World Footy News

The West Coast Eagles had been watching young Irish product, Paddy Brophy, since his match for the European Legion in 2013. In October this year the club selected Brophy to be a Rookie B List player, and the first international selected by the club in this manner.

According to the club’s website “he has worked hard on his skills which is shown in the fact that Paddy won the Clean Hands test at the AFL Combine with a score of 26/30 and also scored 25/30 in the goalkicking test.”

Brophy says ““I’m really pleased to have finally chosen a club and look forward to starting at West Coast Eagles and making the most of my opportunity,” he said. “Hopefully one day I will be playing for them in the AFL. I was very impressed with both the club and Perth as a place to live in my short visit and whilst I’m taking on a big move, I’m excited at the prospect and can’t wait to get underway.”

The Footy Almanac is a game by game account of every AFL match of the season. Over 150 shameless one-eyed writers tell the story of their day following the footy. 

They are passionate fans. The result is a wonderful collection of footy writing: funny, insightful, one-eyed.  They are from all walks of life and many varied locations, including international contributors.  The contributions are selected by the editors from those submitted to the www.footyalmanac.com.au website during the season.
 

Some of the contributors giving the The Footy Almanac international flavour are Glen Brownstein from the USA, Peter Cresswell from NZ and Candian expat living in Australia Glen Mudie.
 

World Footy News scribe Prof. Stephen Alomes is a regular contributor to The Footy Almanac as well, his Round 5 Melbourne vs Gold Coast match report is featured and WFN editor Troy Thompson makes his Footy Almanac debut in this year’s edition.

Danish footballer Mikkel Kjoge has dreams to follow in the footsteps of fellow Dane, Aksel Bang, and make it to an AFL team list in Australia. Having just tested at the AFL Europe Talent Combine in Dublin (one of just two non-Irish players to test), Mikkel is keen to chase his dream further, and confident that he can.

 

The following is Mikkel’s story, looking at his early playing days, his journey to date and where he hopes to be in the very near future.

 

 

“I first heard of Aussie Rules when I was about nine years old from a family friend. My mom’s cousin had been playing for quite a while, and to begin with he was my head figure. I went to my first practice with Farum Cats when I was nine. I was a little kid and everybody would just throw me around but I liked the roughness. I kept up the spirit and went to practice every week and I liked it even more every week. I always loved sports and I played soccer when I was younger, but I found AFL way more fun.” 

 

In coming weeks World Footy News will be looking at the 2014 seasons for leagues across Europe, as well as looking towards the 2015 season. This first article features a look at the Australian Rules footy scene in Croatia, courtesy of Josip Kravar, president of the AAFC (Association of Australian Football Croatia).

 

2014

“Croatian league (HLAN) started with new club, Slavonski Brod Tigers and first time we played with four clubs.”

“During the season the Hawks showed the best performances and won all games during the season and won back to back [premierships], pretty much as Hawthorn did in Australia. MVP was Josip Habljak, ruckman of Zagreb Hawks and best rookie was Lovre Čudina, player of Zagreb Cvjetno Dockers who were runners up.” 

“We also played CEAFL (Central European Australian Football League) with our friends from Austria (Styrian Downunderdogs).”

Tokyo Bay Suns victorious in AFL Japan Top League.

The AFL Japan Top League2014 Grand Final was played out between the Tokyo Bay Suns and the Tokyo Goannas at the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club on the 29th November.

In a close fought match the Tokyo Bay Suns reigned supreme 12-10 (82) at the final siren, to the Tokyo Goannas 10-13 (73). 

 

Parrs Park in the West of Auckland is the setting for the return match of women’s  U18 Football, the Australian Woomeras versus the New Zealand Kahus. It’s the last football game on the N.Z. football calendar.  Fortunately Parrs Park is well drained  as the area had received torrential rain for much of the Sunday morning leading up to the game which was played in light rain and  a blustery East wind.

The Kahus were looking to improve on their first outing with the Woomeras where they were comprehensively beaten. Parrs park is quite a picturesque ground with good a surface, good markings, facilities and solid goal posts. It’s also the home ground of the Magpies, one of six teams in the Auckland league.

The Kahus won the toss and decided to kick with the aid of a slight cross wind which unfortunately swung around almost straight after bounce down. The Woomeras were immediately into attack and the Kahus were constantly defending but after a period they able to break out of defence and mount attacking moves. It was a good quarter with the slightly inaccurate Woomeras scoring only one goal four behinds.

The 2014 AFL Europe Talent Combine took place in Dublin, Ireland, over the weekend. Whilst the vast majority of attendees were from Ireland, one Englishman, Sam Willatt, was there to fly the flag for England and pursue his own individual journey to the big time.

As Sam says, “I’ve always wanted to try the combine as a way of taking the next step in my football journey, and leapt at the chance when AFL Europe invited me. My dream would be to get picked up by an AFL club.”

So how did Sam’s journey start, and where will it go from here?

“I discovered the sport at my first week of university in 2012. Before this I played soccer and basketball to a local and school level. The speed and athleticism of the AFL players caught my interest, and highlight reels seeing blokes take huge marks definitely appealed to me.”

The 2014 AFL U/15 Oceania Cup Carnival in Suva, Fiji has wrapped up on Friday with the finals well contested.

AFL Pacific development officer Ben Drew summaries the day :
We certainly witnessed some terrific, disciplined football today from all 4 finals side’s.
Tonga held off a determined Vanuatu team who pushed all the way to the last second! Both teams have been fantastic all week. Tonga held on for a narrow victory to finish 3rd.
The Grand Final was certainly the best game we have had at the Oceania Cup! It was hard, tough and low scoring. The game was on the edge with both teams having their opportunities throughout. A couple of the Fiji players lost their discipline at times and were severely penalised. Time in possession was very even throughout the game.
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After a rest day on Wednesday, and some warnings about bad water, the 2014 AFL U/15 Cup carnival in Suva, Fiji, continued on Thursday with largely one sided – on the scoreboard at least – matches.

AFL Pacific Development Officer Ben Drew sums up the day :
It was another action packed day at the AFL Oceania Cup here in Fiji.
Vanuatu pushed Nauru all the way to the end and then Nauru turned the tables later in the day against Fiji to remain undefeated through the pool stage!
Tonga were strong once again and the Pacific All Stars gave everything in their last round!
Tomorrow we will see Vanuatu Volcano’s take on the Tonga Thunder for the 3rd and 4th playoff and Fiji Tribe take on the Nauru Stars in the 1 v 2 Grand Final day!
Albert Park will be packed to capacity!
It has been a fantastic week, and today also marked the arrival the Australian Wanderers U/14 side who are playing a 4 match test series against the Fiji Jnr Tribe U/14’s! Very busy week with lots of Football action! What more could you want?!
Jump on the AFL South Pacific Nations Facebook Page to see all the action from today.

Day 2 of the 2014 AFL U/15 Oceania Cup Carnival in Suva, Fiji, witnessed the first matches of the main Oceania Cup tournament after Mondays lightning carnival.

The AFL's Ben Drew described the culmination of another terrific day of footy "And to finish the day with one of the best games of football between Nauru and Tonga to be played at the Oceania Cup in the 6 years we have been coming together was a fitting end to a great day."

The day also included the match up of Nakasi Cats taking on Suva Swans in Round 7 of the 2014 Vonu Challenge - played as an exhibition match for the Oceania Cup 2014 championship. Vanuatu Development officer, Nancy, (GO NANCY!!) joined along with a number of new local players. The Cats better in front of goals with 6.5(41) to Swans 2.9(21). Woman of the Match was Lini Drotini (Cats).

When Essendon Football Club went so hard to secure the signing of Irishman, Conor McKenna, after his performance at the AFL Draft Combine, it raised the question. Why? The following video from AFL Europe gives a very good idea of why Essendon representatives courted him on two trips to Ireland, and why AFL Talent manager, Kevin Sheehan, has stated that Conor may yet be the pick of the Irishmen this year and maybe of all.

Conor is a product of the AFL Europe Talent Program, a talent pathway which includes the European Legion team which has played Australia's AIS Academy team in recent years. This year's team not only featured Conor, but also fellow 2014 Irish rookies Paddy Brophy (West Coast), Padraig Lucy (Geelong), Sean Hurley (Fremantle), Daniel Flynn (Port Adelaide) and former Greater Western Sydney rookie Aksel Bang from Denmark.

For more information on the AFL Europe Talent Program, go to: http://www.afleurope.org/talent-progr...an-legion/