World Footy News

A number of hopefuls from Fiji, PNG, Tonga, Nauru, South Africa, NZ and even Denmark have been part of the AFL's International Scholarship scheme over the past eight years without the ultimate success of playing in the AFL.  Now there are just two Kiwi's at St Kilda holding that torch of what seems to be a fading light for international development.

The signing of an International Scholarship player is usually heralded with a feature article on the AFL club's website, perhaps an article on the AFL website and even sometimes some local press in the home town or country. But when their time is up they seem to quietly disappear. 

The latest to 'disappear' from AFL clubs are Siope Ngata who was a scholarship holder at Hawthorn and Giovanni Mountain-Silbery who was a scholarship holder at St Kilda.

Last year Wanderers pulled off the fairy-tale finish that clubs dream of. From sitting outside the top five to premiers in just a matter of weeks was a remarkable footy story. But lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, and as the NTFL season went to the recent summer break, Wanderers again sat outside the top five and had to rely on another barnstorming finish to see finals action.

Last week they took out the second placed St Mary’s, squeaking home by just three points. This weekend they took yet another step towards the unlikely when they brought down the relentless Nightcliff Tigers by just two points. The pair of post-break wins has Wanderers right back in the action, but more importantly they are back in form. They are also back into the top five, leapfrogging both the Tiwi Bombers and Darwin Buffaloes.

Final Score: Wanderers Eagles 15 7 97 d Nightcliff Tigers 14 11 95

If enthusiasm is one of the criteria on which success is based then the new Croatian footy team, the Ploče Eagles, is in great hands. A chat with the fledgling club’s president, Johnny Roncevic, tells the story so far, but also tells a story of a larrikin who may have exactly what it takes to bring together another successful Croatian footy team.

The town of Ploče is not large – approximately ten thousand people – but it important as port on the Adriatic, or Dalmatian Coast, and is used heavily as a port for the neighbouring nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reference to a port adds to the irony of a president of a new club who is from Fremantle in Australia.

Recently, World Footy News published an interview with Croatian journeyman, Josip Habljack, who has become a beacon, if you will, for other European players seeking a dream to follow in A Pilgrimage From Zagreb To Adelaide. Following is an excerpt from a new interview with Josip for the Savez Australskog Nogometa Hrvatske (SANH – Australian Union Of Croatian Football) looking at his journey since his arrival.

 

The 24-year-old from Velika Gorica, Josip Habljak was a Zagreb Hawks player, but now he is in Australia. He is the first Croatian footy player who became a pro and signed one-year contract in Adelaide for Sturt FC. Read this interesting interview and find out more about his life in Australia.

 

 How did you manage to sign one-year contract for Sturt FC and to play footy in Australia.  What is the key of your successω

The 2016 School Sport Australia tour of South Africa is underway with highly talented Australian school footballers taking their wares to towns and villages across South Africa as well as experiencing cultural, social and scenic delights as they mingle footy and travel.

Amid the excitement, the touring team will play in three matches against the South African Lions and possibly another team. The players will also be heavily involved in clinics with school kids across the Johannesburg-Pretoria-Potchefstroom triumvirate as well as later in the journey across Cape Town and Khayelitsha.

The itinerary is exciting, and for many of the players may forever be a highlight of their personal lives as well as footy career. But the opportunity for these players to work with AFL South Africa to grow the game across the nation might be the most valuable legacy of the journey.

The following article from The 42 website by Finlan O’Toole looks at the movement of potential Irish Gaelic footballers and Hurling stars headed to the AFL Training Camp to be held in Florida.

Players from Galway, Kilkenny and Westmeath are amongst the 33 players heading to Florida today for the start of the NAB AFL Academy’s training camp in America.

Galway’s Cillian McDaid, Kilkenny’s Darragh Joyce and Westmeath’s Ray Connellan are all partaking in the camp where leading Australian clubs will run the rule over the players present.

 

The players fly to Orlando before travelling to Sarasota in Florida for eight days on a high-intensity camp at the IMG Academy.

Whilst it is clear that events today will have a devastating impact on the Essendon Football Club in the wake of the CAS/WADA decision to ban players for the 2016 season after a guilty verdict was reached on the use of illegal supplements at the club in 2012, the Bombers will not be the only club hit hard. Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs each have former Essendon players that they have recruited post-2012 who will also be banned. Additionally, clubs around metropolitan, country and interstate leagues will be impacted.

One of these is the Palmerston Magpies club in Darwin playing in the NTFL. Former Bombers, Alwyn Davey and Leroy Jetta have been instrumental in helping the Magpies rise to become a potential finalist in 2016. Both are part of the original "Essendon 34" and face lengthy sanctions that will see them miss the remainder of the 2015 /16 season as well as most of the 2016/17 season.

To make matters worse for Palmerston, Alwyn Davey is their playing coach, meaning that the club loses more than just his playing skills, but his direction on and off field as well.

The AFL was today notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of the sanctions imposed on 34 past and present Essendon Football Club players for breaches of the AFL’s Anti-Doping Policy.

The 34 players were sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on 31 March 2015, with credit given for any individual period of ineligibility already served.

Essendon players have been found guilty in the Court of Arbitration for Sport for their part in the use of banned substance Thymosin Beta-4 after nearly three years of investigations and hearings. It looks as though the 34 players who were at the time of the alleged offences with Essendon are going to be forced to miss the 2016 season. There is suspected to be civil actions and other possible legal avenues to be investigated which means that the saga may drag out longer yet.

Essendon Football Club have released the following statement

Regrettably we can confirm the Court of Arbitration for Sport has found 34 past and present players guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation. As a result, the players - including 12 currently listed with Essendon - have been suspended for the 2016 season. The Club is currently digesting the decision and we will provide a further update later today.

Lindsay Tanner Chairman

The Tiwi Bombers’ charge to the NTFL finals gathered even more momentum as the competition returned after the Christmas/New year break. Their big win over Waratah was one highlight of a round which produced two upsets and left the competition tight for finals action just six rounds from finals time.

Waratah led their game against the Bombers at quarter time, and even by half time were down by just 29 points. But the Tiwi Bombers went on a rampage after the main break kicking 17 goals to just one to run out 130 point victors against the hapless Waratah crew. The win strengthened Tiwi’s position in the top five, giving them their sixth win, but also a huge percentage which will be very important as the log jam for finals spot continues in coming weeks.

Final Score: Tiwi Bombers 27 16 178 d Waratah Warriors 7 6 48

As the push for a national women’s AFL competition continues to go from strength to strength, an argument about the possibility of women’s matches being played as curtain-raisers to AFL matches has grown. As the women’s game continues to grow both across Australia and abroad, any type of positive publicity generated by the women’s game will only aid that growth.

 

The following arguments are from an article on the www.afl.com.au  website, written by Matt Thompson and Nat Edwards, looking at the various for and against debates on the issue.  Some of the points would also resonate with other women’s competitions in terms of strategies for the future growth of the women’s game across the world.

 

Yes - the perfect curtain-raiser

 

AS THE AFL pushes towards a fully-fledged women's competition in 2017, the only way for it to work is to become the standard curtain-raiser to men's games every weekend.