Sunday Independent Final Whistle xword

Thanks for the reply, there was an International basketball association but it folded in 2001, it would tie in alright with courts, I'm also thinking along the lines of badminton , tennis etc or any sport involving courts.

23 across in the final whistle: Did he save the day ?e?o.
Nero and Hero have been suggested but I can't see the sports connection, every other answer in the crossword is sports related, any suggestions?

I know a crossword compiler and he tells me they'll always throw in an obscure or confusing clue to save them having to go through every entry posted e.g. the first answer they'll look at in this case is cha, if that's correct they'll then check the rest of the crossword, if someone has a different answer to cha they simply throw the crossword away without having to check the rest of the crossword. Another example is in the IT chequered flag xword, there's a clue that says 'poker-faced Andy', the surname of two well known professional poker players fit the answer grid- Andy Black or Andy Bloch.