World Footy News

Last weekend saw a much awaited Australian Rules football match in Austria between the Graz based Styrian DownUnderDogs and the previously “presumed extinct” Vienna Kangaroos. For the record, the DownUnderDogs defeated the Kangaroos 73-59, but that is not the most important victory from the day.

As reported by Oliver Krajacic, captain of the Styrian DownUnderDogs, “Sunday 8th of September saw the first game between footy teams from Graz and Vienna in years. Pablo Caldarola, a veteran player of the hibernating Vienna Kangaroos, organised a team of former club colleagues and interested Aussies in Vienna and invited the Styrian DownUnderDogs to a friendly game.”

“The match was a hard-fought battle, with the Dogs starting strongly from the first bounce and establishing a lead early. The second and third quarters saw a spirited Vienna side step up physically and exploit mistakes the Dogs made to make it close after three quarters. With the game on the line, the Dogs were able to keep a cool head and put the game away with consecutive goals late in the final quarter.”

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 Austrian national team.  Oliver Krajacic, skipper of the Styrian DownUnderDogs, gives us his insights.

The Journey:

“The last season has indeed been a good one for Austrian Footy overall and the Austrian National Team in particular. We managed to recruit new players into our club (the Styrian DownUnderDogs) and that led to, for the first time ever, competition in regards to making the national team. Also, for the first time, we are able to send 16 players to the European Championships thanks to some new sponsors.”

As the footy seasons across Australia, Asia, the Americas and Europe begin to wind down, another competition is just starting to kick into top gear. The AFL Middle East 2013/14 competition is about the get under way next month, and there is something fresh and new about the whole competition.

Maybe it is just the effect of their brand new website at afl-me.com, revamped and looking a treat. Already the teams across the region are locking into a pre-season program of Grand Final breakfast functions (the Australian AFL), or the glamour of Melbourne Cup celebrations. But it is on the playing fields of the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar where the action is starting to happen.

Teams have already been in their pre-season training mode since July. The Dubai Dragons preparing to go for their own three-peat and win a third flag in a row. The Doha Kangaroos are planning and training to go one step better this season and grab a flag. The Dubai Dingoes, winners of last year’s pre-season AFL 9’s tournament, are wanting to get away to another good start and this time keep it going to the last match of the year. The Abu Dhabi Falcons and Muscat Magpies are also keen to put last season behind them and push for glory in this new season.

The French city of Bordeaux is currently gearing up to host this year's Axios Euro Cup 2013. As part of the build up, this promotional video has been released, featuring scenes from the host city and an unusual, but highly welcome, amount of football activity on the streets.

Our thanks to David Stone, President of AFL Norway, for allowing us to reproduce this article about the finale of the Kenguru Cup in Norway. We have worked closely with the crew in Oslo and beyond throughout 2013, watching the game grow in terms of talent and numbers. With the possibility of a team from Bergen appearing on the Norwegian landscape at some point in the future, credit is due to all involved with Australian Rules football development in Norway.  

The UMBI Ås Battlers are Norway’s champions of Australian football for 2013 after overcoming Oslo East in the final match of the Kenguru Cup season. With both teams locked on five wins after being overpowered by the fast-finishing Oslo West, Ås stayed strong in a low scoring battle against East to win their first ever Kenguru Cup.

The stage for the final encounter was set up by West Oslo, who fielded a very strong team and finally seemed to have their ship in order. In the first game, Ås showed early fight and could have counted themselves unlucky to be down by three goals at half time.

Both teams had had similar amounts of the ball, but West’s class in front of goal was telling. Rene Damborg Jensen, Matt Stirling and newcomer Håkon Molvig showed an intense appetite for the ball, backed up by a willing band of West runners.

 

The following press release from the AFL details the National Female Indigenous Kickstart Championships in Melbourne this week. This event is a follow up to the indigenous male championships played earlier this year. Our thanks to the AFL and the AFLNT (Northern Territory) for this information.

The AFL wishes to advise that the inaugural National Female Indigenous Kickstart Championships will be held in Melbourne at Victoria Park, from today, Monday, September 9.

Supported by the Coles AFL Indigenous Program and The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the five-day Championships will see seven teams represented at Under 18 level, including all States and Territories.

Every year since 2005 World Footy News has displayed an extensive list of Grand Final Parties around the world. And with finals starting this week we once again call for clubs around the world to send details of your party so that fans of the game in your city can watch the big game with you.

You can either post details as a comment below (you must register before you are able to post a comment) or email troy@worldfootynews.com - all these details will be collated as per previous years.

 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.