World Footy News

Today AFL Japan announced the Japan Samurai squad to contest the 2017 International Cup in Melbourne in August 2017. The squad announced 20/6/17 has an exciting blend of youth and experience look to it.

Once again the IC veteran Michito Sakaki (I believe this is his 6th IC) graces the squad with his experience and talent, which could well make him the only player in international footy to play in all the International Cups. Other IC veterans include Hisayoshi Oura, Toshiki Matsuhashi (4th IC), Yuosuke Kuno (suiting up for his 5th IC), Yuta Toyshima (played IC14), Jumpei Ito, Yuki Akita and Ryosuke Sato (each 2nd IC).

By Dylan Wolfgramm

 AFL Fiji is set to take IC17 by storm with the naming of it’s strongest team to date. The men’s team otherwise known as the Fiji Tribe, will take part in their third consecutive International Cup since 2011.

With a core group of men who have been together since 2010, The Fiji tribe will look to build on its strong performances in their local competition and push for a birth in the Division 1 final. Speaking with Head Coach Simon Highfield, he was very impressed with the level of dedication the team had shown over the last couple of months “They are very fit and their skills have really improved, we under performed in past International Cups, so we are hoping to come of age this year.”

 

The Australian Football League Central & Northern England has reached half-way through the 2017 season. The following story is from the AFLCNE website and looks at the journey so far this season with hints towards what the season may yet bring.

With the last update being a month ago (blame it on the weather/footy/beers) we at the league thought it was an opportunity to give you all an update on the past few weeks (and a lot has happened).

 

The final round of May saw the Rams consolidate their position just inside the playoffs by defeating a travelling Tigers side, while the Mozzies narrowly overcame one of this season’s finals contenders the Wolverines in a show of intent to put themselves comfortably in prime position. Meanwhile, the Thunder secured their first points by default, after mechanical issues meant half the travelling Merseyside team were stuck near Manchester (credit goes to those who made it playing in an excellent scratch match with Sheffield and Nottingham players).

 

Herald Sun journalist, Chris Cavanagh, has reported on the new style of Australian Rules football to be experimented with at season’s end. Loosely referred to as a “Twenty 20” version of the game, the AFL is looking closely at this format assisting in the development of the game in overseas markets. The move is sure to create conjecture and only time can tell if the game will have the proposed and hoped for merit. The following story from Chris gives the first hints.

THE AFL is reportedly preparing to launch a Twenty20-inspired version of the game later this year which is seen as the answer to opening up international markets.

After months of secret trials, AFLX — a high-octane, seven-a-side version of football played on soccer-sized grounds with quarters shortened to 10 minutes — is being slated to be shown off to fans on the pre-finals bye weekend this year.

The following story originally appeared on Frederick's Blog and the original article can be found here.  This is very timely given Germany will make their long awaited International Cup debut in less than two months.

The Aussie rules phenomenon has expanded in continental Europe in recent years, and Germany has been no exception. The sport was originally played there in 1995, with clubs formed by Aussie expats in both Munich (the Redbacks) and Frankfurt (the Kangaroos). The two clubs competed against each other on a largely informal basis until AFL Germany was founded in 1999.

In 2003, the league expanded, with the Berlin Crocodiles and Hamburg Dockers joining and forming a nice nucleus for a nationwide German competition. Soon enough, the Dusseldorf Lions (now the Rheinland Lions) and the Stuttgart Emus were added in the ensuing years.

Round 14 of the 2017 AFL Season kicks off tomorrow night at Adelaide Oval with the Adelaide Crows hosting Hawthorn.  The full international broadcast schedule can be seen below.

In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only).  You can access that service by clicking on the link here or the  Watch AFL banner below and paying the subscription fee.

 

 

MATCH	DATE	TIMESLOT	MATCH	VENUE	STATE	LOCAL TIME	GMT
1	22-Jun	Night	Adelaide Crows vs. Hawthorn	Adelaide Oval	SA	19:20	09:50
2	23-Jun	Night	Sydney Swans vs. Essendon	SCG	NSW	19:50	09:50
3	24-Jun	Day	Collingwood vs. Port Adelaide	MCG	VIC	13:45	03:45
4	24-Jun	Twilight	Brisbane Lions vs. GWS GIANTS	The Gabba	QLD	16:35	06:35
5	24-Jun	Night	Western Bulldogs vs. North Melbourne	Etihad Stadium	VIC	19:25	09:25
6	24-Jun	Night	West Coast Eagles vs. Melbourne	Domain Stadium	WA	17:40	09:40
7	25-Jun	Early	Geelong Cats vs. Fremantle	Simonds Stadium	VIC	13:10	03:10
8	25-Jun	Day	Richmond vs. Carlton	MCG	VIC	15:20	05:20
9	25-Jun	Twilight	St Kilda vs. Gold Coast SUNS	Etihad Stadium	VIC	16:40	06:40

The Australian Football League (AFL) last night announced that decorated premiership player, goalkicker and premiership coach Malcolm Blight had been named an official Legend of the Game.

Blight, 67, was a star of both the SANFL and VFL across an 18-season career between 1968-85 representing Woodville and North Melbourne, before going on to coach in the SANFL, VFL and AFL with five clubs, and leading the Adelaide Crows to their first two premierships.

The second round of the 2017 CEAFL tournament was completed on the weekend in Graz, Austria. Played at the Viktor-Franz-Platz, the competition featured five teams from four European countries with teams from host nation Austria, two from Croatia, and one each from Italy and the Czech Republic.

Austria’s own super-club, the Styrian DownUnderDogs took on the might and determination of the Sesvete Double Blues and Zagreb Cvjetno Dockers from Croatia, the Prague Dragons from the Czech Republic and the North West Footy Eagles representing AFL Italia.

The Croatian teams dominated the round robin matches to the extent that both the Blues and Dockers went through to meet each other in the Grand Final. Whilst the Dockers had a narrow win against the Blues, by four points in the round robin stage, the Blues were far too strong in the return bout to take the title by a commanding 34 points. In the battle for third place, the DownUnderDogs defeated the Eagles comfortably by 21 points.

The annual Kelowna Cup  gets a little better each year.

We start with a report from Dan of the Calgary Kangaroos on this year’s event.

“On the men's side of the draw, the combined Edmonton/Vernon team took out the club competition, overcoming Calgary in the decider (5.6.36 v 3.8.26). The British Columbians won the Canadians only game over Alberta (9.4.58 v 3.6.24).

On the women's side of the draw, the combined Calgary/Edmonton team won the team competition against the combined Vancouver Vixens/Wildcats team (12.5.76 V 1.0.6). Alberta won the provincial game over BC (no score recorded).

 

With five rounds of the AFLG season played, and just three rounds to go before the finals, two teams sit on top of the ladder undefeated. The Berlin Crocodiles and Hamburg Dockers are placed one and two, and remarkably their percentages are enormous yet separated by less than 4% (Crocodiles 634.2, Dockers 630.5) suggesting a total dominance against all opposition all season.

That will change in Round 6 on June 24th when the two German leviathans meet in Berlin to decide which team will assume the mantle of premiership favourite. Clearly the Crocodiles will have home ground advantage, but the Dockers have been impressive all season and will not give the Berlin boys anything less than a huge fight.

The New Zealand Hawks (the squad formerly known as the Falcons) – have named a dynamic squad for the upcoming AFL International Cup. The Hawks previously won the tournament in 2005 with a strong win over Papua New Guinea, however, running 2nd in 2008 was the last time the New Zealand side tasted Grand Final action although they have never placed lower than third.

With 2 completed seasons now of the AFLNZ Premiership – the domestic preparation has never been better. The squad includes a majority of players who took part in season 2 of the AFLNZ Premiership including a fair sprinkling of team of the tournament reps. There are a number of current Australian based players including Joe Baker-Thomas.