World Footy News

The following story originally appeared on Frederick's Blog and the original article can be found here.  This is very timely given the first match for Premiership points will be played in Shanghai this Sunday.

As one of the biggest media markets in Asia, China has long been a target for Aussie rules as authorities look to spread the sport abroad to new nations. Given the large Chinese population and their well-established enthusiasm for many different sports, they would seem to have a fertile ground for a grassroots footy following.

China has embraced footy at a breakneck pace, as the first recorded game of Aussie rules was played only 13 years ago. The Beijing Bombers – a team made up of Aussie ex-pats in the Chinese capital – were established in 2004. They eventually grew a big-enough audience to help kickstart a local competition with three other teams in the Beijing area.

Footy got back into top gear last weekend in London with Round One of the AFL London competition. In the Premiership Division a changing of the guard took place in the off season. The Putney Magpies moved themselves back to the Conference Division. Their place was taken by the South East London Giants.

In their inaugural game at the highest level, the Giants took on the Wimbledon Hawks and took it up to their more experienced opposition. The final margin of 44 points was commanding without being a hiding – a good sign first up for the Giants. It also marked a positive start to the season for the Hawks and something to build on for an assault on the finals.

Women's footy in Port Moresby is up and running for 2017 and The Gerehu Magpies are leading the way being unbeaten after three rounds.  All five teams in the competition have had at least four points (Oilmin Kokofas four points thanks to the bye).

On the weekend the Magpies had a 41 point win over Concept Koboni.  The Cats had their first win of the season with a 29 point win over the Oilmin Kokofas.  The Lamana Dockers had the bye in the five team competition.

The full results for the season so far and the current ladder are below.

Round Two of the AFLCNE competition in England was completed last weekend. The following article from the AFLCNE website gives the rundown of the round.

With round 2 drawing to a close, there have been some shifts in the AFLCNE ladder this week. The Mozzies have taken the top spot from Wolves, who sit this week out, with a big win over the Saints, with the Scorps also seeing Wolves’ bye week lifting them into 2nd. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Sheffield switched with Tyne Tees to go into 5th and the Saints are 7th.

The first game of the round saw the Mozzies take on Merseyside Saints, who were kicking off their second season. This produced a thumping 243-7 win for Manchester Mosquitoes, giving them an enviable percentage of 2400. However, as always, the scoreline isn’t a fair reflection of the game, and with it being an improvement on the 273-7 score for the corresponding game last year, the Saints will be hoping that their development will bear fruit later in the season.

Round three of the Port Moresby footy season got underway on the weekend. Concept Koboni secured top spot on the ladder with a 61 point win despite kicking twice as many behinds as goals.  The other team on three wins out of three is the Cats.  They had a narrow 2 point win over West Eagles.  

The Oilmin Kokofas were the other winners on the weekend with a 44 point win over the Central Bombers. The round will be completed this coming weekend with the Lamana Dockers a chance to also go 3-0 when they come up against the Defence Hawks. 

University Tigers were unable to field a team in Round 1 due to lack of players and have subsequently withdrawn from the 2017 season.  Hopes are that they will return in 2018.  Taurama Suns will also take no further part in this season after playing just the first round of the season, so the competiion is back to an even eight teams for the rest of 2017.

Below is a full wrap of the season so far.

 The AFL Commission today announced it would maintain the NAB AFL Women’s competition as an eight-team league for the 2018 season, with expansion to occur for the 2019 season.

AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said the Commission, after seeking further information from its meeting in Sydney last month, had accepted a recommendation from the AFL Executive that consolidation was required for the second year of the competition in 2018. Further talent identification and development, along with continued work to build the fan base of all clubs, was needed as a key priority to enable extra teams to enter the league in 2019.

Mr McLachlan said that all 10 Clubs that are currently not licensed to compete in the NAB AFL Women’s Competition would be invited to submit an application (date to be confirmed) for inclusion in the 2019 competition, with a final decision to be made by the Commission that will be subject to a number of strategic considerations. Those Clubs that were granted provisional licenses (Geelong Cats, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast) will receive priority weighting when consideration is given to the submissions for inclusion in the competition in 2019.

One of the greatest icons of Australia football Lou Richards, Collingwood 1953 Premiership Captain and arguably the first truly transcendent superstar of Australia’s game, has passed away aged 94.

An amazing career as a player on the field and Melbourne football media superstar made him one of the most recognised names in the game. In his later years on top of the accolades in the Collingwood Football club's statement below Richards was named captain of The Greek Team of the Century.

This was a representative team chosen in 2004 made up of Australian Football players of Greek Heritage (his maternal grandfather Charlie Pannam shortened the family surname from Pannamopoulos after migrating to Australia from Greece). Our condolences to Lou's family and friends. He will be missed.

In one of the more remarkable performances in recent years the ALFA Lions from Lyon in France have taken out this season’s CNFA premiership in fine style, downing last year’s premiers – the Paris Cockatoos – by 62 points. The final score (Lions 103 d Cockatoos 41) was comprehensive and the ideal exclamation point on an undefeated season for a fiercely proud pride of Lions.

The result was notable for the fact that the club won all matches this season across the home and away season and the finals series. But what makes their season a truly “out of the ordinary” performance was that this premiership came after winning last season’s wooden spoon.

Finishing last in both the 2013/14 and 2015/16 seasons, and a sixth place in 2014/15, there was little to indicate the season they have just had. To highlight this further – prior to this season, the Lions had won just five games across their previous three seasons.

With one of the longest selection processes amongst the IC nations, the USA has named their national team to represent them in Australian football at the 2017 International Cup in Melbourne this August.  Following a final camp last weekend in Texas where 50 players pushed their case for the trip to Australia in three months time the final 30 have been announced.

There are plenty of names that will be familiar to IC watchers and plenty of new talent too.

The final squad is as follows

 

Round 7 of the 2017 AFL Season kicks off at Ethihad Stadium on Friday night with St Kilda hosting the GWS Giants. The 125th Anniversary match between Collingwood and Carlton will be shown on the main Fox Sports 1 station in the USA.  Hopefully they will get to see Collingwood big man Mason Cox on their screens in the US.  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.

 

It’s been a time of transition and turnover for the Atlanta Kookaburras.

Season 2016 ended with the squad combining with Baton Rouge (Louisiana) at USAFL Nationals and finishing just out of the finals series. Their one loss was by 10 points in their opener to a skilled Des Moines (Iowa) side while learning to play together. They followed that with a win by 11 over perennial power Denver. Their third and final game was a resounding victory over Tulsa (Oklahoma), made more remarkable because they played the match after learning a clerical error would keep them from advancing.

A high point of 2016 was the club’s 100th win, coming on the road vs. the Nashville Kangaroos.

The Nauru Chiefs have named their final 30-man squad for the 2017 AFL International Cup to be held in Melbourne from August 5th.  Fourteen returning members of the IC14 squad such as Yoshi Harris, Trent Depaune, Johnny Dagiaro (this will be Johnny's fourth International Cup) and Kenneth Oppenheimer will give the side some solid experience. 

While there will also be plenty of excitement from newcomers such as Richmond Spanner, Niga Haulangi and Shawnkemp Maaki.

The Chiefs finished seventh at IC14 defeating the USA, Great Britain (twice), Indonesia and losing only to eventual runners up Ireland by 27 points in Bendigo after being just three points down at 3/4 time.  They will be looking to push higher at IC17.

The Chiefs should be feared by all teams that give themselves a realistic chance at the IC17 title as their hard fast football will be complemented by a more thinking game around the stoppages.  Domestically in Nauru the game has probably never been better organised both at senior and junior level I expect this squad will show the benefits of that.

The full squad is: