World Footy News

In a season many people at Essendon would rather forget, there were a few little gems here and there which lifted spirits and gave a pointer to a far better future. One of those was the initial form of young 19 year old Irish recruit, Conor McKenna. After being recruited late in 2015 as an international Category B Rookie, few had many high expectations regarding his debut season.

But the youngster got a taste of the “big league” back in the NAB Challenge matches pre-season. He had some touches, but is best remembered for his dual 50 metre penalty infringements which gifted St Kilda a goal. An inauspicious start, to be sure, but as his season progressed, so did his game sense, contribution and impact on his adopted game.

The Carlton Football Club has signed US basketballer Matt Korcheck as a Category B International Rookie.

Korcheck, who stands at 6”10 (208cm) and weighs 105kg, caught the eye of recruiters at a Florida screening camp in April this year. He was later invited to train with the Blues and spent three weeks at Ikon Park in August.

The 23-year old, who previously played Division 1 College Basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, hasn’t played much ‘Aussie Rules’ but Carlton’s GM List Management Stephen Silvagni says Korcheck has shown great potential.

The footy season is nearly at an end, or in some cases finished, for most of the competitions across Scandinavian countries. Whilst the Norway final of the Kenguru Cup was completed earlier this month, the season in Finland finished on the weekend and the codes in Stockholm, Sweden and in Denmark come to an end in the next week or two.

NORWAY
As previously reported by World Footy News, the Norwegian season came to a close with the completion of the 2015 Kenguru Cup Ås Battlers Take Norway’s Kenguru Cup Crown. The Ås Battlers defeated the Oslo West team by just just three points to take their second flag in three years. The Battlers had to overcome the fact that the Oslo West team had dominated the competitive rounds of the Kenguru Cup, but come finals time it was the better team on the day. It was a true changing of the guard for the Norwegian teams with Oslo East, the most dominant club in recent seasons, missing the grand final and allowing the Oslo West team their first ever grand final appearance.

Last month saw the “Battle Of Three Armies”, to borrow from Peter Jackson, when teams from Austria and Germany met in Prague, Czech Republic, for a tournament. It is the first such event between the three teams and marks another innovative approach to footy competition across European clubs.

The AFL Europe website stated that, “the 8th of August saw an Inaugural 3 Cities Tournament hosted by the Czech Lions in Prague. Taking part were the Dresden Wolves, from Dresden, Germany and the Styrian DownUnder Dogs from Graz, Austria. The three game round robin tournament saw the Lions take out the top prize, the DownUnder Dogs come in second and the Wolves third.”

An editorial from Rob de Santos the Chairman of AFANA on the future of Australian football in North America.  This editorial original appeared at www.afana.com  on August 30, 2015.

A week ago the first American, born and raised in the United States, make it to the top level of football down under. I hope that these closing weeks of the AFL season will see Jason Holmes (and perhaps Mason Cox, also) do enough to stay there in coming seasons. It's been a long wait. Twenty years for fans. We've also seen the conclusion of a huge new domestic TV contract for the AFL. It's also a milestone year for AFANA. Two decades of promoting the growth of Aussie rules in North America. From scrambling to save one hour of one week delayed highlights on US / Canadian television back in 1996 to having 12 hours per week of live coverage in the USA & 3 hours in per week in Canada plus highlights and repeats now. We have seen six networks come and go in that time. It's been a long journey.

I've been reflecting on that journey and giving serious thought to what it means now and where the sport in North America needs to go in the next two decades. I never expected in 1995-1996 that in 2015, I would be here and I have no plans to be doing this in two more decades. Retirement beckons in the not too distant future but I have some thoughts about the coming years.

The first week of the 2015 Finals series kicks off in Perth with the West Coast Eagles hosting Hawthorn. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this Finals Week 1 can be seen below.  Please note scheduling for the newly announced TVNZ coverage are included.

 

AFL Europe will be represented at the AFL's National Draft Combine in Melbourne in October by Darragh Joyce (left) and Colin O'Riordan. After testing well at the AFL's Combine in Ireland late last year ran by Tadhg Kennelly these two selected GAA athletes will travel to Australia in hopes of being drafted as International Rookies by one of the AFL clubs.

Given that media speculation is that the Draft talent pool is relatively week and clubs are becoming more open all the time to code crossers, there has probably never a better time to be an Irish kid auditioning for a spot on an AFL list.

We take a look at the International Players in Week 1 of the 2015 VFL Finals Series.

Week 1 of the VFL Finals kicked off with Box Hill Hawks easily accounting for last year’s Premiers Footscray by 40 points at Box Hill City Oval in their Qualifying Final. Kurt Heatherley (NZ) had 8 kicks 4 handballs, 5 marks and one tackle in defence. Up forward Shem Tatupu (NZ) kicked just the one goal and three behinds, but had a hand in a number of others, finishing with 6 kicks and 7 handballs. Lin Jong was named best for Footscray.

After having the luxury of most games on Free to Air TV in NZ last year, 2015 has seen the return of the bad old days for TV coverage of the Australian code after the collapse of Sommet Sport network. Each week just one game has been available on the Sky Sports network this year.

But just in time for the finals comes the announcement that footy will return to Free to Air for the 2015 AFL Finals series. TVNZ will show the matches on Freeview NZ Channel 13 with eight of the nine finals matches being shown live. Even better is the news that this is part of a three year rights deal that will run from 2016 to 2018.

The AFL tonight confirmed the fixture for week one of the 2015 Toyota AFL Finals Series, to be as follows (all times are local):

Friday September 11
Second Qualifying Final, West Coast v Hawthorn at Domain Stadium, 6.20pm

Saturday September 12
First Qualifying Final, Fremantle v Sydney Swans at Domain Stadium, 1.20pm
Second Elimination Final, Western Bulldogs v Adelaide Crows at the MCG, 7.20pm (series ticket match)

Sunday September 13
First Elimination Final, Richmond v North Melbourne at the MCG, 3.20pm

The recent trend of European premierships being won by teams going into Grand Finals as underdogs has continued in Norway as the Ås Battlers defeated the Oslo West team by just three points in the Kenguru Cup Grand Final.

Norway’s premier Australian Rules football league had been dominated this season by the Oslo West team this year, with the team finishing the final round of the home and away season in top spot for the first time. It was history making for the Oslo team, but despite finishing well clear on top of the ladder the real job was yet to start.

The Ås Battlers finished in second place, well behind West in terms of win/loss ratio and for/against. But come Grand Final day this counted for little as the Battlers held on in a thriller to win their second flag in three years and make a claim for the best team in Norway in recent years.

While this video was produced with Australia in mind, we thought it worth sharing with the world. #heroesforzeroes

Violence against women is a disgrace at any level but when you consider some women face this day in day out in their own homes it’s heartbreaking. Approximately 1 woman will be killed per week in Australia due to Domestic Violence. Education is the key. We know one little video can’t change the world and we are also respectful that there are many other big issues in Australia. This one is close to my heart and the one we would like to make a difference in. Let’s be honest, most men know this is a cowardly act and don’t do it. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to reach the young men who don’t hear this message whilst growing up. The plan is to share and like this video as much as possible.

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