World Footy News

An overcast Melbourne day set the scene for Finland vs India, one of the matches to close Round 4 of the International Cup. Both sides were aiming to make amends for three successive defeats; Finland suffering losses to USA, Sweden and China. India going down to Tonga, PNG and Pakistan.

China and Japan are both Confucian societies with respect for tradition, even though this fact is often deliberately forgotten by leaders with other imperatives or can’t be seen for the material goods of today.

But we now have a new tradition of Australian Football. It’s getting stronger, particularly in Tokyo, Osaka and Komazawa in Japan and in Guangzhou and Beijing in China. Perhaps a 21st century Confucius might declare that footy is the main thing.

The schedule for the playoff matches on Friday have been released by the AFL this evening.

The Men's Grand Final will take place at 4.40pm at the MCG on Saturday (prior to Geelong vs Hawthorn), following on from the Women's Grand Final played at Punt Road from midday.

 

Tuesday August 19 15.30

Canada Northwind come into this game with two wins whilst the France Coqs have one win over the Indonesian Garudas.

It will a good measure of the relative positions of two countries on the improve . Cold still conditions perfect for football.

Tall Ruckman #1 Neil Casey immediately gets ball going in the direction for rushed behind then appears on wing to take a great mark and contribute his own minor score.

Tuesday  August 19th    11.30

Tonga come into this game with two wins and the just the one win for Pakistan over India.

Every team goes into a game believing that they can win and the Shaheens had the strategies to counter the physical presence and skill of the Thunder.

The Thunder were into immediate attack and #17 Haseeb Qureshi was already defending stoutly for the Shaheens.

The Tongans were kicking long and high allowing #15 Alex Fakatoumafi to mark strongly and goal. When the Shaheens could manage to get the ball into the open they good football and one such passage they pushed the ball to #24 Jaffar Mehdi who goaled from the angle.

The Thunder re-applied pressure  allowing  #14 Peni Mahina to snap a goal bouncing past a defender. He and #17 providing a focus up forward bullocking hard and #22 pickalafi Tuione Nai snaps truly from a pack. 

 

Tuesday 19 13.30

This was always going to be an interesting game to see how the game would pan out given the ladder positions Nauru (7th) and Great Britain (10th), and the fact that Nauru defeated Great Britain in Round 2.

With the Bulldogs having the taller ruck and key positional players and the Chiefs executing the possession game.

It was going to be a clash of styles. Surprisingly no one style prevailed. Each would move the ball up the ground in their own method starting from the halfback lines.Perhaps the Nauru Chiefs did not make the most of their opportunities and the G.B. Bulldogs held a slender one point lead at quarter time.

Alban Schieber is known to many for his work with the Bordeaux Bombers and the CNFA, most recently at the last Euro Cup in France. He takes some time out to tell us a bit about his Australian Rules football journey.

“I found about Aussie Rules when i came to Australia for a Rotary Student Exchange in 2005-2006. At the time, i wanted to continue to play Rugby. However, in Mount Gambier there were no rugby clubs, and nobody even knew about it. Without speaking a word of English, i went with a few boys to North Gambier training and started to play without understanding any rules. One year later I was addicted to the sport and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Definitively, one of the best sports I had the chance to try and play.”

“Most of the team met in Toulouse on August 1st to take the plane together, however I had to go to China for work so i stopped on the way in Shanghai. Then we all met in St Kilda on the 3rd of August to train together for a week. The trip was quite easy and the jetlag was quickly absorbed.”

 

The Irish Warriors dream of claiming back to back International Cup titles remains on track as they fought off a skilful South African Lions outfit to set up a grand final re-match with Papua New Guinea. Despite failing to register a score in the opening period the Warriors took control, nullifying the South African’s running game in the second half winning by 25 points.

The game started at a frantic pace with both sides nullifying the other through disciplined defence. The Irish were finding it difficult to find their tall forward targets with Padraig Lucey and Mick Finn being doubled teamed when on the lead. The Warriors suffered a blow with ruckman Paul O’Halloran being forced off with a shin injury as two behinds to South Africa saw them take a slender advantage into the first break.

     

 
 

Running around the ovals of Royal Park is one Alexa Blatnick, proudly wearing the number 1 jersey for the USA Freedom. Whilst not the captain of the team, Alexa is still an integral part of the squad that is currently in Melbourne at the International Cup. Here she shares her Aussie Rules story.

“I was running around McKinley Park in Sacramento, California, on a Tuesday evening. I saw the Sacramento Footy club playing Ausball which is a co-ed tag league. I started playing that and then they coaxed me into trying the full contact version of the game.”

“I started last August, so I've only been playing for a little over a year. I'm still a newbie! I am always learning and picking people's brains about the game. I play for my club team, the Sacramento Lady Suns back home.”