World Footy News

The USAFL has announced their hunt for a new national team coach is over.  Tom Ellis, former Denver Bulldogs captain and US Revolution team captain has been given the nod.  He takes over the position from Matt Bishop who coached the Revo’s at IC11 and IC14 (and the years in between).

Ellis has coached the Revolution once before, in LA against a team of Australians that play in the USAFL back in 2007.  But this time around he is set for to coach at least a full International Cup cycle.  It would come as no surprise to those that know Ellis that he would one day coach the USA in international competition given his long time commitment to the game and passion for the Revo’s continual push to make it to the top of the International Cup tree.

 

Last Weekend’s Games: USAFL Week 7
This past weekend, there were two scheduled tourneys plus the Atlanta vs. Baton Rouge full game. There was a last minute addition and a postponement…the addition was Seattle vs. BC Eagles outside of Seattle, but the postponement was in Houston. The first round of the Texas Cup was postponed due to 11 inches of rain in a week in Houston that made Veterans Park unplayable.

Just 3 years ago, Houston and the state of Texas was in a Stage 3 Drought. Now, they have received 11-17 inches of rain during the month of May, including at the USAFL Nationals HQ in Austin, where the league will be in just 5 months from now.

The Texas Cup Round 1 has been rescheduled for a week from Saturday, 30 May. With that, here’s a recap of last weekend’s games, including extended tournament coverage of the Harrell Cup.
 

 

The Birmingham Bears’ rocky start to the season took a solid turn for the better on the weekend when they scored an impressive victory over the Tyne Tees Tigers by 108 points.  After their rollercoaster start to the season which had seen one on-field win over the first four rounds, the victory might well mark a turning point for the Bears in season 2015.

 

In other results, Sheffield Thunder continued their impressive start to the season with a 102 point thrashing of the Nottingham Scorpions whilst the Manchester Mozzies were forced to work hard for their victory over the Wolverhampton Wolverines with accuracy separating the sides on the scoreboard. Both teams had 23 scoring shots, yet the Mozzies recorded a comfortable 35 point win.

 

 

Alex Aurrichio made another important step forward this evening when he was named in the Northern Blues VFL senior squad for this week. Aurrichio who played with the USAFL National Championship winning New York Magpies last season, has impressed in the first five rounds of the VFL Development League in 2015.

The Development league is mostly made up of younger players around average age of 20. Aurrichio playing mostly in the ruck is a little older at 25 and but in terms of his footy experience is a long way behind most of his team mates and opponents. So his learning curve has been steep and his application impressive. His 198cm, 105kg frame is not huge by AFL standards but in the VFL Development league is on the larger side. At VFL senior level he will be playing against more players used to handling opponents of his size.

We look at how the International players running around in the VFL fared this past weekend.

Box Hill and Essendon went head to head at Windy Hill on Saturday. It was the Hawks who ran out 23 point winners. Kurt Heatherley (NZ) had a quiet return in terms of possessions with 5 kicks, 3 handballs, 5 marks and one tackle. For the Bombers Conor McKenna (Ire) had a wayward kicking result of 1.3.

The Bulldogs had a 62 point win over Geelong. Padraig Lucey (Ire) also had a quiet day with just 2 hit outs, 1 kick, 1 handball and 1 tackle.

Sean Hampson dominated the ruck for Richmond against Collingwood at Punt Rd. His opponent for much of the day was Mason Cox (USA) and he had just 16 hit outs but was on the winning side of a thrilling three point margin to the Magpies. Cox continued to battle all day and provided a lot to his side in the way of second efforts after the ruck taps.

 

AFL Round 8 kicks off with the the clash of Geelong and Carlton at Docklands Stadium, Friday night.

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 round can be seen below.

 

 

The West London Wildcats sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the AFL London Premiership Division teams with a resounding 124 point demolition of the Wimbledon Hawks. A new season always brings hope and all teams would have fancied their chances at the start of the season to roll the mighty Wildcats after successive flags in the past two seasons.

But the Wildcats relentless brand of footy hammered home the reality that it will take a super effort to stop them achieving a three-peat this year and what would be their 11th flag since 2000.

In other Premiership Division results, the Wandsworth Demons held the London Swans at arm’s length to record a 32 point win whilst the North London Lions recorded a big 61 point win over the Putney Magpies.

A new, revamped, AFL Fiji competition gets under way this weekend in Suva for the 2015 season. The off season has seen much work put into the glittering new look for the competition and the clubs themselves.

As announced by AFL Fiji, “[it’s a] new season, new captains, new teams - it's a fresh start for the AFL Fiji 2015 men's competition. The season starts this Saturday 23 May at USP and continues with two matches every Saturday at 9.00am and 11.00am.”

“Round 1 will start with a bang as last year's grand finalists face off in the first game of the season at 9.00am with the proud old Cats Kaukauwa looking for some revenge against the re-badged reigning premiers Giant Gata.”

“At 11.00am the plucky Swans Rerevaki take on the might of Lion Killa - both teams loaded with new faces and expected to be serious premiership challengers in 2015.”

The next two weekends will see the French Home and away season wind up with all eight teams playing their final matches prior to the start of the finals series. The final round will have an impact of the finals makeup for some teams, whilst others are assured of their finish already.

After a fascinating season, the curtain will close in June with the playing of the semi-finals and grand-final. Other teams not involved in finals action will turn their attention towards the 2015/16 season and prepare for the future.

Both the Strasbourg Kangourous and the Perpignan Tigers have been competitive this season but cannot reach the finals regardless of final round results. Strasbourg have their own unique situations which impact on their overall performance Strasbourg Kangourous - 2015 Snapshot ,whilst for the Tigers it has been a season of readjustment to being back in the national league after a period of absence.

It was two unconnected, though related events on my recent time down in footy’s heartland – Victoria – that underlined a very real truth: without the fans we do not have a game.

My mother stated that players change, club administrations change, nowadays jumpers change and even venues change. But the one constant is that there are always supporters. For the most part those supporters have been around for years and years – outlasting the players that fleet across a club’s landscape (with the possible exception of Dustin Fletcher who appears intent on playing well into his third decade).

A quick drive into the Sorrento footy ground in my old home town illustrated the point. The juniors were out on the field that I once played on as a teenager, despite the wind chill factor making it about five degrees out there. I had the audacity to see myself out there as I looked, but soon realised that my body cannot do the things it once did.

(Picture: Zimbio)

 

 

With four rounds down in the AFLCNE season there are now some very clear patterns emerging as teams begin the jostling process for finals action later in the year. With almost a third of the season gone, the next few weeks will see some teams strengthening their positions of power, others fighting off challengers and some building for the future.

 

Round Four results saw the Mozzie powerhouse continues its reign of terror by hammering the Scorpions. Sheffield Thunder remained undefeated also by downing a gallant Rams outfit whilst the Wolverines squared their leger for the season by downing the Bears. Tyne tees Tigers had the bye.

 

Weekend Results:

 

Manchester Mozzies  21.22 (148) def Nottingham Scorpions 5.11 (41) at Manchester

Huddersfield Rams  15.17 (107) def. by Sheffield Thunder  19.16 (130) at Huddersfield

Wolverhampton Wolverines 16.21 (117) def Birmingham Bears 10.12 (72) at Wolverhampton

The AFL this week announced joint winners for the Graeme Samuel Scholarship for 2015.

The Scholarship is awarded by the AFL Commission in recognition of Graeme Samuel’s contribution to the game. Graeme Samuel was one of the original AFL Commissioners when the Commission was formed in 1984, and played he played an invaluable role in the strategic direction of the AFL competition and Australian Football generally.

The Award is $20,000 for future study or professional development.