World Footy News

The 2020 USAFL Nationals tournament will head west, moving to Ontario, California – located between Los Angeles and San Bernadino. It marks a move across the country after this year’s event was played in Bradenton-Sarasota. Florida.

It will be the second time since 2009 that the event has been played in California after the 2017 tournament was held in San Diego.

The following statement from the www.usafl.com website details the announcement.

“The USAFL Executive Board is excited to announce that the 2020 USAFL National Championships will be held on the doorsteps of Los Angeles in Ontario, California the weekend of October 10 and 11.”

 

“Today many men in my area consider me a leader which is very rare for people in my area.  Many of the men who were against me once are now proud of me.” 

And, in that passage alone, the inspiring story of Karishma Ali can be seen coming to life. This young woman graced Australian footy fields back in 2017 as part of the inaugural Pakistan Shaheens women’s team at the IC17 tournament in Melbourne. Since then, Karishma has not only been a driving force for the game back home in Pakistan – both for women and the game as a whole – and significantly become a world role model for women of all ages. 

Since those days, Karishma has had her clothing paraded on the catwalks of Milan, met with British royalty and been a youth and women’s advocate within Pakistan envoys to China and the United States. This is heady stuff, and rather amazing for a young woman who was also named as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 success stories.

(Karishma in action for the Pakistan Shaheens at IC17)

Marc McGowan from the www.afl.com.au website reports on another emerging Irish talent from last week’s AFL Europe Talent Combine in Dublin. It was also the first ever women’s combine and showcased some exceptional talent, with a number of women testing looking towards a potential career in the AFLW in coming seasons.

A LITHUANIAN-born footballer could be the next successful Irish AFL export.

Ireland's James Madden (Brisbane) and Ross McQuillan (Essendon) springboarded standout AFL Europe Combine testing results into spots on an AFL list the past two years.

And now it might be Deividas Uosis' turn.

The 19-year-old's parents emigrated to Ireland when he was four in search of better work opportunities, and he's played basketball, soccer and Gaelic football since. 

Back in 2014, the Doha Kangaroos were set to be “the next big thing”. Fresh from taking the 2013/13 season premiership after downing the Dubai Dragons, the ‘Roos had the Middle East football world at their feet. Dreams of going “back to back” were tempered by a greater ideal – a dynasty growing with sustained success.

However, the script changed. Off and on field changes occurred which made it difficult for the Kangaroos to maintain momentum.

Then along came the Qatar Blockade in June 2017 – ostensibly seeing other nearby Middle East nations cutting links (across many fronts, including travel) with the nation. The political arguments can be discussed elsewhere, but the impact saw the Doha Kangaroos having to pull out of the AFL Middle East competition and effectively losing much of the traction built around their maiden premiership.

The following story is from the point of view of two young men in South Africa. It is not the story of AFL South Africa, nor is it necessarily true of others across the nation. It is following on from their own personal journeys, documented previously on World Footy News.

Joubert Macdonald Motone and Mokati Teddy Thibello have each been involved in the development of Australian Football for many years. Joubert has spoken previously of the great things (see: Baulkham Hills Hawks' generosity reaches across the world ) and the not so good times – Triumph over adversity – The spirit of our game. – as his smaller footy world has been impacted by greater forces – and not necessarily positive forces.

(Picture - kids playing football in donated jumpers from Australia in Bodibe)

The 2020 AFL International Cup details have finally been announced. Full release follows.

 

Back in my days as a tour guide, stopping at Halls Creek in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia was a step back in time to learn of aboriginal culture, gold mining, droving, explorers and other tales associated with the remoteness of a town that is almost 3000 kilometres from its own capital city, Perth. For a while it was synonymous with the Wolf Creek horror movie based on the nearby attraction, but now it is developing a new and very different reputation.

Michael Whiting from www.afl.com.au reports on the incredible success coming out of one remote Western Australian town. With the recruitment of Jy Farrar at last week’s AFL Draft, the small outback town is again in the spotlight and making people wonder what is in the water up there.

Jy Farrar did not have to look far for inspiration to believe one day he could make it to the AFL 

When his name was read out by Gold Coast with pick No.60 at last week's NAB AFL Draft, Farrar added to the Halls Creek production line that dominates the League.

The Scottish city of Stirling is not a place that rears its head in conversations about football – until now. Almost equidistant between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Stirling has just been announced as the venue for the next AFL Europe Euro Cup in 2020.

The city is far more famous for Stirling Castle, and William Wallace’s defeat of the English. However, for one glorious weekend next June, Stirling will entertain the cream of European Australian Football.

The club does not boast its own club in the AFL Scotland SARFL league, but that may well change after hosting the premier nine per side tournament. Converted fans and curious onlookers will descend on Stirling and if all goes to plan a whole new batch of recruits, administrators, sponsors and fans will work to ensure the game remains in the city long after the event is over.

Maybe the teams are not at their fullest strength and maybe playing for an off-season cup isn’t quite as intense as a premiership season. However, make no mistake – all players who represented their teams at last weekend’s Movember Cup in Manchester were there to firstly raise money for cancer and secondly – compete, maybe even win.

After all of the pool matches were done and dusted, and the finals played, the Wandsworth Demons from AFL London had taken out the men’s cup whilst the more local Nottingham Scorpions took out the women’s title.

The hosts, the Manchester Mozzies, were runners-up in both men’s and women’s competitions.

Last week’s AFL Drafts unearthed a huge new pool of talent, but unlike previous seasons was light-on for international players or players of multicultural journeys. One exception to that, taken in the draft on Thursday evening, was Bigoa Nyuon – snared by Richmond from under the Brisbane Lions’ nose at pick 54.

In an inspirational tale sharing the same basic plot lines as many other players from African countries now playing (or have played) in the AFL, Biggie, as he is known, was born in Nairobi, Kenya, after his family fled war-torn South Sudan. He lost his father in the fighting and his brave mother Mary managed to get as many of the divided family to Australia as possible. Some were in Kenya, some in Ethiopia, all were refugees.

The St Mary’s Saints have used a 123-point win over Waratah to strengthen their grip on a top five position in the NTFL Premier League after the completion of Round 9 – the halfway mark of the season. After a big percentage boost, the Saints now sit in fourth place, two games clear of the fifth-placed Tiwi Bombers – a finals berth is theirs to lose from here.

After claiming last season’s wooden spoon, St Mary’s were always going to be a danger this season, and Waratah found that out the hard way yesterday. St Mary’s were too good in the opening half, charging to a 53-point lead by half time. Any hope of a Waratah comeback was vaporised in the third term with Saints rattling on seven unanswered goals for the quarter. The last quarter saw more of the same as the Saints dominated all over the field.

With the completion of the Auckland Australian Football League’s season last weekend, footy in New Zealand goes into its off - season with winners, losers and plenty to think about for all clubs ahead of the 2020 season.

The AAFL Grand Final was an absolute thriller with the University Blues downing the North Shore Tigers by four points. The Blues won the minor premiership ahead of the Waitakere Magpies and won their first final against the Mt Roskill Saints to book a berth in the final. The Magpies went down to a rampaging Tigers outfit, allowing the Blues and Tigers to fight it out for the flag.

After a tough match, the University Blues 7 9 51 defeated the North Shore Tigers 7 5 47 to take the 2019 flag.