2009 NHL Winter Classic
The two teams wore vintage-style uniforms, using the current Reebok Edge equipment and material. The Red Wings wore a version of the sweaters worn by the Detroit Cougars in 1926–27, their first season in the NHL, but with their familiar "Winged Wheel" logo on the shoulders. The Blackhawks wore sweaters which were a mix of their 1936–37 sweaters and their 1937–38 sweaters, with the design from 1936–37 and the chest crest from 1937–38.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Host selection
On May 29, 2008, TSN reported that Chicago was chosen to host the annual outdoor game over New York City, the other host finalist for the game. A game in New York City would have been played at the original Yankee Stadium, which closed after hosting the New York Yankees from 1923 to 2008. Logistical concerns, however, forced New York out because the stadium was to be demolished; if the game had been played at Yankee Stadium, it would have been the last event in that building.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Host selection
Beaver Stadium, the second largest outdoor sports venue in North America and the home of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, was also in consideration, with that location likely only if the two teams were the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers; because the Penguins had played in the previous Winter Classic, this scenario was ultimately rejected for 2009.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Host selection
Original reports said the game was going be played at Soldier Field. However, the Chicago Bears objected to the use of Soldier Field, citing the potential to host an NFL playoff game on the following weekend. On July 6, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, was chosen to host the game. Ten days later, on July 16, the Blackhawks and the NHL confirmed the site and date. There had never been a hockey game at Wrigley Field in the past, and in addition, the rink was left up until January 4 for community skates at The Friendly Confines, with the $10 admission for an hour of skating donated to Cubs Care charities, which was sold out.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Preparations
Construction of the ice rink began on December 16, 2008, eight days earlier than last season's Classic. It was again being supervised by Dan Craig, the NHL's facilities operations manager. This time, the crew did not have to wait for any other sport to be played in the stadium, so there was more time to prepare the venue for the Classic. The rink was built from the bottom with plywood and aluminum panels, the latter of which have tubes to move coolant under the ice to maintain a cold temperature. The coolant comes from a truck based outside of the ballpark.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Preparations
The NHL had a Spectator Plaza outside of Wrigley Field at the intersection of West Waveland and North Clark Streets. This included ticket giveaways, live music, interactive games, ice sculpting and other entertainment on the day of the Classic.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Preparations
The 95-year legacy of Wrigley Field as a baseball venue resulted in several nods to baseball. The exterior of the rink was decorated to resemble the low brick wall that fronts the box seating area at the ballpark. Cubs' Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg were on hand for the pregame ceremonies, along with several retired Blackhawks players. About halfway through the third period, Sandberg along with Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Denis Savard sang a variation on "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" with a few word changes to reference hockey.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Pregame
The national anthems were performed by Scott Newlands ("O Canada") and Chicago Blackhawks anthem singer, Jim Cornelison ("The Star-Spangled Banner").


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Rule changes
As with the 2008 game in Ralph Wilson Stadium, the NHL announced a rule change to account for any possible adverse weather conditions. Taking into account high winds which are common during baseball games at Wrigley Field, the teams changed sides at the first whistle after the halfway point of the third period. This was done at exactly the halfway point of the third in 2008 because of falling snow.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Media coverage
Television coverage of the game was handled in the United States by NBC. Mike Emrick, the lead announcer for NBC, was not able to call play-by-play for the game due to laryngitis. He was replaced by Dave Strader. Ed Olczyk, Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury again provided analysis. In Canada, CBC carried the game in English and RDS broadcast in French. NASN televised the game live overseas in the United Kingdom, where it started at 6:00 p.m. local time. Additionally, NHL.com offered bonus video coverage.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Media coverage
The radio feed was broadcast by NHL Radio on Westwood One throughout North America, excluding the markets of the competing teams, and was carried by Sirius XM Radio. In addition, the American and Canadian versions of the NHL Network carried programming bookending the event starting with the practice sessions one day earlier, as well as the pre-game and post game events, and offered replays that weekend using both NBC's and CBC's feeds.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Media coverage, Television ratings
One reason that the NHL does the outdoor game is to promote the League on television. The television ratings will partially determine if the outdoor game events will continue. On January 3, 2009, the NHL reported that the "overnight television ratings" had increased 12% over the 2008 game. Nationally, the game had a 2.9 overnight rating and a 6 share.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Media coverage, Television ratings
In Chicago, Thursday's game drew a national high of an 11.8 rating and 21 share, with Detroit second at 10.5 and 21 (this despite that yet again, a Michigan-based team was playing in the Capital One Bowl opposite the Winter Classic, the Michigan State Spartans). Other above-average markets included Buffalo (whose 10.1 rating/20 share was comparable to Detroit's), St. Louis (5.3/10), Pittsburgh (4.4/8), Denver (4.2/10), Providence (3.5/7), Indianapolis (3.4/6), West Palm Beach (3.3/6) and Orlando (3.2/5). Each overnight ratings point equals about 735,000 TV homes. On January 12, the final ratings figure was announced. There was an average of 4.4 million viewers of the game on NBC, and this was the largest since the February 23, 1975, match between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Game summary
The Red Wings dressed seven defensemen for the game, as they did in their prior game, to account for Nicklas Lidstrom returning from an ankle injury. Healthy scratches included forward Tomas Kopecky and defenseman Derek Meech. The Blackhawks scratched forward Adam Burish and defenseman Aaron Johnson. Ty Conklin started in goal for the Red Wings, making him the only player to take the ice for all three regular season NHL outdoor games (after having played for the Edmonton Oilers in the Heritage Classic in 2003 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 NHL Winter Classic). During the intermissions, members of the Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band and the Northern Illinois University Huskie Marching Band played on the field to entertain the crowd.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Game summary
The first three combined goals were scored on the power play. The Red Wings paid for a mistake while they were already shorthanded, having too many players on the ice, putting them down by two men. Rookie winger Kris Versteeg scored the first goal of the game for the Blackhawks with three seconds left in the two-man advantage. The Red Wings' Mikael Samuelsson scored with three seconds remaining on his team's second power play which was the result of a Dustin Byfuglien roughing minor that was called during one of the many post-whistle scrums during the first period. Martin Havlat capitalized on another Red Wings mistake, scoring on the power play that resulted from Brett Lebda shooting the puck over the glass from his defensive zone. Ben Eager closed the scoring in the first period with a wrap-around goal.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Game summary
Detroit scored the next five goals, the first two from Jiri Hudler and the next from Pavel Datsyuk at even-strength in the second period. Datsyuk's goal was hailed as being wind-assisted, since Datsyuk picked up a burst of speed as he went between two Blackhawks defenders to find a clear path to the net. In the third period, defenseman Brian Rafalski scored the eventual game-winning goal on the power play. Seventeen seconds later, Brett Lebda scored the Red Wings' final goal, chasing Cristobal Huet from the net, with Nikolai Khabibulin taking over for him.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Game summary
In his 16:36 of play, Khabibulin saved all 13 shots that he faced, after Huet saved 24 of 30 shots. Duncan Keith closed the scoring for Chicago on the power play with less than ten seconds remaining. Conklin made 33 saves for the Red Wings on 37 shots. Most Notably, as told by Chris Chelios on Barstool's Spittin' Chiclets podcast, He consumed some beers while on the bench during the game because Coach Mike Babcock had a power trip towards Chelios and only played him a total of 1:57 of ice time in 1st period. So Chelios in the second period signaled to his two sons to get him some beer, so his two boys were handing him beers the whole game, which was a nice big middle finger to Babcock.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Lost Logo Challenge
Reebok sponsored a contest known as the "NHL Winter Classic Reebok Lost Logo Challenge," which challenged fans to find the one player on the ice without a Reebok logo on the back of his jersey. The player without the logo, therefore the correct entry to the contest, was Dustin Byfuglien of the Blackhawks. All RBK Edge sweaters have a Reebok vector logo near the top of the jersey above the player's nameplate, but this one jersey had no logo stitched in that position.


2009 NHL Winter Classic, Lost Logo Challenge
Each person attending the game was given binoculars and was able to enter the contest by cell phone; television viewers could enter the contest online. Entries were accepted through the first two periods, at which time two winners, one inside Wrigley Field and one home viewer, were selected from those who chose the correct player. Each winner received an identical prize: a trip to a Stanley Cup Finals game and a $1,000 gift certificate to NHL.com.


2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season
The 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Season consisted of 24 national events held at tracks across the U.S. The first 18 events made up the regular season, with the final events making up the "Countdown to 1".


2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, Points standings
Mike Edwards last won a title in 1981 (Modified Class), the longest gap in NHRA history.


2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, Points standings
The teams running a Dodge Stratus have been notified by the NHRA that body style, because of it is out of production for the past five years, will be illegal in 2010. Dodge teams must run the Avenger in 2010. Pro Stock Cars may be any approved car (Mustang, Cobalt, Avenger, GXP, GTO) from the past five years.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots
The NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riot refers to the riot involving the football clubs NK Široki Brijeg (supported mostly by Herzegovian Croat fans) and FK Sarajevo (supported mostly by Bosniak fans) during a leg of the 2009 Bosnian-Herzegovian Premier League in the Herzegovian town of Široki Brijeg. During the riot members of Horde Zla ("Legions of Evil", a FK Sarajevo supporters group) and Škripari (a NK Široki Brijeg supporters group) confronted each other in altercations which subsequently spilled out to the majority of the town. Horde Zla burned cars and demolished shops while Škripari and residents of Široki Brijeg stoned Horde Zla buses and shot at supporters. Horde Zla also claim multiple counts of severe police brutality which led to the death of Horde Zla member Vedran Puljić from gunshot wounds.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
There are conflicting reports about who started the violence. Horde Zla accused local residents and police for their mistreatment on their way to the match, saying that the incident was planned by local politicians and that their buses were separated and parked too far from the stadium which left them open to stoning and attacks. They also claim that initially there were only 30 local policemen present, and they did nothing to prevent the violence. Local police and residents said Horde Zla fans were the first to attack. According to local police officials, most of the regional police had earlier been sent to the nearby city of Mostar to prevent possible violence during the match between the rival Zrinjski and Velež clubs scheduled for the same day thus leaving the match in Široki Brijeg relatively ill secured.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
Some 500 fans of the Sarajevo football club were present during the match in Široki Brijeg as well as between 150 and 200 members of the Red Army (supporters of FK Velež closely aligned with Horde Zla). According to Croatian media, members of Horde Zla have a history of starting riots in nearby Posušjeand that Horde Zla were involved in similar riots before. In September 1990 they had a conflict in Belgrade and they stabbed 2 members of Grobari (supporters of FK Partizan). While Škripari have been accused by Bosnian media of harboring far-right Ustaše sympathies including displaying the Nazi swastika in their stands on multiple occasions.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
31 people were injured in the riots, 6 of them severely. One member of Horde, named Vedran Puljić (a Sarajevo Croat), was shot and subsequently died. According to Zlatko Galić, the chief of West Herzegovina Canton police, Vedran Puljić had a record for multiple violations related to hooliganism. Police arrested Oliver Knezović as a suspect of shooting Vedran Puljić. Knezović is believed to be a former member of  Kažnjenička Bojna unit of HVO. He reportedly fired at the FK Sarajevo supporters using a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. Knezović escaped from prison only hours after he was apprehended. Eight Široki Brijeg policemen were detained for allowing the escape of Oliver Knezović.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
Oliver Knezović fled to Zagreb, Croatia, where he would not be extradited to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as there is no agreement on this issue between the two countries. He gave an interview for a local TV network, asserting his innocence. After the interview Knezović surrendered to a Zagreb police station with his lawyer. An autopsy revealed that Puljić was killed by a bullet from a police pistol. Knezović reportedly had been shooting from an AK 47. Citing unnamed police sources, some media reported that Knezović took the pistol from an officer before shooting Puljić.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
Knezović said that he had taken the pistol but returned it to the policeman before the shooting. He later came to the police station, but escaped after claiming that the police were looking to arrest him for not only shooting at members of Horde Zla (which he does not dispute he did) but also for the murder of Vedran Puljić (which he claims was committed by someone else. The policeman Dragan Vujović was also taken into custody in relation to the murder of Puljić.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
Citing unnamed police sources, some media reports claimed Vujović is being investigated as an accomplice to murder. Other media reports said that Vujović's hands tested positive for gunpowder residue, which he purportedly claimed was due to his coming into contact with the large quantities of fireworks used that day. Some reports say that the policeman has failed a polygraph test in relation to the event.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, The riots
Some members of Horde zla were arrested and put in custody. But after Horde Zla spokespeople claimed they had reports that those members were being mistreated in prison the Federal Minister Of Justice Mirsad Kebo had them transferred to Sarajevo and released. This move was met with disapproval by citizens of Široki Brijeg.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Široki Brijeg
During the following days many citizens had gathered in front of the West Herzegovina county headquarters. They blamed the violence on Horde Zla. Miro Kraljević, the mayor, addressed the audience giving them his support. The official representative of Škripari read a list of requests to the authorities of West Herzegovina county.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Široki Brijeg
The protesters left after a speech by Stanko Škorba, the president of the Union of handicapped people from the Homeland war. Škorba told them that the ministry of internal affairs has accepted to look into their requests. Although, he said, that does not mean that the Ministry necessarily sees these complaints as valid.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Široki Brijeg
The council of Široki Brijeg also held an extraordinary meeting. The counselors made a declaration denouncing the violence that occurred.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Široki Brijeg
The protests were repeated the same week. There were between 13,000 and 15,000 protesters. Besides citizens of Široki Brijeg the fans of Croat dominated clubs from Mostar, Tomislavgrad, Livno, Žepče, Kiseljak, Posavina and a number of people from Croatia attended. Representatives of Škripari demanded the resignation of Mirsad Kebo and Zvonimir Jukić.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Sarajevo
In Sarajevo, members of Horde Zla also organized citywide demonstrations. They were joined by fans of Velež, Željezničar, Čelik, Rudar (Kakanj), Travnik, Sloboda and many other, mainly Bosniak, clubs as well as over 10,000 citizens.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Sarajevo
They alleged that the causes for violence started even before they entered the town of Široki Brijeg in the form of provocations by local residents shouting ethnic slurs at them and gross negligence by the Široki Brijeg police which split them up into small unprotected groups and completely ignored any misconduct on the side of the Škripari up to and including doing nothing to stop the Škripari from hurling rocks at them. The supporters of many other Bosnian clubs present during the demonstrations have also reported that they were subject to similar ethnic provocations and willful police neglect when visiting Western Herzegovina.


2009 NK Široki Brijeg–FK Sarajevo football riots, Reactions, Sarajevo
They also expressed shock at the fact that as soon as physical confrontations broke out between them and the Škripari, the police started attacking members of Horde Zla in unison with Škripari and other local residents instead of doing their job of separating them. They demanded a thorough investigation into the misconduct of the Široki Brijeg police force which later confirmed that multiple policemen have been aiding and abetting assaults on members of Horde Zla including, in the case of policeman Dragan Vujović, being accomplices to murder. They also accused the police of ignoring local residents who had been shooting automatic weapons at the members of Horde Zla as in the case of Oliver Knezević who can be seen holding an AK-47 while being ignored by a nearby police officer on surveillance footage.


2009 NLL season
The 2009 National Lacrosse League season, the 23rd in the history of the NLL, began January 3, 2009 in Buffalo, Portland, and Sunrise, Florida, and concluded with the Calgary Roughnecks defeating the New York Titans 12—10 in the Champion's Cup on May 15, 2009 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


2009 NLL season, Team movement
After the 2008 season was cancelled and then reinstated, the Boston Blazers and Arizona Sting both announced that they would not participate in the 2008 season, and would return in 2009. However, in the summer of 2008 the Arizona Sting ceased operations and its players were put in a dispersal draft. The Blazers drafted former Sting and LumberJax forward Dan Dawson first overall.


2009 NLL season, Team movement
Just weeks prior to the start of the season, the Chicago Shamrox suspended operations due to financial troubles and the players were placed in another dispersal draft. Anthony Cosmo was selected 1st overall by the Boston Blazers in this draft.


2009 NLL season, Team movement
Finally, while not a franchise relocation, the Minnesota Swarm were moved from the East Division to the West Division.


2009 NLL season, Final standings
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2009 NLL season, All-Star game
The 2009 All-Star Game was held at Pepsi Center in Denver on March 7, 2009. The East beat the West 27-21 as Buffalo's Mark Steenhuis scored seven goals and six assists on his way to his third All-Star Game MVP award.


2009 NLL season, Awards, Weekly awards
The NLL gives out awards weekly for the best overall player, best offensive player, best transition player, best defensive player, and best rookie.


2009 NLL season, Awards, Monthly awards
Awards are also given out monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.


2009 NLL season, Statistics leaders
Bold numbers indicate new single-season records. Italics indicate tied single-season records.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Boca Chica)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Boca Chica was held April 10–12, 2009 in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. It was the third leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Cayman Islands)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Cayman Islands was held March 27–29, 2009 in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It was the first leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Guatemala)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Guatemala was held April 3–5, 2009 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It was the second leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Jamaica)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Jamaica was held June 26–29, 2009 in Kingston, Jamaica. It was the fourth leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Manzanillo)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Manzanillo was held October 2 through October 4, 2009, in Manzanillo, Mexico. It was the sixth leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009. The tournament was dedicated to the memory of Alejandro Salinas de la Garza, the late president of the Mexican National Volleyball Federation.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Montelimar)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Montelimar, was held October 28 - November 2, 2009 in Montelimar Beach, Managua, Nicaragua. It was the last leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Puerto Vallarta)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Puerto Vallarta, was held October 9–11, 2009 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was the seventh leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit (Tijuana)
The 2009 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Tijuana was held September 25–27, 2009 in Tijuana, Mexico. It was the fifth leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit 2009.


2009 NPF Draft
The 2009 NPF Senior Draft is the sixth annual NPF Draft. It was held February 17, 2009 7:00 PM EST, hosted by the Akron Racers at the Cambria Suites Akron-Canton Airport location for the 2009 season. It was streamed live on TheSoftballChannel.com. The first selection was Arizona State's Kaitlin Cochran, picked by the Akron Racers. Athletes are not allowed by the NCAA to sign professional contracts until their collegiate seasons have ended.


2009 NPF Draft
After the draft, but before the season began, the Washington Glory ceased operations for financial reasons. Subsequently, NPF and United States Specialty Sports Association(USSSA) began a partnership, which resulted in the expansion team USSSA Pride inheriting the Glory's player contracts and draft choices.


2009 NPF Draft, 2009 NPF Draft
Following are the 25 selections from the 2009 NPF Senior Draft:


2009 NPF Draft, 2009 NPF Draft
Position key: C = Catcher; UT = Utility infielder; INF = Infielder; 1B = First base; 2B =Second base SS = Shortstop; 3B = Third base; OF = Outfielder; RF = Right field; CF = Center field; LF = Left field;  P = Pitcher; RHP = right-handed Pitcher; LHP = left-handed Pitcher; DP =Designated playerPositions are listed as combined for those who can play multiple positions.


2009 NPSL season
The 2009 National Premier Soccer League season was the 7th season of the NPSL. The season began on May 2, 2009, and ended with the NPSL Championship Game in August 2009. Sonoma County Sol finished the season as national champions, beating Erie Admirals 2-1 in the championship game on August 1, 2009.


2009 NPSL season, Standings
Purple indicates division title clinchedYellow indicates team received playoff spot


2009 NPSL season, Standings, Eastern Keystone Division
Note: Charm City deducted nine points for failing to fulfil its last three fixtures.


2009 NPSL season, Standings, Eastern Atlantic Division
Note: Boston deducted three points for failing to fulfil its last fixture.


2009 NPSL season, Standings, Midwest Division
Note: Indiana deducted six points for failing to fulfil its last two fixtures.


2009 NRL Grand Final
The 2009 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership season. Played on 4 October 2009 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium was contested between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm, the latter competing in their 4th grand final in a row. That was later stripped from them for breaking the salary cap rule. It was also the first Grand Final to feature the two referee system, with Shayne Hayne and Tony Archer being the first referees to jointly officiate in an NRL Grand Final.


2009 NRL Grand Final
The Melbourne Storm led 10–0 at halftime and fought off a Parramatta comeback to eventually win 23–16 and claim their third premiership since entering the competition. This has since been stripped due to salary cap breaches. Melbourne went on to defeat the Leeds Rhinos, winners of the 2009 Super League Grand Final, in the 2010 World Club Challenge. The latter title was also stripped from the Storm.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm finished the regular season in 4th position with 14 wins, nine losses and one draw. As the minor premiers of the last three seasons and premiers in 2007, some commentators believed that the Storm were below their best in 2009 and doubted they would make a 4th straight grand final. But in the first week of the finals series they easily accounted for the defending premiers, the Manly Sea Eagles, with a 40 – 12 victory. They then defeated the 2006 premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, 40 – 10 to qualify for the grand final. The Melbourne Storm are the first side to make four consecutive grand finals since the Eels did so in 1981–84.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Melbourne Storm
Melbourne five-eighth Brett Finch had a chance to break his premiership drought by defeating the side that terminated his contract in April 2009 when coach Daniel Anderson said he was not wanted at the Parramatta club.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Parramatta Eels
After a dreadful first half of the season and languishing in 14th position, the Parramatta Eels won 9 of their last 12 games to finish 8th and just make the finals. In the first three weeks of the finals series they defeated the top three teams of the home and away season – minor premiers the St George Illawarra Dragons, the Gold Coast Titans, and arch-rivals the Canterbury Bulldogs. The last time the Eels made the grand final was 2001 where they were defeated by the Newcastle Knights and the last time they won the premiership was in 1986.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Parramatta Eels
They were the first team to come from 8th position to make the NRL Grand Final and if they had of won they would have been the first team ever ranked below 6th to win the premiership. Canterbury's appearance in the 1998 grand final came from 9th position, but under a different finals system.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels fullback and Dally M Medallist Jarryd Hayne was in danger of missing the match after being placed on report for sliding in with his knees out to stop a try and connecting with the head of Bulldog's winger Bryson Goodwin. The incident was reviewed by the NRL Match Review Panel on 27 September and Hayne received a grade one sentence, allowing him to play. This set up one of the great grand final match-ups as Hayne played opposite current Melbourne and Australian fullback and 2008 Golden Boot Winner Billy Slater.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Parramatta Eels
Parramatta captain Nathan Cayless was under an injury cloud after he strained his hamstring in the preliminary final. He passed an intense fitness test on the day before the game to take his place in the grand final. Cayless, Luke Burt and Nathan Hindmarsh went into the match as the only remaining survivors from the club's 2001 Grand Final loss to the Newcastle Knights.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Background, Parramatta Eels
The two sides faced each other once in the regular season in round 19. The Eels won 18–16 at Parramatta Stadium on 20 July.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Schedule
The 2009 NRL Grand Final featured pre-match entertainment by the Grammy award-winning Australian rock band Wolfmother while Irish band The Script performed at halftime. 2008 Australian Idol winner Wes Carr performed a tribute to the elite club of players who have played 300 Premiership games, while the game's retiring players were farewelled. Prior to kick-off the Child Flight helicopter and members of the game's "300 Club" delivered the Telstra Premiership Trophy to ANZ Stadium.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
1st HalfMelbourne's Ryan Hoffman broke the Eels' line to score the first try of the game in the fifth minute to make the score 6–0. Parramatta was looking shaky in the first half, and Melbourne capitalised with a try to Adam Blair in the 24th minute, set up by a Cooper Cronk line-break, to make the score 10–0, which would be the half-time score.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
2nd HalfParramatta scored early in the second half, with Eric Grothe, Jr., scoring in the 45th minute to bring the scoreline to 10–6. Melbourne responded quickly, with tries to Greg Inglis off a bomb kick in the 49th minute and Billy Slater from a line break in the 56th minute, to open a handy 22–6 lead heading into the final quarter of the game.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
Parramatta attacked through the final quarter of the game, then broke through for two tries: one to Joel Reddy off a bomb kick in the 70th minute, then a barnstorming run from Fuifui Moimoi off an off-load in the 72nd minute; only the former of these tries was converted, bringing the score to 22–16. In the 76th minute, with Melbourne attacking from their own half, Billy Slater dropped the ball as he tried to play it. Referee Tony Archer signaled a penalty for Melbourne.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
It was initially thought that Archer had penalised Fuifui Moimoi for stripping the ball from Slater in the tackle, even though both of Moimoi's arms were still wrapped around Slater's legs, but it was later revealed he had penalised Moimoi for holding on to Slater, not for a strip. Greg Inglis scored a field goal in the ensuing set-of-six, extending the margin to 23–16 in the 79th minute. Melbourne would hold on to win by that score.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
Clive Churchill MedalMelbourne fullback Billy Slater was judged by Australian selectors Bob McCarthy, Bob Fulton, Les Geeves and Des Morris to be awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for man of the match. Slater became the first fullback since Bronco Darren Lockyer in the 2000 NRL Grand Final to win the prestigious award. Slater became the third Storm player to win the Churchill Medal, after Brett Kimmorley (1999) and Greg Inglis (2007).


2009 NRL Grand Final, Match details
Some commentators felt that Slater did not deserve the award, suggesting other Melbourne teammates such as halfback Cooper Cronk, citing Cronk's stats which included two try assists to Slater's one, 24 tackles and 16 kicks for 529 metres, dwarfing the combined 387 metres booted by the Eels' Jarryd Hayne (226) and Jeff Robson (161). Upon receiving his award, Slater even mentioned "I feel like I don't deserve to wear it… Cooper Cronk deserved it." Despite the criticism, selectors stood by their decision.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Scorecard, Timeline
5th: Storm 6 – 0 (Try: Hoffman, Goal: C Smith)24th: Stom 10 – 0 (Try: Blair)45th: Storm 10 – 6 (Try: Grothe, Goal: Burt)49th: Storm 16 – 6 (Try: Inglis, Goal: C Smith)55th: Storm 22 – 6 (Try: Slater, Goal: C Smith)70th: Storm 22 – 12 (Try: Reddy, Goal: Burt)72nd: Storm 22 – 16 (Try: Moimoi)77th: Storm 23 – 16 (Field Goal: Inglis)


2009 NRL Grand Final, Audience
The NRL Grand Final is one of the most popular sporting events of Australasia, and the 2009 NRL grand final was played before a sold-out crowd of 82,538 – the largest rugby league crowd at ANZ Stadium in its current configuration – with millions more watching around Australia and the rest of the world.


2009 NRL Grand Final, Audience, Nine Network Criticism
The Nine Network was criticised on talkback radio, internet blogs, news sites and the Herald Sun newspaper for not broadcasting the post match celebrations, such as the trophy and medal presentations outside of NSW and QLD, the outrage most evident in Melbourne due to Melbourne Storm winning the game, and also due to the large number of Storm supporters at the Melbourne Storm function who could not make the trip to Sydney. One point made by viewers was that the post match was broadcast to international viewers but not those in Australian capital cities such as Melbourne or Adelaide.


2009 NRL Under-20s season
The 2009 NRL Under-20s season was the second season of the NRL Under-20s competition. The Competition, known as the Toyota Cup for sponsorship purposes, is solely for under-20 players. The draw and structure of the competition mirrors that of its first grade counterpart, the National Rugby League.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Ladder, Ladder Progression
Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series
The NYC finals series adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System just like its first grade counterpart, the National Rugby League.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
English-born Melbourne young gun Gareth Widdop clinched the Toyota Cup grand final for the Storm with a 74th minute try and pressure conversion, his side downing the Wests Tigers 24-22 on Sunday.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
Widdop finger-nailed a late grubber - his second try of the match - to draw his side level at 22-22 before calmly potting the conversion and delivering the second version of the national under-20s competition to Melbourne.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
The Storm scored four of their five tries in the first half to lead 18-10 at the break before a burst of two four-pointers in three minutes from the Tigers took them to a 22-18 lead after 56 minutes.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
The Tigers had looked to be coming home with a wet sail before Widdop, who missed three first-half conversions, made the difference in a match where the lead changed five times.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
The match became a virtual showdown between two gun fullbacks as Wests Tigers tryscoring machine Jake Mullaney took his season tally to 29 tries from 27 games in 2009 with a double of his own.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
The speedy Tigers fullback also scored a try on either side of halftime and set up five-eighth Robert Lui's four-pointer for the Tigers' second-half lead.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
Melbourne, who finished third in the regular season, had held the ascendancy before that, and led 18-10 at the break with, ironically, Widdop's goal-kicking letting his side down.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
The Storm had also been denied three times in the first half, twice with players held up, but scored tries through winger Matt Duffie, lock Billy Rogers, Gareth Widdop and centre Justin O'Neill.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
Melbourne Storm 24 (Gareth Widdop 2, Matt Duffie, Billy Rogers, Justin O'Neill tries; Gareth Widdop 2/5 goals)


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Finals Series, Grand Final
Wests Tigers 22 (Jake Mullaney 2, Rhys Curran, Robert Lui tries; Jake Mullaney 3/4 goals)


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Awards, Toyota Cup Player of the Year
The winner of the award is decided by the most votes during the year as decided by the referee of each game on a 3-2-1 basis for each game played throughout the regular season.


2009 NRL Under-20s season, Awards, Toyota Cup Team Of The Year
The Toyota Cup Team of the Year is voted on by the 16 Toyota Cup coaches, with the players with the highest votes in each position selected.


2009 NRL Under-20s season results
This article details scores and results from the 2009 NRL Under-20s season.


2009 NRL Under-20s season results, Regular season
Times for Rounds 1 - 4 are Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time. Times for Round 5 and the remainder of the season are Australian Eastern Standard Time.


2009 NRL season
The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership title. The season commenced with the first match played on 13 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 4 October. The Grand Final was won by the Melbourne Storm in their fourth consecutive grand final appearance. However, they were stripped of their Premiership on 22 April 2010 after they were found to be guilty of breaching the league's salary cap.


2009 NRL season
The second season of the National Youth Competition also commenced in line with the Telstra Premiership.


2009 NRL season, Season summary
This season the NRL introduced a second on-field referee. Previously when the ball changed possession the lone on-field referee would have to change his position to stay with the defending team. He also could only observe the ruck from one direction. The two-referee system saves the referees some running back and forth to get into position as possession changes and also improves watchfulness over the ruck.


2009 NRL season, Season summary
The Manly Sea Eagles began their premiership title defense in horrific fashion, losing their first four games, before a stunning revival led to them losing only four of their final 16 regular season games. The St. George Illawarra Dragons, under new coach Wayne Bennett finished the regular season with their first minor premiership title as a joint venture club. However, the Dragons then became the first minor premiers since the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 1993 to be eliminated from the final series in consecutive losses.


2009 NRL season, Season summary
For the first time since the McIntyre Final Eight System was introduced, a game was played twice in a row in the same stadium. This happened when the Dragons and Parramatta Eels played each other in round 26 (the final regular season round) and again in the first week of finals, both at WIN Jubilee Oval at Kogarah. The first game saw St George Illawarra come away with a 37-0 win in front of 17,974, while the next weeks Qualifying final saw Parramatta reverse the result with a 25-12 win in front of 18,174.


2009 NRL season, Season summary
The Eels went on to become the first side since the McIntyre Final Eight System was introduced (in 1999) to make the grand final from eighth position. Along the way, they defeated the top three teams – the St George Illawarra Dragons, Gold Coast Titans and Bulldogs – in their three finals series matches, to make it to their first Grand Final since 2001. Their Grand Final opponents, the Melbourne Storm, were playing in their fourth straight Grand Final and were looking for their third premiership having previously won in 1999 and 2007.


2009 NRL season, Season summary
In 2009, NRL games on New Zealand's Sky network drew average audiences of 46,221.


2009 NRL season, Season summary, Advertising
Keen to speak to its grass roots following in light of the AFL's aggressive expansion in rugby league's suburban heartland the NRL and its agency MJW Hakuhodo created a TVC which tells the story of junior rugby league players enjoying the game and perhaps becoming stars of the future. The commercial featured two young boys playing league in a suburban park. As they contest the game, they morph into stars of the League  as a packed stadium emerges around them. Seven-year-old Penrith junior Cameron Lloyd and 14-year-old La Perouse junior Alex Johnston play the main roles in the campaign with Johnson morphing into Melbourne's Greg Inglis scoring a try in corner in a big match.


2009 NRL season, Season summary, Advertising
The ad's strapline was "Feel It" and the soundtrack a re-worked version of 2008 Australian Idol winner Wes Carr's "Feels Like Whoa."


2009 NRL season, Teams
The clubs in the League for 2009 remained unchanged for the third consecutive year, with sixteen participating in the regular season: ten from New South Wales, three from Queensland and one from each of Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. Of the ten from New South Wales, eight were from Sydney's metropolitan area (with St. George Illawarra being a Sydney and Wollongong joint venture). Just two foundation clubs from the 1908 New South Wales Rugby Football League season played in this competition: the Roosters and the Rabbitohs.


2009 NRL season, Ladder
1 The Bulldogs were deducted 2 competition points after an interchange breach in Round 2.


2009 NRL season, Finals series
The NRL finals series adopted the McIntyre Final Eight System. Four teams made a return to the 2009 finals from 2008, grand finalists Melbourne Storm, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles along with the Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra Dragons. Both the Bulldogs and Parramatta Eels made a return after being absent in 2008. The Newcastle Knights made the finals for the first time since 2006 and their first since the departure of club legend Andrew Johns. The Gold Coast Titans entered their maiden finals series. It was also the first finals series since 2002 that no team was held scoreless.


2009 NRL season, Club and Player records
The following figures were collected from the completion of round 26 of the regular season and therefore do not represent any figures associated with the finals series or any representative matches for this year.


2009 NRL season, Club and Player records
Most points scored in a match by an individual team


2009 NRL season, Club and Player records
Jarryd Hayne ran 4,429 metres with the ball in 2009, more than any other player in the competition.


2009 NRL season, Attendance
2009's regular season attendance figures were the highest recorded in Australian rugby league history, with a total of 3,081,849. This figure bettered the previous record set by the 1995 Winfield Cup's regular season (3,061,338 in a 20 team competition) and also beat the Telstra Premiership's previous best of 3,024,149 set in 2007.


2009 NRL season, Attendance
The 2009 season also saw the second highest average crowd figure of a regular season, with a crowd average of 16,051, behind the best of 16,466 set in the 2005 NRL season.


2009 NRL season results
The 2009 National Rugby League season consisted of 26 weekly regular season rounds, starting on 13 March and ending on 6 September, followed by four weeks of play-offs which culminated in the grand final on 4 October.


2009 NRL season results, Regular season, Round 19
Parramatta forward Nathan Hindmarsh played his 250th First Grade game for the club.


2009 NRL season results, Regular season, Round 26
Channel Nine had its biggest Friday night TV ratings of the year for the Eels-Dragons game with the audience peaking at 580,000.


2009 NRL season results, Finals series, Grand final
Again, a Finals match up between the 2 clubs provided controversy. With just under 10 minutes remaining the Melbourne Storm fullback, Billy Slater was bringing the ball off his own line. Whilst playing the ball he appeared to drop the ball. However, referees Archer and Hayne gave a penalty saying that Parramatta fullback Jarryd Hayne had knocked the ball out of Slater's hand. From the subsequent penalty Storm centre Greg Inglis kicked a field goal to prevent a Parramatta comeback. In 2010 it was found that the Melbourne Storm had cheated the salary cap and as a result both this Premiership and the 2007 Premiership were wiped from the club as well as the 3 Minor Premierships it had gained and the World Club Challenge.


2009 NRW Trophy
The 2009 NRW Trophy was held in two parts, with ice dancers competing separately from the singles disciplines and pair skating. Both competitions were held at the Eissportzentrum Westfalenhalle in Dortmund. The ice dancing competition was held between November 6 and 8, 2009, and the other disciplines were held between December 3 and 6, 2009. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing across the levels of senior, junior, and novice. In addition, the ice dancing competition included a pre-novice division.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament
The 2009 Men's Division III Rugby Tournament is a tournament which involved 103 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NSCRO Division III college rugby as a culmination of the 2008–09 rugby season. It began in the fall 2008 season in the northeast, midwest and mid-atlantic, and picked up again in the spring 2009 season for the southern teams, and concludes with the Fearsome Four, a final four-style semifinals and championship games co-hosted by South Jersey RFC on April 25-6 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, National Semifinal
The National Semifinals were held on a warm sunny day, on a badly worn pitch at Green Acre Park in Cherry Hill, NJ. Sadly, the event was not well publicized. Each match was attended by about 40 rugby fans, friends and family members. The event host, South Jersey RFC, had a small concession lean-to, offering pretzels, sodas and event T-shirts.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, National Semifinal
In the first match of the day, New England Rugby Football Union Champion Salve Regina met NY State Rugby Conference Champion SUNY Oswego. Salve Regina was the only true small college in the tournament (having approximately 500 male students to SUNY's 3000), and it showed. SUNY's large squad took advantage of poor SRU tackling up the middle and took a 22-0 lead into halftime. The first half was led by the dominance of Oswego flankers Matt Moir (senior)with 4 tries, Kandu Agmibson, fly half Jordan Storie (senior captain), and outside center Jay McGukin (senior captain).


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, National Semifinal
In the second half, Oswego replaced four of its starters including starting scrum half and senior captain Alex Rufer among others due to injury and conservation for the finals match, which was to be determined. Consequently, SRU showed some spirit and put points on the board, exchanging tries with SUNY, but they never really got the hang of EPRU referee Pete Hesler's refusal to penalize an offside. And on those other penalties that were called, SRU was physically restrained from quicktapping on multiple occasions by Hesler to allow Oswego to adequately retreat. One such restraint took place on the Oswego 5m line, evoking a barrage of criticism from the SRU sideline, and for which they probably should have been disciplined. Overall, SUNY Oswego was by far the better team on the day, running in multiply tries from outside the 22m.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, National Semifinal
In the second match, VRU Champion Longwood met USA Rugby South Champion Coastal Carolina. The two teams were well coached and matched up very well. Again, however, the large college program carried the day. Coastal Carolina was physically larger, and took an early lead, but Longwood battled back, playing smart rugby and making some key kicks for points. At halftime, Coastal Carolina held a 17-13 lead. In the second half, fitness seemed to be an issue, not so much for the teams, but for the officiating crew, all of whom seemed to be approaching 60 years old and overweight.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, National Semifinal
Apparently, the event host had some difficulty arranging referees, and had to do some last minute scrambling to obtain referee coverage. Longwood took a brief lead, before giving it back to Coastal Carolina for good about midway through the second half. Coastal Carolina was the best team on Saturday. They were big, fit, aggressive and knowledgeable. Longwood matched them in every category but size and points.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, Northeast Regional Bracket
The Northeast Regional Bracket is the home of USA Rugby territorial union Northeast Rugby Union ("NRU") (partial). More specifically, it is the home of NRU's largest local area union, the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU), and its twenty-four (24) Men's College Division III Rugby teams.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, Northeast Regional Bracket
NERFU plays its regular season in the fall. At the end of the regular season, the top two teams in each of its four conferences participate in the NERFU College Men's Division III Cup Championship, which also serves as the NSCRO Northeast Regional Championship. In November 2008, Salve Regina University defeated Southern Connecticut State University 21-20 to win the regional championship. See 2008 NERFU College Men's Division III Rugby Tournament.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, Northeast Regional Bracket
In this bracket were one union champion and three conference champions:


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, New York/Midwest Regional Bracket
The New York/Midwest Regional Bracket is the home of USA Rugby territorial unions Northeast Rugby Union (partial) and Midwest Rugby Union, and their twenty-six (26) men's college division III rugby programs.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, New York/Midwest Regional Bracket
In this bracket were 3 union champions and one conference champion:


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, Mid-Atlantic Regional Bracket
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Bracket is the home of USA Rugby territorial union Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union or MARFU and their twenty-two (22) men's college division III rugby programs.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, Mid-Atlantic Regional Bracket
In this bracket were 3 union champions and a runner-up:


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, South Regional Bracket
The South Regional Bracket is the home of USA Rugby territorial union USA Rugby South ("USARS") and their thirty-one (31) men's college division III rugby programs.


2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament, Regional Brackets, South Regional Bracket
In this bracket were 4 conference champions and their runners-up:


2009 NSW Premier League season
The 2009 TeleChoice Premier League season is the ninth season of the revamped NSW Premier League. This season also marks the addition of a new team, in the Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club from the Super League (one division lower).


2009 NSW Premier League season
The 2009 regular season began on 1 March 2009, at 18:00 UTC+10, and concluded on 9 August 2009 with the Finals Series commencing a fortnight later.


2009 NSW Premier League season
During the course of the season, all Premier League, Super League and Division teams were involved in the TigerTurf Cup, an equivalent to the English FA Cup with teams competing in a series of elimination games. On Sunday, 16 August, the Sutherland Sharks Football Club were crowned the 2009 TigerTurf Cup Champions after defeating Manly United FC 1-0. On Sunday, 13 September, the Sutherland Sharks Football Club won their second championship of the year when they defeated Marconi Stallions 4 goals to 1 in the TeleChoice Premier League Grand Final at CUA Stadium, Penrith.


2009 NSW Premier League season, Clubs
Teams promoted from Super League:(After the end of the 2008 season.)


2009 NSW Premier League season, Clubs
Teams relegated to Super League:(After the end of the 2008 season.)


2009 NSW Premier League season, Regular season, Results
The results of the 2009 Home and Away season are as follows:


2009 NSW Premier League season, Statistics, Attendances
These are the attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season. The table does not include finals series attendances.


2009 NSW Premier League season, Awards, Gold medal dinner
At the end of the season, Football NSW hosted the Gold Medal Dinner, where players, coaches and referees were awarded for their work throughout the Premier League season.


2009 NSW Premier League season, Awards, All-Stars Team
Based on a points system in which all match reporters took part in during the course of the 22 rounds, eleven players were selected in various positions highlighting their performances for the season.


2009 NSW Premier League season, Awards, All-Stars Team
Defence: Michael Robinson (Sutherland Sharks), Shane Webb (Bankstown City Lions), Joe Vrkic (Sydney United), Richard Luksic (Bankstown City Lions)


2009 NSW Premier League season, Awards, All-Stars Team
Midfield: Scott Thomas (Manly United), Ali Abbas Al-Hilfi (Marconi Stallions), Panni Nikas (Sutherland Sharks), Alexander Canak (Marconi Stallions)


2009 NWT/Yukon Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The 2009 NWT/Yukon Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Canada's women's territorial curling championship) will be held January 29 – February 1 at the Whitehorse Curling Club in Whitehorse, Yukon. The winner represents team Northwest Territories/Yukon at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Victoria, British Columbia.


2009 NZIHL season
The 2009 NZIHL season was the fifth season of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League, the top level of ice hockey in New Zealand. Five teams participated in the league, and the Canterbury Red Devils won the championship by defeating the Southern Stampede in the final.


2009 Nadeshiko League
Statistics of Nadeshiko.League in the 2009 season. Urawa Reds Ladies won the championship.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season
The 2009 Nagoya Grampus season is Nagoya Grampus's 17th season in the J. League Division 1 and 28th overall in the Japanese top flight. They competed in the 2009 J. League Cup, 2009 Emperor's Cup, and the 2009 AFC Champions League.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season, Transfers, Winter
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season, Transfers, Summer
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Nagoya Grampus season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Najaf governorate election
The Najaf governorate election of 2009 was held on 31 January 2009 alongside elections for all other governorates outside Iraqi Kurdistan and Kirkuk.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire
The 2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire occurred when a supermarket in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, caught fire on 28 January 2009. Twenty-nine remains have thus far been located in the rubble of the destroyed Nakumatt supermarket, with police investigating a tip that security guards locked exit doors in an effort to prevent looting. However the locking of the doors on the ground floor had no effect on the victims, as they were all found on the floor above. The fire allegedly started near the only staircase accessible to the public, trapping the victims in the shop. One other man died after leaping from the building to escape the flames. Forty-seven people are still missing. The bodies of the dead are "charred beyond recognition".


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire
Official reports say one person died in hospital from injuries brought on by poisonous fumes and injuries sustained in the inferno but another 39 were unaccounted for and were officially reported as "missing". The emergency services have been criticised for what the Kenyan media view as an inadequate response to the blaze. Following the blaze, the Daily Nation reported that Nairobi's three million inhabitants were served only by one fire station situated close to a traffic-choked business district. Although it happened on 28 January, it was not widely reported across the world until two days later when the full scale of the fire was recognised.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Inferno
The fire began on 28 January 2009, a Wednesday afternoon, when the Woolworths Building which housed Nakumatt Downtown Nairobi caught fire at 3:00 PM. The blaze was still being fought twenty-four hours later. A power transformer had earlier blown and there were reports that gas cylinders on sale at the supermarket and chemicals at a hardware shop in the neighbouring Alibhai Shariff Building had fueled the inferno. Members of the public helped to fight the blaze which ensued. Thousands of people were evacuated from their offices in downtown Nairobi as plumes of black smoke were sent into the sky overhead.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Inferno
The smoke forced the evacuation of some nearby buildings, with police employing whips, horses and teargas to beat back curious crowds. One man died after leaping from an upper floor of the burning supermarket, whilst one other man, Nakumatt employee Jeremiah Omoyo, also leaped off the roof to escape the blaze but survived. Another Nakumatt employee told Kenya's The Standard newspaper that the crowd were encouraging the trapped customers and employees to jump. The Kenyan media has criticised the emergency response, claiming that firefighters arrived late and in inadequate numbers.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Inferno
Daily Nation, the largest newspaper in Kenya, remarked on the way the fire was handled and responded to by saying, "It is fair to say that ours is a modern city with an 18th century fire-fighting infrastructure." The City Council Fire Brigade were helped by 2 private companies with fire engines - G4S and Knight Support. This is the first of two tragedies to happen in Kenya in the same week; at least 113 people were killed when an oil spill caught fire in Molo.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Inferno, Casualties
Actress and radio presenter Angel Wainaina, known for her role as Sergeant Maria on the Cobra Squad TV series, was one of the victims and her body has been identified. Peter Serry, the CEO of Tusker FC football club was at the supermarket when the fire broke and has been missing since then, while Tusker FC coach James Nandwa, who accompanied Serry, escaped with minor injuries.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Inferno, Rebuilding
The remains of the Woolworths building that housed the supermarket were scrapped after the fire. The building is set to be rebuilt and according to National Museums of Kenya, it is a historical building that should resemble the previous one and built using red bricks. On the other hand, Steve Oundo, the chairman of Architectural Association of Kenya prefers a remembrance hall on the site, instead of rebuilding the supermarket.


2009 Nakumatt supermarket fire, Nakumatt chain
Nakumatt was a supermarket chain that had 18 stores across Kenya, employing 3,200 people and expanded to Uganda, Rwanda and other East African countries. Nakumatt was a wholly Kenyan company owned by the Atul Shah family and Hotnet Ltd. On 23 August, Nakumatt opened its first store outside Kenya in the Union Trade Center, in Kigali, Rwanda.


2009 Namibian general election
General elections were held in Namibia on 27–28 November 2009. They were the fourth general elections since independence and the fifth democratic elections. Voting ended on 28 November and official election results, released on 4 December, showed that Hifikepunye Pohamba and his SWAPO Party were re-elected, each with over 75% of the vote. Prior to the election, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was widely expected to score a landslide victory, with the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) considered SWAPO's biggest challenger. Fourteen political parties competed for seats in the National Assembly of Namibia, and twelve candidates ran for the Presidency.


2009 Namibian general election, Parties, SWAPO
The ruling SWAPO party set a goal of winning all 72 seats in the National Assembly and controlling the NA "until the second coming of Jesus Christ". At the SWAPO party congress in November 2007, current President Hifikepunye Pohamba was elected President of SWAPO and also received the party's nomination for President in 2009. SWAPO ended up winning 54 seats, a one-seat loss from the third National Assembly.


2009 Namibian general election, Parties, RDP
This was the first general election for the Rally for Democracy and Progress. The party's nominee for President was Hidipo Hamutenya, a former government minister of SWAPO. The RDP was considered the main opposition to the ruling SWAPO. It gained eight seats in the National Assembly and became the Official Opposition.


2009 Namibian general election, Parties, NUDO
On 16 October 2009, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) was the first political party to officially submit their candidate, Kuaima Riruako, for President.


2009 Namibian general election, Observers
The National Society for Human Rights' observer status was withdrawn by the electoral commission, which said it was "not impartial". The organisation said it would approach the High Court to contest the decision; the court later ordered the commission to reinstate the organisation.


2009 Namibian general election, Procedure
Though the country planned to buy electronic voting machines from India sometime in 2009, the Electoral Commission assured the National Assembly that they would not be used in the 2009 elections.


2009 Namibian general election, Results, President
Hifikepunye Pohamba was re-elected as President of Namibia with 611,241 votes, more than six times as many as Hamutenya, his nearest rival, received.


2009 Namibian general election, Results, Delay controversy
Final results were announced on 4 December, the longest delay between voting and the publication of results of any Namibian election (6 days). The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) blamed the delay on a recent amendment to the Electoral Act which had caused "logistical nightmares [they had] never experienced before" and a "cumbersome" verification process. The ECN had received criticism from political parties, civil societies and the general public for the delay.


2009 Namibian general election, Results, Delay controversy
Following publication of the results, 8 of the 13 opposition parties stated that they did not accept the results and were instructing their lawyers to challenge the ECN in court "for contravening the electoral law of the country". Electoral observers have pronounced the polls to be free and fair but recommended that the ECN speed up the counting process and free up access to the media for all parties.


2009 Namibian general election, Results, Accuracy controversy
The accuracy of the results of this election has been questioned, not only by the defeated opposition parties but also by the Namibian Society of Human Rights (NSHR). The voters roll was the main subject of contention, having contained 1 181 835 entries at the time of first publication six weeks prior to the election but shrinking to 820 305 entries within a matter of days.


2009 Namibian general election, Results, Accuracy controversy
Also the voter turnout has been questioned as there were a number of constituencies that had a turnout of over 100%, on top of the list Windhoek East with 191%, Okatyali with 189%, and Ohangwena with 175%. Further "minor" concerns were people being allowed to vote on behalf of someone else, voters asked to disclose their political affiliation at polling stations, and people allowed to vote twice.


2009 NatWest Pro40
The 2009 NatWest Pro40 was a league system 40 over competition. Sussex Sharks won Division One, while Warwickshire Bears finished top of Division Two.


2009 NatWest Pro40
This was the last year the competition was held. It was succeeded by the Clydesdale Bank 40, which combined a league format with knockout stages.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy
The 2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy refers to the controversial proclamation as National Artists of the Philippines of four individuals via the Presidential prerogative of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the four had not been nominated by the selection committee, composed of representatives from National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy
The title National Artist of the Philippines is given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts, namely, Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film, Broadcast Arts, Fashion Design and Architecture, and Allied Arts. Such Filipinos are announced, by virtue of a Presidential Proclamation, as National Artist, having been conferred membership in the Order of National Artists. Benefits they enjoy from then on include a monthly pension, medical and life insurance, arrangements for a state funeral, a place of honor at national state functions, and recognition at cultural events.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy
On July 16, 2013, the controversy finally ended after the Supreme Court of the Philippines voted 12-1-2 that voided the four proclamations created by former President Gloria Arroyo that made these people National Artists.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
The controversy began when conferred the Order of National Artists to seven individuals in July, 2009. Controversy arose from the revelation that musician Ramon Santos had been dropped from the list of nominees short-listed in May that year by the selection committee, and four other individuals had been nominated to the title via "President’s prerogative":


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
Members of the Philippine art community, including a number of living National Artists of the Philippines, protested that the proclamation politicized the title of National artist, and made it "a way for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to accommodate her allies."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
Film director Eddie Romero, himself a National Artist for Film and the Broadcast Arts, explained in an interview that the rules allow the President to pick a National Artist. He noted, however, that:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
“It seems it’s the first time the presidential prerogative was used to declare four artists. It’s like a wholesale declaration.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
National Artist for literature chairman of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines Bienvenido Lumbera, said that in the 2009 nominations, there was


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
“heavy campaigning because the government wanted to ensure the selection of four people.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative
In addition, specific protests were raised regarding the nomination of NCCA executive director Guidote-Alvarez, because it was purportedly a breach of protocol and propriety, and of Carlo Caparas, because protestors assert that he is not qualified to be nominated under either the "Visual Arts" or "Film" categories in which he was proclaimed to the order.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Alvarez
Lumbera, who happened to be a member of the combined “final selection committee" of the NCCA and CCP, noted that:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Alvarez
“It was Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, as executive director of the NCCA, who had insisted on the President’s right to add names that were not discussed in the committee.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Alvarez
“She should have not allowed herself to be named as national artist. She’s close to the President. Nobody in the committee thought that she deserved to be named."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Alvarez
Alvarez heads the NCCA secretariat that receives nominations for national artists.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Caparas
Complaints regarding Caparas' proclamation centered on the complaints that he did not illustrate the comic books he wrote and therefore did not meet the qualifications for being honored under the visual arts category, and the assertion of protesting artists that his work in the category of Film is supposedly "sub-par", being largely exploitation films: "pito-pito" ("seven-seven") films rush-finished in seven days, and "massacre films" whose focus was sensational crimes.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Caparas
Bienvenido Lumbera remarked that Caparas’ nomination was twice rejected by two NCAA panels:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Caparas
“[Caparas] was first proposed as a nominee for literature, but the committee rejected him. He was again proposed as nominee for visual artist but the panel again turned him down."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, President’s prerogative, Caparas
Film Academy of the Philippines director general Leo Martinez noted that "He was obviously added by Malacañang." Caparas is known as a vocal supporter of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Committee-shortlisted nominees
Protestors, however, were careful to note that three of the individuals proclaimed as National Artist in 2009 were in fact recommended by the selection committee:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Non-inclusion of Ramon Santos
Protesters also lamented the dropping of musician Ramon Santos from the list of new National Artists. Philippine entertainment news website PEP says that a CCP official, who had asked not to be named, revealed that Santos actually won the most votes during the selection process. Lumbera verbalized dismay about the snubbing of Santos, saying:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Non-inclusion of Ramon Santos
"What makes this even more outrageous is that Ramon Santos, who received a good number of votes in the panel selection, was dropped from the list. The basis for him being scrapped, one doesn't know"


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Non-inclusion of Ramon Santos
The same report that quoted Lumbera also noted that "Santos still has not spoken about the whole brouhaha up to this day. [ August 4, 2009]"


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Malacañang Honors Committee
Another aspect of the controversy regards the existence and of the Palace Honors committee which allegedly prepared the final list of nominees, which was eventually enacted by Arroyo.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Malacañang Honors Committee
Protesters claim that they were not aware of the existence of such a committee, and that at first, they had no idea who precisely were supposed to be on the committee. According to them, nominating committees were made by the CCP and NCCA, and a final list of nominees was prepared by a joint committee.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Malacañang Honors Committee
NCCA sub-commission on the arts head Ricardo de Ungria, one of the panelists involved in the selection process, insisted before a congressional committee meeting on the matter that the arts community “were never apprised of the existence of this animal since the start of the selection process this year or eight years ago.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Controversy, Malacañang Honors Committee
According to Malacañang and to Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, however, the selection process had always involved the participation of three committees - those of the CCP, the NCCA and the Malacañang honors committee, whose head was Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Prominent protestors
Living National Artists of the Philippines who have protested the proclamation of the four new National Artists include:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Prominent protestors
Other prominent critics include prominent Filipino Comic Book artist Gerry Alanguilan, multiple Palanca Award laureate Lourd de Veyra, Film Academy of the Philippines Director General Leo Martinez (who had played a part in the original nomination process).


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Arroyo Administration
The Arroyo administration was quick to defend its choices of individuals to be named to the Order of National Artists. Acting Executive Secretary and Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio told reporters that:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Arroyo Administration
"I think we can defend [their] track record and qualifications and reasons [for their selection].”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Arroyo Administration
He also said the administration would “stand by the qualifications, qualities, track record and reputation of those named as National Artists.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
Caparas defended his proclamation, saying that other aspirants to the honor ought to wait their turn.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
“Ganyan talaga kung may something for grabs. E, iisa lang ang pipiliin. Sana, maghintay na lang sila ng tamang panahon sa gusto nilang manalo. Hindi naman ito palakasan.”(That's the way it is whenever something is for grabs. Only one person can be selected. They ought to wait for the right time for them if they want to win. It's not as if this were a case of sucking up.)


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
Kaya wag mag-alala ang mga critics ko, may pagkakataon pa sila o ang mga manok nila na manalo in the future. (So my critics shouldn't worry, they or their fighting cocks still have opportunities to win in the future.) They cannot take the award from me anymore."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
“Baka ang nasa isip nila ay bata pa ako. Pero hindi naman ‘yon ang basehan. Sino naman ang ko-contest sa decision ng Cultural Center, ng NCCA at ng Malacañang tungkol sa award na ito? Mabuti na nga at ngayon pa lang ay ibinibigay na ang ganitong award sa mga taong nandito. Ang akala kasi nila ay sa matatanda o sa beterano o sa mga patay na ibinibigay ang ganitong award.” (Maybe they think I'm too young. But that's not a valid basis [for a choice]. Who would contest the decision of the Cultural Center, the NCCA, and Malacañang regarding this award? It's a good thing they're giving this award to someone who's still here. They think awards like this should only be given to the old, to veterans, or to the dead.)


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
Caparas said that instead of criticizing his award, entertainment people “should unite and work together to revive the ailing movie and komiks industry.”  He attributed his win to the fact that he managed to cross over from comic books to film and television, and saying that his triumph was significant because he was a National Artist who came from the working class. “I am a National Artist who came from the masses," the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted him as saying. "I work and struggle with them.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
He said it was time for a National Artist “who the masses can identify with—someone who walks beside them, someone who can inspire them.” Noting that some Filipinos did not even know the National Artists he said “Hopefully, since I am still active in TV and in the movies, this will encourage our countrymen to learn more about our National Artists.”


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Carlo J. Caparas
Others who have come to his defense include Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) director and former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chief Manoling Morato, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) head Dante Jimenez, boxer Manny Pacquiao, Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino chair Joe Lad Santos, and Polytechnic University of the Philippines president Dante Guevarra.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Defense, Cecilla Guidote-Alvarez
Guidote-Alvarez also defended her qualifications for receiving the award. “Before you make a judgment," she said, "read my achievements first as an artist. Was I an idiot before I became a national artist?" As proof of her achievements, she cited previous awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay public service award for the arts, the CCP Gawad Sining Award for Literature, and the Outstanding Women in the Nation's Services award. She also cited her important role in the development of Philippine theater, having founded the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA) in 1967. She asserted that the President had the prerogative to name national artists who were not named in the selection committee's shortlist, and denied lobbying for the award, saying that President Arroyo had “never talked to [her] about it."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events
On July 27, 2009, it was announced to the public that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had named seven National Artists for 2009: National Commission on Culture and the Arts executive director Cecille Guidote Alvarez (theater); Manuel Conde (film and broadcast arts, posthumous); Lazaro Francisco (literature, posthumous); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts in painting, sculpture and mixed media); Magno Jose Carlo Caparas (visual arts and film); Francisco Mañoza (architecture); and Jose "Pitoy" Moreno (fashion design).


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events
By August 1, 2009, it had been revealed by members of the final selection committee, comprising members from the NCCA and CCP, that only Conde, Alcuaz and Francisco had been short-listed by the selection committee in May. Alvarez, Caparas,Mañosa, and Moreno had been included via what was referred to as the "President’s prerogative". They also revealed that a fourth nominee, Ramon Santos (shortlisted for music), had not been conferred the order as recommended by committee – also supposedly part of the president's prerogative. Various artists' groups in the Philippines began to protest, notably the Concerned Artists of the Philippines. Over the next few days, previously conferred members of the Order of National Artists, notably Eddie Romero, F. Sionil Jose, Bienvenido Lumbera, Virgilio Almario, and BenCab A number of members of the Comic Book industry, notably Gerry Alanguilan, also protested.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
On August 6, Representatives Ana Theresia Hontiveros and Walden Bello of the Akbayan Party-list filed House Resolution 1305 at the Philippine House of Representatives, calling for a congressional inquiry into the controversy to make sure that the choice of national artists would not be subject to the “whims" of ranking government officials. Hontiveros noted:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
"Choosing national artists should fundamentally be about contribution in the arts and culture, not patronage or closeness to Malacañang. Choosing eminent symbols of Filipino arts and culture should be left in the hands of the arts community."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
Also on August 15, the ABS CBN News Channel (ANC) hosted an episode of Cheche Lazaro's Media in Focus, in which the controversial awardees in the person of Caparas and Alavarez were supposed to face off with protesting artists in the person of National Artist Eddie Romero, CCP Chair Emily Abrera, Palanca Award Hall of Fame Awardee Butch Dalisay, and film critic Alexis Tioseco.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
The first segment of the show allowed Caparas and Dalisay to air their side, while Alvarez was unable to arrive in time to join the second part of a show, which would have had her on a panel with Romero and Abrera, who were protesting the circumstances of her proclamation to the order.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
On August 7, protesters gathered at the front ramp of the Cultural Center of the Philippines for a major protest action in the form of a mock “necrological service”. National Artists who joined the protesters were Napoleon Abueva (visual arts), Arturo Luz (visual arts), Ben Cabrera (visual arts), F. Sionil Jose (literature), Bienvenido Lumbera (literature), Virgilio Almario (literature) and Salvador Bernal (theater design).


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
Relatives of deceased National Artists also participated in the event, with singer Celeste Legaspi representing her late father Cesar Legaspi (National Artist for visual arts), and Raul Locsin representing his late brother Leandro Locsin (National Artist for architecture). Protesters offered black roses "to symbolize the death of the National Artist Awards."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
During the protests, the Concerned Artists of the Philippines group, through its chair Lumbera informed the media that they “might seek court injunction" at the Supreme Court "against the proclamation of the new national artists."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Reactions
After the mock ceremony, participants continued the protest with a motorcade which ended at the offices of the NCCA, where Alvarez serves as head. This led to loud verbal confrontations between protesters and supporters of Alvarez.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
On August 19 a group of National Artists and supporters, led by National Artists for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera and Virgilio Almario, asked filed a 38-page petition at the Supreme Court "for prohibition, certiorari and injunction with prayer for restraining order to prevent the Palace from conferring the title to respondents," to stop "the release of the monetary benefits, entitlements and emoluments… to private respondents arising from such conferment," and the "holding of the acknowledgement ceremonies for their recognition." The petition asserted that:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
"For the President to cavalierly disregard the collective judgment of the CCP and NCCA boards, and substitute her own judgment without a clear indication of the reasons and bases, therefore, is an unacceptable and manifestly grave abuse of discretion."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
On August 25 the Supreme Court issued a status quo order, stopping Malacañang from conferring the honor pending deliberation of the petition to disqualify Alvarez, Caparas, Mañosa, and Moreno. Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez noted that: "The court saw the urgency to issue the status quo order and stop the conferment of the awards. It has the same affect [sic] as a temporary restraining order."


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
The incident involving Caparas has also been the subject of vandalism in Wikipedia, where anonymous editors and newly registered accounts maliciously edited the article, substituting the titles with nonsensical ones containing Tagalog pejoratives.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
On August 31, 2009, Dalisay claimed in his column in The Philippine Star that the NCCA web page regarding the selection process for national artists had been changed:


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
When I looked up the National Artists page on the NCCA website, the rules had suddenly changed — now there was a mention of Executive Order 236 empowering an Honors Committee to make up its own list of NA nominees to the President. That wasn’t there before the recent [National Artist] scandal blew up — neither the rule nor the role of the committee in the NAA process.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
On September 14, 2009, the Philippines' House of Representatives began its committee inquiry into the National Artist controversy. In her testimony before the committee, CCP director and lawyer Lorna Kapunan alleged that the Malacañang honors committee had not actually held a meeting to deliberate on the nominees, and that minutes of the said meeting were therefore forged. Alvarez denied the allegations, and insisted that the selection process for National Artists of the Philippines had always involved the participation of three committees – those of the CCP, the NCCA and the Malacañang honors committee.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Petition with the Supreme Court
On the same day, the CCP submitted to the Supreme Court its 31-page comment regarding the petition to disqualify the National Artists added by Malacañang to the list of nominees. The CCP reiterated its position that the four had not been in the original list of nominees. It also requested the Supreme Court to order the proclamation of its four original choices as 2009's National Artists.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Aftermath
On July 16, 2013, the Supreme Court voided former President Arroyo's proclamations awarding National Artists to Alvarez, Caparas, Mañosa and Moreno, four years after the said proclamations. Arroyo inserted these names although they were not part of the recommendations created by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission on Culture and Arts. The original nominees were Lazaro Francisco (literature), Dr. Ramon Santos (music), Manuel Conde (film and broadcast) and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (visual arts, painting, sculpture and mixed media). The justices voted 12-1-2 that struck down the 4 proclamations.


2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy, Significant events, Aftermath
On June 20, 2014, Dr. Ramon Santos was named as one of six new National Artists.


2009 National Camogie League
The 2009 National Camogie League, the second most important elite level inter-county competition in the women's team field sport of camogie was won by Wexford, who defeated Tipperary in the final, played at Parnell Park, Dublin.


2009 National Camogie League, Arrangements
The seven teams in the first division were placed in two groups and the top two in each group qualified for the semi-finals.


2009 National Camogie League, The Final
Wexford full forward Una Leacy scored two goals before half time to give her team a 2-6 to 0-5 lead at the interval, sending Wexford to their first league since 1977, defeating Tipperary 2-12 to 0-11. Captain Aoife O'Connor delayed her honeymoon to lead out her side. After the match Aoife O'Connor said:


2009 National Camogie League, The Final
"We've probably been knocking on the door for around 10 or 12 years with various teams coming through, but it's the first time we've actually managed to get across the line, so that's fantastic,"


2009 National Camogie League, Division 2
The Division 2 final, known until 2005 as the National Junior League, was won by Wexford who defeated Antrim in the final. Antrim had won the Division Three title 12 months ago, 2-10 to 0-11. Scores were level six times before Wexford pulled away in the closing quarter thanks to a 1-4 total contribution from Ciara O’Connor – one of three sisters on the team and a sibling to Division One skipper Aoife. Antrim captain Jane Adams scored eight points. The Division 3 final was won by Down who defeated Laois in the final.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship
The 4th season of National Cheerleading Championships was the biggest season for NCC so far. It started with the league's very first regionals for Southern Luzon region, followed by Northern Luzon region, Visayas-Mindanao region, and finally with the National Capital Region.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship
The season also witnessed the most number of participants in history of the competition for both divisions - high school and college.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship, National finals
The first true nationals was held at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig. Teams qualified from the Regionals come to Manila to compete.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship, National finals, High School division
High School division national finals was held at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last March 14, 2009. Teams from Southern Luzon, Northern Luzon, and National Capital Region competed for the national finals. Pasig Catholic College's PCC Crusaders was declared the National Champion for 2009.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship, National finals, College Division
College division national finals was held at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last March 15, 2009. Teams from Southern Luzon, Northern Luzon, Visayas-Mindanao region, and National Capital Region competed for the national finals. University of Perpetual Help System Dalta's UPHSD Perpsquad was declared the National Champion for 2009.


2009 National Cheerleading Championship, Regional Qualifiers, South Luzon
Held at St. Michael's College in Laguna, on September 7, 2008


2009 National Cheerleading Championship, Regional Qualifiers, Metro Manila
Held at Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig on February 28, 2009


2009 National Football Challenge Cup
The 2009 National Football Challenge Cup was the 19th edition of National Football Challenge Cup. The tournament was hosted by Hyderabad. The tournament started on 18 April and concluded on 28 April.


2009 National Football Challenge Cup
Pakistan Navy were the defending champions, they were eliminated in the semi-finals by the eventual winners Khan Research Laboratories, who won their first major trophy since establishment.


2009 National Football League (Ireland)
The 2009 National Football League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Allianz National Football League, was the 78th staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland. The League began on 31 January 2009. Thirty-two Gaelic football county teams from the island of Ireland, plus London, participated.


2009 National Football League (Ireland)
On 26 April, Kerry defeated Derry by 1-15 to 0-15 to win their 19th league title.


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Format, League structure
The 2009 format of the National Football League was a system of four divisions. The top three divisions consisted of 8 teams, and Division 4 contained nine teams. Each team played every other team in its division once, either home or away. 2 points were awarded for a win and 1 for a draw.


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Format, Finals, promotions and relegations
The top two teams in Division 1 contested the 2009 NFL final. The top two teams in divisions 2, 3 and 4 were promoted, and contested the finals of their respective divisions. The bottom two teams in divisions 1, 2 and 3 were relegated.


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Division 1, Table
Compete in Division 1 final  Automatic relegation to Division 2


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Division 2, Table
Compete in Division 2 final and automatic promotion to Division 1  Automatic relegation to Division 3


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Division 3, Table
Compete in Division 3 final and automatic promotion to Division 2  Automatic relegation to Division 4


2009 National Football League (Ireland), Division 4, Table
Compete in Division 4 final and automatic promotion to Division 3


2009 National Games of China
The 11th National Games of China were held in various cities in Shandong from October 16 to October 28, 2009. Represented were 33 sports, 43 disciplines and 362 events, including 4 winter sports which were held in Shenyang, Changchun and Qingdao between January and April 2009.


2009 National Games of China
In all, a total of 1241 medals were awarded. The host province of Shandong came first on the medals table with 63 gold, 40 silver and 43 bronze. The games saw the triumphant return from injury for Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang. Swimmer Liu Zige also broke the world record in the women's 200 metres butterfly, taking 2 seconds off from the previous record.


2009 National Games of China
The 11th National Games was labelled by some as "China's Olympics", which is reflective of growing significance of the National Games in China.


2009 National Games of China, Background
Following the 9th National Games in 2001, officials decided to scrap the decades-old convention of rotating the host duties between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The State Council of the People's Republic of China, decided that a bidding process would decide the host and any province, municipality and autonomous region was eligible to apply. In 2005, Shandong won the right to host the 11th National Games being the only applicant province with the permission of State Council of the People's Republic of China and the State General Administration of Sports.


2009 National Games of China, Development and preparation, Marketing
The logo for the games was designed to embody the concept of "Harmonious China, Energetic Shandong" (和谐中华, 活力山东). The logo is derived from the geometric patterns on artifacts of the Warring States period and the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Jinan, Shandong. This represents the traditional folk culture of Shandong. The logo also depicts an abstract image of 11 athletes in motion which symbolises the 11th National Games. It is composed of the colours red, black, yellow, green and blue which are the colours of the Olympic rings and refer to the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The final logo was selected from 3040 entries in a public competition launched in 2007 across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.


2009 National Games of China, Development and preparation, Marketing
The mascot for the games was a cartoon character called "Taishan Boy" (泰山童子). It alludes the majestic stone of the Shandong's Mount Taishan. The mascot, dressed in a red shirt and white shorts, is an athletic figure giving the thumbs-up. According to the designer said, the character symbolizes "the spirit of life", "health and longevity" and "the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of the host".


2009 National Games of China, Development and preparation, Broadcasting
The 11th National Games were broadcast both on CCTV-1 and CCTV-5, as well as on the local Shandong Television station.