Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The former test cricket umpire Fred Goodall has died. He was 83.

Goodall, was New Zealand's leading umpire during the 1970s and '80s.

He stood in 24 tests and 15 one-day internationals between 1965 and 1988.

He was a central figure in the 1980 series between New Zealand and the West Indies with the tourists disatisfied with the officiating of Goodall.

In the first test in Dunedin Michael Holding kicked the stumps over after Goodall's fellow umpire John Hastie gave New Zealand batsman John Parker not out following Holding's appeal for a caught behind.

In the second test at Lancaster Park in Christchurch the Windies were further incensed with the officiating of Goodall and at one stage refused to return to the field for ten minutes following a tea break.

Tensions then reached breaking point when fast bowler Colin Croft elbowed Goodall as he came past the umpire to bowl.

New Zealand won the series 1-nil.

After he finished umpiring, Goodall was involved in masters athletics competing with success in the javelin and discus.

In 1999 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sport.

-RNZ

Kepu the latest Moana Pasifika signing

Former Australian international, Sekope Kepu, is the latest player to sign with Moana Pasifika for their debut season in Super Rugby Pacific next year.

The 35-year-old has played 110 tests and 295 professional matches since making his debut in 2006.

The Australian-born Tongan is currently playing for Counties Manukau in the NPC.

He joins Samoan trio Neria Fomai, Tomasi Alosio and Henry Taefu, Tongan loose forwards Sione Tu'ipulotu and Solomone Funaki, Wallabies first five Christian Lealiifano and former Crusaders halfback Ereatara Enari.

-RNZ

Unvaccinated tennis players unlikely to get into Australia

Unvaccinated tennis players are unlikely to get a visa to travel to Australia to compete in the Australian Open in January.

Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews said if they did get a visa they'd probably have to quarantine for a couple of weeks.

Andrews made the comments after men's world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic declined to reveal his COVID vaccination status and said he was unsure if he would defend his title.

"Things beings as they are, I still don't know if I will go to Melbourne, Djokovic said.

"I will not reveal my status whether I have been vaccinated or not, it is a private matter and an inappropriate inquiry.

Victoria, where the Grand Slam takes place in Melbourne, has introduced a vaccine mandate for professional athletes, although authorities have not clarified what the requirement will be for those coming from abroad.

-Reuters

Phoenix sign experience midfielders for A-League

The Wellington Phoenix have signed experienced midfielders Chloe Knott and Grace Jale to the Club's inaugural A-League Women's squad.

English-born Knott, 25, attended Rangitoto College and moved to the United States in 2014 at the age of 18; enjoying a successful four-year stint at Georgetown University.

She played for Durham Women FC in England and has spent the last two seasons with the Northern Lights in the New Zealand Premiership, scoring seven goals as one of the league's most dominant players.

22-year-old Jale attended Wake Forest University in the United States and is a current member of the Football Ferns.

Wellington Phoenix A-League Women's Head Coach, Gemma Lewis says that both players will bring a measure of experience and toughness to a young squad.

The club has also signed five players from the Future Ferns Domestic Programme, Ava Pritchard, Grace Wisnewski, Kelli Brown, Mackenzie Barry and Saskia Vosper.

Goalkeeper Lily Alfed was the first signing last week.

The Club's first ever match in this competition is scheduled for December 3rd against the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Gunners salvage draw

Alexandre Lacazette scored deep into injury time to rescue a point for Arsenal as club legend Patrick Vieira was denied a winning return with Crystal Palace.

The game ended 2-2.

Superb second-half goals from Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard had turned the match on its head after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Arsenal an early lead.

The Eagles were set for three points until they failed to clear a corner and Lacazette pounced after Ben White's effort was saved.

Arsenal move up to 12th with a sixth game unbeaten, while Palace remain 14th after a third draw in a row.

Crystal Palace manager Vieira played 279 times for Arsenal between 1996 and 2005.

-Reuters

England receive ban after crowd trouble

England have been ordered to play their next home game in UEFA competition without supporters present after disturbances during their Euro 2020 final against Italy at Wembley in July.

The ban on fans attending a second game has been suspended for a probationary period of two years, while the English FA has been fined $164,000.

The July 11 final, won by Italy in a penalty shootout, was marred by clashes between supporters and officials in and around Wembley, with ticketless fans breaching security cordons.

The FA has commissioned an independent review to look into the disturbances.

UEFA opened a disciplinary investigation two days after the final and the FA was hit with four charges for invasion of the field by fans, throwing of objects, disturbance caused during the national anthem and the lighting of fireworks.

British police made several arrests during the final and said 19 officers were injured.

Home Office figures showed that of the 90 football-related arrests made at Euro 2020, 39 were at the Italy match.

-Reuters

Rare feat for Irish bowler

Ireland seamer Curtis Campher accomplished the rare feat of taking four wickets in four consecutive deliveries when he ran through the Netherlands middle order batting in their Twenty20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi.

Sri Lanka fast bowling great Lasith Malinga took four wickets in consecutive balls twice -- against South Africa in a 2007 one-day international and against New Zealand in a T20 match in 2019.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was the only other cricketer to achieve the feat in international cricket against Ireland in a T20 match in 2019.

Ireland won by seven wickets after chasing down their target of 107 in the 16th over.

Sri Lanka, the 2014 champions, are also having to jostle with the game's minnows in the preliminary round and Dasun Shanaka's men also had a comfortable start with a seven-wicket win over Namibia in the day's second Group A outing.

Off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana led an inspired bowling performance from Sri Lanka with three wickets as the island nation bundled out Namibia for 96.

Sri Lanka's chase got off to a shaky start as they lost three quick wickets but Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa steadied the ship with an unbroken 74-run stand to see the side home with 6.3 overs to spare.

The four teams in the group will play each other before the top two advance to the Super 12 stage.

-Reuters

Husband of murdererd runner held by police

A Kenyan court has allowed police to hold the husband of long distance runner Agnes Tirop for 20 days over her killing.

Tirop's husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was arraigned on suspicion of her murder during his first appearance before the court in the Rift Valley town of Iten, close to the home they shared.

Police told the court they would use the time to complete investigations and to carry out tests on the suspect to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Detectives arrested Rotich last week in the coastal city of Mombasa, saying he was trying to flee the country. Neither Rotich, nor his representatives, have made any public comments on the case.

Tirop was found dead the month after she broke the women's 10-km world record in Germany.

-Reuters

Tibetans protest at Olympic flame site

The Beijing 2022 Olympics flame has been lit at Greece's ancient Olympia, just over 100 days before the start of the Games in February, as a handful of Tibetan protesters attempted to protest inside the ancient site.

The Chinese capital will become the first city to host both the Winter and Summer Games when it stages the Feb. 4-20 event but protests and calls for boycotts over the country's human rights record have marred the run-up.

Three human rights activists entered the site of the ancient Greek stadium and temple where the flame for the Olympic Games is traditionally lit, despite a strong police presence, and attempted to unfurl banners just after the torch was lit.

They were stopped by security and led away.

Rights groups and U.S. lawmakers have called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the Games and relocate the event unless China ends what the United States deems ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating forced labour by detaining around a million Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim minorities in camps since 2016.

-Reuters

Fifa to meet with coaches

FIFA has invited the coaches of all 211 men's national teams to a meeting about their plans for a biennial World Cup and new international match calendar.

Video conferences for the coaches will be held on Tuesday and Thursday and will be led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, FIFA's head of Global Football Development.

UEFA have vowed to oppose FIFA's plans until they are dropped by FIFA and sources told Reuters on Friday that European bodies will refuse to participate in any new tournament and calendar if the plans are pushed through at a planned vote in December.

FIFA has argued that a biennial World Cup would lead to increased chances for countries to play in the tournament and that a streamlined qualification process, with fewer international breaks, would reduce travel for players.

UEFA says that a more frequently held World Cup would dilute the competition's prestige and that holding major tournaments every year would increase the load on players and crowd the schedule.

-Reuters

First ever Sri Lankan captain dies

Bandula Warnapura, who captained Sri Lanka in their first ever test match against England in 1982, has died at the age of 68.

Sri Lanka Cricket said Warnapura was also a respected administrator who held the position of director of cricket operations at the country's governing body and had served the Asian Cricket Council for many years.

Warnapura opened the batting for Sri Lanka and represented them in four tests and 12 one-day internationals. He claimed eight wickets in the shorter format bowling medium pace.

"It was such a joy to chat to him on everything cricket. A good and gentle man. We will miss him. Our thoughts are with his loved ones," former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said on Twitter.

-Reuters