World Footy News

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The AFL today announced Hawthorn's triple-premiership skipper Luke Hodge would be captain of the Virgin Australia International Rules team to contest the one-off Test against Ireland, to be played at Croke Park in Dublin next Saturday November 21.

The Australian team coaching group of Alastair Clarkson, Ross Lyon and Chris Scott nominated Hodge to be captain from the leadership group comprising Robert Murphy, Nick Riewoldt, Harry Taylor and Sam Mitchell at a team function in New York on Friday evening November 13 (Saturday November 14 Australian time).

The 2015 season in Australia, and many other countries, is done – apart from those resilient and fanatical “Top-Enders” in Darwin where matches will be played, rain, hail, shine or monsoon, until March. Competitions in the Middle East and France keep the flame flickering also. Many now will sit back and reflect on the exploits of their favourite players, teams, matches or subjects other than footy. Discussions may turn to club recruiting, drafting, trading, coaching or a range of other “team” related topics.

But behind the scenes at all levels of the game, volunteers and diehards that keep those players on the field get a small window where other things in life – like resting and eating – can return to a more “normal” state. Clubs and players might succeed on the battle fields of football grounds, but they cannot, simply cannot, succeed without the tireless and generous efforts of their crews behind the scenes.

Take the mythical “Bandicoots” team. A fabricated name for the story, but inhabited by a cast of people that are as real as the sweat and talent on field.

As women's footy continues to grow and head towards a national league, a significant announcement for women's footy was made today revealing that AFL Victoria plans to establish a women’s state league competition in 2016.

The new competition will be aligned with the Victorian Football League (VFL), featuring 10 clubs, with the six Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL) Premier Division teams from 2015 – Darebin Falcons, Diamond Creek, Eastern Devils, Melbourne Uni, St Kilda and VU Western Spurs – to be joined by the top four Division 1 sides – Cranbourne, Geelong, Knox and Seaford.

AFL Victoria believes the time is right for a dedicated state league, with the 10 clubs all geographically spread across Melbourne and featuring a wealth of talent.

“This is the starting point for something really exciting in women’s football,” AFL Victoria CEO Steven Reaper said.

The Australian team has spent most of this week warming up and getting to know each other in New York City.  The US stopover before next week's International Rules Test match in Ireland will conclude after this weekend.  Before they leave for Ireland though the Australian team will play a New York GAA team.  The match will take place on Saturday at the Rockland GAA Centre of Excellence in Orangeburg starting at midday. 

If you are going to head down there to watch the match please be aware that there are limited facilities (so don't expect seating), entry is $10 for adults and free for under 18's.

Earlier in the week the AFL today announced a five-man leadership group for the Virgin Australia International Rules team to contest the one-off Test against Ireland, to be played at Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday November 21.

 

On the 15th of November the Manchester Mosquitoes host a charity Aussie Rules tournament at Trafford MV Rugby Club. The Nathan Blakey Movember Cup is held annually in support of the Movember Foundation raising funds for men’s illnesses, in particular prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues. The first tournament was held in 2011 and has been growing year on year raising around £10,000 for charity so far.

The week before the first event, Nathan Blakey, a member of the Manchester Mosquitoes ARFC, passed away during complex surgery at the age of 28. Nathan had been part of the Mozzies since the clubs first season and was part of their 2010 premiership team. He was known for his down to earth, friendly nature and his love of the footy. He played, umpired, helped coach and loved a beer. He was a paramedic so would often be sorting himself out after matches whenever he took a hit. He is greatly missed. With his passing the week before the first Movember Cup it was decided to play the tournament in honour of Nathan. It seemed a fitting gesture to remember him in this way considering his love of football and his commitment to developing the game.

This month in Kolkata, India, the annual AFL India National Championships – the ARFAI OGM Cup - Australian Rules football tournament was held. The tournament has continued to grow – both in numbers and standard – over recent years. This year’s event was won by the Bengal Tigers over the Jharkhand Crows. The final score war the Tigers 2 6 18 down the Crows 2 1 13.

 

The following article from the Koltata Konnector website, written by Abhijit Ganguly, takes a closer look at the growth of the game in India in the wake of the tournament.

 

 

The game was officially born 156 years ago when in 1859 its rules were codified four years before soccer even had a codified set of rules, but it had been played for several years before that across the southern states of Australia. 

In one of the biggest expansion moves in Cairns for many years, fledgling junior club Pyramid Power may be about the get the green light to field a reserve grade team in the 2016 senior AFL Cairns competition.

A public meeting will be held in the sugar town of Gordonvale, 25 kilometres south of Cairns, to float the idea to the local community and hopefully convince the powers that be at AFL Cairns that the idea will have the necessary support. Pyramid Power President, Brett Kennerley, has stated that the plan has been in place for four years to field a team at senior level but many road blocks have prevented the move to date.

Should the move succeed and the new team take the field in 2016, the next step will be a full senior body for AFL Cairns by 2018, giving the league eight teams. The league in now in total support of the idea, provided local support is evident.

The new season might just be five rounds old but the Southern Districts Crocs have already thrown down the gauntlet to all clubs. Their 69 point demolition of perennial powerhouse, St Mary’s at TIO Stadium today was the biggest sign yet that the Crocs mean business in 2015/16. The victory sees them level on points with last year’s premiers Wanderers but well clear on percentage.

The loss for St Mary’s places them in an unusual position – for them. They now sit in fifth place, albeit just a game behind Crocs. But with the developing log jam at the upper end of the ladder, Saints will need to find more wins than others to get back in reach of top spot.

Final Score: Southern Districts 19 9 123 d St Mary’s 7 12 54

The following article from Adam Curley at the afl.com.au website looks at the burgeoning career of Carlton's latest International Rookie signing, Matt Korchek from the USA.

CARLTON'S American rookie Matt Korcheck says countrymen Jason Holmes and Mason Cox inspired him to come to Australia and try to forge an AFL career.

Holmes debuted for St Kilda in round 21 last season in the club's draw against Geelong and was impressive in the ruck, having 34 hit-outs, before playing the final two games of 2015.

Cox is yet to play a senior game for Collingwood but did feature in last season's NAB Cup campaign and played some impressive footy in the VFL towards the end of 2015.

The race for top spot is already gathering steam after just four rounds of the NTFL season in Darwin. Southern Districts, Wanderers and St Mary’s each have three wins and are narrowly ahead of Nightcliff, Palmerston and Darwin Buffaloes on two apiece. It sets the scene for a torrid few weeks headed towards the Christmas/New Year Break in December.

The weekend matches were highlighted by a slashing game between previously undefeated Southern Districts and Wanderers. The Crocs led after a five goal first quarter and held the lead at half time by nine points. But in a spirited second half, wanderers found the extra gear to get ahead and hold of the determined crocs, running out three point winners in yet another result decided this season by less than a goal. Two of those were losses for Wanderers (by three points to St Mary’s and two points to Buffaloes), so the result was a huge relief for last year’s premiers.

Final score: Wanderers 13 10 88 d Southern Districts 13 7 85

With the release today of the 2016 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Fixture, the Northern Territory and Tropical North Queensland are again the winners. Once again, matches will be played for premiership points in Alice Springs, Darwin and Cairns. But by far the biggest winner was the North Queensland city of Mackay which will host its first ever official AFL match in the pre-season NAB Cup match.

For the past three seasons the city of Townsville has held the event, hosting matches featuring North Melbourne (2013) Brisbane Lions (2014) and Geelong (2015) each playing the Gold Coast Suns. But Mackay’s successful bid will see the Brisbane Lions return north, this time at the Harrup Park Country Club complex.

Current St Kilda player, David Armitage, is a Mackay boy, having played for the Eastern Swans in his junior days prior to drafting into the AFL, adding a level of local interest to the game.

The 2016 AFL Fixture was released today.  Full details can be seen below.  Round 23 is left open in terms of what part of the weekend each match will be played on.  Note there will be no match played in NZ for Premiership points in 2016 with St Kilda ending their deal with Wellington.