World Footy News

 

The National Diversity Championships kicks off this weekend in Sydney, comprising both the Kickstart Championship for indigenous U15 players and the All Nations Championship for multicultural heritage players. World Footy News will be at the event all week, reporting on many facets of this event with progress updates, interviews and informative articles.

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The AFL wishes to advise the annual Under 15 AFL National Male Diversity Championships will begin this Saturday April 8 at Blacktown International Sports Park in Blacktown, the traditional land of the Darug people.

Currently in its fourth year, the AFL National Male Diversity Championships has been developed to provide a supported talented player pathway that compliments the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships and exposes Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural players, coaches, umpires, doctors, and trainers to an elite AFL Program environment.

The beautiful capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague, has played host to a three team tournament featuring the city’s own Prague Dragons, the Dresden Wolves from Germany and England’s University of Birmingham Lions. Back in September, the city hosted the final round of the Central European Australian Football league competition, and now they have followed up with another great promotion for the game in the nation.

According to Martin Hák, PR manager for the event, “the main takeaway [from the tournament] is that it was a great day for everybody and the fans saw quite some quality football too.”

“The weather was beautiful, the organisation perfect (including an outstanding barbecue), the referee was delighted by the spirit and fairness on the field and others were outraged by the extraordinary cultural program (Birmingham's Got Talent).”

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

Aussie rules has developed rapidly in the country of Canada in the past decade or so, buoyed by a wave of Aussie ex-pats who live and work in the large cities of Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa, among others. There are several leagues currently operating, most notably in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia.

The AFL brought the game to Canada officially in the late 1980s, when exhibition matches were held in both Vancouver and Toronto. In fact, the 1987 Vancouver-based match between Sydney Swans and the Melbourne Demons drew a record crowd of over 32,000 – which, to this day, is the largest crowd ever to see a footy match outside of Australia.
 

 

The following article from the AFL Europe website gives a comprehensive review of last weekend’s AFL Europe Champions League tournament held in Amsterdam.  Congratulations go again to the West London Wildcats, winning their third title by downing hosts, the Amsterdam Devils – and still the only winners of the event since its inception. The Wimbledon Hawks women’s team took their first title, downing the Odense Lionesses in the women’s final.

Champion teams from throughout Europe converged on Amsterdam over the weekend to contest the 3rd annual AFL Europe Champions League. 

With 24 teams (19 men’s, 5 women’s), 16 umpires, countless volunteers, 5 pitches and 60 matches across the day it was always going to be a massive tournament for all involved.

(Picture: AFL Europe website)

 

 

The following article by Molly Halberstadt and Ryan Cartwright, posted on the USAFL website, looks at the recent Arctic Cup played in Iceland. The article gives a great insight into the event, including the results and also the overall “uniqueness” of what is hoped to be a permanent footballing fixture for years to come.

"Who thought footy would bring me to f***ing Icelandω" says a chilly Ross Levesque, bitterly surveying his drenched apparel against a backdrop of rugged rocky terrain and steep dark hills rising in the distance.

 

But it wasn't strictly footy that brought him to Iceland - rather, his brother Jay, whom Ross introduced to footy in 2003 and who is now a USA Revolution veteran, was the larger factor for Ross' short trip. The two faced off in the Arctic Cup, with Ross playing for a combination Swedish/Icelandic team and Jay for the Baltimore Washington Eagles.

Round 4 kicked off on Saturday with the Magpies unbeaten run ended by the previously winless Kangaroos. On Sunday the Hawks and Dogs ended their clash with scores level and the Hawks wishing they had kicked a little straighter.  For all the details read on.

 BOMBERS TOO STRONG FOR THE CATS

The www.afl.com.au website has announced the passing of the younger brother of both Pearce and Cian Hanley. The story below can be found at http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-03-30/hanley-brother-loses-battle-with-cancer-aged-16

TOMMY Hanley, the younger brother of Pearce and Cian, has passed away.

The 16-year-old died in a Dublin hospital on Tuesday night Australian time after suffering with cancer.

Pearce (Gold Coast) and Cian (Brisbane Lions) travelled back to Ireland to be with Tommy and made it home in time to see their brother before his death.

 

The Suns and Lions have both released statements to express their condolences to the Hanley family.

Round 2 of the 2017 AFL Season kicks of in Melbourne on Thursday night with Richmond hosting co-tenant Collingwood at the MCG. The Grand Final rematch will be played on Friday night at Etihad Stadium where the Western Bulldogs will host the Sydney Swans.  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	LOCAL TIME	GMT
1	Thursday March 30	Night	Richmond vs. Collingwood	MCG	19:20	08:20
2	Friday March 31	Night	Western Bulldogs vs. Sydney Swans	Etihad Stadium	19:50	08:50
3	Saturday April 1	Day	Hawthorn vs. Adelaide Crows	MCG	13:45	02:45
4	Saturday April 1	Twilight	GWS GIANTS vs. Gold Coast SUNS	Spotless Stadium	16:35	05:35
5	Saturday April 1	Night	Brisbane Lions vs. Essendon	The Gabba	18:25	08:25
6	Saturday April 1	Night	West Coast Eagles vs. St Kilda	Domain Stadium	16:40	08:40
7	Sunday April 2	Early	Geelong Cats vs. North Melbourne	Etihad Stadium	13:10	03:10
8	Sunday April 2	Day	Melbourne vs. Carlton	MCG	15:20	05:20
9	Sunday April 2	Twilight	Port Adelaide vs. Fremantle	Adelaide Oval	16:10	06:40

Round 3 kicked off on Saturday with the Magpies 17 point winners over the Bulldogs to take outright top spot on the ladder.  The Magpies spearheaded by Kenneth Oppenheimer may have stretched that lead if they kicked accurately. 

In other games, the Cats defeated the Hawks by 32 points and the Bombers had the biggest win of the round with a 39 point win over the Kangaroos. Khyde Menke and Bronco Deiderang both kicked 5 goals in that match with Deiderang leading the league with 16 goals from the three matches so far.

Collingwood big man Mason Cox is healthy and ready to be a difference maker in 2017. Now on the senior list, he’s in line to play a larger role in part due to a couple of departures-- Premiership player Travis Cloke to the Western Bulldogs, and second ruckman Jarrod Witts, who is now a Gold Coast Sun.

At 211 cm Cox is able to play some in the ruck, but his soccer and basketball skills make him versatile enough to win his fair share of marking contests on the Collingwood forward line. Certainly his teammates love having a big target up front.

By now you’ve certainly heard the story of the big man (and fellow Texan). He played on the scout team for the Oklahoma State University women’s basketball side, worked his way onto the men’s team, graduated with an engineering degree, and was about to start a new job when he showed up at the AFL combine in 2014.

Cian Hanley had all the ingredients to obtain anonymity. Having been recruited by the Brisbane Lions as an international rookie in 2014, the younger brother of new Gold Coast Suns recruit, Pearce Hanley, has endured injury and media attention directed towards his brother after his trade to the Gold Coast Suns last year.

In some ways he has been the forgotten Lion, but his quiet determination to overcome injury and chase the same dream as his brother has been agonisingly long but impressively tenacious. Having to overcome a serious ACL injury, then ongoing groin problems, Hanley has done it tough since joining the club from a Gaelic Football background for Country Mayo. On the weekend, Cian Hanley lined up for the Brisbane Lions in their final NEAFL practice match against the Gold Coast Suns.

The Blagnac Aviators have negotiated their first season in the CNFA and finished with a smile after enjoying a 40 point victory over the Perpignan Tigers. Their second win of their debut season has seen them leapfrog their Toulouse siblings, the Toulouse Hawks, to claw their way off the bottom of the ladder.

The final score saw the Aviators down the Tigers 113 to 73.

The Blagnac Aviators will sit down now and measure their success over the course of the season, but they will be delighted to have won their first game against the Hawks earlier in the season. To claim another win against the Tigers will very likely see the club rank their first season as “above expectations” and an exciting platform to build on for next season.