World Footy News

Mike McFarlane tells the story of his dad and his cousin playing kick to kick for hours down in Port Melbourne. Nothing out of the ordinary there, until he hits you with the news that the cousin was none other than Bob Skilton: three time Brownlow Medallist, South Melbourne superstar and legend of the game. It is now easier to sense that those Skilton genes have something to do with this remarkable story out of British Columbia, Canada.

“Bob Skilton is my second cousin and grew up with my father in Port Melbourne. My dad often told us stories of going to the park with Bob to kick footies for hours at a time. We have met him a few times and I think he is proud that relatives of his have had some success in footy even though it is in a different country. My daughter, wife and I are huge Swans fans and this is not only because they wear the Canadian colors, red and white but also because of our proud family connection to the Swans!”

That lineage has just produced another great feat with the selection of Hanna McFarlane, the daughter of Mike (and that would be niece of Bob) to represent Canada in the Northern Lights women’s national team in the upcoming Parallel Cup against the USA Freedom.

The name Arafura is an indigenous word to the original people of the Moluccas which loosely means “children of the mountains” or “people of the mountains”. It’s modern application is that of the name of the Arafura Sea which is a body of water bounded by northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor.

In footballing terms it is the name of the women’s Australian Rules football team comprising players from the Northern Territory, North Queensland (Cairns) and Papua New Guinea. The women who made up this side represented their countries and states with honour at the recent Women’s National Championships, held last week in Cairns.

 In an AFL first, the Western Bulldogs will live tweet in Vietnamese during this weekend’s afternoon clash against Essendon on Sunday - to mark AFL Multicultural Round.

The Club will also celebrate the languages of Melbourne’s diverse West in the lead up to the round – publishing footy articles on westernbulldogs.com.au in Vietnamese, Mandarin and Amharic (Ethiopian).

 

The 2013 season saw some big changes to the Brit Cup, starting with the first year the name has been changed to include a sponsor: ACM Sports.  However as usual the aim of the tournament was to give British players a chance to shine as the Aussie-expats take a weekend off.

In addition, the format was also changed to allow the hosts, Birmingham Bears, to hold games on a rugby pitch, the common ground type for regional 9-a-side Australian football teams in the UK. Instead of 16-a-side, each team fielded a 10-a-side squad, and instead of an oval field, it was rectangular, in-keeping with the rugby pitch markings with a 40m kicking zone at either end. Shots at goal from outside the zone were not counted.

The smaller team size allowed for more teams than usual, with four teams from the AFL Central and Northern England league – CNE Power, CNE Warriors, Midlands Sharks and league team Nottingham Scorpions – being joined by the WARFL Red Dragons and the AFL London Honeybadgers.

The event was held at Old Yardleians RFC in Birmingham, where games were played on two pitches. Each game was two 12 minute halves, with the winner taking 4 points. The competition was in round robin format, with the top two teams playing each other in the final.
 

Highlights of the World XVIII Round 1 win over WA Northwest on Sunday. Later today the World XVIII take on the South Pacific team.

North Queensland will once again become the focus of the AFL world when Cairns hosts its annual Gold Coast Suns versus Richmond Tigers match at Cazalys Stadium on Saturday at 4.40pm. This is the main event, following on from the earlier NAB Cup match in Townsville pre-season between the Suns and Kangaroos.

This is a huge match for Cairns. Two weeks ago the northern city played host to the 2013 Women’s National Championships. Now the Gold Coast, undefeated in Cairns after three starts (they defeated the Bendigo Bombers as an AFL side in 2010), get a chance to enhance their own slim finals chances and seriously threaten those of Richmond. Following is a media release from the AFL giving the details.

North Queensland set for NEAFL side, PNG / South Pacific part of the plans

The recent victory of the AFLP PNG Coca-Cola Under 14 Binatangs in the Queensland State Academy Championships has not gone unnoticed. Former Fitzroy legend and now AFL Queensland CEO Mick Conlan was on hand on the Gold Coast to see the talent firsthand.

The potential for future growth of the PNG and by extension the South Pacific nations presence in footy in Queensland and possibly in the NEAFL has been flagged. The talent pathways are to continue to become more clearly defined. Mick Conlan and AFL PNG's Murray Bird discuss further the potential.

The AFL and Australia Post today released the names of the 22 players who have been selected in the first ever Multicultural Team of Champions.

As part of the AFL's Multicultural Round celebration, the team was announced at a special event held at Crown in Melbourne, attended by AFL Deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan and Australia Post Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour, as well as a number of the selected players.

AFL Legends Jock McHale has been named coach and Alex Jesaulenko has been named captain of the Australia Post AFL Multicultural Team of Champions.

Round 1 of the NAB National Under 16 Championships was played out across the weekend at the Blacktown International Sports Park in Sydney.

The AFL South Pacific Under 16s squad had a warm up game last week at the same venue against local Sydney side Sydney Hills (pictured below); with South Pacific prevailing 10.6.(66) to Sydney Hills 7.2.(44). A good lead in to their first tournament game against the Australian indigenous Flying Boomerangs on Sunday.

The Australian Football League launched on Monday the 2013 Multicultural Round, a themed round to recognise our game’s cultural diversity.

AFL Head of Diversity Jason Mifsud, Geelong Vice-Captain Jimmy Bartel, Australia Post AFL Multicultural Ambassadors Bachar Houli and Majak Daw, and participants from The Bachar Houli and Majak Daw Academies attended the launch event held at AFL House in Melbourne.

Round 16 of the Toyota AFL Premiership season will celebrate ‘Many Cultures, One Game', recognising the many players from multicultural backgrounds, who make up 15 per cent of the AFL player list.

AFL Head of Diversity, Jason Mifsud said the Multicultural Round highlights the contribution multicultural communities have made to Australia's game, as well as the community engagement initiatives currently being undertaken by the AFL industry.

"It is important the AFL reflects cultural diversity, providing an environment which welcomes people from all backgrounds to enjoy our game as supporters, players or administrators in the future," said Mr. Mifsud.

A major feature of the AFL's involvement with international footy has been the annual overseas tour conducted by the AIS-AFL Academy side.  The AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) is a Federal Government initiative primarily aimed at raising the standard of Australia's Olympics hopefuls, so it was always a slightly odd connection to include an Australian football contingent, but one that was no doubt carefully orchestrated by the AFL for the monetary assistance, elite training and attraction for elite young sportsmen.

That relationship has come to end.  It was announced last Monday that the 2013/2014 intake will be the last to hold the AIS-AFL Academy title.