World Footy News

For some great video of the 2006 US Nationals you can once again go to the MyKwebTV site www.MyKaussie.com. The footage focuses on the Canadian teams at this year's nationals, the Calgary and Vancouver teams, but also features numerous interviews with players and special guests as well as a number of the US teams.

I reviewed the first 19 minute segment and it has some excellent footage including, Florida, Dallas, Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver and Philadelphia men's teams and match footage and interviews with Arizona Lady Hawks and the Pacific Coast Highway women's teams. Some candid interviews with some of the Calgary team members including Brad Flower (son of former Melbourne champion Robert Flower) provided excellent colour, as did the former Hawthorn champions in Peter Schwab and Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico in their wrap up to day one of the tournament. My only criticism of the footage is the contrast in the much of the game footage and interviews leaves anything in shade difficult to see, and the night footage also comes across very dark. There are also three more segments totalling 75 minutes of Nationals coverage also up on the site now.

Expatriate Australian Andrew Harrison, better known as MyK Aussie, is a Canadian based WebTV broadcaster. Among his extensive sporting interests broadcast on his site is a library of Canadian based Aussie Rules footage. It looks like the US Nationals coverage may become an annual event at least as long as the Canadian teams continue to cross the border for the US Nationals. And given that the USAFL has been unable so far to successfully get their matches to TV, this coverage is a great boon for those Aussies interested to see the how the game is progressing in North America and for those players who want to see themselves in action on the screen. As with any site that covers footy in North America, it provides another Internet pathway for interested Americans and Canadians that may want to try their hand at the Australian code to find their way to the game.

The segments can be accessed via the following link: http://www.mykaussie.com/stream_files/play_videoAussieFooty06USNationals.asp.

Editor: viewers should also note that the footage ranges across various divisions, so the differing standards in play should be considered in that context.