World Footy News

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.

The second season of the recently revamped South African national Australian Rules football competition concluded recently with the Gauteng Province based team, Warriors, defeating the Nyanga Blue Birds team from the Western Cape Province.

The new format commenced in 2014 and was considered a success as eight teams from across South Africa competed in a ten round format. There are two teams from each of four provinces – Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and North West.

The Warriors and Blue Birds teams finished the home and away rounds in first and second place respectively, and met in the final which in the end was dominated by the Warriors on the scoreboard. Final scores saw Warriors 5 9 39 defeat the Nyanga Blue Birds 2 7 19.

Hawthorn Football Club announced today Irishman Conor Glass was added to its list, with the 18-year-old signing on as an International Category B rookie.

A talented Gaelic footballer, Glass has won three Ulster club minor titles with the Watty Graham team, as well as two MacRory crowns and a Hogan Cup victory with St Patrick's, Maghera.

Glass hails from Maghera in Northern Ireland and has been on the Hawks’ radar for the past few years, having previously made three trips to Australia to visit Waverley Park.

Ireland’s own UCC Bombers footy team, based down in Cork, has been gradually developing a full head of steam as it heads closer to becoming a key part of the continued growth of Australian Rules football in the nation. The club’s Public Relations Officer, Ian O’Brien, was happy to give an overview of their season to date and a look at the inspiration that Geelong’s Irish ruckman, Padraig Lucey has become to the club.

“The UCC Bombers started the new season in a positive manner with a win over the current Rebel Shield winners the Leeside Lions. This proved to be a close encounter with a highly skilled and experienced opposition. The Bombers came out on top in the first leg of the Rebel Shield competition with a 5 point margin and the final score being UCC Bombers 7.12.54 defeating Leeside Lions 7.7.49.”

To watch The Moody Blues live at the Sydney Entertainment Centre was one of my life long wishes. Burned into my memory is watching Justin Hayward ascend an ethereal mountain singing “Nights In White Satin” and hitting every note as I had remembered it. My life seemed complete…almost.

A year earlier I had the same uplifting feeling watching Pink Floyd play the entire Dark Side Of The Moon album, and was transfixed when David Gilmour brought “Comfortably Numb” to life. A couple of years earlier at a Dire Straits concert, Mark Knopfler played the guitar solo from Sultans Of Swing to sheer perfection, and their pulsating rendition of “Private Investigations” was breathtaking . Watching Jimmy Barnes and Chisel burst to life with “Conversations” was brilliant, but nothing tops watching The Boss play “Born To Run” live with ten thousand plus backing vocalists.

I feel so lucky to have experienced so many of the greatest artists in the world live, right there in front of me. Today’s youth might see my choices as dated or irrelevant (poor souls!), and prefer to carry their memories of Beiber, Katy Perry or similar as their own defining entertainment moments. God forbid!

But how does this conversation link to footy?

The AFL is pleased to announce a Toyota AFL Premiership Season match will occur at Cazalys Stadium, Cairns in the 2016 Season.

The match, to be held in Round 17 on Saturday July 16 at 7:25pm EST, will see the Western Bulldogs host the Gold Coast SUNS.

Simon Lethlean, the AFL Executive Team Member responsible for the 2016 fixture, thanked the Queensland Government and Cairns Regional Council for their continued support in taking the match to the region.

“We know North Queensland fans are passionate about AFL, and with the support of the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland, and Cairns Regional Council we are thrilled to bring a match to the region for the sixth straight year,” he said.

The Darwin Buffaloes, often better known locally as just the Buffaloes, have certainly started to turn the NTFL competition on its head, or at the very least clip it around the ears. Desperately unlucky last weekend to go down to the St Marys powerhouse by a solitary point, the Buffaloes went one better, defeating the other of last year’s grand finalists, Wanderers, by two points.

After having spent the past few years inhabiting the lower reaches of the NTFL ladder, there is something very inspiring about the Buffaloes at the moment. If last weekend’s loss was seen as “just one of those days”, then this weekend’s 10 11 71 to 10 9 69 win over Wanderers is proof. The Buffaloes are on the way back up. This in light of the fact that they trailed last year’s premiers by 36 points at half time. The second half belonged to the Buffaloes but they still trailed by 20 points at the final change. But the momentum of the second half was theirs and they hung on in a thriller to come from behind and create the upset of the season to date. Watch this space, Buffaloes fans.

The new AFL Middle East season got under way yesterday with the Round One matches featuring the Abu Dhabi Falcons, B M Bulls, Dubai Dingoes and the Doha Kangaroos. Two weeks ago the Pre-Season Cup was played with the BM Bulls winning on the day.

After a big off-season developing skills and fitness for the new footy season, the Abu Dhabi Falcons have started their season in the best possible way. Last night the Falcons flexed their 2015/16 season muscles with a win over the Doha Kangaroos.

After a tough, hard fought match it was the Falcons 13 9 87 defeating the Kangaroos 12 2 74.

According to the Doha Kangaroos Facebook page, “Injuries to key players both before and during the game made it difficult for the Roos but that's not taking away anything from the performance of the greatly improved Falcons.”

 

The www.afl.com.au website has recognised the recent international Australian Rules football carnivals across the world with this overview of the AFL Europe Axios Euro Cup in Croatia, the AFL Asia Asian Champs in Thailand and the USAFL Nationals Tournament in Austin, Texas.

 

The article by Dinny Navaratnam shows a strong endorsement by the AFL of how far the game has come on three continents - Europe, Asia and North America – by having so many clubs and national teams represented. It truly stands as example of our game beginning to take on the initial  appearance of – The World Game.

 (Picture: Rob Brewer for AFL Asia)

Asian Champs

 

THE HONG Kong Dragons are the champions of Asia, after they beat the Malaysian Warriors last Saturday, 4.11 (35) to 2.3 (15).

 

The following article from the AFL Asia website gives a wrap of the recent Asian Champs tournament in Bangkok. The Hong Kong Dragons took the Division 1 title, whilst the Laos Elephants celebrated winning the title in Division 2.

 

The Hong Kong Dragons have restored their claim to being the most successful team in Asia following their 6th AFL Asian Championships victory, defeating a gallant Malaysian Warriors team 4.11.35 to 2.3.15 in what many have described as the most successful ‘Asian Champs’ in the 16 year history of the event, this year hosted by the Thailand Tigers at the Harrow International School in Bangkok on Saturday 17 October.

 

 

Playing their 5th straight Asian Champs Grand Final, the experience of the Dragons in managing a large roster of players to get through the biggest day of footy in Asia shone through, running over the Warriors in the second half to put the Dragons back on top of Asian footy after last year’s Grand Final defeat to the Singapore Wombats.

The Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes have got their season of to a fantastic start, winning the opening match of the new Football Australien (CNFA) season for 2015/16. Up against last year’s premiers and most dominant team, the Coyotes left nothing in the tank and showed no regard for past reputations by downing their cross-town Paris rivals.

The final score saw the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes 111 defeat the Paris Cockerels 82.

With the Paris Cockerels having spawned a new team, the Paris Cockatoos, over the off season it is likely that the Paris team may have been missing a player or two compared to last season, but that means little as the Coyotes, but their own admission, were “in the face” of their opponents from the outset and determined to fight. Certainly, the Coyotes took full advantage of playing on home soil to ground out their 29 point win.