The Northern Territory news Wed 14 Mar 2012
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2012-03-14
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
application/pdf
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Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/238758
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/630608
48 NT NEWS. Wednesday, March 14, 2012. www.ntnews.com.au P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 1 4 -M A R -2 0 1 2 P A G E : 4 8 C O L O R : C M Y K SPORT l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l ntnews.com.au Cropp leaves Australia for the riches of Turkey HORSERACING ByADRIANDUNN JOCKEY Lisa Cropp has closed the door on her Melbourne and in effect her Australian riding career. Cropp left for her Cambridge home in New Zealand last Saturday night without any fanfare or, for that matter, notifying her manager. During last week, Cropp sold her car to an employee of Mike Moroney and, fittingly, had her final ride on one of Moroneys horses African Pulse in the Newmarket Handicap. Cropp, a no-show at Cranbourne last Friday and Stony Creek on Sunday, does not intend to remain long in New Zealand she has accepted a contract in Turkey. The 41-year-old could not be contacted yesterday. Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey said Cropp has asked for a clearance back to New Zealand but he had heard as had Victorian Jockeys Association chief Des OKeeffe that Cropp had secured a three month contract to ride in Turkey. Cropp arrived in Melbourne about 17 months ago as she embarked on rebuilding a career put on hold for three years while she fought a drug conviction after returning a positive swab to methamphetamine in a random test at Te Rapa in May 2005. It was only after she paid a fine and legal costs, costing more than $90,000, was Cropp granted her licence to ride. During her time in Mel bourne, Cropp enjoyed success, especially for Moroney, Fran Houlahan and Rick Hore-Lacy. She rode 94 winners, 89 seconds and 96 thirds from 1250 rides. Her biggest success was on the Moroneytrained Glass Harmonium in the Group 2 Eagle Farm Cup. Palmer set to hit road for ideas SOCCER CLIVE Palmers Football Australia says it will give a voice to thousands of disgruntled soccer stakeholders through a public inquiry, but the FFA is unlikely to listen. Palmer announced yesterday his organisation will conduct its own national public commission of inquiry into improving the administration and development of soccer. His personally-funded commission will travel Australia taking submissions on issues ranging from fees for under-six players to the performance and funding of national teams. Its the next step in Palmers feud with Football Federation Australia (FFA) which revoked his licence to own Gold Coast United A-League club after he called the games controlling body a joke among other breaches of the club participation agreement. We expect to hear lots of voices, Palmers Football Australia chief executive Archie Fraser said. Theres thousands of people here who know that the game is not being run right. Hopefully, itll give us an opportunity to bring forward things that people are saying regarding how the game can be improved, so well be certainly communicating with the FFA about that. But its likely to be oneway communication. While Fraser expects the commission to deliver hundreds of suggestions and submissions to the FFA, the ruling body considers the inquiry a stunt. This is another sideshow that has nothing to do with advancing the interests of the game, FFA spokesman Kyle Patterson said. Football has democratically elected bodies from the grassroots to the state federations and up to FFA at the national level. The game is administered under the auspices of the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA. Fraser said Palmer has received hundreds of emails and messages from people disenchanted with the way soccer is run. He says the biggest areas of concern are fees for junior players, Australias failure to qualify for the Olympics and the lack of progress in womens soccer. Comeback star Raikkonen is upbeat about new car KIMI Raikkonen, back in Formula One after a two-year absence, believes his new Lotus will be well placed for this weekends Australian Grand Prix. The 2007 world champion remains notoriously quiet but admits the E20 should suit the Albert Park street circuit. Raikkonen produced an eye-catching final test in Spain recently where he clocked the quickest lap. But he said it was impossible to tell where Lotus would be on the grid until practice and qualifying later this week. Still, Raikkonen says the characteristics of the car should be compatible with the demands of the track. You need a car with good traction and everything from testing says that the E20 has good traction so that will help us, Raikkonen said. Strong turn-in and stable braking help too, and those areas also feel good with the car so we are well placed. On paper, he believes the Lotus should perform well. My engineers have been running simulations and looking at the test data so we have an idea of how the car should work at Albert Park, but we wont know for sure until we get out on track, he said. But he believes the car will be reasonably strong. The Finn, who has spent two years competing in ral lies and briefly in NASCAR, said the weather which is forecast to be a mixture of rain and sunny periods would be crucial. The track can be a bit slippery at the beginning of the weekend and the Melbourne weather is not always very warm, he said. (It) can definitely be a bit tricky. Sebastian Vettel raises his fist. Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone believes the German ace can become the best F1 driver yet seen Picture: VICTOR CAIVANO Vettel in the hot seat F1 boss says Red Bull ace can surpass Schumacher MOTORRACING FORMULA ONE boss Bernie Ecclestone says Sebastian Vettel can surpass Michael Schumachers record of seven world championships. Ecclestone says the young German will take his third straight drivers title this season and any other result would be a major upset. Previewing the season, starting with this weeks Australian Grand Prix, Ecclestone has forecast a Vettel victory and a clean sweep for Red Bull in 2012 with Mark Webber placing second in the championship. He has virtually dismissed Ferraris chances but believes McLaren will be the main challenger, with either Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton taking third. Ecclestone described Hamilton as mentally unstable last year when the Briton found himself embroiled in on-track controversies and distractions in his private life. The F1 boss feels Hamilton will be rejuvenated this season, but not enough to topple Vettel, who he feels is an odds-on favourite for a hattrick of crowns. My guess is that he really can do it again, Ecclestone said on the official Formula1.com website. What points against it? I think anything else would be the surprise. The pre-season tests spoke a quite clear language the Red Bull looks super competitive again, and Sebastian is only 24, so he still has an enormous potential to fill. According to Ecclestone, Vettels competitive nature could drive him past Schumachers mark of seven world titles. Hes got it all talent, passion, zeal, a clear head and he hates to lose, he said. I could imagine him beating Michaels record. Ecclestone said Red Bull was a clear step ahead of all its rivals.