World Footy News

On the 25th of April 1918 many Australian soldiers gave their lives to recapture the village of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans troops. Since then the small Somme's village has a very unique tie with Australia and celebrate the courage of the diggers every year. In addition to the military service, this year saw the first ANZAC cup being held.

This event was organised jointly by Villers-Bretonneux' local authorities and the Commission National de Football Australien. The game saw a team made of Australians living all over Europe, the Aussie Spirit, taking on a selection of French players and Australian living in France, les Coquelicots.

Despite playing their first game together the Spirits quickly showed great skilled and scored 6 goals before the French could scored their first point and were leading by 34 points. The second quarter was pretty much the same story as the Spirit kept on scoring goals, but the Coquelicots did not surrender and showed great courage. When the half time siren rang the Aussies were leading by 55 points.

Eager to give the Australians a good contest, the French team came back on the field more ready than ever. For a few minutes the Aussies were disturbed by the pressure the French were putting on them, as they came back on the scoring board. But it wasn't long before the more experienced Aussies changed their game plan and dominated the play again. As the third quarter went on the Coquelicots lost their grip on the game and started drowning. The fourth quarter was just like the end of the third one, with the French being unable to cope with Aussie play and only scored one goal while the Spirit scored 11.

After the full time siren, the score board showed an astonishing 119 point victory for the Spirit.

Full time scores:

Besides the game, the whole week end was a great success. The local authorities made a tremendous work in organising the event, and every players was delighted to be part of such an event. The players were filled with emotions when both national anthems and the Final Post were played, just like the couple hundreds of spectators who were gathered around the field.

As part of the pre game entertainment, a clinic was organised for the village's kids, and even got the chance to play a small game at half time. Each of the kids were given a football to bring back home, and the were all eager to ask for every players autograph at the end of the game. A football signed by all the players and one of the jumpers from the Aussie Spirit team were donated to the village's museum and will be displayed alongside the memories from war.