World Footy News

The official match reports from the final day's play in the 2013 AFL European Championship are on the dublin2013.org website, and can be found directly via the following links:

Ireland Win Thrilling GF
Vikings Slay Elks for Third
Knights Secure Fifth Place

Representatives of 14 Australian Rules football clubs from around Asia have met in Bangkok for the inaugural Asian Presidents’ Summit to discuss a game plan for the future of the sport in the region. Presidents of 13 clubs, plus representation from a Pakistan programme still in its infancy, were present, with a further four clubs having their say without being able to attend.

The most agreed upon issue was the future of coordination and structure of footy in Asia. The result was the creation of an Asian Council for Australian football, to deal with issues such junior development and sponsorship, with Phil Johns, president of the Vietnam Swans, receiving the presidency for the new body as well.

The final day's play of the AFL European Championships is underway. Croatia confirmed their status as an up-and-coming Euro footy nation, holding off Germany in game one after the Eagles outscored them in the first term. In the 3rd place playoff, Sweden came out of the blocks strongly against Denmark, before the Vikings overran them and regained some of the pride lost through heartbreaking losses against GB and Ireland in the group round.

In the big one, the Irish pulled off a last second miracle, winning by the narrowest of margins to add yet another major title to their trophy cabinet. Commiserations to the GB Bulldogs on the heartbreaking defeat!

5th place playoff
Croatia	2.1	4.3	5.5	9.5 (59)
Germany	3.1	3.2	3.4	4.5 (29)
3rd place playoff
Denmark	1.0	3.2	5.2	7.6 (48)
Sweden	3.1	3.2	4.2	5.2 (32)
1st place playoff
Ireland	1.0	2.2	5.2	7.3 (45)
Great Britain	1.3	2.5	3.6	6.8 (44)

Here is the latest article from Norway, courtesy of the Oslo Crows, which details the latest round of the Kenguru Cup. Certainly sounds as if it was a great event, and another great leap forward for Norwegian footy. Our thanks to David Stone and the team at the Oslo Crows for this story.  

Round 3 of the 2013 Kenguru Cup was without question the highest quality Australian football ever played on Norwegian soil.   Three constantly improving teams – Oslo East, Oslo West and Ås, squared off in front of a modest crowd at Storebrand Stadion, and showed just how far Australian football has progressed in a short time.  

Ladder leaders Ås were desperate to retain their stranglehold on the competition, and two wins from their two games would put breathing space between them and Oslo East.

The following media release from the AFLNT details the upcoming national schools AFL championships being held in Darwin. This carnival is a great breeding ground for future AFL stars, and for many the schools program is every bit as important as regular competition.

Commencing Sunday, TIO Stadium will host around 500 students from around Australia for the annual School Sport Australia 12 and under, 15 and under Boys and 16 and under Girls Championships.

School Sport NT CEO Helen Taylor is extremely excited at the prospect of hosting the championships again in 2013. “We look forward to hosting a successful event in the NT as AFL has always been close to our hearts, with numerous participants going on to the big time more recently Jake Neade and Jed Anderson to name two.”

“We have heard that the Victorian team especially are keen to escape the cold but are excited about the prospect of playing at TIO Stadium for the first time.

The Championships not only provide a great sporting spectacle but are expected to provide a great economic benefit to the NT with over 20 teams from across Australia converging on Darwin.

American Eric Wallace is a chance to step up to the North Ballarat VFL senior team this weekend. Wallace has been named on an extended ten man bench for Sunday's clash against the Collingwood VFL team.

Wallace showed good form last week against Coburg (see video below) and with 10 games under his belt in the development league this would be a huge step up in his monumental climb to one day play in the AFL.

Some of Wallace's countrymen attended training with North Melbourne yesterday as crew from the USS Lassen learnt about Australian football from the North Melbourne players.

AFL Northern Territory and Netball Northern Territory in conjunction with Federal Minister for Sport and Recreation Don Farrell today announced an ongoing commitment of Federal funding totalling $900,000 over a three year period to support grass roots sport development by both codes.

AFLNT CEO Tony Frawley welcomed the decision to confirm the ongoing funding that has been set in the Federal budget and will go toward the continued development of AFL in the NT specifically AFLNT’s community enhancement football programs in Central Australia.

Helsingborg Saints are well on their way to starting Sweden’s first women’s team.

With six enthusiastic female members and more joining up each week, Saints player Jacob Lantz feels it won’t be long before Sweden has a female Euro Cup team, and there might even be a Swedish or Scandinavian appearance at the Women’s IC14.

It all started when Lantz was discussing ways to introduce the sport to more people in Helsingborg and draw larger crowds for home games with club founder Ingmar Lundquist and coach Leighton Rowsell. The decided to try starting an 8-a-side touch footy competition and encouraged their friends to come and have a go.

The third day's play at the DCU Sportground in Dublin has been completed, with each match going to plan according to the seedings.

Denmark	2.3	4.5	7.8	8.12 (60)
Germany	0.1	0.1	0.1	2.1 (13)
Great Britain	2.0	4.2	6.3	6.4 (40)
Sweden	0.0	1.0	2.1	3.2 (20)
Ireland	2.3	3.7	7.9	12.11 (83)
Croatia	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.1 (7)

Saturday will see Ireland vs Great Britain play off for the European Championship, with Sweden vs Denmark for 3rd place, and Croatia vs Germany for 5th.

Match reports and stats to come.

The AFL today released the seventeenth AIS-AFL Academy squads.

The 61 players will receive an AIS-AFL Academy scholarship and will come together four times over the next 12 months for training camps. Both squads will also travel overseas again, one to NZ and one to Europe.

The Level One squad was selected following the NAB AFL Under-16 Championships. They will be coached by AFL Engagement and Talent Co-ordinator Chris Johnson.

Sweden's win over Croatia on day two of the European Championships has lifted them to 11th Ranking above Denmark. Ironically the win against Croatia has left the two nations with identical rating points (39.55) although Croatia has two more matches to qualify to be fully Ranked.