World Footy News

As is increasingly the way, talented young footballers from all over the world are being increasingly more often lured to Australia to try their hand at Australian Rules football. Those not able to attend various combines to get on the AFL’s radar are risking much to leave their home lives behind and journey to Australia to try their hand. Some documented examples have been players from the United States making it to the VFL. Others have come from Canada to play on the Gold Coast or country Victoria.

Josip Habljak has been one of the mainstays of Croatian footy in recent years. His interest in the game turned in to a love affair of sorts and his talents grew exponentially. Like others before him, the lure of coming to Australia has seen him make that life change and see how far he can go with his adopted game.

The following interview with Josip is unique in that it gives a very clear insight into the background of a player not brought up with the game and how, by degrees, he developed his own game and explored options to go further. Now with Sturt Football Club in the SANFL, Josip opens up about his footy journey.

As the need for top level athletic talent for the upcoming 2017 Women's national league becomes more obvious the AFL today released the following announcement that will aim to find talent from other sports in Australia.  As yet there are no announcements about talent from outside Australia being included.

AFL Media Release

The AFL is pleased to announce a female talent search campaign will be held throughout Australia in early 2016.

The campaign is designed to give female athletes who are currently active in other sports the opportunity to test their football fitness and skills.

 

Round 10 of the NTFL season wrapped up in Darwin yesterday with the St Mary’s team ending the Buffaloes’ winning streak, the Palmerston Magpies upsetting the top team, Wanderers finally getting a solid win on the board and the Tiwi Bombers (barely) keeping their finals hopes alive.

The match of the day was certainly billed at the St Mary’s Saints and Darwin Buffaloes clash. Both were locked in a three way battle for top spot and the winner would certainly hold a psychological advantage come finals time. The Buffaloes won the first and last quarters, keeping their final quarter record of fighting back alive, but the damage was done by the Saints with eight goals to one across the middle two quarters. The win sees St Mary’s now alone at the top of the ladder and well placed to seek another flag. For the Buffaloes, their seven match winning streak has ended, but the incentive remains to stay in the finals race.

Final Score: St Mary’s Saints 12 15 87 d Darwin Buffaloes 8 9 57

The AFL Middle East season has reached the mid-season, or winter, break with the Dubai Dragons having their say once again. In a shortened competition due to the withdrawal of the Muscat Magpies, the Dragons recorded their second win of the season in an eleven point thriller against the Doha Kangaroos.

The Dragons undertook a significant off-season rebuild with players departing, putting pressure on their claims to another flag. But the win against Doha sees them in the prime position to snare another minor premiership. They now have two wins, the same as the BM Bulls, but with two games to play compared to one for the Bulls.

The game in Doha was tight from the outset. The Dragons led most of the early stages, with a one goal half time lead. But the home side came back hard and jumped out to a ten point lead midway through the final quarter. But the Dragons newer players and last minute replacements stepped up to grab back the lead and hold on for a win.

The AFL International Cup is the pinnacle event on the Australian Football international calendar and has grown steadily in stature and standard. Despite financial considerations limiting numbers, participation is greater than some other football world cups, yet the IC profile remains low.

With this in mind I have started an electronic petition for the SBS to broadcast the IC. It is an ideal event for the SBS as it fulfills all its charter points. The IC is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, entertaining, educational and advances the spirit of world friendship. Without jumping too far ahead, any lift in the profile of the IC will produce direct and indirect benefits for the competition. Those benefits in all probability will be small at first but it is the "foot-in-the-door" to leverage the future.

Currently there has great response from individuals at https://goo.gl/GwnmAK but I need organisations to promote this petition to achieve the "reach" simply by sharing WFN's facebook post.

 

The 2015 Oceania Cup at Furnival Park in Toorak, Suva (Fiji).

Kicking off on Monday with a round robin lightning premiership - the Nauru Stars got off to a flier and held on to finish the day the undefeated winners. Following that was 3 days of footy as the Nauru Suns sought to regain their title of junior champions of Oceania.

Action from the tournament (above left), Fiji junior Tribe (above right - photo FijiSun).

This coming weekend will see the final game of Round Four for the CNFA as the league heads into its winter recess. The remaining five rounds will recommence in February, but already there has been a great amount of interest in the footy to date.

Round One saw the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes down last year’s premiers, the Paris Cockerels by 29 points to start the year on the right path. The Cockerel’s decision in the off-season to have one club/two teams – giving rise to the league’s eighth team, the Paris Cockatoos – has had an effect on the Cockerels, but already their stable mates have prospered. The Bordeaux versus Strasbourg game was rescheduled for February.

The third match went to the Toulouse Hawks over the ALFA Lions, but in unusual circumstances. The end result was a forfeit equivalent with the Lions penalised for unregistered players and the points going to the Hawks. But that doesn’t tell the “footy” story. Prior to the decision, the Hawks won their actual match 106 to 70 by 36 points, but in the corresponding game last season it was the Hawks winning by a massive 243 points. Rightfully, the Lions can point to a huge on field improvement since that horrid day last year – it was just a shame the result may come down to an off-field decision. A final decision is pending through a tribunal, though either way Toulouse gets the points.

Indonesia has gone through a huge change over the past 3 to 4 years in regards to the energy sector which has led to a great number of expats leaving Indonesia and particularly from Balikpapan, the center of energy in Indonesia.

Back in earlier days the expat players would invite their Indonesian national drivers and office staff down to training and consequently fund them to local tournament tours, it was expats that formed 90% of the club players list and membership.

However, The Borneo Bears through a number of methods with great support and perseverance from the Bears Committee, has survived the exodus of expats and the Bears have turned their player list around which now constitutes approximately 90% Indonesian National players and continues to grow.

 

 

The International Cup should segregate. The women and men should play the next iteration of the International Cup separately. Just two years after the last International Cup was held, I firmly believe that the women’s International Cup should be played in 2016.

Why?

It is because 2017 will be year zero for the AFL Women’s National league. Because 2016 will be the time for the best women in footy to audition for the (assumed) historic draft that will fill the first teams of the league. And a women’s international tournament will allow the best women footballers from Oceania, North America and Europe to show their wares in Melbourne before the talent scouts from the new teams.

The end of Round 9 signalled the middle of the season. With nine rounds down and nine to go and many fascinating scenarios which could play out in the second half of the season, this is shaping as another exciting run to the finals. In a season which has already become known for its evenness and close results, three teams share top spot on wins, and just a game separates fourth place from seventh.

The weekend results did not yield any very close games, yet those results have made for a very close competition.

The Tiwi Bombers hosted the Waratah Warriors at their Wurrumiyanga home on Bathurst Island. Bad kicking is deemed bad football, and the Bombers all but handed Waratah a “Get Out Of Jail” card, kicking 19 behinds. But they were good enough to overcome a half time deficit to record a much needed 23 point win.

The 2015 AFL Under 15 Oceania Cup is tonight gearing up after the arrival of competing teams. Being again held in Fiji, the action gets underway tomorrow at Furnivale Park in Toorak (Suva). Once again the opening day is a lightning premiership format.

This years tournament sees 4 teams playing. Tonga, Fiji and Nauru have full squads while the 4th side is the Pacific All Stars. The tournament will wind up on Thursday with finals after lunch followed after presentations by an exhibition match between the Fiji U/14s and the U/14 Australian Wanderers.

The usual venue at Albert Park in Suva is under construction works which is why the alternate venue is being used.

The off-season certainly hasn’t been a quiet time for the AFLCNE (AFL Central & Northern England) committee as they continue to redevelop 2016 representative opportunities for league players. Additionally, the league has redeveloped their own home and away draw to accommodate their eighth team in 2016, the Merseyside Saints from Liverpool.

The following information from the AFLCNE website outlines the changes.

“In 2016 the Central and Northern England League will be forming a League representative side with a view to playing 18 a-side games as opposed to the leagues 9s format. The aim behind this is to give our top British talent more experience of the 18s game and help them to prepare for national team selection and hopefully playing for the British Bulldogs.”