World Footy News

According to Don Cruttenden, Kenya is a country that is just waiting to embrace Australian Rules football. As he says “With its hospitable weather, largely active and energetic population and standing in the world as the producer of the greatest supply of middle and long-distance runners in the world, I believe the potential for the game to advance in Kenya is immense.”

Rumblings of the game being played in the African nation have been around for a little while, notably the recent work of Tom Purcell in Nairobi who has pioneered local games including the recent challenge match between Kenya and Tanzania. See our article Buffalo soldiers: Kenyans beat Tanzanians in historic match.

Don, however, is moving to take things much further. His role as a teacher at the Greensteds International School in Nakuru (Kenya’s fourth largest city, 160 kilometres north-west of the capital Nairobi). His role as Director of Physical Education at the school has allowed him to introduce Australian Rules football into the school program.

Today, 1st January 2015 the Adelaide Advertiser (page 65, Sport Section) published an article about the search for footy players in Europe extending beyond Ireland.
The Advertiser's distribution readership covers all of South Australia and beyond to Broken Hill in NSW. Following is that article:

THE AFL is set to cast their foreign draft net beyond Gaelic footballers to find new talent in local leagues playing the game elsewhere in Europe.

Four Irish rookies were signed up for the 2015 season by AFL clubs in Australia including Essendon, Geelong, Fremantle and West Coast.

With the local Middle East competition enjoying its festive season break the opportunity to review the season to date presents itself. However, due to the postponement of the two games involving the Muscat Magpies, only four games have been completed to date. The scheduled nine games in 2015, as well as the two rescheduled Magpie games, will now hold the greatest clues to the season.

 

With that in mind, a very early guide to team's progress and chances has been put together ahead of the recommencement of matches on January 16th in both Abu Dhabi and Muscat.

 

 

Dubai Dragons - Started their season with an impressive 57 point win over last season’s premiers, Doha Kangaroos, in Doha. This was an emphatic message that the Dragon’s sought to exorcise their demons from last year. To drive home the point the Dragons then won the traditional local derby against the Dubai Dingoes by 26 points. After the break they play the Muscat Magpies, BM Bulls and Abu Dhabi Falcons. To lose any would be an upset of sorts, so the Dragons are well on the way to another grand-final, barring surprises.  

 

 

NZ Aussie Rules fans have benefited enormously over recent seasons with Sommet Sports screening the majority of weekly games live and free to air.

Sadly, on Friday 12 December due to lack of funding initially promised from financiers, the channel ceased to exist for the time being.

Sommet amazingly managed to deliver quality Sports television for 18 months on 1/3 of the funding initially assured to them.

Since their closure they have received many messages of support and dismay from viewers throughout the country who have loved watching the many sports events that have been delivered FREE to all New Zealanders 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Sommet are currently investigating a range of proposals including Crowd funding. This is where the public fund a project or idea.

For the benefit of Aussie Rules in NZ for existing and future fans of the game, WFN wish them every success.

Back in November of 2013 the Fremantle Football Club very nearly signed Sean Hurley as an international rookie. Even Fremantle's List Manager, Brad Lloyd, was open to the idea after Hurley had impressed with his size, skill and desire to learn. History says, however, that the club decided to wait.

But there was no waiting this year as the Dockers pounced on the 196cm potential key position player. Inspired by his hero, Tadhg Kennelly, Hurley continued to develop and was snapped up by the club in October.

According to the Fremantle Dockers website, "In 2005, 13-year-old Sean Hurley was watching the Irish news when he saw countryman Tadgh Kennelly celebrating an AFL premiership with the Sydney Swans.

Images of the former Gaelic football star Irish dancing on top of a stage have remained in Hurley’s mind till this day.

“Everyone in Ireland was watching that,” he said.

 

As the current football season in France heads into its winter break, teams can take stock of what has happened and what faces them when matches are scheduled to resume on 21st February.  Some fascinating results have littered the first half of the season, and many more are sure to occur before the finals are reached. Here is a team by team account of the season to date.

 

 

Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes – Currently sit on top of the ladder with three wins from three starts. Tough, close games against Lions and Firesharks show they have the ability to rise, but yet to meet fellow finals aspirants – Hawks, Cockerels, Bombers – so will have to work very hard after the break to stay ahead of the field. Their next match, the first in February after the break, is against the Bordeaux Bombers and could be a deciding factor in where the Coyotes go from here.

At the completion of Round 12, the NTFL now goes into a short recess over the Christmas/New Year period. Battle resumes again with Round 13 on January 10th, but this break presents an opportunity to assess where the teams are placed with a view to finals in February/March.

For a long while many believed that St Mary’s might be unbeatable. After consecutive flags, a 40+ winning streak and four wins to start the new season, St Mary’s were odds on favourites for another title. Yes, two losses and a draw between rounds five and ten showed their mortality. Nightcliff and Southern Districts (currently 2nd and 3rd) both enjoyed victories against the St Mary’s behemoth, and will remember that come finals time. Palmerston will also be very prepared to have a rematch against St Mary’s after their draw in round nine. St Mary’s are still favourites, but they know that they will have to work extra hard from here with a number of capable clubs breathing down their necks.

Ryan Davidson from afl.com.au has continued his look at the recent AFL Europe Talent Combine, focusing on the hugely talented Irish player Darragh Joyce. In recent articles World Footy News has looked at the English player Sam Willatt and Dane Mikkel Kjoge, but according to Ryan’s article, Darragh might be the best of the Irish talent at the combine.

 

Part-time Gaelic footballer Darragh Joyce looms as the next Irishman to make the switch to the AFL, with at least two clubs keen to obtain the teenager's signature.

 

The 18-year-old, who is star junior hurler, was a standout at the recent European combine in Dublin, with his skills and game awareness impressing club recruiters.

 

 

Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans are two clubs that have made enquiries about the 192cm County Kilkenny product, with the Hawks recently visiting his family home.

In an announcement released by AFL Europe, the Champions League event for 2015 will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at a venue to be advised at a later date.  The dates for this event will be March 21st and March 22nd.

 

According to AFL Europe General Manager Ben MacCormack, “It’s with great pleasure that we announce the details for the inaugural AFL Europe Champions League – 2015 – Amsterdam. Following a number of years with the majority of our major events being held in the UK and Ireland we are pleased the Amsterdam Devils have taken on the challenge to co-host the Champions League with AFL Europe. It’s a great chance for them to further develop the sport in a market with huge potential.”

 

 

 

Ryan Davidson from afl.com.au reports that former Collingwood player, Marty Clarke, has returned home to Northern Ireland after finishing his career with the AFL club. But now a new challenge confronts him. The following is Ryan’s story.

 

Former Collingwood defender Marty Clarke has revealed he was diagnosed with a rare energy-sapping disease as he fought to save his AFL career in the second half of 2014.

 

 

The 27-year-old is happily back home in Northern Ireland adapting to the cold northern hemisphere winter, but he's also adapting to living day to day with Addison's disease.

Hot on the heels of his performances at the International Cup and his appearances on the reality TV show "The Recruit", Padraig Lucey found himself snapped up by the the Geelong Cats as a Rookie B list player.

As reported in a previous article on this site, "not only has he been a contestant on the FOX 8 television show The Recruit, he has also come from a successful International Cup performance for Ireland. In his five games, Padraig booted 14 goals, including impressive bags of five against highly fancied Nauru and a huge six goals against France. He also featured amongst the best players for Ireland in many matches.

According to the Herald Sun article by Adam Baldwin, “Geelong’s ruck crisis is set to see it turn to an Irishman who was last week delisted from a reality television series.

The Herald Sun can reveal Padraig Lucey — a part-time pool lifeguard from County Kerry — will join the Cats on a two-year deal."

India appears to be one of Australian football's hot spots at the moment, with a growing organisational structure, interest from AFL clubs and grass roots support coming from Australia.  One such example is a recent trip organised by the Bendigo Netball and Football League.  Bendigo is a regional city in Victoria with a strong Aussie Rules culture.  Thanks to Mikey Dynon (a Bendigo local who was involved with India at IC14) for bringing the trip to our attention and to the original author of the report, Bruce Claridge.

Indian Trip Report.

After many months of planning, promotion and anticipation the first BFNL India Trip departed from Tullamarine Airport at 11:30 am on Wednesday November 5th, 2014.

The team's main goal was to prepare the way for future annual trips by connecting with key people in Kolkata who would open doors of opportunity for teams to follow.

The initial team of Bruce and Jan Claridge, Paul Byrne, Connor Byrne, Justin Abrams and Ben and Toni West formed a unified group with a clear mission and the initial expectations of the group were far exceeded as the week together unfolded.

Key Points: