World Footy News

AFL Fiji have named their extended squad that will be representing the country in the men's division at the 2014 International Cup.

It has been a long and trialling time for the players that have been pressing for a position and those named are men that have been showing their worth each week at the AF Fiji Club Championships.

The extended 36 man squad is made up of Fijian, Australian and New Zealand based players.

The women's squad, Fiji Vonu, is also set to be named shortly.

Questions are being raised about the future of AFL matches being hosted by Wellington.

Fewer than half of the 13,285 people who attended Wellington's AFL Anzac Day fixture paid face value for a ticket leaving its on-going future in jeopardy. However it would mirror the case for many promotional markets such as Western Sydney that many tickets in the initial seasons are ‘free and complimentaries’ to generate a following- particularly among the children in the region.

The Wellington city council is understood to have contributed $600,000 of ratepayer money to promote the game, but there was little public interest with the crowd down from 22,183 at the inaugural game in 2013.

"It's under review and hard questions are being asked about the return on investment to Wellington," said Deputy Mayor Justin Lester.

"It has the ability to be a centrepiece of next year's Anzac Day centenary celebrations, but a lot of work needs to be done.

"When it was introduced… it seems to have been a fairly clear case of over-promising and under-delivering. We want to change that. We have met with representatives from St Kilda and the AFL to make our concerns known and to review the situation."

"Whilst the crowd was down compared to last year, we're still very positive about the result given the impact of the school and Easter holiday period [which coincided with Anzac Day]," St Kilda representative Ben Davies said.

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Australian Rules football is well and truly under way in Norway for 2014, with the second round of the Kenguru Cup being played last weekend. Again the competition was made of the two Oslo based teams – Oslo East and Oslo West - as well as the Ås Battlers.

After just two rounds it is the Oslo East team leading the way and issuing the challenge for the other two teams to “come and get them”.

Earlier in mid-May, Round 1 took place with the Oslo East team taking the honours to kick off the new season.

Read on for Round 1 Results: (match played in Ekeberg, Oslo)

The Samurai IC14 Squad for AFL Japan was named today 3rd June 2014.

Twenty six Top League East players and two players currently playing in Australia have been named to play for the Samurai along with a Management and support staff of seven.

Senshu Powers have the largest contingent of players with seven, and Tokyo Bay Suns and R246 Lions are the next best represented clubs with six players each. The Komazawa Magpies have five representatives whilst brand new team Shonan Poseidons have provided 2 players.

Two players currently in Australia, Yuki Akita playing at North Gambier in country South Australia and Mitsugu Kazawa at West Footscray in Melbourne, Victoria have also been named in the squad.

This week's international broadcast networks and airing times are tabulated below. Screening times and networks are provided in good faith but are subject to change so you should check your local guides.

 

After last week announcing the AFL PNG Flames Womens squad for the AFL International Cup 2014 - now it's the turn of the men with the AFL PNG Mosquitoes squad taking shame - now in their final month of training prior to the announcement of the 28 man travelling squad. The training group has been trimmed to 36 - and amongst those are many familiar names to the followers of PNG footy and readers of Worldfootynews.

The following press release is courtesy of AFL PNG :

The following story comes from the Connacht Tribune newspaper in Galway. It is written by Steve Glennon in his Talking Sport column and looks at the efforts of the Galway Magpies in Ireland to develop their club and keep it on the field each week. This is an interesting insight which is likely true of many other clubs across Ireland and, indeed Europe.

One thing you can say about sport in Galway – be it mainstream sport or not – is that it certainly does not lack choice. If there is one that tickles your fancy, there is a fair chance it can be found somewhere in the Corrib region. No wonder then that Aussie Rules should boast of a small claim on this landscape.

Although the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland (ARFLI) has been up and running for over a decade, the West of Ireland branch has only been in operation about half of this time, according to Galway Magpies President and Coach Shaun Murphy, who hails from Bunbury, just south of Perth.

Two years ago I visited the Styrian Downunder Dogs in the town of Bad Radkersburg on the border with Slovenia where they were conducting a Friday night to Sunday pre-season camp.

It impressed me that the team was taking such a serious approach to their football and eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible about the game. These Austrians have to take the football seriously because without a Vienna team they represent Austria and travel long distances (even by Australian standards) to play in the Croatian league.

So, what has changed?

In 2013 the Olinda Ferny Creek footy team from the Dandenongs region east of Melbourne travelled to Vanuatu post season for the perfect end of season trip after slogging it out in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

Texan Mason Cox has returned to the US after his whirlwind tour to Australia to trial before a number of AFL clubs. Port Adelaide revealed earlier this week that they were not interested in taking Cox.

But this afternoon the Collingwood football club revealed that they have managed to sign the ruck prospect.  Unlike former American recruits who have come to trial previously it seemed that a number of clubs were keen to sign him so the decision to choose was Mason's. 

With payments for International rookies being outside the salary cap, Collingwood were probably always going to be in the box seat if it came down to a matter of who woud pay the best.

Images Courtesy AFL Media

The year 2014 presents itself as a great opportunity for international teams, and their players, to embrace and be embraced by Australian Rules football clubs across the world. Whilst there are carnivals such as the Euro Cup and the EEAFL throughout Asia which bring those parts of the world closer, it is the year of an International Cup which has the greatest potential to create lasting bonds between teams and players from across the world.

This year’s IC14 in Melbourne will be no exception as national teams, represented by many local clubs within their countries, make the journey to Australia where they will play hard against their opposition on the field, yet build lasting friendships afterwards off the field.