World Footy News

The new footy season for AFL in central and northern England (AFLCNE) got underway last weekend with a settled group of teams ready and waiting. Whilst in previous seasons there has been the addition of new clubs (Tyne Tees Tigers) and the departure of clubs for indefinite periods (Leeds Minotaurs), this season saw the same seven clubs hit the fields.

The future may hold new changes with the possibility of a new team from Liverpool (Merseyside Saints – see story: Merseyside Saints Continue Liverpool Legend but for now the 2015 teams remain the same as last season.

Round One got away to a start with the Manchester Mozzies hosting two matches, whilst the Birmingham Bears hosted the other.

 

The United States Australian Football League officially got the 2015 season under way this past weekend with the Eastern regional tournament being held at the Central Broward Park Cricket Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  2015 will see a full slate of regional (Eastern, Central and Western) tournaments held across the league; these events, and a new USAFL poll-ranking system, will help determine divisional seeding at the National Championships in Austin, Texas later this year.

While three teams (#1 New York Magpies, North Carolina Tigers and the #20 Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids) competed as full units, numerous players from other squads made the journey down to sunny Florida for an April footy-cation.  With two 2014 national champion sides in attendance, the stage was set for a wonderful day of Aussie Rules, with sunscreen and hydration the order of the day. 

Match results of the day surprised many observers of the USAFL. 

Report courtesy of Matt Jaggar, AFLCNE

After six years of trying, the Huddersfield Rams Australian Rules Football Club finally triumphed in the Haggis Cup last weekend.

Edinburgh played host to this year’s pre-season AFL Scotland tournament, which saw the Rams narrowly beat Glasgow Giants in the first game, before walking over them in the final of this year’s Haggis Cup.

The Rams, who are sponsored by Grosvenor Casino, named a match day squad that was a dynamic mix of fresh blood, youth and experience, with newbies getting their first taste of Aussie Rules alongside players who had competed in all five of the previous attempts north of the border.

Huddersfield’s pathway to the final was by no means a straight shot as they ran in a couple of close games with wins of less than one goal in two out of three games before the final.

Luke Booth, the Rams' most decorated player, claimed the tournament's Best on Ground votes, whilst club founder, Karl Haigh kicked the most goals and Robbie Wilson marked his Rams return with a performance which earned him the club’s player of the tournament.

This Saturday brings the first round AFL Central and Northern England League, which sees the Rams face off against Manchester Mosquitoes in a rematch of last season’s Grand Final. Huddersfield will be eager to seek revenge after narrowly missing out on the flag in 2014 in a close final.

The club is always seeking new players of any ability and holds weekly training sessions at Huddersfield YMCA, Laund Hill, Salendine Nook from 6:45pm, every Tuesday.

The third AFL Women’s Draft was held at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne last night. The event was streamed live on the internet (although we had one report of the stream dropping out in Canada for around 10 minutes). Western Bulldogs and Melbourne took turns to add to their retained players from the 2014 match.

Western Bulldogs’ Number One selection Emma King from the Coastal Titans in Western Australia and Melbourne’s Number Two selection Danielle Goding were the top picks. Each team selected 16 players plus one emergency.

Canadians Aimee Legault and Kendra Heil were present and received a special welcome from the AFL's General Manager Mark Evans in his opening address. A support crew for the Canadians were present from AFL Canada. Unfortunately neither of the girls were selected but the fact that they were considered for this two team competition is a great effort and no doubt an inspiration to women and girls playing and taking up the game around the world. It should be noted that some of those selected last night have been playing the game for only a relatively short time.

 

AFL Round 4 kicks off with Richmond hosting Melbourne at the MCG in Melbourne, Friday night. Five matches will be played across ANZAC Day on Saturday including the St Kilda vs Carlton match in Wellington NZ.

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.

Note Fox Soccer Plus will now be broadcasting the Port vs. Hawthorn match instead of the GWS Giants vs. Gold Coast SUNS match.

 

TSN2 will also now be broadcasting the Essendon vs. Collingwood Anzac Day match LIVE and the Geelong Cats vs. North Melbourne match on delay.

The broadcast schedule for this round can be seen below.

 

 

 

The world has a lot to thank the city of Liverpool for. This Lancashire city on the Mersey River estuary, some 280 kilometres to the north-west of London has touched people’s lives in some way.

From The Beatles, Cilla Black (originally White!) and the other Mersey Beat bands of the early 1960’s (Gerry and The Pacemakers, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, The Searchers) to comedians such as Ken Dodd and Jimmy Tarbuck, Doctor Who (or Tom Baker at least), Dr Doolittle (Rex Harrison) or even Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter stories (Jason Isaacs), few have been spared a touch of Liverpool.

More notably, the Liverpool F.C is one of the greatest football/soccer clubs the world has seen, after winning 5 Champions Cup then Champions League. Even the RMS Titanic and the Queen Mary ocean liners were registered in the city.

Now, maybe, Australian Rules football will become part of that story of Liverpudlians, with the new Merseyside Saints club being formed. Their newest incarnation sees a return of Australian Rules to the city. The Liverpool Blues existed briefly in 1993, followed by the Liverpool Eagles for a short-lived existence in 2008.

The USAFL-AFL Combine is back. But this year the location has moved from Los Angeles to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. This is the same venue that the AFL held their 10-day high performance training camp for the U18 Academy earlier this year. The Combine will be held in just over a week from April 26-29. This year's updated video promoting the Combine to US athletes can be seen below and has been updated with clips of Combine graduates Jason Holmes at St Kilda and Mason Cox at Collingwood from NAB Challenge matches earlier this year.

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Best known in footy circles as the place where Essendon legend Tim Watson grew up, Dimboola is a small country town in the Wimmera region of Victoria about 330kms west of Melbourne. It is a traditional wheat/sheep farming area.

The town population is around 1600.  Their footy team play in green and gold and are known as the Roos. And now it will be home for this footy season for Terence Brasch. 

At home in Oregon state, USA Brasch like many Americans discovered Aussie rules late at night on TV.  Then he got together with some mates for a kick at OSU, before finding a more regular footy fix with the Porland Steelheads.   Brash is the latest lucky participant in the USAFL's footy exchange program where the league send a promising young American to Australia to further their footballing education.  His application was successful and soon would be on his way to Dimboola.

Sure, most people who follow AFL know that Carlton Blues are the St Kilda Saints third opponent in the Saints’ annual Anzac Day Fixture at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.

But for the first time ever a junior Victorian team will be travelling to Wellington to play against the newly formed AFLNZ Academy Team. The Academy Team have themselves recently returned from a trip to Sydney where they played against a combined Independent Schools’ Allstars team and then the Swans Academy side who were coached by Swans legend Mick O’Loughlin.

The Academy side will be all the better for this experience but they will certainly be coming up against some slick players in the newly formed Peninsula Saints U16 team made up of players from the Frankston and Mornington Football Leagues, a traditional recruiting zone for St Kilda in days of yore.