World Footy News

Round One of the 2017/18 AFL Middle East season got under way in Dubai on Thursday and Friday amid the warmth of the Middle Eastern climate. Last year’s grand finalists, the Dubai Dragons and Multiplex Bulls, both enjoyed first up wins and have already grabbed a flying advantage over all other teams.

Thursday evening saw the season opener when the Multiplex Bulls took on the Dubai Dingoes. On a warm but pleasant evening under lights at Dubai Sports City, the Dingoes threw everything at the Bulls early. According to the AFL Middle East report:

“[The game was played in] very still and pleasant conditions - 29 degrees for the 8:30pm kick off but humidity was low. The Dingoes won the toss [and] had plenty of new faces. Captain Ben Dawson did his calf during the week and could only manage 5 minutes of game time – a big loss for the Dingoes.”

The Friday before the US Nationals for most of the 1500 competitors is a travel day. Arriving to San Diego by whatever means necessary they descend on the tournament hotels and register.

But a decent size group are already on the ground. A mixture of administrators, coaches and some early arrivals.

The Administrators conference ran throughout the Friday with various presentations by clubs discussing how they do things at their footy club and sharing ideas and experiences that can help others. The session was chaired by outgoing President Mike Shepherd.

They came from Gordonvale – a small sugar town to the south of Cairns. A town watched over by the mighty Walsh’s Pyramid and surrounded by the ubiquitous sugar cane that is the lifeblood of the town. Unlike most of the town, however, they play Australian Rules football – AFL to some.

We are talking about the Gordonvale Bombers – a team of 10-12 year old primary school girls who changed the course of their school’s sporting history in one glorious year of commitment, courage, talent and determination. They have firmly placed Gordonvale State School on the AFL map, and much more beyond.

Whilst their achievements are largely measured on their 2017 results, the truth is that these girls started to come together in 2016 when a small group of year five students joined the school footy team for some of their matches in the Queensland Schools Cup and a few other localised school games.

The weekend’s matches in Darwin’s NTFL competition saw a closer set of results as the competition entered Round Two and the settling process of the new season kicked in further. There was plenty going on to maintain high inter4est with Saints losing their second straight match to start the season, the Tiwi Bombers penalised for an ineligible player, Wanderers downing rivals Waratah and Southern Districts Crocs too good for Palmerston.

The biggest news from the round came after all matches had been completed. The Tiwi Bombers fought hard to go down to the much-improved Nightcliff Tigers – the final scoreboard margin being just 16 points. The performance was heartening for Bombers’ supporters, but after a review of then weekend, Tiwi had fielded an ineligible player. Whilst they had lost anyway, the penalty was to award the result to Nightcliff as a forfeit and a 60-nil scoreline.

 

The following article from the Irish Independent looks at the drafting of superstar women’s Gaelic footballer Cora Staunton by AFLW club the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Cora was taken with pick 45 in yesterday’s AFLW NAB AFL Women’s Draft. Not only is Cora’s selection a great personal success, it also opens wider the prospects of more Irish and other international players seeking to be drafted in coming years.

Mayo star Cora Staunton will feature in the AFLW in 2018.

She will be the first international athlete to be drafted to play in the league which gets underway in January after she joined the Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Sarah Black has reported on the www.afl.com.au website that the Gold Coast Suns have ticked the boxes and locked in arrangements to continue playing matches in North Queensland for 2018 and hopefully beyond. 

In her article, Sarah states that:

GOLD COAST will play home matches for premiership points in both Cairns and Townsville from 2018 onwards. 

 

The deal was struck between the Suns and Tourism and Events Queensland, and will see the club play in Cairns next season, and Townsville in 2019 or 2020.

One of the hallmarks of a great dynasty is to understand that change is inevitable and be able to absorb change and continue forward. It is what has powered great nations and cultures over time and a similar process occurs in sport.

The Dubai Dragons – winner of five out of the past six AFL Middle east premierships – is in that position now. They may be at the end of their great reign, or they may be on a solid plateau set for another year of greatness. Time will tell, but one thing that is certain is they have embraced change over this past off-season. How they respond will determine whether the new season brings more glory or the start of a new phase of rebuilding.

The club is acutely aware of this and is addressing needs. Iain Rowe, president of the Dubai Dragons, offers his insight.

The 2017 USAFL National Championships will be held in San Diego this weekend.  This is the first time San Diego has hosted the tournament and the first time in many years the tournament has been held on the west coast.  Matches will be played throughout the day on Saturday (21st) and Sunday(22nd), but the official proceedings include Friday where a club administrators forum will run through that day and also coaching, umpiring and women's footy clinics will be held ahead of the official registration and welcome on the Friday night.

The match venue is Surf Cup Sports Park, 3885 Via De La Valle,  Del Mar, CA 92014.  The venue will be hosting seven divisions (combined men's and women's) with

This year's tournament will be the biggest in its 21-year history:  53 teams spanning seven divisions, representing nearly forty clubs across the USA and Canada.

The 2017 All-Australian squad has been official but secret since August 28th, but the AFL has now revealed the 17-man team that will compete in the International Rules Series (IRS), which will comprise two test matches, one to be held on November 12th at Adelaide Oval, and the second to be played at Domain Stadium in Perth on the 18th.

To say that this year’s Australian side is star-studded would be an understatement. Prior to this year, this group has collected a combined 34 All-Australian honors, 10 AFL premierships, four Brownlow Medals, one Norm Smith Medal, five AFLPA MVP awards, and nine AFL Rising Star nominations. In addition, Eddie Betts, Paddy Ryder, Chad Wingard, and Shaun Burgoyne have made a combined eight appearances with the Indigenous All-Stars.

A collection of young amateur footballers from Melbourne are getting a chance to take footy to the Emerald Isle.

A representative squad comprised of youngsters from the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is currently touring Ireland and will be competing against Gaelic footballers from the Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA in an international rules test match this Friday, October 13th. These two teams have participated against each other in international rules matches before, with both sides earning victories.

 

 

AFL Victoria today announced the new clubs entering the Swisse Wellness VFL Women’s competition for 2018 (the third season of the competition since the VWFL was dissolved).

Six VFL Women’s licences have this week been granted for the 2018 season, with Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, St Kilda (AFL) and Williamstown to join the competition next year, while the VU Western Spurs will be known as the Western Bulldogs and will wear the red, white and blue in a strengthening of the two clubs’ relationship.

 

Seaford will transfer its licence to St Kilda (AFL), with the Saints to partner with the Frankston Football Club to form the Southern Saints, while Casey Demons will also form part of the expanded competition after Cranbourne transferred its licence to Casey in August.

Drive across Russia. Go on, I dare you! Its size is almost incomprehensible. Suggest you pack a sandwich. It is the largest country in the world and according to Wikipedia it covers one eighth of the habitable land mass of the earth. It cover over 17 million square kilometres. If this doesn’t yet have your attention as to its staggering size, try this. To travel from, say, St Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok in the east is not much short of 10 000 kilometres. Recommend you leave early.

The nation is almost too enormous to describe. Yet, if we change the context to Australian Rules football, they are but a mere minnow in the footy pond. Many footy nations are still described as being in their infancy. Russian footy is still in the crib.

That is what makes last weekend’s first Euro Cup win since 2011 for the Russian Czars so wonderful. A team representing a microscopic level of interest within a nation has just planted the seed for something bigger to grow. One win might not be seen as a big deal, but to those who have been developing the game in Russia that win was the equivalent of crossing the Himalayas.