World Footy News

Day 1 of the US Nationals is complete with Calgary, New York and Orange County all undefeated in Divison 1.  On today's form Orange County would be expected to beat Minnesota in their match tomorrow morning to go into the final.  New York and Calgary will play each other with the winner headed for the final also and at this stage the likely winner of that match up is too close to call. 

Division 2 reigning champions Columbus and challenger Houston were both undefeated on Day 1 and will play each other tomorrow morning for a spot in the final.  LA Dragons are also undefeated and are looking good for the final if they can get over Nashville tomorrow.

In Divison 3 Philadelphia and Sacramento were unbeaten and will play off in the final if they can win their respective matches tomorrow morning.

North Carolina dominated Division 4 with two big wins and Tulsa were also convincing and undefeated.  The Denver B/KC team also had two convincing wins on Day 1.

 

Division 1		Day 1
Calgary	7.4.46	Golden Gate	1.0.6
Denver	3.0.18	Orange County	2.11.23
Austin	4.1.25	Minnesota	1.1.7
Denver	3.2.20	Minnesota	4.6.30
New York	4.7.31	Dallas	1.4.10
Austin	4.0.24	Orange County	8.6.54
New York	9.7.61	Golden Gate	0.1.1
Calgary	8.5.53	Dallas	0.5.5

The provision of grants by AFL Europe to new and emerging football clubs has seen some successes in recent years that have helped to populate national leagues with new clubs, expansion and greater opportunities for players.

It will be interesting to see which clubs are successful in obtaining grants in 2015. There are always whispers of new clubs coming to fruition across Europe, and there is no doubt that some of these clubs have made it under their own steam. But it is also true that the “Start Up Club Program (SCP)” has helped launch many of these new clubs.

There have been whispers of new clubs in France for some time now. The ALFA Lions and Nancy Bobcats have arrived, but interest remains over the teams from Toulon and Pau. There has been some talk of a club starting in Zenica (Bosnia & Herzegovina), and there have been overtures in Bergen (Norway) for a possible club to start, though that is not much past conversational stage at the moment. But this short list (and there are others, without doubt, that I have not mentioned) could potentially be the candidates for SCP grants for 2015.

As reported earlier this year – 2 representatives from Solomon Islands AFL (SIAFL) were playing the year with AFL Darling Downs side Coolaroo. Francs Ramo and Peter Nuku were afforded a chance of a lifetime to play footy in Australia. And - in what is a relatively young footy region - the Darling Downs having been formed as the Darling Downs Australian Football League in 1971.

The AFL Vanuatu 2014 Grand Final was run and won on Saturday by perhaps the underdog in Mele Eagles who overcame the Erakor Golden Star Tigers by at the end a comfortable 33 point margin.

Ryan Bonga who has represented Vanuatu and the South Pacific in Australia – took out the award for best on ground.

The final score – as the brand new scoreboard tells the story – was Mele 6.14.50 to Erakor 2.5.17.

The Olinda Ferny Creek Football/Netball club visit is a major undertaking in itself and sets a high standard for other clubs to aspire to - read more.....

Without the ability to watch all teams over the course of all matches at the Euro Cup it is difficult to do an all-team analysis. For that reason, this analysis looks at the performances of all teams over the course of the event by looking at the numbers. This analysis looks at both the men’s and women’s teams.

 

Some readers who were there may see things slightly differently, but we would welcome any constructive insights in the comments section of this article below.

 

The corresponding article after the 2013 Euro Cup in Bordeaux was sub-titled “Something for Everyone” - http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20130922221122206 , which was true in that all teams had periods of success or performances which suggested a positive experience.

 

 

Earlier in 2014 the Essendon club undertook their latest multicultural program, Embracing India. Within Australia the program was designed largely to develop and grow a working relationship with Melbourne’s growing and vibrant Indian communities, particularly in the north-west region which is Essendon’s heartland.

 

 

Amongst a host of other community projects, which can be seen by going to the Essendon website - http://www.essendonfc.com.au/community/multicultural-programs/embracing-india - the club has sent a group of players and staff to India. The following story from the Essendon website tells of the focus of the trip and an outline of projects to be undertaken.

 

The Euro Cup for 2014 is well under way. The games for the group standings have been completed and the results for both men’s and women’s are listed below. The semi-final results will be added to this story in the comments section below, with the finals results posted in a separate story early tomorrow. This will include playoff results for Euro Bowl and Euro Plate.

 

Men’s Draw Results

 

Prince Charles Group:

Italy 5 6 36 d Netherlands  1 4 10

Germany 5 5 35 d France 4 5 29

Germany 5 5 35 d Italy 2 2 14

France 3 2 20 d Netherlands 0 0 00

Germany 7 4 46 d Netherlands 0 1 1

 

Italy 4 6 3 d France 3 4 22

In a huge couple of weeks for the recruiting of Irish footballers, the West Coast Eagles have swooped on 20 year old Paddy Brophy on the final day of Draft Combine testing in Melbourne.

Paddy is from County Kildare in Ireland and has been in Australia to take part in the Combine. He is from a Gaelic Football background, being a Celbridge clubman.

According to the http://afl.com.au website, “Brophy is a dashing defender standing at 189cm and 84kg. His speed and agility stood out at the European AFL Combine held in Dublin this year and he dominated a match against the Australian Under 18s in London in April gathering 26 disposals and five clearances for the European Legion.”

“Brophy spent three days in Perth last week visiting with West Coast ahead of signing as the club's first-ever international rookie.”

Buried amid the free agency news, the fall out from the Grand Final, James Hird and Essendon - the news that Sydney's American Rookie Patrick Mitchell has pulled the pin and heading home is barely earth shattering. However - along with the return of Irishman Tommy Walsh - it does highlight the journey of Mike Pyke and the massive gamble the Swans took across this period last year.

Pyke of course is now an Australian citizen, however, technically we can still claim him as the first Canadian to contest 2 AFL Grand Finals! Of interest was the state of origin breakdown across the 44 players last week as well - 10 of whom emanated from NSW which perhaps again highlights the gamble and investment on growing the game outside of it's strongholds both domestically and internationally.

The AFL Vanuatu season reaches it's conclusion tomorrow (Saturday October 4th) at Kazza field in Port Vila. The Mele Eagles managed to book a date with the Erakor Golden Star Tigers for the 2014 AFL Vanuatu Grand Final showdown with a stirring preliminary final victory. The win didn’t come easy – a hard fought 4 point win over the well-credentialed Onesua Magpies.

Mele and Erakor are established rivals in the AFL Vanuatu circles and the Grand Final match up should be a fitting finale to another positive season of growth and development for footy in Vanuatu.