the home public and the rest of the world, because the athletes of the world deserve also to have their nationals being present at the Games as supporters”.

Rogge said that the IOC would examine the current system of distribution tickets through National Olympic Committees’ organised ticket resellers to see if it could continue and how it could be improved.

American Airlines Center, home to the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and NHL’s Dallas Stars, has agreed a partnership with SpotlightTMS to provide SpotlightTMS to its suite and platinum customers as a value-added feature of its premium seating packages, the company announced today.

The SpotlightTMS Software as a Service (SaaS) application will enable American Airlines Center’s Platinum Premier members to manage ticket and suite inventory for 170 annual events, including the Dallas Mavericks’ and Dallas Stars’ home games, while measuring the business impact of these entertainment assets.

“We want to ensure that our suite and platinum customers have the tools they need to get the most value from their premium assets at American Airlines Center,” said Brad Mayne, president of Center Operating Company, the firm that operates American Airlines Center.“SpotlightTMS is very active across professional sports leagues and with the Association of Luxury Suite Directors, so it was the only software company we seriously considered. SpotlightTMS is being used so commonly by our peers that selecting the software for our corporate customers was an easy decision.”

According to Mayne, the premium seating industry has grown so much over the past ten years that the volume of ticket inventory held by corporations has become difficult to manage through outdated manual processes or internal systems. SpotlightTMS offers companies secure access through the Internet to manage these ticket inventories, distribute tickets, analyze the results of ticket usage and acquire additional tickets from multiple sources. The software also helps companies meet IRS and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance reporting requirements and avoid violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – all of which, combined, result in billions of dollars in fines and penalties to U.S. companies annually.

SpotlightTMS enables corporations to increase sales effectiveness, reduce ticket fraud through role-based permission approval for ticket requests, and reduce administrative time and money. By providing SpotlightTMS as part of its premium suite and seating packages, American Airlines Center adds value to these packages and enables the venue’s Platinum Premier clients to increase revenue and ROI on use of their tickets and suites.

“By offering SpotlightTMS as a benefit to its premium customers, American Airlines Center is not only adding value to ticket and suite investments, but enabling these companies to validate the business impact of these assets,” said Tony Knopp, SpotlightTMS CEO and co-founder. “At renewal time, this can be a powerful endorsement of the impact corporate entertaining can have on the bottom line.”

Cloud delivery of the software means that American Airlines Center’s corporate customers do not need to invest in additional hardware, or handle software installation, set up or maintenance. The benefits of SpotlightTMS can be realized immediately.

Borussia Dortmund have become the latest German soccer club to agree a partnership with a solar energy company.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA has increased the pressure on its world ruling body FIFA by urging it to introduce “concrete” reforms within the next three months.

Allegations of corruption have been rife in the organisation for many years but have come to fruition and public attention more than ever this year with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed Bin Hammam – Sepp Blatter’s former presidential challenger – and CONCACAF president Jack Warner having been provisionally suspended pending a full investigation.

At the conclusion of the June meeting of UEFA’s executive committee, general secretary Gianni Infantino said: “The UEFA executive committee has taken note of the will of FIFA to take concrete and effective measures for good governance. It hopes to see results within three months and it is following the situation closely. We want whatever it is FIFA chooses to do to be concrete.

After the FA were lambasted within FIFA for attempting to postpone the vote which saw Sepp Blatter re-elected president for a fourth term, UEFA president Michel Platini spoke warmly of the FA late last week when announcing the decision to re-award the Champions League final rights to Wenbley Stadium in 2013. He stated: “I think it is important to respect 150 years of the FA.

“We are gathered here because 150 years ago, there were people in England who put football’s rules in place. I believe it is a real moment of respect – if we forget the past, we do not have a future.”

Whilst calling for reforms from its ‘big brother’ FIFA, UEFA has made a major announcement to world soccer by appointing a woman as a member of its decision-making Executive Committee.

Within weeks of Platini announcing at the organisation’s Congress in Paris that he wanted more female representation on board, Karen Espelund was made a member of the Executive Committee by invitation rather than election.

At the recent Congress, Platini stated: “We must a find a way to break the glass ceiling preventing women from reaching positions of responsibility within our organisations.”

The Norwegian is no stranger to positions of authority having been general secretary of her country’s federation for the last 10 years, as well as serving as head of UEFA Women’s Football Committee.

Birmingham International Holdings Limited, viagra the holding company of Birmingham City Football Club, tadalafil have revealed today a British consortium has made an offer to buy aminority stake in the Championship club. 

Acting chairman Peter Pannu said: “I can confirm that BIHL remains in advanced talks with a British consortium with a very strong North American investment fund.

“However, specific details cannot be disclosed at this moment in time due to non-disclosure agreements and HKSE regulations. There are many technical issues still to be resolved and legal representatives from both parties remain in advanced discussions to pave the way forward.”

Football Federation Australia (FFA) have today re-elected Moya Dodd and elected Peter Tredinnick and Cheryl Bart to the Board of Directors, viagra order at their Annual Meeting. 

Dodd, a former Matildas international, is a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and a Vice-President of the Asian Football Confederation.

Tredinnick, a senior partner in law firm Moray and Agnew and a former Socceroo international, is elected to a full four-year term having previously filled a casual vacancy for the past 15 months.

Bart, an experienced company director, is elected to the FFA Board having previously served in the national governance of the game as a Director of the former Soccer Australia administration.

The meeting in Sydney was attended by the FFA stakeholders from the nine State and Territory Member Federations