Late last week, the coaches, captains, chairmen and chief executives of the league gathered in Sydney and unanimously voted to end the rule of the Australian Rugby League and News Limited in favor of an independent commission.

Richardson said that there are changes in the rules of the game that must be enacted quickly in order to serve what the fans want. He added that an agreement can be drafted faster between ARL and News Limited.

The chief executive stressed that the new independent commission can be set into place before this year’s season starts.

Richardson said that true independence means putting the public’s interest first rather than certain vested interests.

Greg Bird, a player for the Australian rugby league international, was cleared of charges for assaulting his girlfriend last Wednesday and can now continue playing for the team. The last time Bird played was last season. He was fired by Australian National Rugby League club Cronulla in January this year.

According to reports, Bird’s American girlfriend Katie Milligan incurred broken eye socket and eye cuts after an alleged fight that took place in August 2008. Bird was sentenced to eight months in jail with a maximum term of 16 months.

However, evidence surfaced that Milligan’s drug use caused the fight. Milligan allegedly attempted to attack Bird with a water glass and the rugby player was just attempting to defend himself.

The glass reportedly broke but it remained unclear why it did and why it ended up bruising Milligan.

Australian coach Robbie Deans warned his team that the highly-anticipated rugby match against Ireland at the Croke Park in Dublin this Sunday will serve as a test for the team’s development.
Australia defeated England last weekend but Deans said that the team should not be complacent in the upcoming match considered that Ireland is a Six Nations titlist and could provide a tougher match. He said that this will serve a test for the team to determine if they already have what it takes to dominate the sport.

He said that it’s “litmus test” for the team since aside from being Six Nations champions, Ireland has been European Cup champions for two years (2008 and this year) thus making Sunday’s match a lucrative one.

He added that the Irish team is always expected to win everytime which gives them more confidence when it comes to high profile matches.

The announcement came in a three-line statement released by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU). Tuqiri’s contract with the league “has been terminated effective today.” The statement stressed that it was “a standard employment matter” and that other specifics will not be released for now.

A leading newspaper in Australia reported that Tuqiri, one of the highest paid rugby players in the country, was fired due to an ongoing investigation on an incident that is not related to the sport.

Rumors had been spreading the past few days that he’ll be leaving the team with other players such as Peter Hynes, Lachie Turner and Drew Mitchell getting more preferential treatment than him. He stressed earlier this year that he has no plans of leaving the team considering that he signed a contract until 2011.

Another speculation arose after one newspaper revealed that Tuqiri was issued with a “final warning letter” two years ago after an alleged drinking session with his fellow Australian rugby team players. If the star player broke the rule one more time then he would have gotten the boot.

This development was shared by Ian Barr, a senior official from the World Health Organization. He said that rugby players are “susceptible” to the flu just like other players because they could acquire it just be sitting next to someone who has the disease on a plane or in any other location abroad.

Several rugby team players have undergone medical tests after news broke out that Queensland’s star Ben Hannant became the first sports personality to acquire the swine flu.

Health officials are currently implementing a containment program. Players that show symptoms of swine flu gets a shot of an anti-virus called tamiflu. These players go in quarantine for three days or 72 hours.

So far, the officials said that no deaths have been reported in the country so far in relation to the swine flu. Experts stated that swine flue occurs only once in a person so if Hannant is cured, he will most probably be the safest rugby player.

According to reports, a television documentary featuring sex scandals behind the rugby league rocked the nation. An unidentified woman was interviewed on national television and revealed that seven years ago about a dozen players from the Cronulla club lined up to have sex with her in New Zealand. She said that the incident destroyed her life.

According to the report, the police did not file charges against the players at the time because the suspects claimed that the woman consented on the act.

David Gallop, the National Rugby League Chief Executive, issued a public apology afterwards, saying that major changes are going to be put in place.

The TV documentary titled “The Code of Silence” featured a series of sex scandals in the rugby league for the past decade and quite surprisingly, there were a number of incidents that came to light.

Former rugby player Matthew Johns admitted to his involvement in the incident after the woman named him. He issued a tearful apology on national TV. He lost his jobs as assistant coach to one of the Rugby League teams and as TV presenter.

The 26-year old player of the Brumbies team died from blood infection following surgery. On May 29, Mackay was hit by a motor vehicle in Durban, South Africa and needed major emergency surgeries to repair multiple fractures he suffered from the incident. However, a fatal cardiac arrest ensued after he contracted the blood infection.

Mackay’s parents John and Leonie said in their statement that they are flattered with the messages of support and reassurance from the rugby community from different parts of the world. They also credited St. Augustine’s Hospital staff for working hard to save their son’s life.

The parents also mentioned the Brumbies club for giving a second home for their son. They added that rugby has always been their son’s passion and that having lived up the dream of becoming an athlete could only mean that “he died a very happy man.”

The funeral will take place on Wednesday at Mary Immaculate Church in Sydney.

Cipriani played for the Wasps for more than 50 minutes on Wednesday evening’s Game against Bath. That was his first match since his ankle injury in last May. His recovery was a fast one and as a result, he has been considered healthy enough to play for the English team in their upcoming test against the Pacific Islanders this November. Cipriani would be taking the place vacated by Jonny Wilkinson. Wilkinson suffered a knee injury a few days ago.

“It is very disappointing for Jonny obviously because you can’t wish an injury on anyone,” said Cipriani. “Whether I get picked for England or not, I need to be playing well for Wasps first. So I can’t be thinking too much about that. I need to be thinking about playing European Cup rugby and getting my match head on.”

Hansen claims that the Wallabies were shown footage of All Blacks Rugby Team training sessions before the game started. He also claims that this gave the Australian Rugby team an idea of how the All Blacks were going to perform. Hansen places the blame on a television crew that filmed an All Blacks Rugby training session.

Both the Wallabies and the film crew in question have denied the allegations. They have discredited the report saying that what Hansen heard was only a rumor. However, Hansen insists that he was supplied this information by an Australian official and that it wasn’t a rumor, but a fact.

Hansen had this to say to Reuters:

“It was Channel Seven, and I don’t know if it was more than one session but I definitely know of one session, then they gave it to the Australians. It’s disappointing that the Australians actually used it. We know they used it because they told us. It was a bit dumb, but they did.”

The Wallabies Rugby Team continue to deny the claims staying that it had ‘NO FOUNDATION’.