World Footy News

Australian football's international growth has been most impressive over the past decade, aided by several threads such as the internet, television coverage, the growing Aussie Diaspora, and increasing enthusiasm from the AFL.

Of course there are always challenges along the way. The more common ones include finding ovals to play on, explaining to locals that it isn't Rugby Union, Rugby League or soccer and then convincing them to play, and travelling long distances to find opposing teams.

But recently two more unusual roadblocks have popped up - one very human and the other very much Nature.

In China, AFL Development Officer Andrew Sawitsch has been tasked with getting Auskick-style clinics running in Shanghai, and has had some recent success in five schools already. However his efforts were for a time curtailed by Chinese customs officials who were obviously suspicious of this new game and impounded 500 footballs, Auskick backpacks and hats. Fortunately the items were set free, but not before a month had passed.

An even bigger headache goes by the name of Eyjafjallajökull. On April 17th Great Britain was due to play Denmark in Farum, Copenhagen. As always it was a big effort to arrange a large travelling squad from across the Kingdom to travel and play a full scale international. But as the weekend drew near it became obvious they had an insurmountable problem - Iceland's erupting volcano was shutting down airports across northern and western Europe. Ultimately there was no choice - the match was cancelled. Hopefully the situation will be all clear in August when nations converge on Denmark and Sweden for the inaugural European Championships.