World Footy News

AFL Japan kicked off the 2014 season last on Sunday 20th April in a match where 2013 Top League Premiers, Tokyo Bay Suns defeated the Eastern Hawks by a whopping 110 points. Final score: 21.26 (152) to 5.1 (42).

Anzac weekend saw two matches, Senshu Powers taking on R246 Lions on Saturday 26th while the Tokyo Goannas battled it out with Komazawa Magpies on Sunday.

AFL Japan has undergone some structural changes during the off season, splitting the Top League into two regional leagues. The West League comprises the Osaka Dingoes and the Nagoya Redbacks, whilst the East League is made up of Tokyo Bay Suns, Komazawa Magpies, Senshu Powers, Eastern Hawks, Tokyo Goannas, R246 Lions and for the third year in a row accepted a brand new team, the Poseidons.

Nine teams/clubs is the greatest number of clubs in AFL Japan history and augers well for the growth and development of footy in Japan.

The bald figures state that over 22,000 attended the first AFL game for premiership points in New Zealand in 2013 and yet just over 13,000 attended this year. Did that make the venture unsuccessful as the AFL seek to expand the game? In a letter from Peter Summers, President of St Kilda, he provides his view which is anything but negative.

Please see: Letter to NZ from St Kilda President

In a match not well publicised (on either Denmark or Sweden’s websites) and somewhat overshadowed by the 7th edition of the Anzac Cup at Villes Bretonneux, France, Sweden hosted Denmark in an International match in Skane, Sweden at the weekend on Saturday 26th April.

The effect of the match, which could safely be described as a “football lesson”, as Denmark amassed a whopping 26.22 (178) score to Sweden’s 3.4 (22) on the World Rankings, saw Denmark remain in 10th position but Sweden falling a dramatic four places from 13th to 16th, with Canada, Peace Team and France climbing one place each respectively.

It should be pointed out that prior to this match less than 1.75 rating points separated these four nations so although the ranking fall might have been dramatic, the fall in rating points (2.07) much less so.

Read the full story for the current WFN World Rankings table after this match.

To coincide with the success and popularity of the Haggis Cup in Scotland played a few weeks ago comes the news of another Australian Football club in the country. The Falkirk Silverbacks have arrived on the Scottish scene to continue the growth of the game.

Falkirk, with a population of around 35,000, sits in the Lowlands between Scotland's two largest cities. Glasgow is approximately 33 kilometres away to the south-west and the capital city of Edinburgh just 37 kilometres away to the south-east. It is this proximity to these cities which already boast healthy Australian Rules football clubs which has led to the expansion of the game to Falkirk.

Courtesy of ABC Radio Australia website.

Australian Rules Football Team cleans up Hospital in floods in Solomon Islands.

Organised by the Solomon Islands Australian Football League, more than 30 players and their Australian friends engaged in a community effort to start rebuilding the White River Health Clinic.
 
The clinic was hit by flash flooding two weeks ago, which destroyed more than half its medical supplies.
 
Michael Nunan, coach of the White River Demons footy team and a pharmaceutical distributor says there was "a foot of mud" to be cleared.
 
He also says it's a priority to get the clinic re-opened as the Solomon Islands deals with outbreaks in dengue, diarrhoea and pink eye disease.
 

Sure, we know that the St Kilda Saints will be playing their annual ANZAC Day game in Wellington, this time against the Brisbane Lions, but it is the opportunity that it affords NZ football to showcase their talent which is truly exciting for those with an interest in football on the east side of the Tasman.

Firstly there will be a two match series for the 2nd time between the NZ Hawks and the South Pacific Nations. Last year the series was won 2-0 by the New Zealand Hawks.

The South Pacific Nations will be looking to take revenge, and have a strong side capable of sparking an upset win. Their team is heavily weighted with NZ’ers such as St Kilda International Scholarship holder Joe Baker-Thomas, alongside some of the key players in New Zealand AFL, including Andrew Howison and Shane Leat. They will be coached by long time NZ representative Andrew Congalton. An exciting crop of young Kiwis in Levi Inglis, Kyle Smith, Te Kopa Tipene-Thomas, James Little, Ben Miller will be part of the team who have represented New Zealand at age group level with distinction. A strong contingent of players from the Pacific Islands will be joining them. Ha’ele Finau and Fohe Latu from Tonga, Sam Bua from the Solomon Islands and Chris Cakabou from Fiji are all leading players from their respective islands.

It appears that this year representatives from PNG will not be part of the team.
 

World Footy News reported during last year a decision by the AFLNT (Australian Football league Northern Territory) to include the Alice Springs based club into the premier division of the NTFL. The club played half of the 2013/14 season as an extended trial after an initial four game exposure in the 2012/13 season.

On the field the Redtails certainly enjoyed some level of success. Their 2012/13 performance was heartening with three wins from their four games, including a shock win over eventual premiers, St Mary’s. Last season was not as successful on paper with just one win from their eight games, but closer inspection shows two losses by less than 10 points and only two losses by more than 50 points. The team certainly proved to be competitive over those two trials.

However, the following media release from the AFLNT states that the idea will take on a longer term planning direction for a number of reasons, delaying the club’s admittance to a permanent place in the NTFL Premier League.

The 2014 Under 15 National Kickstart Championships wound up yesterday in Coffs Harbour, NSW with the powerhouse Western Australia team, having dispatched all opponents throughout the carnival, blitzing the Northern Territory team in the Grand Final.

The carnival, played at the Coffs Harbour International Sports Park from April 11th to 16th, also featured the round robin matches and final of the South Pacific Cup (see stories below)as well as the Australia Post All Nations Cup.

Who’s the toughest footballer you ever saw? Leigh Matthews? Ted Whitten? Luke Hodge? Maybe  it  is Jonathan Brown.  Well here’s something which may sort the wheat from the chaff. How often did you see them play in temperatures of 7 degrees, with a chill factor that made it more like minus 7? 

Well that’s exactly what faced the tough, fearless and enthusiastic Russian players who competed in last weekend’s Gagarin Cup in Moscow. 

The event, named in honour of the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man into space, was played in the Russian capital in front of a motivated, albeit teeth-chattering crowd. The event is also played on Cosmonaut Day, a national holiday observed in Russia. It is the largest Australian Rules showcase in the country, just tipping out the Concrete and Steel Cup played each September (2nd) to observe the anniversary of the end of World War Two (won last year by the Space Pirates).

The Solomon Islands were recently and tragically battered by the tropical depression storm that formed into cyclone Ita – with widespread damage and numerous fatalities in the capital Honiara. The week before the SIAFL season had kicked off but not surprisingly round 2 was unable to proceed. The resilience of the locals highlighted though by the resumption last weekend with the playing of the previous weeks postponed matches.

Perhaps more importantly - the community of the SIAFL has been recognised in the Solomon Star newspaper for their efforts - here at White River in helping get the White River health clinic cleaned up and back into operation - crucial to help combat the spread of disease in the coming weeks.

On the back of the Coca Cola PNG Binatangs winning the 2014 AFL U/16s South Pacific Cup held this week in Coffs Harbour – the footy attention of PNG swing back to matters domestic. This weekend sees the Grand Final of the pre-season tournament for the Port Moresby senior competition.

The 2014 instalment of the AFL Under 16s South Pacific Cup wrapped up this week in Coffs Harbour - north of Newcastle in NSW. The South Pacific Cup pitted the New Zealand Hawks, Papua New Guinea Binatangs and the Oceania squad drawn from the nations of Nauru, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

Game 6 of the tournament was played on Tuesday between the Coca Cola PNG Binatangs and the NZ Hawks. After which the undefeated Binatangs were crowned 2014 champions. On Wednesday there were two matches involving the South Pacific main squad against the Australian indigenous Boomerangs side as well as a match between a South Pacific development side against an 'All Nations' side.

Again - stories/details provided by AFL Pacific