World Footy News

Often lost amongst the crash and bash of senior based footy – men’s or women’s – is the layer of talent that stands to receive the baton after the existing playing groups have become too old to keep running. In so many ways, the kids are THE most important people in the game. It is all very well to have great players, administrators, umpires and so forth now. But ensuring that the pipeline runs deep into the future is vital.

That is why there is nothing quite like seeing the smile on a kid’s face when they have a footy in their hands. The future is so much more secure when we can see the love of the game growing in the next generation – and the next.

Back in December 2015 it was reported that four Borneo Bears National players had been invited to join the Darwin Waratah’s to train and play in the 2015-2016 NTFL season.

"One of the major highlights for 2015 which was organized and championed by Bears President Tommy Commerford and Bears Coach Shane Kruger, was a cross country AFL development agreement between the Borneo Bears and the Darwin Waratah’s".

Today in the NT News we see how this experiment has progressed, "WARATAH’S bold experiment to bring four Borneo-born footballers to the Top End paid dividends yesterday when utility Timbul Kukuh Santoso played his first league game. The 22-year-old “Borneo Express’’ roamed between half forward and half back, producing a 12 possession game that showed he is comfortable at that level."

The Vietnam Swans will host the 17th AFL Asian Championships at RMIT Saigon campus on Saturday 15 October, 2016.

Confirmation was announced at the AFL Asia Annual General Meeting which was held on January 27th 2016.

This will be the first time that the Swans will have hosted “Asian Champs”, which saw over 400 competitors travel to Bangkok in 2015.

The new two-division format with a 12-a-side second division focussing on a commitment to promote local development was hailed a big success in Bangkok and will be continued in Saigon.

The brutal truth is that the top four won and the bottom four lost. One round out from the finals and we are left with a very compelling and confronting truth. In a season which has seen so many close games, the irony is that most of the ladder positions are already signed, sealed and delivered with wide gaps between almost all sides on the ladder except, thankfully, for the battle for fifth place.

As it stands, the Southern Districts Crocs will win the minor premiership, St Mary’s and Wanderers will meet in the Qualifying Final, Waratah will win the wooden spoon and the Tiwi Bombers will avoid the spoon by miss finals. These are now all givens. Buffaloes will play someone in the Elimination Final, and whether it be Nightcliff or Palmerston will be the most intriguing part of next weekend’s final home and away round.

The 2015/16 season for the Waratah Warriors in the Northern Territory Football League has largely been one to forget.  Whilst the fixture shows a winless season to date, the club has used the year as a developmental period to grow the next crop of star players ready to again see finals action. Part of their experiments involved the opportunities given to four Borneo players, one of which played his first senior game recently. The following article from Grey Morris at the NT News gives the details of their journey.

 

 

NTFL club Waratah gets some international flavour with

Timbul Kukuh Santoso making his Premier League debut

 

 

WARATAH’S bold experiment to bring four Borneo-born footballers to the Top End paid dividends yesterday when utility Timbul Kukuh Santoso played his first league game.

The AFL Middle East Grand Final will be a replay of last season’s clash between the Dubai Dragons and the BM Bulls. The Bulls had already secured their place when they secured a grand final berth downing the Doha Kangaroos for their third win for the season, enough for a guaranteed berth.

The Dubai Dragons needed to win this round’s game against the improved Dubai Dingoes in the local derby to claim the other grand final spot. For the Dingoes, they also needed victory to have a faint chance of reaching the final.

But the Dragons snuffed out the Dingoes chances with a solid win, downing the Dingoes by 50 points with the final scores: Dubai Dragons 11 14 80 d Dubai Dingoes 3 12 30.

After s self-imposed hiatus for the 2015 season, one of the ARFLI (Australian Rules Football League Ireland) foundation teams, the Dublin Demons, will return in a merger with the North Leinster Giants. The move will is a bonus and a boost for both clubs, but also for football in Ireland as it returns the men’s competition to its full complement of teams.

The new entity will be basing itself out of Islandbridge in Dublin and training will commence soon in preparation for the upcoming 2016 season. Details of playing strips and other aspects of the merger, such as team name and nickname, will be announced as the season start gets closer.

It looks like there will be new field for the Buffaloes, the Tulsa Buffaloes to roam. Tulsa county have allocated a footy field space in the Chandler Park area as part of an $18 million upgrade of the area. When community consultation on the project went out the Tulsa Buffaloes put their case and are set to be accommodated should the project get the green light as part of the Vision2025 tax proposal.

The venue would be a huge boost to the USAFL club and footy in the region.  The USAFL recently added another team based in the state of Okalahoma, the Oklahoma City Flyers to their listing of USAFL clubs.

For more on this story see video below or on the Fox23 News site here.  

 

 

Just two rounds remain until the NTFL finals series begins and Round 16 provided plenty of excitement as teams jostled for finals berths. In the highlight of the round the Crocs and Eagles played a pulsating draw, St Mary’s booted Palmerston out of the top five, Buffaloes all but killed off the Tiwi Bombers finals hopes and the Nightcliff Tigers leapt into the top five.

Southern Districts Crocs has virtually assured themselves of the minor premiership, so their clash against Wanderers Eagles was less about top spot and more about flexing muscle against another likely finalist. Wanderers were still on a mission to prove doubters wrong and show they could actually defend their title after a tardy first half of the season. The result was a slashing game where little separated the teams all day and had them locked at 73 points apiece by the final siren. Incredibly, it was the tenth time this season that Wanderers had played in a game decided by less than a goal, with them being on the credit side with six wins a draw and three losses. It says something about their belief that they can stay in games so long and surge when they need to. That is something other finals teams will need to watch very closely.

Final Score: Southern Districts Crocs 10 13 73 drew with Wanderers Eagles 10 13 73

Today I met with East Fremantle Football Club's General Manager Darryn Fry. Primarily it was to take charge of some uniforms destined for Canada's newest men's club the Victoria Sharks. (Victoria is the capital of British Columbia not the bigger Vancouver).The EFFC has also sent uniforms to the Beachside Sharks in L.A. and football boots to South Africa

It was interesting talking to Darryn on the many aspects of running a football club. Running a club in the WAFL like any second tier Australian football club requires the same level of sophistication of an AFL club at a fraction of an AFL's club budget. They definitely identify with the struggles of a football club yet their home ground, the biggest in the league looked a treat.