World Footy News

 

The following story from the Essendon Football Club website details the club’s support for the “Racism. It Stops With Me” campaign. Heading the push on behalf of the club is Cairns born Bomber, Courtney Dempsey, who played junior football here in the northern city for Manunda Hawks.

 

As a coach of another Cairns-based club which has 92% indigenous players, I also strongly support this initiative. Having coached from Under 14 to Under 18 age groups at the Pyramid Power club, and though schools since 2001, I have personally seen, and been directly involved in, the  ugly, damaging side of racism. Not all people are racist. The overwhelming majority of supporters at local level are people with the knowledge of, and acceptance of difference. But the damage done by a bigoted minority can be devastating, and I have sadly dealt with this personally and do not want to again.

 

 

Thank you to the Essendon Football Club for this article.

Since the resumption of the CNFA competition in France after the winter break, a couple of the strongest clubs have come out and made some powerful statements. With four rounds to go, along with the remaining Round Five clash between the ALFA Lions and the Strasbourg Kangourous, the time is here for some serious muscle flexing.

In the first re-scheduled match after the break, the Bordeaux Bombers took the points against the Strasbourg Kangourous, giving them a boost to claw their way from the bottom reaches of the ladder.

In the other re-scheduled Round Three match, reigning premiers the Paris Cockerels travelled to Lyon and came away with a 110 point victory over the ALFA Lions, immediately catapulting them into second place on the ladder. The final score saw them down the Lions 131 to 21.

 

As reported by Peter Ryan at the www.afl.com.au website, the number of teams for next year’s inaugural national women’s competition is likely to now be eight, with Victorian clubs fighting hard for just four licences and the other four going to clubs in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Clubs have already been lobbying hard and this will continue now as the reality of the 2017 season gets closer.

 

EIGHT women's teams aligned with AFL clubs could form the new women's national competition planned for 2017.

 

 

The AFL is considering running a national competition in February and March next year that includes four teams from Victoria and one each from Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

AFL Media Release

The AFL today announced former Sydney Swans star Tadhg Kennelly will assume the role of head coach of the Allies, which will compete in Division 1 of the 2016 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.

The Allies, comprising players from NSW/ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, will join Vic Metro, Vic Country, Western Australia and South Australia in Division 1 of the 2016 Championships.

The five teams will play four matches each during June in 2016

The AFL General Meeting on March 17 will receive two nominations with strong AFL Club experience to replace retiring Commissioners.

The AFL Commission meeting on Monday accepted the recommendations of the Nominations Sub-Committee to nominate Andrew Newbold and Gabrielle Trainor to the AFL Commission to replace Chris Langford and Sam Mostyn (pictured left at the IC11 opening event).

The Nominations Committee was chaired by AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and included AFL Commissioner Richard Goyder, along with the President of the Richmond Football Club, Peggy O’Neal and the Chairman of the Port Adelaide Football Club, David Koch.

If Ian Mitchell has anything to do with it, Australian Rules football will become the premier football code across England. The Wolverhampton Wolverines president, and captain of the England Dragonslayers national team has lived a double life, combining his senior development roles with a wonderful junior program that might yet become the blueprint for future schools development across Europe.

In a recent interview, Ian detailed the his journey in school footy – past, present and future – and it makes for a fascinating story of determination and vision.

“Sometimes, when going about daily life it can be too easy to carry on from day-to-day without ever stopping to reflect on what is happening. Writing this has given me that opportunity and it makes me realise I should do it far more often than I currently do.”

The 2016 AFL NAB Challenge series kicks off this Thursday night with reigning premiers Hawthorn playing wooden spooners Carlton in Launceston. 

Please see below for the local and international broadcast schedule.  Note that all programming is subject to change and may occur without notice at the whim of the broadcast networks. Please check local guides for confirmation.

 

NZ imports Kurt Heatherley and Shem Tatupu (pictured) have been named in Hawthorn's 29-man squad to take on Carlton in the opening match of the 2016 NAB Challenge pre-season series on Thursday night at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.

Tatupu finished the 2015 season strongly for Box Hill in the VFL and if he plays it will be his first NAB Challenge match and an important step towards making his AFL debut for the Hawks. Track watchers at Waverley have noted the big man's form on the track showing great improvement from previous seasons.

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.