World Footy News

It was a huge day of footy in Frankfurt as the AFLG Premiership (16 per side) and the AFLG Championship (9 per side) were decided. The biggest winners on the day were the Munich Kangaroos downing the Berlin Crocodiles in the premiership decider. The Hamburg Dockers downed the host team, the Frankfurt Redbacks, in the championship decider.

Munich leapt out to a handy 37 point lead by half time in the premiership decider – leading 62 to 25. Whilst they were the dominant side, the Crocs were still a mathematical chance of turning things around in the second half. But an even better second half from the Kangaroos – 77 to 2 – saw them power away to take the 2016 AFLG Premiership.

A new footy force is rumbling to life between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The new West Lothian Eagles are gathering the necessary interest and support to build a new Scottish powerhouse, and if enthusiasm counts for anything, Mikey Allan will make it happen.

In a recent chat with Mikey he revealed, “I had moved to West Lothian last October and decided to try and start a training group. I was asked if there was a team and I said there wasn't which resulted in only 1 guy showing up to training. [But] the team is currently seven weeks old and we are attracting more every week - nine at our last session.”

The battle for Russian footy supremacy will be played out this weekend in Moscow when the local team, the Lazy Koalas, take on their now permanent nemesis, the St Petersburg Cats. The first challenge of the year saw the Koalas down the Cats, but the return bout in St Petersburg saw an historic first ever win for the Cats.

Now the game returns to Moscow, giving the Koalas the home ground advantage, but they know full well that the Cats learned a great deal about winning last start and will be ravenous for another taste of victory, no matter where the venue.

The Prague Dragons from the Czech Republic will host this weekend’s final round of the Central European Australian Football league competition featuring teams from Croatia, Austria and of course the Dragons as the Czech representative.

The initiative sees six Croatian teams lock horns with the Dragons and also the Styrian Downunderdogs from Austria. The Zaprude Giants, Zagreb Hawks, Ploce Eagles, Velika Gorika Bombers, Zagreb Cvjetno Dockers and Sesvete Blues are the Croatian teams involved.

The 2016 finals are finally here and the first match of the week kicks off in Perth on Thursday night with the Eagles hosting the Western Bulldogs at Subiaco Oval. 

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. 

 

GAME	DATE	TIMESLOT	MATCH	VENUE	STATE	LOCAL TIME	GMT	NETWORK
EF2	8/09/2016	Night	West Coast Eagles vs. Western Bulldogs	Domain Stadium	WA	18:10	10:10	SEVEN
QF2	9/09/2016	Night	Geelong Cats vs. Hawthorn	MCG	VIC	19:50	09:50	SEVEN
QF1	10/09/2016	Day	Sydney Swans vs. GWS GIANTS	ANZ Stadium	NSW	15:20	05:20	SEVEN
EF1	10/09/2016	Night	Adelaide Crows vs. North Melbourne	Adelaide Oval	SA	19:10	09:40	SEVEN

AFL Canada today announced their 30 man squad that will represent their nation at the 2017 AFL International Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

The team staff will be again be led by Head Coach Cody Royle who was at the helm for the 2015 Parallel Cup and assistant coach for the Northwind at IC14.

Staff	Club
Head Coach - Cody Royle	Broadview Hawks
Asst Coach - Adam Kelly	Burnaby Eagles
Asst Coach - Dane Rolfe	Calgary Kangaroos
Team Manager - Brad Heidebrecht	Edmonton AFC
Runner - Philippe Jacques Zaor	Ottawa Swans

 

As previously reported, a key initiative for Japanese football is underway with the touring Japan University Warriors visiting Australia.

The Japan University Warriors team is touring Melbourne and played the first of two tour matches against the Keysborough FC Thirds on Sunday at Keysborough Reserve.

The game turned out to be a thriller with the Warriors victorious by just one point.

Japan Warriors 2.2 5.5 7.5 11.5(71)
Keysborough Thirds 3.5 4.7 9.9. 10.10 (70)

Goal Kickers for the Warriors: K.Nakagawa 3 , T.Karaki 2 , J.Fujita , Y.Yamaji , J.Ito , R.Tokutake , H.Otake , S.Mukodaka

Former Sydney Swans ruckman, Mike Pyke, will be the subject of this week’s episode of the Foxtel television show “Open Mike” hosted by veteran football journalist Mike Sheahan.

The show will feature an in depth interview with the Canadian code-hopper who played 110 games for the Sydney Swans between 2009 and 2015, including being a member of the Sydney Swans 2012 premiership team. The 200cm former Swan also kicked 48 goals in his career with the club and stands as one of the best international recruits for any AFL club. His success has set the platform for others to come to Australia and try their luck.

The inaugural international match between the new Colombian team the Bogotá Bulldogs and the Santiago Saints from Chile has been played on the weekend with victory going to the Bulldogs. The final score saw the ‘Dogs down the Saints 94 to 48 to be the first winners of “The Andes Cup”.

Teams were applauded for their effort playing in Bogotá, a city which sits at an altitude of over 8,000 feet above sea level – testing the aerobic capacity of all players. As the Bulldogs proudly state, their team plays and trains at an altitude of over 2600 metres above sea level, which is the equivalent of playing at the summit of Mt Kosciusko – Australia’s highest peak.

Just at the moment all I want is a set of footy cards. Not those big, burly blokes that usually grace the cards. I want a set of women’s league cards. They probably already exist, but I imagine that there will be more of them made featuring more players and available in more places when the national women’s league gets underway next year.

In the past I have found that cards have been a great giveaway for kids. They help to generate excitement as kids are maybe lucky enough to stumble across a card of their hero.

After last night’s match at the Whitten Oval, where the Western Bulldogs downed the Melbourne Demons in an historic first victory, the footy world was rewarded with a collection of “marquee” players, young guns of the future and old hands steadying the ships. That these players were our most elite women showed just how far the game of Australian Rules football had come in recent times and was a vision through a crystal ball of what will come.

 

The success this year of Essendon player Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti has prompted media calls to scour the Northern Territory for more talent, almost as if it is an unmined vein of rich talent. But history has already proved that the Northern Territory has already produced outstanding talent on a regular basis for 100 years. Some of that talent has graced the lists of VFL/AFL clubs, whilst others have excelled in other state leagues or just remained local heroes in Darwin or Alice Springs.                                                                                                                           

The following media release from the AFLNT announces the final “TEAM OF THE CENTURY” to help celebrate and honour 100 years of Northern Territory football.

The Mt Isa football community is in shock and a state of grieving after a young footballer died last week after having collapsed in a match the previous weekend. The young man from the Lake Nash All Stars team (a community just 17 kilometres from the Northern Territory/Queensland border on the Territory side and roughly 375 kilometres by road from Mt Isa) collapsed after being taken from the ground.

The All Stars team travels each match day from Alpurrurulam (the correct name of the community) on a round trip of around 750 kilometres for opportunity to play.

According to the local North West Star newspaper, in an article by Samantha Walton: