World Footy News

The Hiroshima Cranes, Japan's newest Australian Rules football team, has recently played in their first hitout against estbalished opposition. Jonathan Cooper, formerly from the Osaka Dingoes and now a key part of the new Cranes outfit, sent this story about the event. 

 

Australian Football in Japan has a very long history, but since 2004, Japanese Australian Football has been governed by the Japan Australian Football League. Teams from Osaka to Tokyo have participated in a national competition which has involved some very strenuous road trips. Despite being a small country in area, Japan is very long archipelago. Distances are vast, and domestic travel is very expensive. In 2014 with 7 teams in Tokyo, and very strong, established teams in Nagoya and Osaka, the JAFL made the decision to separate the league into an Eastern and a Western division.

 

Despite some initial hurdles and early challenges, the Western division of the Japanese Australian Football League has recently been going from strength to strength. With the support of the league and the international football community, a new team has been established in Hiroshima, and there are now three teams out west – The Hiroshima Cranes, Osaka Dingoes and Nagoya Redbacks. Several other teams are also a very real possibility in 2015.

 

 

The brand new season starts tomorrow for the AFL Middle East, and what a great way to unveil their new 2014/15 product that pitting last year’s premiers against the new boys on the block. After months of waiting the fans and players can finally sink their teeth into the excitement of new battles.

First cab off the rank is the battle in Qatar tomorrow when the Doha Kangaroos, last year’s premiers, have the honour of hosting the brand new BM Bulls team – new to the league this year. Doha deserves the honour of starting off the new season after winning their maiden premiership last season when they toppled an unsuspecting Dubai Dragons in the main event. They also get to make history of a different kind by providing the opposition for the newest club in the league on their maiden voyage in the waters of the season proper.

The BM Bulls have announced their arrival in a big way, having reached the grand final of the Pre-Season Cup last month. Quite a remarkable feat for a club that had not played an official game prior to that event. They will be super keen to prove to all that their efforts that day were no fluke, and can be expected to take it up to the Kangaroos. Whilst some say that teams were not at full strength for the pre-season hit-out, it is still something special that the Bulls made their mark against all teams on the day.

The Port Adelaide FC has connected with a new club in Guangzhou, China with the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Power running out onto the field for the first time recently.

The Zhujiang Power join four other sides in their local competition in Guangdong Province of Southern China - the Huizhou Hawks, Dongguan Giants, Guangzhou Scorpions and Guangzhou Sports University Seagulls.

Port Adelaide hosted the Chinese national side at the IC14, with the Chinese marching before the match between Port and the Sydney Swans in round 20. They have also recently formalised an official partnership with the Hong Kong Australia Business Association.

The full story from the PAFC website is reproduced below.

LEFT: A player from the Zhujiang Power keeps ahead of his Guangzhou Sports Uni opponent.

The following media release from AFLNT details the result of the grand final of the Michael Long Cup, an event which was reported by World Footy News last week.  Also included is an additional press release regarding the launch of a future Leaders program in the Northern Territory at Karama Primary School.

 

Just three points decided Saturday’s under 14 Long Cup grand final between reigning champions Nightcliff and the Central Australia Power.

The Power were fierce all weekend, hungry for a win over a strong Nightcliff outfit, who field two under 14 teams in the TIO NTFL competition and were favourites heading into the two-day competition.

 

Central Australia Power left it all on the field and were ultimately rewarded with a narrow win, with goals coming from Kristoff Nelson (six), Kane Linch-Williams and Lehman Corby (five each). 

At times there has been much discusion as to how best to develop Australian Football overseas. There are many factors involved - cost, geography, personel, timeframe and benefit. There can be little argument that any succesful school programs will leverage immediate participants and possible long term players. The AFL has invested in such programs with good effect in specific regions - NSW, Qld, RSA and NZ. Some programs have been succesfully created with much less help as in London, Torronto and Vancouver. Now there is encouraging news out of Alberta Canada. In fact, it begs the question - should we doing more to help?. The following is from Calgary Kangaroos president Lachlan Griffiths

As the snow begins to fall and the 2014 local footy season is now but a memory, plans are being made to expand on the first successful year of a school based AFL program run this year by the Calgary Kangaroos. A brief window of mid April through early June is all they have to work with to be able to get students across the city kicking a footy outside after the snow melts and before the summer break arrives. But that window of time was enough this year to be able to get over 2,300 kids across 15 schools in Calgary introduced to Australia's national sport.

With the assistance of a grant from AFL Canada last year, the Kangaroos purchased footballs and printed AusKick instructor manuals that they then gave to schools, with a catch. The school must run a week of Aussie Rules to be eligible to receive the footy's and manuals. The Roo's then sent a volunteer coach to each school to help the teachers run their module - and the response from schools was overwhelming. The program was oversubscribed and the Roo's had to source additional footy's for schools wanting to run footy in their PE classes.

In a world where soccer/football is arguably the most followed ball sport globally, where people in North America idolise their NFL or NBA or other ball game heroes and where the various rugby codes across the world draw fanatical support, how is it that Australian Rules football is able to continue to attract new followers. What is it that makes people want to play the game?

Left: Gary Ablett Snr takes a screamer for Geelong (Herald Sun)

During the recent International Cup tournament in Melbourne there were two series of articles written for World Footy News. The “IC14 Vignettes” series and the “Meet The Players” series both touched on the reasons players were drawn to the game. There was a wide variety of answers.

Some looked at their involvement as “exciting” and cited the kicking, handpassing, marking and tackling as the elements of the game that captured their imagination. Others cited the family connections, team spirit, support networks and social aspects as being most important.

The following is a press release from AFLNT about this weekend’s Michael Long Cup, being played in Darwin. This competition is a major part of the development process for Northern Territory junior footballers, and gives an opportunity for young players to bring their talents to a greater stage.

 

Being part of the Long Cup is a goal for many of our remote and city based juniors, and as part of Round 4 of the TIO NTFL this weekend more than 300 talented 13 year olds will participate in the annual event.

The Long Cup is the most significant junior talent event on AFLNT’s calendar, providing Under 14 players from all over the Northern Territory the opportunity to compete against the most outstanding players from the age-group.

The Northern Territory and Northern Queensland have featured prominently in the AFL Premiership 2015 fixture released today. Whilst Alice Springs has lost an NAB Challenge match, it has retained a premiership fixture. Meanwhile, Darwin and Cairns will again host their now traditional AFL fixtures in July.

Last year the people of Alice Springs were treated to two AFL matches. The Melbourne Demons hosted Geelong in the NAB Challenge before a premiership match between Melbourne and Port Adelaide later in the season. For 2015, the Demons will again play host to Port Adelaide, this time for premiership points on the 30th May at TIO Traeger Park.

This provides another tremendous opportunity for the people of Alice Springs, and all across central Australia, to watch an AFL Premiership match. Over 5000spectators attended last year’s premiership match and the AFLNT would be hoping to increase that number in 2015.

The North Queensland city of Townsville will host its third NAB Challenge AFL fixture in 2015. With the release today of the AFL’s 2015 NAB Challenge fixture, the people of Townsville and across North Queensland will look forward to the match at Tony Ireland Stadium on Sunday 1st March.

In 2015 it will be the Geelong Cats making the trek north to meet the Gold Coast Suns. The inaugural match in 2013 saw the North Melbourne Kangaroos make the journey, whilst in 2014 it was the Brisbane Lions that visited with a one off Queensland derby.

For the Gold Coast Suns it strengthens their connections to North Queensland. As well as having played AFL Premiership matches in Cairns since 2011 (and a VFL match in 2010), the NAB Challenge matches in Townsville have been a welcome addition to the roster of high performance football played in the region.

St Kilda and Carlton will play in Wellington in the opening game on Anzac Day next year, which marks the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli.
The match will start at 1.10pm local time (11.10am AEST), meaning it will coincide with the Anzac Day marches that take place in each capital city around Australia.

It will be the first of five matches to be played on Anzac Day next year, which falls on a Saturday, and comes with the agreement of the Victorian RSL after discussions with the AFL.

As our two countries look ahead and unite for such an important day, we acknowledge the historical significance of the Australian and New Zealand relationship,” Saints CEO Matt Finnis said.

“This game gives our supporters a time to remember in a place they will never forget.

St Kilda is set to be further entrenched as New Zealand’s AFL team of choice, with the club to hold its High Performance Training Camp and AFL Australia Post Community Camps in the country.

With NZ born Shane Savage on their mainlist and Joe Baker-Thomas and Giovanni Mountain-Silberry both on AFL International Scholarships with the Saints they are really endeavouring to position themselves as NZ's number one team to support.

The Saints playing list will be spread over Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch for three days as part of the AFL Australia Post Community Camp from December 1-3 before the squad meets in Queenstown to complete its High Performance training camp.

 

The Irish Independent newspaper reported last week that the deal to sign Pearce Hanley’s brother, Cian, will still go ahead. The likelihood is that paperwork will be lodged before the end of this month after in-principal agreements had been put in place back in September.

 

According to the newspaper, “Mayo minor star Cian Hanley looks set to join his brother Pearce at the Brisbane Lions. The teenager is expected to join the Aussie Rules club as an international rookie despite suffering a serious knee ligament injury in Mayo's All-Ireland minor semi-final defeat to Kerry 11 days ago.”

 

 

“Lion’s Football Manager, Dean Warren, said the injury was a setback but did not alter Brisbane’s plans to bring Cian to Australia on an International Rookie contract when the players return from their annual leave.”