World Footy News

 North Melbourne are well and truly premiership favourites after it unleashed a powerful 42-point victory over reigning premier Adelaide Crows at North Hobart on Saturday afternoon.

Less than 24 hours before the match, Crows AFLW co-captain Erin Phillips withdrew because of soreness.

Jaimi Tabb who was named as an emergency replaced Phillips and played her second AFLW match. 

Image Source: @NorthAFLW

In a statement today from the Essendon Football Club’s Chief Executive, Xavier Campbell, the strongest sign yet was given that the club and the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) would head to the USA.

According to a member release, “we are exploring, in partnership with the Greater Western Sydney Giants, the opportunity to showcase the game of AFL for premiership points in the United States, more specifically in the San Francisco or Los Angeles areas at some point over the next 24 months.”

“Plans and discussions are very much in their infancy, but talks have revolved around the relocation of a GWS home game, with the opportunity to position the match as one of the early marquee games of the premiership season.”

Today's AFLW 4.0 feature is on Fremantle Dockers women's player Kate Flood.

Dockers are the only undefeated team in the competition and sit atop of the Conference B ladder.

Flood was signed as a 2019 rookie signing by the Dockers.

"It was sort of a dream moment that you don't really get, to say it was a dream of mine growing up would be a lie I suppose, but it was just absolutely amazing and an opportunity I guess I couldn't really turn it down," she said.

Flood is just so blessed and grateful that she gets to play in the AFLW.

Image Source: @k8fld

As the AFL grapples with the magnitude of the current Coronavirus pandemic, moves are afoot in Cairns to relocate the proposed China match to the northern Australian city.

The Round 12 clash between Port Adelaide and St Kilda was again scheduled to be the showcase match in Shanghai as the AFL continues to grow the Chinese market. However, the spread of the disease across China and the world has alarm bells ringing in all spheres of life, including football.

Whilst the AFL is yet to make a decision on whether the Shanghai match goes ahead, the league is in negotiations with alternative venues to host the game. Whilst there are likely to be other major AFL venues available across that weekend, notably May 31st which was the scheduled date of the clash, Cairns is seeking the opportunity to act as the new host should Shanghai lose the match.

What an intriguing round of footy, round 4 was.

It started off with Melbourne and Collingwood playing off in the curtain raiser match before the State of Origin Bushfire relief match, North Melbourne playing their first ever AFLW match at Arden St, West Coast Eagles notching up their first ever AFLW victory, superstar Erin Phillips made her long awaited return from an ACL injury and Carlton upset the Crows in the Grand Final rematch.

Image Source: Getty Images 

In an enthralling Grand Final rematch, the young Blues caused a boilover defeating the Crows by eight points at Hisense Stadium on Sunday afternoon, in front of 7,281 fans. 

The match saw the return of arguably the competitions best player in Erin Phillips from an ACL injury and also teammate Rhiannon Metcalfe made her return after an ACL injury as well.

Image Source: @carltonfc_w

(Bordeaux Bombers’ Finals Hopes Rising)

Les espoirs de finale des Bombers de Bordeaux ont fait un autre grand pas vers la réalité lorsqu'ils ont battu le Stade Toulousain hier. La victoire voit les Bombers assis maintenant avec trois victoires de leurs trois matchs.

Ils doivent encore gagner au moins un match de plus pour assurer la finale, mais avec les matchs à l'extérieur contre les Cockerels de Paris et les Toreadors de Bayonne, les Bombers devront être à leur meilleur. S'ils le font, les Bombers pourraient bien entrer dans la course finale en tant que favoris du drapeau en fonction de la forme.

Dans un match qualifié de "serré et intense", le derby de Garonne (du nom de la rivière qui traverse les deux villes) est descendu au dernier quart serré avant que les Bombers ne tiennent à gagner par 15 points. Le score final a vu les Bombers de Bordeaux 91 battre le Stade Toulousain 76.

One of the most famous quotes of all time is a fitting response to the Dubai Dragons’ Preliminary Final win today over the Abu Dhabi Falcons. With the Dragons limping into third place at the end of the home and away rounds, the end of an era was widely predicted.

Heading into the game, the Abu Dhabi Falcons held many aces. They had won both games against the Dragons this season. Also, the Dragons were coming into the game on the back of a 114-point loss to the Bulls.

But finals are always very different beasts, and the Dragons defied the Falcon’s home ground advantage to win by 51 points.

Few, perhaps nobody, would have thought a few years ago that Hawai’i might be the host of an Australian Football international match. Yet, last week, under the watchful eyes of Diamond Head at end of Waikiki Beach in picturesque Kapi’olani Park, that’s exactly what happened.

The Calgary Kangaroos from Alberta, Canada, travelled over to Honolulu, accepting a standing invitation from the Hawai’i Eagles club to come and play.

Earlier this year, World Footy News reported that the Eagles were “open for business” for teams from across the world to visit for a match (see Fancy A Holiday In Hawaii?). The Calgary Kangaroos apparently like to visit Hawai’i in February and so the match became a reality.

World Footy News recently had the opportunity to chat with one of the co-founders of AFL Zimbabwe, the latest country in Africa to rise to the challenge of creating an Australian Football team. Along with a growing team of committed lovers of the game from as far afield as Sweden, the USA and Australia, the team is slowly breaking down the barriers.

The short journey to date has seen a series of coincidental and fortuitous meetings of like-minded people bringing their talents and passions together. Here is their story to date.

Trystan Peckover arrived in Zimbabwe as a diplomat at the Australian Embassy. Soon after he met Ronan Wordsworth (another Australian) who was in Zimbabwe accompanying his partner who works for the UN. Both Trystan and Ronan had played AFL for the London Swans in the AFL London league, but at different times. A useful coincidence. Trystan had also since played for the Paris Cocks prior to moving to ZImbabwe.

Just two weeks after many feared that Conor McKenna had opted to leave Essendon and answer the call of homesickness by returning permanently to Ireland, Mitch Cleary reports on the www.afl.com.au website that things are not what they seem.

Cleary states in a section of his review of the Bombers’ injury list that, “Conor McKenna could return to Tullamarine as soon as next week with Essendon confident the dashing defender can play round one without a pre-season hitout.” 

“McKenna has been home in Ireland for more than a fortnight but has continued to maintain his fitness as he battles homesickness.”

 

Ahead of the new season for the Colombian Australian Football League (CAFL), the Bogotá Bulldogs have unveiled a new website to widen their distribution of information about the club. It marks the next step in an astonishing development of the game in Colombia, driven by the Bogotá Bulldogs. 

The history of the club on one of the pages paints a detailed picture of how far the club has come.  

The Bogotá Bulldogs’ slogan is “From a Kick to a Club” - what started as a kick in the park amongst mates in 2015 has grown into a true footy club, nestled 2800 metres closer to the stars. Everyone is welcome and wanted with the doggies. We are building a community open to any and all skill levels and experiences - for anyone in Bogotá who is looking for a sporting Saturday afternoon.