World Footy News

 With the home and away season behind us, all sorts of AFL awards are being announced.  One award growing in stature in recent years is the 2013 Be the Influence AFL Players’ MVP Awards. 

The nominations have been finalised and Irishman Pearce Hanley has been included in the top 54 (see below).  Hanley was one of the omissions from this week’s announcement of the 40 players eligible to be selected in the final 22 of the 2013 Four'N Twenty AFL All Australian Team. 

The winner of the AFL industry’s foremost peer-determined award, the Leigh Matthews Trophy proudly presented by Be the Influence, will be announced on Tuesday September 10 at Peninsula, Docklands in Melbourne.

Setanta O'hAilpin was today delisted by the GWS Giants. He played seven games for the Giants for a career total of 88 games after joining the club from Carlton for the 2012 season. He has kicked 82 career goals.

Injury robbed O'hAilpin of a chance to cement himself as a key forward at the Giants after his career at Carlton ended in 2011 after being used by the Blues in numerous positions with varying success.

We will be interested to see where O'hAilpin goes from here, he might be a great IC14 ambassador given his Irish and Fijian (winners of IC11 Division 1 and 2 respectively) heritage. The Irish Warriors might rather see him lining up on the field for them though.

In the next instalment of our preview series on teams appearing at the 2013 Axios Euro Cup, we check in with the Finland Icebreakers. Assistant Coach from the national team, Mika Kupila, shared some information with us regarding the Icebreakers' preparations for the 2013 Euro Cup.

The Journey:

"Footy in Finland has been improving a lot since last year with skills improving on wide scale. We had a much larger pool of players to choose from for the trip to France, the team is a good combination of experience as well as first timers. We are definitely looking to improve our placing from last year."

"We still only have 4 clubs (Helsinki, Salo, Turku and Vaasa) but almost all teams have grown in numbers and seen a lot of new players experience the game. Turku Dockers have grown especially much and almost have enough players to for two teams. Salo Juggernauts on the other hand have been struggling somewhat with most of the team doing their mandatory military service."

"The annual, season starting FAFL Cup was played in Lappeenranta in Eastern Finland and the traditional finals event will be played in Tampere. Neither of these cities have an active footy scene yet, so the events work well in promoting the sport."

In an incredible performance for an AFL junior footballer, local Cairns product, Kanjia Kamara, has won the Under 14 Best and Fairest award. Now, this kind of thing happens all the time, so what would make this particular award so different?

Firstly, this young man is another success story of a kid from Sudan playing our national game and experiencing success. But secondly, and far more tellingly, Kanjia has won this award – the best and fairest in the whole Under 14 competition – in just his very first season playing Australian Rules football.

Are we seeing a new Sudanese superstar in the making who could go all the way and equal, if not better, the deeds of North Melbourne’s Sudanese player, Majak Daw? In a situation that is likely being played out with other teams and leagues across the nation, kids of African heritage are taking to the game in greater numbers and, as proved by Kanjia, experiencing success. Figuratively speaking, Majak has kicked the door down and the young kids are now walking through that doorway.

Here is the latest wrap up of football in Norway with a report about the fourth round of the Kenguru Cup. A huge final round has now been assured as the 2013 winner will be decided. Our thanks to the team at AFL Norway for this article. 

  A pulsating fourth round of the 2013 Kenguru Cup at Ekeberg saw each team walk away with a win, setting up a huge final round to decide the cup. 

The sun was shining at Ekeberg, on yet another perfect day for football. Oslo West, the league’s cellar dwellers, came into round four needing to win both games to be a mathematical chance of winning the title, and faced the UMBI Ås Battlers in Game One. 

The Battlers sported several exciting new players to cover the absence of some experienced faces, and predictably, it took them some time to adjust to the game. West pushed forward regularly, but as has been their trademark, failed to capitalize on their ascendency. A late goal to Ås made scores almost level at the half. 

In the second half, Ås’s young runners pushed forward repeatedly, daring their opponents to go with them. West didn’t have the fitness to keep up, and with Adam O’Toole intercepting and rebounding most of West’s long kicks into the forward line, West were out of answers. Ås comfortably outscored the Westsiders in the second half, running away 5.4 (34) to 2.6 (18).

In the next of our series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux, we look at the story of the Norway Trolls. David Stone, General Manager of AFL Norway, gives us his insights.

The Journey:

“The game is growing, and improving. The Australians in Norway are getting good at working with the newer Norwegian players and getting them up to speed, but as with every country, we're always looking for more players.”

“The Ås team continues to attract good Norwegian talent due to their connection with the university out there. We've uncovered some good local players here in Oslo too, but we have to work a little harder to find them. We've just done a deal with Oslo's biggest gym to play indoors during winter - with the gym's members invited to learn and join in - so that should gain us a few good new players.”

"In terms of expansion, a few guys have started kicking the ball around in Bergen, which may turn into something, and one of our key Oslo players has just relocated. We'll be working on him to set up a team in his new city.

The AFL Japan Cup 2013 is set to be held on October 5, Saturday at "Seimei No Mori Resort" in Chiba, Japan.

The event will be contested by 6 teams including international visitors the Box Hill North Football Club. The other 5 teams include an all local Japanese team, an all expatriate team, and a Japanese-Australian combined team.

The one day tournament will have 9-a-side games, structured in 2 divisions, 2 semi-finals, and a grand final. Leading Goal Kicker, Player of the Tournament, Best on Ground of Grand Final, and other awards are to be presented.

The AFL today announced the names of the players eligible for selection in the Indigenous Australian Rules team which will play in the 2013 International Rules Series in Ireland.

STATEMENT FROM AFL CHAIRMAN MIKE FITZPATRICK

ESSENDON FC HEARING - 27 AUGUST 2013

I want to start by addressing all Australian football supporters.

The AFL Commission shares your anger and frustration that the 2013 season has too often been dominated by headlines that we would rather not see – and hoped we would never see associated with our sport.

The issues involved in the Essendon Football Club’s supplements program are deeply disturbing. The investigation undertaken over the past six months and the actions we have taken today reflect this gravity.

Sunday the 25th August saw the perfect window of good weather for the WA Women’s Football League Grand finals to be held. For the first time a youth girls league moved into the season proper providing a complete pathway from Auskick, Youth Girl’s league, Reserves and Women’s League.

The WAFL has worked closely with the WAWFL to produce a vibrant league that has performed strongly at all representative levels. The WAWFL also has nine regions arranged aligned closely to those of the WAFL.

In the second of our series of articles looking at the preparation and prospects of the various nations competing at this year’s Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux, we look at the story of the Iceland Ravens. Solvi Fannar, General Manager of AFL Iceland, gives us his insights.

The Journey:

“In September 2012 [we] went with the rest of the boys in the national team to Edinburgh for the Euro Cup. “As for the team we will almost certainly have for this year’s Euro Cup, we will also have a couple of the girls join us, so there will likely be some Icelandic players in the Crusaders squad.”