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Laos Elephants in Western Australia

  • Tuesday, September 15 2015 @ 10:56 pm ACST
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Asia

Elephants play footy at Wanneroo AFC, Perth, WA. in effort to promote and develop Aussie Footy Internationally.

Earlier this year in July two Laotian Australian Rules footballers played an invitational match for Wanneroo Amateur Football Club in Perth, Western Australia.

Story following courtesy of AFL Asia.

Years of planning and fundraising has finally paid off for two Aussie Rules clubs thousands of kilometers and oceans apart. Through the efforts of Wanneroo Amateur FC legend and current Laos Elephants President Steve Chapman, two Laos Elephants have been given the trip of a lifetime and in doing so, creating a strong bond between the two clubs.

After playing in Wanneroo’s 2010 Premiership, “Chappy” ventured off into a remote mine site in Laos and has not looked back, being a key driver of the Laos Elephants successful local development program.

Internationals in 2015 VFL Semi Finals

  • Tuesday, September 15 2015 @ 10:45 pm ACST
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  • Views: 1,676
Australia
Last year’s VFL Premiers Footscray went down to Essendon at North Port Oval by 11 goals. After an even first quarter the Bombers piled on the goals. Conor McKenna (Ire) kicked one goal for Essendon in his VFL return after his two match stint in the AFL. McKenna finished with 13 disposals, 4 marks and two tackles for the match.
 
Essendon play Williamstown in the Preliminary Final this Sunday.

McKenna Making His Mark

  • Tuesday, September 15 2015 @ 08:31 pm ACST
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  • Views: 1,912
General 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.

American Korcheck signed to be next big Blue

  • Monday, September 14 2015 @ 11:28 pm ACST
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North America

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.

Scandinavian Finals Fever Strikes

  • Monday, September 14 2015 @ 08:48 pm ACST
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  • Views: 1,909
Europe

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.

Three Cities Tournament In Prague

  • Sunday, September 13 2015 @ 06:28 am ACST
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Europe
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.”

Where's Footy Going in North America Now?

  • Friday, September 11 2015 @ 12:40 pm ACST
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  • Views: 1,987
North America

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.

2015 AFL Finals Week 1 - International broadcast schedules

  • Thursday, September 10 2015 @ 09:57 pm ACST
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  • Views: 2,064
General News

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.

 

More Irish headed to AFL Combine and clubs

  • Wednesday, September 09 2015 @ 11:20 pm ACST
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  • Views: 2,343
Europe

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.

Internationals in VFL Finals action

  • Wednesday, September 09 2015 @ 11:10 pm ACST
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  • Views: 2,131
Australia

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.

Footy back on NZ free to air TV for finals and beyond

  • Wednesday, September 09 2015 @ 04:25 pm ACST
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  • Views: 2,497
Oceania

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.

AFL confirms Week 1 2015 Final Series fixture

  • Saturday, September 05 2015 @ 10:04 pm ACST
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  • Views: 1,928
Australia 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

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