World Footy News

Happy New Year to all our readers. WFN wishes you a healthy and prosperous 2008.

On the international footy front, what a great 2007 - surely the best the game of Australian Football has ever had. The good news just kept on coming - record levels of attendance within Australia, record investment in footy in South Africa, a rush of Irish talent to the AFL, a host of new clubs across Europe, the giants of China and India stirring, and North America continuing its steady growth - clearly the vast majority of indicators were positive for Aussie Rules. We look back at some of the exciting news from the year just finished and think about what lies ahead.

The AFL and International Football

Late in 2006 we reported that the AFL had undergone some further internal restructuring, with an international development role more clearly defined. This appears to have been an ongoing success, with more AFL staff spending part of their time on the game internationally. 2007 also saw AFL clubs themselves becoming far more interested in overseas markets. There's no doubt the motivation is primarily about expanding their revenue bases, but provided the moves are done with sensitivity to the local environment, which they appear to have been so far, then it can see dramatically improved resources funnelled into Australian Football worldwide.

Giants awake

We saw the Melbourne Football Club and Melbourne City Council support development in China, with Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Suzhou all getting close attention. Brian Dixon was again a leading advocate and the AFL chipped in with training of some Chinese school teachers, making good on their aim to "teach the teachers" to help develop the sport. The Aussie expat based sides in Beijing and Shanghai also made significant contributions to this process in a synergy of resources.

Dixon also stimulated some interest in India, but despite efforts from many angles, issues such as visas seem to confound good intentions. However, the AFL remain hopeful that India will be present at the approaching International Cup. We also saw some promising early signs in Pakistan, but we're yet to learn whether it will be the start of something long term.

Steady Asia

Elsewhere in Asia, growth was steady in Japan (celebrating 20 years of footy) though tensions continued between the Japan AFL and Nippon AFL. The JAFL's Samurai side won the Arafura Games in Darwin, undefeated. In many of the Asian one club countries junior clinics were conducted and tentative signs were visible of the game putting down roots with local participation. Indonesia was particularly encouraging, with plenty of junior development there, whilst Laos started up their first side.

The Asian Championships continued to grow in significance, with 11 teams attending in 2007. The Hong Kong Dragons defeated the Bali Geckos in the final, and as more locals take up the game across Asia, hopefully we'll see this tournament emerge as a showcase for star Asian footballers, and regular attendance by the strongest local-only national sides like Japan's.

Oceania's promise

In Oceania, Tonga and Samoa appeared to make steady progress, both focussing on juniors, but both with healthy numbers of adult players also getting involved. Tonga's footy organisation, TAFA, affiliated with the AFL and announced plans to try to get to the IC08. We also discovered that footy had continued in the Solomons Islands.

Papua New Guinea remained the relatively quiet achiever. With a dozen or more players making their way into footy in Queensland they are clearly the game's most productive country outside of Australia, without the mainstream media coverage South Africa have received. Many thousands of PNG players now participate in Australian Football and the invitation of two young guns to the AFL AIS camp prove the first AFL draftee taken through the PNG program will not be far away. And the PNG under 16's girls side won the Queensland girls championships for that age bracket, another milestone for the game.

Close rival New Zealand are also doing well, if not in the same numbers as PNG. The Auckland league remains one of the world's strongest, with reserves sides giving the AAFL a real familiarity to those of us familiar with the leagues in Australia. Work continues on junior teams, and getting them aligned with the senior clubs must be a priority. Wakaito is still in its formative stages, Wellington pulled itself together after a serious wobble and Canterbury was solid. Tentative work was also done in other NZ centres such as Otago.

The game in its homeland

In Australia itself, record numbers participated in the game, watched the game, and attended AFL matches. The AFL clubs generally turned in excellent balance sheets and the game appeared to be in a very healthy state. Victoria had its first AFL premier since 2000, with Geelong almost unstoppable for most of the year and inflicting the biggest ever VFL/AFL Grand Final defeat on Port Adelaide. The year was not without controversy though, with drugs the major issue. The AFL's revolutionary testing for so-called recreational drugs should have seen it hailed by the community as a leader in the fight against drugs. It was the only sport in Australia to take the lead, it was done in consultation with leading health agencies, and it set the bar for what some other sports are now looking into doing. Unfortunately, by leading the way and actually testing for such drugs (whilst also enforcing world rules on performance enhancing drugs), the AFL was ironically exposed to petty politicking by an increasingly desperate Federal Government that sought to make an issue of the three strikes policy. As expected, the Government were soundly beaten at the election, but despite drug experts applauding the AFL's stance, small changes are expected so as to appease the vocal minority using the issue for political means, and to provide clubs with earlier warning of issues with their players.

None of which would have saved Ben Cousins, the West Coast Eagles' star whose fall from grace captivated the Australian public's attention like possibly no sportsman before. His drug issues saw him banished from the game, with no prospect of return to the AFL in 2008. The story even overshadowed that of the bidding war for his team mate Chris Judd, who ultimately found his way to Carlton. The other big off field story was the likely move of the Kangaroos to the Gold Coast, which of course is now off and with the AFL vowing to create a 17th licence to make the most of the growing market in Queensland - but don't rule out a change of heart from the Roos if 2008 doesn't see the turn around in their finances they are targeting.

Measuring the game's year at grass roots level is much more difficult. Clearly the drought has made conditions difficult for many clubs. Despite the constant grumblings interest in the AFL is at an all-time high, and that obviously keeps the profile of the sport up, but saturates coverage and even state leagues have trouble being heard, let alone amateur leagues. However it does seem that the game has faired pretty well across Australia, but concerns must remain about issues such as ensuring Auskick kids continue at club level, and making sure that new residential developments and school mergers still provide space for Australian Football ovals.

Africa at dizzying speeds

The good news on South African footy came thick and fast, including major investment by Costa Logistics. A youth side toured Australia in February, playing against indigenous youth and proving to be competitive, and in April the elite Australian under 16 squad toured South Africa playing similar matches, and marking the debut of Sedgars Park, AFL South Africa's home ground. Four AFL clubs signed on with the AFL and AFL South Africa to help develop a province each, and the fruits of the agreements are now being seen with community camps being held there. AFL South Africa extended its paid staff by 10, a major commitment to the sport. It was also a year in which the touring Australian Convicts side suffered their first loss, going down to the South Africans. Although the Convicts concept means they are a tourist side with different players each trip, and on this occasion were injury-hit, it's still a noteworthy achievement that the Buffaloes managed to knock off a competent squad of amateur Australian footballers.

Europe in numbers

In Europe, that unique region with so many affluent countries teeming with Aussie expats, most of the established leagues were relatively stable, while several smaller football countries became more active, such as Finland, Austria, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Wales got footy going for the first time and Sweden also gained more clubs and agreed on a national body to take them forward. The 9-a-side EU Cup grew in stature, with 11 regions competing (and a miscellaneous side), although the best countries in Ireland, Denmark and Britain remained absent, with the English side drawn from the self-described development ARUK league. The Swedish team ran out winners, defeating hosts Germany.

In the full scale version, Britain earned the right to be considered Europe's champion, with a win over Ireland in Dublin and big wins over ARUK's English side which had performed well at the EU Cup, indicating the strength of the British Bulldogs compared with most of the younger European Australian football nations. With Ireland then defeating Denmark in Århus, and the Danes sweeping Germany and Sweden in their Tri-Nations series, the Bulldogs were clearly number one on the continent, a dramatic change from years of domination by the Irish.

Tomorrow we'll complete our look at the year just finished and forward to the year ahead.