World Footy News

In 2010 the Ontario Australian Football League in Canada (OAFL), with the help of the Hamilton Wildcats, put together a rag tag team of mixed Australian and Canadian players to send down to Boston, USA, to compete in a tournament with the Boston Demons and the Washington/Baltimore Eagles.

In 2011, the side founded and organised by Wildcats Club President Timmy "Bulldog" Wilson, will be taking this trip to the next level, taking a full-blown OAFL representative side to Chicago on the May 24 holiday weekend to compete against the "Best of the Midwest".

Outside of the international scene, this will likely be some of the best footy seen not only seen in North America, but possibly the world. The OAFL boasts one of the most organised leagues outside of the home country of Footy, Australia, and also has some of the best non Australian players kicking around as seen in a recent Northwind article on www.oafl.ca.

The Midwest also features some of the best players from around the US so the tone will be set for some cracker footy!

The jumper design, as seen below, features the Toronto skyline as 7 from 10 clubs are based here in Ontario's great city. The OAFL Steam concept came around by luring Toronto beer giant Steam Whistle on board in a sponsorship capacity

The man behind the OAFL Steam, Tim Wilson, earlier this week said "We were really lucky to get Steam Whistle onboard this year. Last year we organised it as more of a 'footy trip' rather than an actual competitive football tournament. This year we have changed the tone of it a bit and are really looking to represent not only Ontario, but Canadian footy, and showing the US and the world the talent we have up here. We've invested quite a bit of time with the help of Benjamin Roberts (National Canadian team, Northwind Assistant Coach) into recruiting some Canadian talent to take down on the trip."

With the growing nature of the sport in Ontario, the OAFL will take down 2 teams, an A and a B squad to enable some new recruits and rookies to come down and experience a day of high end footy.

The tournament will take place on May 21st in Chicago and is proudly supported by the OAFL, Steam Whistle, BCAP, Forrester resources, the Hamilton Wildcats AFC and the Guelph Gargoyles.

The OAFL Steam rep squad jumper.