"Outcasts! The Lands That FIFA Forgot" examines the much tarnished reputation of FIFA, the governing body of world football, and just how they justify the exclusion of some 'nations' from their organisation while welcoming others.

The ever-intensifying debate on doping that has marked the year 2007 will break new grounds when key personalities in international sport meet in Reykjavik from 28 October to 2 November for the 5th edition of the world communication conference, Play the Game.

South American power games are threatening the future of international handball in Greenland. Earlier this year, the Panamerican Team Handball Federation (PATHF) suddenly downgraded Greenland from full to associate membership. The International Handball Federation (IHF) says PATHF is wrong but has done little to solve the problem, and without access to international tournaments, Greenland is rapidly loosing sponsor support and fears development may be set back by 15 years.

The tiny state of San Marino has become the scene of some very strange manoeuvres in sports governance. The local Volleyball Federation is currently suspended by the FIVB because the national Olympic Committee (CONS) dismissed local board members and replaced them with others. New elections were held in August to rectify the problem but became a charade as CONS enrolled hundreds of false members for the ballot.

Tibetans are increasingly using sports as a means of resisting the Chinese occupation of Tibet. So far it has led to diplomatic headaches in India where authorities have tried to stop sport events for Tibetans, and in Switzerland the president for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must figure out what to do about a letter from a new National Olympic Committee for Tibet.

Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball player with the San Francisco Giants, recently broke Hank Aarons 33 year old home run record. Rather than uniting the American people in a coast-to-coast celebration of the sport, the new record holder has divided them into two; those who believe he is a clean athlete and those who believe he is not.

Football is unsafe in the FIFA senior vice-president’s country. Violence seems unstoppable in Argentina’s most popular sport and the latest fight took a victim outside a stadium, when a local supporter killed a visiting fan, smashing a stone into his head. So, the solution for Argentina’s football madness is… get rid of visiting supporters.

Athletes from India rarely win medals in international competitions but that may soon change. India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has just published a draft for a new national sports policy on its website inviting everybody to contribute their views on a policy that aims to make India one of the world’s leading sporting nations within the next decade.