World Footy News

I lined up in a forward pocket. I remember that. It was at the Houghton Road reserve in Clayton playing for “The Holes”. History says that the Clayton Football Club, who wore the Collingwood colours, and were officially known as the Magpies, has adopted this other name because a set of donated jumpers from Collingwood arrived, nibbled severely by moths, and the players ran out in jumpers full of holes. The name stuck. It became one of my first memories of footy. My journey had begun.

So, what about the forward pocket? Well my dad, the coach, didn’t usually trust me in the midfield, or presumably anywhere very close to the ball. The forward pocket was a safe enough place. I remember running about erratically hoping to get somewhere near the ball. To touch it would be something else.

The Austin Crows this afternoon won the 2013 USAFL National Championships defeating the Calgary Kookaburras in a Grand Final thriller by one point Austin 4.2 (26) to Calgary Kookaburras 4.1 (25). 

In the Division II final the Columbus Jackaroos 5.5 (35) to the LA Dragons 1.5 (11).

In the Division III final the Houston Lonestars 3.5 (23) defeated the Sacramento Suns 0.1 (1).

In the Dvision IV final the Cincinatti Dockers (Combined w Ohio Valley/Milwaukee Bombers) 8.4 (52) defeated the North Carolina Tigers 4.7 (31)

US Nationals Day 1 results.  Courtesy usafl.com

Day 1 of the 2013 USAFL National Tournament has drawn to a conclusion with a number of teams clearly set with their eyes on the finals. In Division 1 the Denver Bulldogs, Calgary Kangaroos, Austin Crows and New York Magpies have all finished day one with two wins each.

First up tomorrow, the Denver Bulldogs take on the Calgary Kangaroos at 9am and the Austin Crows and New York Magpies will take the field at 10am to decide who make it through to the final at 4pm.

The women's division is a little interesting this year with seven teams. Denver are on top of Pool A (made up of 3 teams), however Pool B (made up of 4 teams) currently has the San Francisco Iron Maidens and Minnesota Freeze Blue team on top with 2 wins each and they will play each other first up Sunday to earn direct pass to the final. The loser from the mornings match will still have a chance to make the final if they are able to knock off Denver in a crossover semi-final..

Adelaide based AFL club, the Port Adelaide Power, will embark on a 9 day trip to the United Arab Emirates as part of their pre-season training schedule for the 2014 campaign. The team will leave Australia on 24th November and return on the 4th December.

The trip will take the club to Dubai, where they will use the excellent facilities at the Dubai Sports Centre, which are considered to be amongst the best in the Middle East.

According to the Port Adelaide High Performance Manager, Darren Burgess, on the club website “the facilities at the Dubai Sports City are world class, so it’s a really good combination of a top line performance centre and hot conditions, plus a great chance for the boys to get away again.

We continue Lisa 'Kiwi' Roper's review of the recent tour by the Australian Under 16 girls team, the Breeze and their matches against the NZ girls team, the Kahus. 

Game 2 was a different affair. Both coaching panels deciding that two mixed teams would further the playing development of the Kahus and leadership of the Breeze. What should have been an even contest ended up with the team coached by both assistant Coaches winning by a large margin and the Head Coaches copping plenty, as the spirit between this Trans-Tasman contest was more of great friends than the usual rivalries across all sports.

The Australian team today defeated the combined Dublin colleges team at Parnell Park in Dublin. The final scoreline 62-23 not nearly as important to the Australians as the chance for a competitive hit out. Their opponents finding the going much tougher than last week when they played against the VAFA side.

In the cold conditions the Aussies were off to a slow start with the quarter time score Australia 23 - Dublin Combined Universities 11 but soon found their feet and showing their pace, and superior tackling managed to shut down the students and force numerous turnovers.

Ash McGrath looked comfortable as keeper and looks certain to have the job on Saturday night in Cavan.

 

The 2013 International Rules Series will be exclusively broadcast nationally in Australia on 7 mate, followed by replays on Fox Footy.  Both matches will be broadcast with a 90 minute delay.

Details are as follows:

Press release from the USAFL: The United States Australian Football League’s (USAFL) National Tournament returns to Austin this weekend, October 19-20. The tournament is expected to attract more than 1,000 athletes from all over North America for the two-day event being held at Onion Creek Soccer Complex, south of downtown. This is the second time the tournament has been held in Austin with the first in 2011. After much success and positive feedback the vote was unanimous to return.

 

Both men and women will compete throughout the weekend, with four men’s and one women’s division – 39 teams in total. The top division favorites are the New York Magpies and Calgary Kangaroos who both missed out on the division title last year after it was vacated when the Dallas Magpies were disqualified.

We asked Lisa 'Kiwi' Roper to give us her thoughts on the recent series between the Breeze (Under 16 Australian Girls Australian Football team) and the first ever female team in New Zealand - the Kahus. Living in NSW and playing and coaching the Australian form of football for many years (including playing over 200 games, and being in 10 grand finals in 12 years including two for NSW) she will always be a proud Kiwi. The greatest shame of this story is that womens footy only comes to NZ now. But looking on from the sidelines on this tour it seems Kiwi is happy to be looking forward to what the future holds for the Kiwi girls of today and tomorrow.

 

North Melbourne star Daniel Wells has been named captain of the Australian team to play Ireland on Saturday. Aaron Davey, who has retired from AFL football after ten seasons at the Melbourne football club has been named vice captain.

 Coach Michael O’Loughlin said that Wells and Davey were high quality individuals who were the perfect role models for their teammates for this historic competition.

“Daniel and Aaron are both highly regarded by their peers and have impressed everyone with their natural leadership and mentoring skills during the lead-up to the International Rules Tests,” O’Loughlin said.

When the name Michael Long is mentioned, many thoughts race back to the 1993 AFL Grand Final where his exploits won him the Norm Smith Medal, and probably won Essendon the premiership. His deeds have placed him in the same stellar orbit as other great indigenous footballers like Polly Farmer, Barry Cable, Maurice Rioli and Steven Michael to name just a few. More recently it has been his willingness to strive for indigenous causes which has led to “The Long Walk” and “Dreamtime At The G”: events which celebrate the histories and advance the potential  opportunities of indigenous Australians. His latest venture is the Michael Long Learning and Leadership Centre which strives to make the transition for indigenous youth more attainable through employment, education, socialisation and opportunity as they leave their homes and communities to follow their football dreams in the larger cities. This latest press release from the AFLNT details the union of this centre with the Charles Darwin University (CDU).

AFL Northern Territory Indigenous Ambassador and AFL legend Michael Long will today sign an agreement which will see Charles Darwin University become an Official Education Partner of the Michael Long Learning and Leadership Centre (MLLLC).