World Footy News

The AFL today announced the locations for the 2014/2015 Australia Post AFL Community Camps, with St Kilda Football Club to kick off the first camp in December on the Mornington Peninsula and then overseas in New Zealand.

More than 800 AFL players will take the game to regional and rural communities around Australia and New Zealand in the lead up to the 2015 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

AFL General Manager People Customer and Community, Dorothy Hisgrove said the Australia Post AFL Community Camps were about players giving back to the community and sharing with fans their passion for Australia’s Game.

The newest team in the AFL Middle East competition, the BM Bulls, have added a new entry into their history books by winning their first official premiership match. In just a few short weeks of competition the Bulls have already impressed with their competitiveness, and are now adding victories.

In their outing at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai last week the BM Bulls were too good for their opponents, the Abu Dhabi Falcons. The final score saw a 28 point win to the new kids on the block, with a final score:

BM Bulls 13 13 91 d Abu Dhabi Falcons 9 9 63.

The Toulouse Hawks have started the new 2014/15 season in ominous form in the CNFA competition late last month. After having won the past two league premierships in France, their recent outing against the ALFA Lions was a frightening warning to the rest that the Hawks aren’t done with yet.

Toulouse Hawks 42 17 269 d ALFA Lions 4 4 28.

The massive 241 point win against the youngest team in the French competition would have had many interested observers searching for the record books, and we invite anyone to confirm where that particular score, and winning margin, sits within the history of French footy.

In a recent article by Alex Malcolm for afl.com, Fremantle Dockers’ recruit, Sean Hurley, opens up about his desire to emulate the feats of another great Irish player of recent times, Tadhg Kennelly. Certainly Fremantle fans would be very happy if Hurley could achieve his dream.

 

FREMANTLE's Irish recruit Sean Hurley is hoping to emulate the feats of Tadhg Kennelly by winning an AFL premiership.

 

Hurley has signed with Fremantle, a year after trialling with the club. The 22-year-old Gaelic footballer from County Kildare arrived in Perth last Monday after signing with Fremantle as a rookie.

 

 

Hurley, a 193cm midfielder in the Gaelic game, trialled with the Dockers last pre-season but was not picked up. The club remained in touch with him and decided to sign him as a category B rookie for 2015. 

The Australia vs Ireland International series recommences next weekend in Perth at Patersons Stadium. Perth has always supported the concept and enjoyed a party-like atmosphere. Hours before bouncedown thousands of people have found their way to Subiaco dressed in national colours and adorned with icons and flags making the game a truly international event comparable to a World Cup clash. This year WAFC have taken this support and expanded upon it.

Steve Tuohey from the WAFC explains. "Patersons Stadium will host an Irish Festival showcasing the sights, sounds and tastes of Ireland to coincide with the AFL’s International Rules Series game against Ireland on Saturday, November 22."

Paterson's Oval on the 22nd November sees the return of competition between Australia and Ireland in the hybrid game. The codes have chosen cautiously to entertain just the one game this time around.

Australia has chosen to breathe new life into the series by returning to an all-stars concept with eligibility given to only All-Australian players and the AFL have chosen Perth as host city undoubtedly because of it's previous solid support of the concept. That support should ensure a sellout as tickets are presently at the 30,000 mark and people are keen to see so many footballing stars together.

The Northern Territory Football League matches played in Darwin this weekend mark the one third point of the 2014/15 season. This presents a good opportunity to see how the teams are tracking so far this season. Already there are some patterns emerging, some upsets brewing and some all teams lining up for a piece of the action over the remaining twelve rounds.

After the completion of Round 6, the Premier League has a surprise leader. The Nightcliff Tigers sit undefeated at the top of the ladder, with St Mary’s sitting behind them with just one loss…to Nightcliff in Round 5. Not only was the Tigers’ win last week a significant message to the competition, it also ended an amazing winning streak from St Mary’s. That run began in 2012 and continued to Round 4 this season and netted the club two premierships along the way. But the resurgent Tigers managed to end the run and in the process install themselves as an early flag candidate.


The season is only early, but these two sides have already stamped themselves as the teams to beat for a grand-final berth.

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).