World Footy News

Just four years ago – 2012 – the world was a little different. Barak Obama still sat in the White House, but the British Prime Minister was David Campbell and Julia Gillard was PM in Australia. The film “Argo” won best picture at the Oscars and the music charts were dominated by One Direction, Florence & The Machine, Rihanna, Flo Rida and Carly Rae Jepsen.

The Sydney Swans won the premiership, their fifth including their South Melbourne days, and Essendon’s Jobe Watson won the Brownlow Medal.

The Swans will now attempt to chase their sixth flag in a world that hasn’t dramatically changed much since their last glorious day in the sun in 2012.

Whilst he didn’t defeat eventual winner, Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield, Mason Cox, Collingwood’s American recruit, created his own history on Brownlow Medal night. With his single vote this year, Cox became the first American player to poll a vote in the prestigious award.

Cox polled his vote in Collingwood’s Round 8 clash against the Brisbane Lions. His individual performance of 9 possessions, 3 marks, 11 hit-outs, 4 goals and 2 behinds for the day clearly caught the attention of the match umpires as they awarded him one vote for his efforts.

The Dubai Dragons have created an amazing dynasty in recent years. With four flags from the past five seasons there is an argument that maybe it’s time for a rebuild and maybe the new season will belong to fellow Dubai teams the rising Bulls or the rebuilding Dingoes, the Kangaroos from Doha or the Falcons from Abu Dhabi.

But the club, whilst losing some players, have also rebuilt their list for yet another flag tilt.

Former club president and now AFL Middle East President, Matt Burn, updated the Dragon’s progress. “The first session for the pre-season was August 16. [The team] have been training twice a week since then with numbers getting better each week.”

Carlton today announced the Kate Shierlaw of the Wimbledon Hawks will be one of their rookie players for the inaugural season of the AFL Women's league in 2017.

Shierlaw is originally from Adelaide and is a huge Carlton fan, but only began playing Aussie rules this year in London for the first time.  Kate is the first woman to be signed to an AFL club from a club outside Australia. 

Senior women’s coach Damien Keeping said of Kate "(she) is returning to Australia from the UK which demonstrates her passion and dedication to the game.

 

“Although she has only recently taken up the sport, Kate is a tremendous athlete with a strong work ethic and deep desire to develop and hone her football skills.”
 

The new AFL Middle East 2016/17 season is now only weeks away and the Multiplex Bulls have already thrown down a gauntlet to make this season their own. After entering the competition just two seasons ago they have twice reached the AFL Middle East Grand Final and twice the pre-season tournament. Only last season did they taste victory in any of those grand finals, most recently going down to the Dubai Dragons in last season’s finale.

But, according to the club, that is all about to change.

 

The following story by Ben Guthrie at the www.afl.com.au website looks at the recognition paid by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull towards Sydney Swans defender, and Sudanese talent, Aliir Aliir. The article highlights Aliir’s almost automatic multicultural value as a community leader, made even more wide ranging given his example being used at a UN General Assembly leader’s summit on refugees. It is an inspirational story. 

 

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has spoken of the remarkable story of Sydney Swans defender Aliir Aliir at a United Nations conference in New York. 

And then there were four.  The Preliminary Finals kick off in Melbourne Friday night with Geelong hosting Sydney at the MCG.  In the other match GWS host the travelling Western Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium in Sydney.

If you want to know when you can see the footy on TV in your part of the world, check out the full schedule below.

As always schedules are subject to change at the discretion of the local broadcaster so please check local guides for updates. 

The 2016 AFL Grand Final is just a few days away where the Western Bulldogs will take on the Sydney Swans at the MCG.  For over 10 years, World Footy News has collated an extensive list of Grand Final Parties around the world to help viewers find them.

We are now calling for clubs around the world to send details of your party to us, so that fans of the game in your country/city can watch the big game with you. 

You can either post details as a comment below (you must register before you are able to post a comment or login via Facebook) or email troy@worldfootynews.com - all these details will be collated as per previous years.

The following is an article from the staff writers at www.afl.com.au introducing the new logo for the AFL Women’s national competition.

THE Logo for the AFL Women's competition features a stylised 'W', with iconic goalposts and a goalsquare.

The logo, developed in consultation with the AFL women's advisory group, was released in Melbourne on Monday morning.

 

The AFL said the 'W' logo paid tribute to the heritage of the AFL logo, with the posts and goalsquare presented in a "contemporary, energetic, and youthful manner".

The Glasgow Sharks’ successful season went one step further last weekend when they visited Newcastle to take out the 2016 Tyne Tees Cup. Just last month the Glasgow Sharks took out the AFL Scotland premiership - Glasgow Sharks Crowned AFL Scotland Champions – and the trip south has netted them another trophy for the cabinet.

The competing teams for this year saw the Glasgow Sharks, Tyne Tees Tigers and Scotland’s Kingdom Kangaroos in the men’s competition. In the women’s draw the England Vixens took on the Wandsworth Demons and the Glasgow Sharks.

 

The Zaprude Giants are the toast of Croatia after last weekend’s victory in the CEAFL (Central European Australian Football League) Championships held in Prague, Czech Republic. After having headed the table after victories in the first two rounds held in Croatia and Austria, something special was needed by their competitors to stop a Giants title – it didn’t happen.

 

 

Headed into the Prague leg of the tournament, only the Giants, Sesvete Blues from Croatia and the Styrian Downunderdogs from Austria had enough accumulated points from the previous events to be overall winners, but the Giants did little wrong as they again won the day and the overall title.

AFLNT [on Wednesday] released the TIO NTFL Premier League fixture and gate prices for the 2016/17 TIO NTFL Season, which will kick off on Saturday October 8.

AFLNT Chief Executive Officer Michael Solomon and AFLNT Football Operations Manager Joel Bowden released the fixture today, confirming matches are likely to be played away from TIO Stadium for the first two rounds due to the ground undergoing surface work.

The TIO NTFL Premier League will again be played across an 18-round format with all clubs to play five home matches throughout the season.