Yorkshire Rows Reach Antigua

After almost 68 days across 3,000 miles, a crew of four Yorkshire women have become the oldest all-female crew to cross the Atlantic.

The Yorkshire Rows – Niki Doeg, Helen Butters, both 45, Frances Davies, 47, and Janette Benaddi, 51 – began their journey at La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 20 December and arrived in Antigua on Thursday after 67 days, five hours and two minutes.

The crew, who all have children in the same school, travelled through a hurricane and had to row naked at one point after running out of clothes. They were raising money for a cancer care centre to be built in Leeds.

“It feels like a dream to have arrived,” Benaddi, the skipper, told BBC. “This race truly deserves to be called the world’s toughest row – it felt like we were battling against the ocean and we are so proud to have achieved something that we originally thought was way beyond our capabilities.

“Less than 100 women have rowed an ocean and now we as four mums have added to that and achieved a world record. What an incredible feeling to share as four best friends.”

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FIFA Sack Secretary General Valcke

Jérôme Valcke, the suspended secretary general of Fifa and Sepp Blatter’s long-time associate, has been sacked with immediate effect.

The Frenchman is facing a nine-year ban after an ethics investigation considered several alleged offences, including being connected to the black-market sales of World Cup tickets. He denies wrongdoing.

The ethics committee’s investigatory chamber recommended a nine-year ban and a 100,000 Swiss francs (£67,500) fine as it passed the case to the adjudicatory arm, headed by the German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, for a final decision.

In December Blatter and Michel Platini, the Uefa president who was his heir apparent, were banned from football for eight years following an investigation into a £1.35m “disloyal payment”. Both men protested their innocence.

Valcke has been suspended since 17 September, but a meeting of Fifa’s emergency committee has now decided to dismiss him from the organisation.

Fifa said in a statement: “The employment relationship between Fifa and Jérôme Valcke has been terminated… The provisional suspension … extended on 6 January 2016 continues to be valid. The duties of the Secretary General will continue to be assumed by the Acting Secretary General, Dr Markus Kattner.”

It is the second time Valcke has been dismissed by Fifa. In 2006 a New York judge said Valcke, as head of marketing, had “lied repeatedly” to potential sponsors, with a lawyer saying that among Fifa’s “white lies, commercial lies, bluffs, pure lies, straight untruths and perjury, Mr Valcke even lied when testifying about his lies”. 

Blatter rehired him eight months later.

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Money Trouble at Rio Maracana

Administrators of Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Maracanã stadium have fired 75% of the arena’s staff eight months before the 2016 Olympics.

The consortium formed by construction company Odebrecht SA and entertainment group AEG said in a statement late on Monday that 40 people were laid off. 

The stadium, which hosted the 2014 World Cup final, is to be used for up to nine months by Games organizers, who are bringing in their own workers for that period.

Maracanã administrators said the layoffs aim to cut costs while the facility is under Olympic control. Arena tours and maintenance will be carried out by contractors.

The Maracanã, Brazil’s flagship stadium with nearly 79,000 seats, is scheduled to host Olympic soccer matches as well as opening and closing ceremonies.

Ownership of the stadium passed in 2013 to a private consortium formed by Odebrecht, which is now implicated in a massive corruption scheme at the country’s state-run oil company, Petrobras.

The stadium consortium lost 125m reais ($31.2m) in the first two years of business. It is likely to have taken an even bigger hit last year and is in discussions with the Rio de Janeiro state government to renegotiate their contract. 

Aerial view of the Maracana Complex with one year to go to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on 5 August 2015.

Administrators said discussions with the Rio state government on a new operating contract are ongoing.

The consortium said that one of the reasons they have lost money is because they were unable to build a retail complex on the site, due to protests in 2013 over attempts to evict an indigenous community from a dilapidated museum complex.

Brazilian media have reported that stadium operations could be returned to the state in 2017.

Electricity was cut off at the stadium where track and field events are to be held, as Rio’s city government and soccer club Botafogo blamed each other for unpaid utility bills.

Brazilian website Globo Esporte said the bills totaled 1m reais ($250,000) and represented two months of missed payments. It reported that electricity has been out at the arena since last week, and water was cut more than a month ago.

A deep recession in Brazil has forced cuts to Olympic preparations as organizers try to slash about $500m in expenditures to keep the operating budget at $1.9bn.

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Rory McIlroy Wants Faster Golf

The world number one golfer, Rory McIlroy, has called for a faster version of golf in a bid to attract young players to the sport.

Sport England figures show that the number of 16-25-year-olds playing the game regularly almost halved between 2009-10 and 2012-13.

"Everything's so instant now and everyone doesn't have as much time as they used to," world number one McIlroy told BBC Radio 4.

"So you maybe try some way of speeding the game up."

Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who won the Open and the US PGA in 2014, added: "The viewership in golf is up but the participation is down.

"People enjoy watching the game but gone are the days that you could spend five or six hours on a golf course."

Golf's authorities have been reluctant to bring in changes in the past, with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews only agreeing to admit women to its membership in September.

But McIlroy believes the sport's rulemakers are ready for new initiatives.

"I don't think they'd be against it, especially if they wanted to get participation levels up," said McIlroy, who finished second to Lewis Hamilton in the voting for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

"I don't think they need to alter tournament-play formats, I think that works very well. It's the grass roots... definitely not at our level."

McIlroy, who famously appeared on television to chip golf balls into a washing machine at the age of nine, wants young people to follow his example and take up the sport early in life.

"I feel as though I've inspired a lot of kids back home in Northern Ireland to pick up the game and play," he said.

"Hopefully I can continue to do that beyond Northern Ireland because it's a great game. It's given me a lot and I've loved every minute of it and I know if more people pick up the game they'll love it, too."

People playing golf once a week, every week, in England
Year	14-25 year olds	16-25 year olds	All ages (16+)
2009-10		95,700	860,900
2010-11		73,100	833,200
2011-12		55,900	850,500
2012-13	61,400	52,400	751,900

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