分类： sports

A high-stakes class action lawsuit brought by former Australian Football League (AFL) players over long-term brain damage linked to repeated on-field and training concussions is on track for a landmark 12-week trial, set to commence in the second half of 2025.

First launched in 2023 by Max Rooke, a former defender for the Geelong Cats who played 125 top-flight games for the club between 2002 and 2010, the legal action has already grown to include nearly 100 former players as participating claimants. Rooke serves as the lead plaintiff in the case, which was brought before Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Keogh for a procedural hearing on Monday, where the trial timeline was formally set.

Per the court’s scheduling order, the 12-week trial will get underway on July 26, 2025. Alongside the trial date, the court also scheduled a directions hearing focused on pre-trial mediation for September 30 this year, with a specialized expert conclave — a closed-door meeting where independent medical and industry specialists will discuss technical issues central to the case — also planned to take place ahead of the trial.

In his claim, Rooke alleges he sustained permanent, life-altering brain damage from repeated concussion injuries sustained during his playing and training career. He further claims that both the league and his club failed to provide reasonable care after he suffered head impacts, and never adequately warned him of the long-term health risks associated with repeated concussions.

The class action is not limited to Rooke and the current group of claimants. It is brought on behalf of all AFL players, their families, and their estates who played in the league at any point between 1985 and March 2023, and who have since developed permanent brain injuries stemming from in-game or training head impacts. The core allegation of the lawsuit is that the AFL as the governing body, and individual participating clubs, systematically failed to properly manage and mitigate the risk of concussion injuries for players over the 38-year period covered by the claim.

The legal battle has already seen one major pre-trial ruling. In September 2023, Justice Keogh rejected an application by the AFL and Geelong Football Club to split the class action into hundreds of separate individual claims, a move that would have significantly delayed proceedings and increased legal costs for the plaintiffs. The league and the named clubs have maintained their defense against the claims throughout the procedural process.

As the Melbourne Demons mount an unexpected on-field resurgence under new head coach Steven King, star goalkicker Bayley Fritsch has opened up about progressing contract extension talks and his unshakable belief that his top AFL performances are still to come.

The 29-year-old forward, currently in the final season of the contract he signed following his breakout 2021 campaign, confirmed that negotiations on a new deal to stay at the club have reached a productive phase. Fritsch, a left-footed sharpshooter, was dropped from the senior side last season but earned his place back after just one week out, and has since become a key fixture in the rejuvenated Demons line-up.

For Fritsch, there is no question of continuing his career anywhere other than Melbourne. “It’s something that’s obviously playing out behind the scenes, I think we’re in good conversations with the club,” he told reporters. “I don’t see myself anywhere else. Hopefully, we can get something sorted pretty soon.”

A late bloomer in professional AFL ranks, Fritsch was not drafted until he was 19, and he argues that late start means he still has plenty of high-quality playing years left in him. “I started pretty late, so I’d like to think I can play well into my 30s,” he explained. “I feel I’ve got a lot of good footy ahead of me. There’s still plenty of things to work on in my game and I think I’m still improving every year.”

Fritsch’s mixed performance in the third quarter of Saturday’s clash against Hawthorn laid bare the fluctuating nature of his 2024 form so far. After pulling off a desperate match-winning tackle and nailing a long-range goal, he made a selfish call to shoot for goal again instead of playing a simple handball to an unmarked Latrelle Pickett. Looking back on the mistake, Fritsch admitted he let the roar of the 70,000-strong home crowd get the better of him. “If I had my time again, I would’ve heard him, I would’ve handballed it, but that’s footy,” he said.

The Demons have emerged as one of the form teams of the 2024 season under first-year coach King, notching seven wins from their opening 10 matches with an attacking style of play that marks a stark shift from the club’s recent game plans. King has set his side an ambitious target: to become a must-watch “box office” team capable of scoring 100 points every week.

Fritsch has heaped praise on the new coach, crediting King for instilling unwavering belief in the playing group from his first day in charge. “The sky is the limit,” Fritsch said. “That’s one thing Kingy said on day one: ‘If you don’t have an eye on the premiership, what’s the point of playing?’ It’s not saying we think we’re going to win the premiership, but you’ve got to have a goal and obviously that’s everyone’s goal. If you don’t have the goal to win the premiership coming into day one of pre-season, then I think you’re in the wrong mindset. We’ll keep taking it week by week, as cliche as it is, (and) keep working on our game, but I think we’re in a really good spot.”

Reigning world champions England have cemented their dominance in European women’s rugby, securing an eighth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title and fifth straight Grand Slam after a hard-fought 43-28 away win against France in Bordeaux on Sunday. The victory stretched the Red Roses’ extraordinary unbeaten streak, which has now run for nearly four years across 38 consecutive test matches. Sunday’s title decider pitted two undefeated sides against one another, with France entering the clash boasting four wins from four matches just like their English visitors, setting up a much-anticipated battle for the championship crown.

In a major show of England’s unrivaled depth across the squad, head coach John Mitchell was forced to leave more than a dozen first-team players sidelined for the final fixture, with absences stemming from pregnancy, injury, and retirement following the side’s 2024 World Cup triumph. France got off to a blistering start, putting together a spectacular full-field attacking move that saw scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus cross the line for an opening try, which Carla Arbez converted to give the hosts an early 7-0 lead.

England responded swiftly, however, with prop Sarah Bern powering over the line for a try converted by fly-half Zoe Harrison to level the scores in the 22nd minute. Seven minutes later, Red Roses captain Meg Jones launched a clever kick downfield from a loose ball, which bounced perfectly into the path of full-back Ellie Kildunne for England’s second try. Four minutes before halftime, a sharp cross-field attacking move ended with right wing Jess Breach extending England’s lead, and Kildunne grabbed her second try before the break to leave the visitors with a commanding 26-7 halftime advantage.

An early second-half penalty from Harrison pushed England’s lead out to 22 points at 29-7, but France mounted a fierce comeback to claw their way back into the contest. Anais Grando crossed in the right corner for a try, before Bourdon Sansus caught England off guard with a sniping break from a close-range scrum to score under the posts on the hour mark. Arbez converted both tries to cut England’s lead to just eight points at 29-21 heading into the final quarter, setting up a tense finale.

Breach put a stop to France’s comeback momentum in the 65th minute, when Kildunne delivered a perfectly timed pass to send the winger over for her second try. Harrison’s conversion restored England’s comfortable advantage at 36-21. France’s hopes of a late turnaround were further damaged when replacement scrum-half Alexandra Chambon was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, leaving the hosts down to 14 players for the final 10 minutes. England sealed the win with a sixth try from Amy Cokayne, who crossed on the blindside from a close-range line-out with two minutes remaining. Harrison added the extra points, and a late converted try from France’s Rose Bernadou on the final play of the game was not enough to alter the final result.

In earlier kickoffs across the tournament, Ireland delivered a dominant performance to claim third place in the standings, routing Scotland 54-0 in their first ever stand-alone women’s Six Nations match at Dublin’s iconic Lansdowne Road. The Irish side ran in seven tries in a stunning first-half display, with No 8 Aoife Wafer crossing twice to put Ireland 47-0 up at the break. Scotland avoided a scoreless result with a late try from Aicha Sutcliffe on the final play, but the result marked a fourth defeat from five matches for the side in this year’s championship. “The first half was the best version of us and we were excellent,” Ireland coach Scott Bemand told the BBC after the match.

In Cardiff, Italy ran in seven tries to secure a 43-24 win over Wales, which stretched Wales’ losing streak to a record nine consecutive test matches. Wales held a surprise 19-17 halftime lead, but Italy pulled clear after the break to claim a comfortable win. The result means Wales have finished bottom of the Women’s Six Nations table for the second consecutive year, after losing all five of their 2025 championship fixtures. For head coach Sean Jones, who took charge in January 2024, the defeat leaves him with just one win from 15 tests in charge, and he offered no excuses for the result post-match. “What I’ve just said to the players is that we’ve just got to be better,” he said.

The final weeks of the English Premier League season delivered a historic milestone, high-stakes relegation drama, and shifting European qualification hopes across a packed weekend of action, headlined by Bruno Fernandes’ record-equaling achievement for Manchester United.

Manchester United secured a narrow 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford to lock in third place in the league table, and in the process, Bruno Fernandes matched the Premier League’s single-season assist record of 20. The Portuguese midfielder now stands alongside Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne as the only players to hit that mark in a single campaign. The record-tying play came with 14 minutes remaining in regulation, when Fernandes’ drilled cross into the box was poked home by Bryan Mbeumo — Mbeumo’s first goal scored since February.

The match was not without controversy, as a handball by Mbeumo in the build-up to Matheus Cunha’s go-ahead goal survived a VAR review and stood. The game opened with an early lead for United, as Luke Shaw volleyed home just five minutes after kickoff. Nottingham Forest fought back to level the score seven minutes into the second half, when Morato headed in a cross from Elliot Anderson. Just minutes after the equalizer, Cunha put United back in front after the ball ricocheted off Mbeumo’s thigh onto his arm before falling to the Brazilian attacker. Morgan Gibbs-White cut United’s lead back to one goal in the 78th minute, but the Red Devils held on for the win to extend their strong run of form under interim manager Michael Carrick.

Carrick, who took over as interim boss in January following the sacking of Ruben Amorim, is widely expected to sign a permanent two-year contract to stay on at the club. Speaking after the match, Carrick confirmed that details of his future will be finalized in the near future: “Over the coming days there’ll be clarity in the situation,” he said.

Elsewhere, the relegation battle remains down to the wire, with third-bottom West Ham United set to face a make-or-break clash against Newcastle United on Sunday. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side sit just two points adrift of fourth-bottom Tottenham Hotspur, who do not play until Tuesday against Chelsea. A win for West Ham would lift them out of the relegation zone. It has been more than a decade since West Ham last competed in the second tier (2011-12), while Tottenham has not fallen to the Championship since the 1977-78 season, adding extra pressure to the final matchweek survival fight.

European qualification hopes also took hits and boosts across Sunday’s fixtures. At Elland Road, Leeds United grabbed a 1-0 stoppage-time win over Brighton & Hove Albion, but the victory came at a cost: German midfielder Anton Stach, who is hoping to earn a spot in Germany’s 2026 World Cup squad, was stretchered off the pitch, leaving his tournament prospects in doubt. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the late winning goal for Leeds, damaging seventh-placed Brighton’s bid to secure a spot in continental competition next season.

Eighth-placed Brentford also saw their European ambitions dented after a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. Palace got off to a quick start, with Ismaila Sarr converting a sixth-minute penalty to open the scoring. Dango Ouattara equalized for Brentford before halftime, and Adam Wharton restored Palace’s lead with his first goal for the club in the 52nd minute. But Ouattara struck again in the 88th minute to salvage a point for Brentford, leaving both sides outside the European spots.

Sunderland boosted their own European hopes with a 3-1 away win over Everton, which in turn crushed Everton’s own chances of qualifying for continental competition. Merlin Rohl put Everton ahead with a deflected strike in the 43rd minute, but Brian Brobbey equalized for Sunderland in the 59th minute. Enzo Le Fee put Sunderland ahead in the 81st minute, and Wilson Isidor added a third in stoppage time to secure all three points for the ninth-placed side.

Fulham’s European dreams were also hampered after they could only manage a 1-1 draw against already-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers. Mateus Mane gave Wolves an early lead with a 25th-minute long-range strike, and Antonee Robinson equalized from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time to split the points.

In off-the-field news that broke early Sunday, Chelsea appointed Xabi Alonso as their new permanent manager, less than 24 hours after the Blues fell 1-0 to Manchester City in the FA Cup final. Alonso, who led Bayer Leverkusen to the 2024 Bundesliga title, agreed to a four-year contract with the 10th-placed Chelsea side. The 44-year-old was dismissed by Real Madrid in January after just seven months in charge, and will officially take over at Chelsea on July 1.

The 2024 Catalan MotoGP Grand Prix delivered a dramatic day of high-speed racing defined by shocking crashes, two red-flag stoppages, and a fairy-tale victory for Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio on Sunday. The Italian rider secured his first MotoGP win in three years despite sustaining a hand injury early in the event from debris of a catastrophic crash that sidelined reigning Catalan winner Alex Marquez.

Trouble struck the circuit before the race could even find its rhythm. Pole-sitter Pedro Acosta suffered a sudden technical failure that cut his engine power mid-corner, leaving Alex Marquez with no time to avoid a collision. Marquez was flipped violently off his Ducati-Gresini bike, which was completely destroyed in the impact. The 2023 race winner and Saturday sprint champion was airlifted to a local hospital for urgent care, just one week after his older brother – eight-time world champion Marc Marquez – suffered a violent crash at Le Mans that left him injured.

Race officials immediately called the first red flag to clear debris from the track. When racing resumed, disaster struck again on the opening corner: French rider Johann Zarco collided with Luca Marini and defending series champion Pecco Bagnaia, sending Zarco sliding off the track and forcing a second red-flag stoppage. Zarco was transported by ambulance for mandatory medical evaluations after the incident. The race restarted with 12 laps remaining on the calendar.

When the final run to the checkered flag got underway, Acosta held the lead for most of the remaining distance, until Di Giannantonio made a decisive overtake with just two laps left to claim the top spot. Joan Mir and Fermin Aldeguer also slipped past Acosta, who was taken out in a late collision with Ai Ogura not long before the finish line. Aldeguer rounded out the podium in third, while Mir crossed the line in second – though both Mir and several other riders now face official investigations over potential violations of MotoGP’s tyre pressure regulations.

In the overall championship standings, current leader Marco Bezzecchi endured a difficult weekend but still managed to expand his gap at the top. His closest title contender, Jorge Martin, was caught up in a crash caused by Raul Fernandez’s aggressive inside overtake, marking Martin’s fifth crash of the entire weekend. Bezzecchi crossed the line in sixth, pushing his championship lead to 13 points over Martin.

For Di Giannantonio, the win was almost derailed before he even got to the final restart: the Italian suffered a hand injury when a loose wheel from Marquez’s destroyed bike hit him during the first crash. But he pushed through the pain to secure the milestone victory. After taking the checkered flag, he opened his post-race comments by prioritizing the health of fallen riders over his own win.
“I’m so happy. But first of all I was really worried about all the riders who crashed,” Di Giannantonio told reporters. “Today has not been an easy day for everybody. I really hope that Alex (Marquez) is fine. We’ve been really lucky. We know that our sport is amazing. We try to give an amazing show, we are humans, we are in danger.”

In a moment that has captured cross-border attention, North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Club touched down at Incheon International Airport near Seoul on Sunday, kicking off the first visit by a North Korean sports delegation to South Korea in nearly a decade. The historic trip comes ahead of their much-anticipated semi-final match at the Women’s Asian Champions League this week.

The 39-member group, made up of players and coaching staff, stepped off the aircraft dressed in matching dark coordinated outfits, wheeling matching pink luggage as they navigated a secured, cordoned path through the airport. A large crowd of journalists gathered to document the arrival, while dozens of representatives from South Korean civic groups held up handwritten welcome signs to greet the delegation. Chants of “We welcome you!” rang out as the team passed, with a heavy uniformed security presence deployed to maintain order during the arrival process. Following their exit from the terminal, the team quickly boarded a chartered bus, which departed for their accommodation under a full police escort.

Choi Young-ok, one of the South Korean civic group members who turned out to greet the visitors, shared her perspective with AFP on the significance of the moment. She explained that she joined the welcome event specifically to mark the first North Korean sports team visit in eight years, but tempered expectations about what the single match could achieve for inter-Korean relations. “While I do hope it will help, I don’t think this match alone will solve anything significant unless the fundamental issues between the two sides are addressed,” Choi noted, adding simply, “A sports match is just a sports match.”

Based in Pyongyang, Naegohyang Women’s FC – whose name translates to “My Hometown” in Korean – was founded in 2012. The club claimed the title of North Korea’s top domestic women’s league in the 2021-2022 season, and already holds a 3-0 victory over their upcoming opponent, South Korea’s Suwon FC Women, from the group stage of the same tournament last year. The North Korean delegation travelled to South Korea via Beijing on a commercial Air China flight, and will be based at a hotel in Suwon, a city located south of Seoul. According to local South Korean media reports, both the North Korean and South Korean squads will be staying at the same accommodation, but separate dining areas and movement routes have been arranged to limit unplanned direct interaction between the two groups.

Public interest in the rare cross-border match has surged among South Korean football fans: more than 7,000 tickets for the Wednesday game sold out within just a few hours of going on sale. The match will be hosted at Suwon Sports Complex, which has a total capacity of just under 12,000 spectators. Seoul’s Unification Ministry has allocated public funding to support civic groups that are organizing cheering activities for both teams, framing the match as a rare opportunity to build “mutual understanding between the two Koreas.”

However, strict local regulations shape the scope of welcome activities: under South Korea’s National Security Law, displaying the North Korean national flag in public spaces is banned. In past cross-border sports events hosted in South Korea, civic groups have instead used unifying flags depicting the entire Korean Peninsula as an alternative, and local media reports confirm that similar arrangements are in place for this week’s match.

Women’s football has long been one of North Korea’s most successful international sports, with North Korean national squads consistently competing at the top tier of Asian and global competition. The North Korean senior women’s national team currently sits 11th in the official FIFA world rankings – a far higher position than the North Korean men’s national team, which ranks 118th globally.