World Footy News

The NAB Challenge for 2015 has been in swing for a few days now. First cab off the rank was Collingwood defeating Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania. Friday night saw the West Coast Eagles dispose of Carlton at Mandurah, south of Perth. The Saturday games saw the Brisbane Lions just hold on against St Kilda at Burpengary, a northern suburb of Brisbane whilst at the old Whitten Oval in Footscray the modern day Western Bulldogs comfortably accounted for Richmond.

But today was the second biggest AFL day in North Queensland when Townsville hosted their own NAB Challenge match at Tony Ireland Stadium. In a fixture that has now been in place for three years, the largest city north of Brisbane once again came alive to the sounds of sirens, cheering, trampled hot chips and umpire whistles.

In front of a crowd well over 4000 people, and on a hot day with 32 degrees and light winds, it was an undermanned Gold Coast Suns that got the biscuits, downing the Geelong Cats by 8 points in the end. Two late goals from Cat recruit, Mitch Clark, just made the score more respectable, but it was the Suns’ day.

Late last year the AFL Middle East competition welcomed a new team to the league with the BM Bulls becoming the third Dubai based team and a sixth team for the league. Whilst people may have dreamed of great things at the time, most felt the Bulls might need a season or two to get their rhythm and challenge for a flag.

The pre-season competition was played back in October and to the surprise of many the Bulls reached the grand-final against the Dubai Dragons. Beginners luck? Getting ahead of themselves? Playing above their station? Maybe, maybe not.

But this weekend’s final competitive round of matches saw the BM Bulls take on the in-form Dubai Dingoes for a small chance of grabbing a grand final berth. The Bulls not only needed to win, but had to make up a big percentage to do so. But, that is exactly what they managed to do in their debut season.

The following article in the Herald Sun features the decision by the St Kilda AFL club to select their USA recruit, Jason Holmes, in their NAB Challenge teams this pre-season. Holmes, who has served an apprentice ship with the Sandringham VFL club, hopes to be the first player born and bred in the USA to play a senior AFL game.

 

FORMER college basketballer Jason Holmes has taken another step closer to becoming the first American convert to play AFL football with his inclusion in St Kilda’s NAB Challenge squad.

 

Holmes, drafted by the Saints as an international rookie 14 months ago, is one of two ruckmen in the squad to play Brisbane on Saturday.

 

 

Sandringham coach Paul Hudson, who has worked extensively with Holmes in his role as the Saints’ development coach, said his selection “typifies how far he’s come over the past year’’.

For Sam Michael, a former Cairns junior, the current misfortune at Essendon in the wake of the suspension of players under ASADA investigation for the NAB Challenge might be a lifeline. The situation has offered Sam a chance to be a “top-up player” for the Bombers, and if he makes the most of the chance, Sam might find his way back onto an AFL list.

Sam recently told http://www.afl.com.au that “I've still got aspirations of playing at the highest level so it's the perfect opportunity for me and [I'm] grateful that Essendon came to me and offered it.” He went on to add that if his services were needed beyond the NAB Challenge he would be happy to play for the Bombers.

In recent years the Far North Queensland city has had its own small production line of AFL players. Back in the late 1970’s future Essendon premiership star Leon Baker played in Cairns, though not a born and raised northerner at the time. Former Brisbane Lion, Troy Clarke, who sadly passed away in 2013, was another who played in Cairns. Both won Crathern Medals, the local equivalent of the Brownlow.

(Picture: Sam Michael in his Brisbane Lions days - now Essendon bound, briefly)

Not unlike Smaug, the devilishly gold driven dragon from the J.R.R Tolkein novel, The Hobbit, the Dubai Dragons are becoming fiercely protective of their glittering jewels. Whilst other teams slog it out to challenge and steal the loot, not unlike so many dwarves and hobbits, it is the Dragons that, for now, sit above all others.

Undefeated so far this season, the Dubai Dragons have already qualified for their fourth consecutive AFL Middle East grand-final, and are a red-hot chance to make it three glittering trophies in four years – their only hiccup being the loss to the Doha Kangaroos last season.

Matt Burn, President of AFL Middle East, has given a brief rundown on where the 2014/15 season currently sits.

The weather was kind. Well it was not hot. Maybe just a little damp even, and about 20 degrees Celsius. The second session for the first graduates of American Footy Star ran out onto North Port Oval joining the Port Melbourne pre-season training.

The timing, curious. By now Port Melbourne pretty much have their lists finalised. But better late than never.

Both former college athletes Charles Winston III and Torrey Harkness could have made it to the big time of American sports. But that was not to be. These two were found by Miro Gladovic in his campaign to convert and American to a footy star. Has he done it? Not yet*.

Despite the enormous efforts of the AFL Middle east and the Oman based  Clann na hOman GAA and Muscat Magpies AFL, the team has announced it will not formally continue the current season. In a blow to the Middle East competition, the Magpies will bow out and work towards a stronger club for next season and beyond.

 

The president of AFL Middle East, Matt Burn, released the following statement:

 

 

Unfortunately the Muscat Magpies have withdrawn from the 2014/15 season. The Magpies have struggled for numbers since the beginning of the season and sadly the situation has only become worse over the year.

Footy is back. Well in the pre-season NAB Challenge format at least. The NAB Challenge will be officially launched today and will see the first match played on Thursday night (Melbourne time) at Aurora Stadium in Launceston where powerhouse Collingwood will take on reigning AFL Premiers Hawthorn.

We bring you the international broadcast schedule (below). Notably missing is NZ coverage. Free to air digital channel Sommet Sports http://sommetsports.co.nz/ that provided possibly the best free to air coverage of AFL football in the world in 2014 has collapsed financially. It seems that funds promised to the network did not come through and they have ceased broadcasting late in 2014. At the moment they are following some expressions of interest to revive their service, but at this stage that would likely be a streaming service if they are to return at all (and no guarantee they will have AFL rights).  It looks at this stage that there will be one match per week broadcast on Sky as in previous seasons for NZ unless further deals can be done.

At a time where the full impact of the ASADA investigation into the “Essendon 34” for alleged use of banned peptides is yet to reach a conclusion, news from the neighbouring world of Rugby League regarding the supply and trafficking of Cocaine to other players and members of the public has further hammered the image of the game.

Front and centre in this latest Rugby League furore is former Gold Coast Suns AFL footballer, Karmichael Hunt. Along with lesser known Gold Coast Titans players, and separate investigations into past great players, a new cloud has fallen over professional Australian team football codes, which is sure to have further implications as the net of investigation gets cast wider.

Most disturbing for Australian Rules football are the charges laid against former AFL footballer, Hunt, whose legacy as a code-hopper made a wonderful story of possibility for future generations. With the formation of the Gold Coast Suns, Hunt signed on with the fledgling club in 2009 for a seven figure sum to become a poster boy for the new entity. After becoming a start Rugby League player for the Brisbane Broncos, playing State Of Origin football for Queensland and being selected to play for the Australian Kangaroos, Hunt sought a different direction.

(Picture: Karmichael Hunt's match winning goal after the siren against Richmond in Cairns, 2012)

Our thoughts are with the communities of the Northern Territory, particularly those on the northern coast and islands adjacent to Arnhem Land. The dangerous tropical storm is expected to hit those remote communities overnight.

Amongst those communities to be affected are Maningrida, Gapuwiyak and Nhulunbuy on the mainland coast and also Galiwinku on Elcho Island. Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria is also in the warning zone. All communities are lovers of Australian Rules football with very strong following of the game across the entire region.

In recent times Kevin Sheedy has visited Galiwinku and other remote communities as have players from many AFL teams to help grow and promote the game further. A major footy carnival is held within the region once a year which brings most of these settlements together.

(Left: Footy on the beach - Courtesy Maningrida Footy)

The following article featured in Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper after initially being written for the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser. It looks at a new dream for some young Scottish converts to Australian Rules football.

 

Danel Mossie discovered Australian Rules Football when he was channel-hopping one night.

 

Now he is dreaming of representing Scotland in the sport.

 

The 21-year-old from Sunnyside watched an AFL match when he couldn’t get to sleep.

 

And after being impressed with the no-holds barred physical sport, he decided to see if there was a chance of playing it. 

 

(From Left: Daniel Mossey, Kyle Christie, Jack Tuffley, Ryan McGuigan)

The final round of the NTFL home and away season today decide the 2014/15 finalists, but also left question marks hanging over the longevity of some of those teams contesting.

After the Round 18 matches completed today, St Mary’s found themselves four and a half games clear on top of the ladder – miles ahead of their nearest rivals, Southern District. Their emphatic 107 point win over fellow finals aspirants, Tiwi Bombers, further confirmed their premiership status in their quest for a three peat effort. For the Tiwi Bombers, they will need to regroup very quickly before their elimination final next week against Wanderers.

St Marys 20 20 140 d Tiwi Bombers 5 3 33

Wanderers, last year’s grand finalists, defied the pundits after two consecutive losses to beat Palmerston and snare fifth place. They will now take on Tiwi in the Elimination Final with a momentum they had lost but is now reignited at the right time. For Palmerston, their campaign came to a crushing end after having stayed in the finals race until the final round.