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SURF Live Saving Australia has been asked to explain why it did
not heed a coroner’s warning to make competitors wear inflatable
safety vests after the death of 14-year-old Matthew Barclay.
Matthew came off his board during an under-15s competition
at Kurrawa beach on the Gold Coast in March and is the third
teenager to die at the national championships since 1996.
Ironman Saxon Bird drowned in wild seas at the 2010 event and
in 1996 teenage boat rower Robert Gatenby drowned at the same
beach in rough surf.
The lawyer for Bird’s family, Christopher Branson, QC called for
a royal commission into the running of the Australian Surf Life
Saving Championships on the Gold Coast.
His call came after Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) was criticised
for not heeding the coroner’s recommendation to make inflatable
surf vests - still being trialled - mandatory at surf competitions.
Mr Branson said officials had “learned nothing” from the previous
deaths.
However SLSA chief executive Brett Williamson said a coroner’s
recommendation that helmets and flotation vests be given to
competitors is expected to come into place next season.
“I’d anticipate something would be in place by next year,” Mr
WIlliamson said.
“It’s been optional and ... there’s more and more people using
various designs of flotation vests and more people choosing to
use helmets.’’
He said a range of cultural issues would have to be addressed
before vests and helmets were made compulsory and a range of
inflation vests had been submitted to SLSA for evaluation.
There has been an outcry following the decision
by Boroondara Council in Victoria, Australia to ban
the playing of Twenty20 cricket in parks.
It is believed a car window shattered by a soaring
ball prompted the ban.
Disappointed cricketers say the decision is one
of the most bizarre enforced on sports clubs in
Victoria.
“It’s just a stupid situation,” Burwood Cricket Club
president Tony Canterbury said.
“You either ban the whole lot or you live with the
risk.
“The main frustration is that we can play a one-day
game on a ground but we can’t play a Twenty20.
Players can still hit a six.”
But Boroondara said a crackdown was necessary
because many of its grounds were too small or too
close to public areas.
“There are about 40 grounds at which we currently
don’t allow Twenty20 cricket,” community
development director Jacqui Briggs said.
“We have restricted Twenty20 cricket on some
grounds due to the potential risks ... such as the
ground being too small, too close to roads or
playgrounds, houses or paths.”
Reviews had begun on risk control measures,
including additional fencing or moving pathways,
so bans could be lifted.
TWENTY20 CRICKET BANNED FROM
MELBOURNE PARKS
UK Racecourse attendances grew for the third year running,
reaching an all-time high of 6.15 million adult visitors in 2011,
according to trade body - the Racecourse Association.
The latest figures were reportedly helped by good weather
and more aggressive promotion of the sport by racecourses,
along with other initiatives designed to take racing to a
broader audience.
In April 2011, 26 racecourses participated in a ‘try racing
for free’ offer organised by Racing for Change, an industry
promotional body. The activity resulted in an additional
63,000 adults through the turnstiles, many of whom were
new customers or lapsed race goers.
The sport’s growing popularity on the track was also been
mirrored in TV viewing figures with both Channel 4 and the
BBC reporting increases in their audience numbers. 9 million
viewers saw the 2011 Grand National, an increase of one
million on the previous year.
RACE ATTENDANCES HIT ALL-TIME HIGH IN UK
ANOTHER SURF LIFE SAVING DEATH
RAISES QUESTIONS
touchline
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