World Footy News

The following story originally appeared on Frederick's Blog and the original article can be found here.

The South Pacific country of Tonga has been introduced to footy fairly recently, but they’ve taken to the sport quickly and have been able to earn their stripes on the international level. The small Polynesian archipelago of roughly 103,000 people is home to many talented athletes.

Tongans have historically favoured other full-contact sports throughout their history, as rugby union is their national sport and rugby league is also widely played in the islands. This influence is apparent in the growing Tongan diaspora, specifically in Australia and New Zealand.

Footy wasn’t introduced to Tonga until the 1980s, when a couple of Australian teachers visited Tongan schools and managed to show the kids the rules of the game. Later on in the 90s, Ewen Gracie, a teacher from Melbourne, worked at a Tongan high school and attempted to establish an ongoing school-based Aussie rules competition with reasonable success

As clubs and nations prepare for this year’s ANZAC Day services and commemorations across the world, the Tyne Tees Tigers from Newcastle, England, are marking the event in their own special way. The club is also keen to gain the support and assistance of any interested in joining their special service. The following article comes from the Tyne Tees Tigers website.

ANZAC Day, 25 April, is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. 

 

With the 2017 AFL Europe Champion’s League tournament looming in Amsterdam, the Manchester Mozzies have shared their views about the event and their preparations. Pool teams will be announced soon, but this article from the Mozzies’ website gives an insight into what happens in the lead-up to one of AFL Europe’s showpieces. 

After nearly three months of training, the Mozzies are just two training sessions away from AFL Europe’s Champions League 2017. Though the groups for the initial stages of the tournament are yet to be announced the Mozzies are looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead in Amsterdam on April 1st.

Coach Chris Sproule has been including plenty of match simulation drills in training getting the squad ready for the intensity the AFL Champions League brings. “The boys are looking good, they’ve had plenty of running in their legs and their commitment to the contest is really impressive,” Coach Sproule said last week.

The Port Adelaide Football Club is delighted to welcome Premier Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, to its first match of the season on Saturday.

As part of the his state visit, Premier Li will, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, attend Port Adelaide’s AFL Opening Round game against the Sydney Swans at the SCG on Saturday afternoon.

It follows an announcement by Prime Minister Turnbull in Shanghai during April 2016 of Port Adelaide’s intention to play a game for premiership points in Shanghai. That game will take place on May 14 against the Gold Coast Suns.

The Northern Territory Football League’s resident powerhouse, the St Mary’s Saints, have won last weekend’s NTFL Grand Final, downing the Wanderers Eagles by 54 points to claim their 31st flag. In a game where the “The Green Machine” was at almost unbackable odds to claim the title, they withstood a brave fight by the Wanderers to coast away in the final quarter.

Just two goals separated the teams at the first break and by half time St Mary’s only held a 16 point lead. Whilst not strolling away with a cavalcade of goals, the Saint defence had kept Wanderers to just two goals for the half.

Round 2 kicked off on Friday evening with the two teams hungry for success after losing their matches in Round 1. Cats led by veteran skipper Trent Depaune against the rebuilding Kangaroos.

Cats vs Kangaroos

The Friday game was a close one between two teams determined to notch up their first win for the season. The Kangaroos charged hard in the last quarter coming from 3 goals behind to level the scores with 4 minutes left. But a clutch goal from Cats veteran player Tiana Waidabu sealed the game for the Cats. Inspirational Cats Captain Trent Depaune led from the front and was named best player for his team. Young Lockett Mau was strong in defence saving a couple of goals and running the ball out of defence with speed and great evasiveness on several occasions. Pilo Dagiaro’s lethal left boot was again on display regularly hitting his forwards with great precision.

For the unlucky Roos they tried valiantly and could have easily snatched the game late in the last quarter, but it was not to be. Leaders Charles Dagiaro and Jarmen Pole won plenty of the ball and spearhead Bronco Deidenang kicked 4 majors causing headaches for the Cats defenders. Shenko Canon was solid in defence and Templa Tau was switched from defence to the forward line and his aggressive attack on the ball created options for the Roos. Young Roos Charmoro Ribauw and Lazarus Caleb impressed with their fearless attack on the football against much bigger bodies. The Roos are definitely on the improve and it should not be long before they notch up their first win for the season. But in this game, it was the Cats that triumphed by 8 points.

 

The ALFA Lions from Lyon in France have secured the minor premiership (short of a miraculous thrashing in their final round match) for the 2017/17 CNFA season. Their convincing win over the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes last weekend saw them leapfrog the Coyotes on percentage and now have one game left against the Bordeaux Bombers to put icing on the cake.

In the match which many saw as the grand final preview, the Coyotes travelled to Lyon to meet in a match which would help decide top spot. Both teams were undefeated going into the match. In the end it was the hugely improved Lions that took the points, eventually running away to a convincing 51 point victory. The final score saw the ALFA Lions 104 defeat the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes 53.

The following story originally appeared on Frederick's Blog and the original article can be found here.

The growth of Aussie rules football in the US has been a slow, steady, but satisfying journey. The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) was originally established in 1996 and is currently based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Americans and Australian ex-patriates alike have been able to get the word out about the historic game, and the excitement of footy is finally coming to American shores on a large scale.

In the 1960s, the Victorian Football League (VFL) tried to expand its international audience by promoting what they called the Australian Football World Tour in 1967 and 1968. It was initially conceived as a way to develop international rules football – a hybrid sport featuring representatives from both Aussie rules football and Gaelic football – but also became a way for international audiences to see various elements of footy up close and personal. Games were played in Dublin, London, and New York City, but the tour was discontinued after 1968.

For the first time in the history of the International Cup, the AFLG are this year sending the German men's national team Down Under to compete for glory.

Footy has had a toehold in Germany since the Frankfurt Redbacks and Munich Kangaroos formed in the 1990s, and the domestic scene has grown over the past 20 years to also involve clubs in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Freiberg and Dresden, with some clubs also running local metro leagues.

However, until now the Germans only competed at European-based tournaments.

This is set to change in August, with the Eagles naming their initial 23-man squad, with another 5-7 players to be added in the coming weeks.

The AFL has tapped Chris Hemsworth to star in the new “I’d like To See That” television commercial, which premiered at the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Launch event in Melbourne last night. 

In the commercial, Hemsworth talks about the romance of the underdog, the physicality of the game, the characters – including Marcus “the Bont” Bontempelli – and the passion that is Australian Football.

The campaign has been revived to appeal to both new and traditional fans of AFL.

[youtube:-PX7eU-fXDE]

For the fourth consecutive year the St Mary’s Saints and Wanderers Eagles will contest the NTFL Grand Final. It will be the fifth time the two have played off in the big dance since the introduction of the Premier League for the 2010/11 season, and the sixth time in the past ten seasons, meeting also in the 2008/09 decider. They have been, without doubt, the best performed teams of the past decade.

But for all that longer term data, the gulf between the two on paper for the 2016/17 season is enormous. Rarely can a favourite be so clear cut based purely on results to date. St Mary’s have enjoyed a phenomenal season, whilst Wanderers have won critical matches to earn their place without ever looking capable of downing the Saints.

Jason Holmes’ time as a Saint will continue in 2017 after signing a one-year deal at the end of last season. He also earned permanent status on the team’s senior squad since AFL rules state that players must be elevated or delisted after three years on a rookie list.

His status, however, appears to be up in the air. The ruckman from Chicago, Illinois, USA was not in the lineup for any of St. Kilda’s preseason matches with Port Adelaide, Carlton, or Sydney.

One reason for the uncertainty could be that the Saints already have three pure ruckmen signed beyond 2016—Tom Hickey, Billy Longer, and Lewis Pierce. Longer and Pierce are under contract until the end of 2018, while Hickey gained attention after a solid campaign last year.

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