16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

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16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Monday, July 14 2008 @ 02:00 am ACST
Contributed by: Brett Northey
Views: 5,591

The final list of nations competing for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup has been finalised. Here they are:

New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
United States
Ireland
Samoa
Britain
Canada
South Africa
Japan
Nauru
Denmark
Sweden (debut)
Finland (debut)
China (debut)
India (debut)
Israel/Palestine Peace Team (debut)

Tonga was unable to make the final commitment due to issues such as player availability for the full duration of the tournament; we hope to have a chat to TAFA staff later. They are however expected to make an appearance outside the main draw as well as there being some practice matches for a few of the main combatants and teams representing some of Melbourne's ethnic communities.

Countries not attending that theoretically could have put together a side of current players who would qualify, or close to it, include:

Argentina
France
Germany
Spain
Indonesia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Pakistan
Austria
Solomon Islands

Let's hope we see some of those for the fourth Cup in 2012. With 16 attending in the main draw and another 12 or so who would be close to the mark with just a little more development or less funding issues, that makes about 28 nations, besides Australia, with reasonably active football programs. There are of course several other countries with small or expatriate-Australian footy programs as well. There's no doubt the game, in general, is moving forwards internationally and gaining pace.

The full draw will be available on worldfootynews.com either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning (Australian time zones).

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16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: conyers
on Monday, July 14 2008 @ 09:37 am ACST

probably works out good now that there are 16 teams, if it was 17 or 18 teams it would have made making the draw very difficult.

16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: Michael Christiansen
on Tuesday, July 15 2008 @ 09:09 am ACST

a 33% increase on competing nations - that's good. Hopefully the AFL will be getting further behind this venture from here on - - as something needs to be done to allow local leagues to consolidate their own funds. Will there be 16 or 20 in 2012, or only 10?

What I'd like to see is every 4 years, between the IC - going forward - the AFL effectively sponsor 'continental' cups - well - especially a 'Euro Cup', to maintain the momentum, given the forthcoming 4 year gaps in 'major representative footy'. (granted localised events like the Denmark, Sweden, Germany tri-nations are super important too). Anyway - - held locally, less impact via travel costs and time off.

16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Tuesday, July 15 2008 @ 03:15 pm ACST

You've identified the most obvious one there - Europe. You'd think with ICs in 2008 and 2012 that 2010 cries out for a full European Championship, with all the major countries involved, plus the newer ones.

There are the one off 18-a-side test matches amongst the better sides, and the Tri-series, and then there's the 9-a-side EU Cup which has wider support from developing nations but not the big three of Ireland, Britain and Denmark. If they all comes to terms on rules and timing, the EU Cup could come to include the bigger footy countries and do the job of a Euro championship.

But certainly some kind of officially recognised, preferably fully participated 18-a-side European Championship is in order. It would need to be initiated and led by the major countries and then a proposal put to the AFL for some support - they could do it without support of course, but I'd guess something would be forthcoming if it was a united well put together bid. It would bridge the gap between ICs, and encourage the older and newer footy nations to work more closely, without an annual commitment. So the aim could be every 4 years as well.

This of course ties in with the need for some kind of closer association between the European countries. There have been a few attempts over the years (in fact I think going back a decade or so), but never anything widely adopted. But as more and more countries play the game the need increases, be it based on current attempts or the obvious one of an AFL supported "AFL Europe". There are a lot of ideas behind the scenes, but no obvious "winner" at this stage.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: Eurofooty
on Tuesday, July 15 2008 @ 04:27 pm ACST

Already being discussed amongst the potential hosts, and has approval from the ARE delegates for 2010. There is still a lot to work through (as it is no small task to oversee, organise and execute) and I imagine some more discussion on this will take place during the IC.

The EU Cup, attracting both developing and developed (who are encouraged to bring future national team players for experience) footy nations, will continue in its current developmental role on an annual basis until atleast 2010, with the 2009 edition tentatively earmarked for Barcelona (TBC).

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Tuesday, July 15 2008 @ 05:29 pm ACST

If I'm reading that correctly, you see the EU Cup continuing as 9-a-side mostly for developing nations and developing players from the stronger nations, and a separate 18s tournament aimed at attracting all the top European sides?

Note that the IC08 draw will have an exclusive release in selected Melbourne media tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, and will be available on worldfootynews.com later in the day - sorry to keep everyone hanging, the embargo has been a moving target. We just have to push "go" when we get the all-clear.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

16 teams to contest IC08, a dozen more in the wings

Authored by: Eurofooty
on Tuesday, July 15 2008 @ 06:56 pm ACST

Probably. I suspect it will occur naturally as the game continues to spread and grow around the region. The question is if there is enough interest/resources (e.g. hosting/participation) for both an annual 9's and an 18's championships every olympiad in the years between IC's.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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