World Footy News

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.

The AFL has granted Victorian based clubs the opportunity to develop their own talent academies to boost the development of players from non-traditional football backgrounds, or to fast-track development of project players across multicultural player markets. The following article from the www.afl.com.au website details the plan and the impact it will have on Victoria and the Northern Territory.

 

VICTORIAN clubs have been given seed funding to establish club-branded academies in allocated areas throughout Victoria and the Northern Territory in a radical plan to attract youngsters from non-traditional football backgrounds to the game.

 

 

Under the plan unveiled to clubs on Tuesday, they will be given the chance to invest in specific regions to attract youngsters from diverse backgrounds and indigenous heritage to play AFL and develop elite talent within those areas.

 

The French football season is due to return this weekend after an extended break for the winter and festive seasons. Barring new unwanted delays, the rescheduled Round One match between the Bordeaux Bombers and the Strasbourg Kangourous is set to take place in Bordeaux. It marks a vital game for both teams. Strasbourg currently sits inside the top four and another win could cement that spot a little longer. Bordeaux also needs a win to get away from the lower rungs of the ladder.

Later this month the other rescheduled Round Three match between the ALFA Lions and the Paris Cockerels will be played in Lyon. Once again both teams need this win, the Lions to claw their way off the bottom of the ladder and the Cockerels to secure their place in the top four. The match is scheduled for 20th February, the same day as the first of the Round Five matches featuring the Bordeaux Bombers versus the Perpignan Tigers and the Toulouse Hawks versus the Paris Cockatoos.

The second half of the AFL Middle East competition got under way last Friday after the winter break. Whilst the scheduled Muscat Magpies versus BM Bulls match had long been cancelled, the other match went ahead with the Dubai Dingoes hosting fellow finals aspirant, the Abu Dhabi Falcons. The BM Bulls also played the Doha Kangaroos with their match being brought forward.

The final scores saw the Dubai Dingoes 9 14 68 defeat the Abu Dhabi Falcons 7 3 45.

The BM Bulls, however, defeated the Doha Kangaroos - 14 17 101 to 1 6 12 to secure the first grand final place with their third win for the season.

The Dingoes/Falcons match was like a mini final for both teams. Locked on a win apiece heading into the match, whichever team won would go into finals calculations whilst the other would almost certainly be out of the running. The result now sees the Falcons unlikely to reach the final as their final match is against the league leaders, the Dubai Dragons.