World Footy News

Rod Shaw is World Footy News' New Zealand correspondent but now based in Victoria.  In a bold move for a volunteers-based website we sent him to Wellington for the first AFL regular season match to be played outside of Australia.  Rod has had a long involvement in footy in Wellington and was New Zealand's senior coach at the 2002 International Cup.

Last night saw the historic first game for Premiership points played in Wellington. The Sydney Swans went on to win in a hard fought game over the St Kilda Saints. Brodie Murdoch on debut for the Saints kicked long into the forward line and Justin Koschitzke, playing his first game for the year, clutched a strong grab and converted. He has the honour of scoring the first goal on an international field in an AFL game that really matters (i.e. not pre-season or exhibition).

For me it was a coming home in a sense, having spent over ten years in Wellington I had the good fortune to participate in all three pre-season games in various ways held between 1998-2002.

Without a doubt this game has been set up for success far better in so many ways than the earlier pre-season games.

With the addition of the Gold Coast Suns and the Great Western Sydney Giants the drafts were compromised severely affecting the other 16 AFL Clubs from accessing the best young talent. Visionary clubs such as Hawthorn stepped out to get players of a suitable standard from elsewhere.  They set up a Memorandum of Understanding with AFLNZ and the AFL to set up talent identification programs such as the Hawks Cup that also helps NZ football to build a base of players and real awareness of the game.

Meanwhile St Kilda used a different approach. They have held a couple of community camps in NZ and once they got permission to play the Anzac game they have drip fed a variety of players, coaches and administrators to Wellington in the months preceding the game. This has helped them gain great media coverage. I have been assured by my many friends and contacts in Wellington that this game has been a source of discussion in many workplaces around and about the capital.

In the week preceding the game the amount of coverage in all forms of media has been sensational and is a direct result of the preparation put into the game by all the stakeholders inclusive of the AFL, St Kilda, Sydney, AFLNZ and not least the Wellington City Council.

“Football has a long history in the community of Wadeye that dates back to the start of the Mission in June of 1935. The families of Wadeye had their own traditional sport that involved throwing a man-made paperbark ball covered in kangaroo hide. However when the Mission arrived, Father Docherty (or Yile Ngala as he is referred to by the locals) and some indigenous men from Darwin, introduced the football and the art of kicking. From that point on AFL has been the game of choice for everyone in the community.”

This introduction to the footballing heritage of the Wadeye community is provided by Katrina Bushby, the Club Development Manager at the Wadeye Magic Football Club, in one of the many remote parts of the Northern Territory. Katrina’s keen insight into the development of the game is a great starting point for one of the more remarkable footy stories in Australia.

Wadeye, formerly known as Port Keats, is in the far north-west corner of the Northern Territory on the western boundary of the Daly River Reserve, near Hyland Bay. It is 230 kilometres by air from Darwin, and further by road – assuming the roads are open, as they are often cut by flooding during the “wet” season.

The curtain raiser match at last nights historic first AFL match for premierships points on 'foreign' soil saw the South Pacific Academy U/18s go down to the New Zealand Hawks.

The article below is courtesy of the AFL Pacific - WFN had their own correspondent at the event and a full WFN report on the day will be available in shortly.

The historic first match for AFL premiership points on foreign soil was a great success with relatively good conditions, New Zealand winning the curtain raiser, a great deal of publicity for the sport, and 22,546 people coming out to see a tight game of footy.  Obviously a lot of match reports in the mainstream media, and articles about the whole week from our man on the ground Rod Shaw, but here's a quick wrap of some of the other interesting points around the game.

Not widely discussed was that the Saints wore a specially designed jumper for the occasion (pictured left).  Prior to the match the Saints' website reported that the guernsey acknowledges New Zealand’s heritage with Maori art patterns, and reflects our shared history across the Tasman.

"Given the historic occasion, we were keen to appropriately recognise New Zealand on our iconic Saints playing uniform," St Kilda CEO Michael Nettlefold said.

The following is the run down for the historic Australian football ANZAC Day event today (April 25th) at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand.

The historic Anzac Day match between the St Kilda Saints v Sydney Swans is the first AFL premiership match to be played outside Australia. The match will be exclusively broadcast live in New Zealand from 7.30pm local time on SKY Television, Wellington 1503AM, Auckland 1332AM & On-Line at radiosport.co.nz ‘Listen Live Sport Extra’. In Australia it is live on pay TV provider Foxtel.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at ticketek.co.nz.

The 5th annual ANZAC Cup was played in Villers-Bretonneux, France last weekend, with the French running out 41-point victors over the Aussie Spirit - a side drawn from Australians resident across Europe.

The match has become a staple of the European footy scene, played in a town whose wartime history has a particularly strong link to Australia.

The following report is courtesy of AFL Europe.

With the AFL’s first internationally staged match for 4 points set for Thursday (Anzac Day) in Wellington in New Zealand – the Australian media in particular has had their focus upon New Zealand and the South Pacific for a change. Certainly a change from tanking, drugs, coaches, Buddy’s contract, Melbourne FC in general, etc etc. With the focus there has come some nice reports around junior development in the region. In the Age Peter Hanlon writes about Vanuatu’s Kilip Andrew ( South Pacific sings a new tune ) who will represent the South Pacific against the NZ Hawks in the curtain raiser on tomorrow.

And from TV last night came a report on ABC’s 7:30 AFL contests possession in All Blacks country looking at footy in New Zealand with a focus on Siope Ngata who is in the squad to be reduced to 25 to represent South Pacific in Sydney in July in the NAB U/16 national championships.

Ireland defeated arch-rivals the Great Britain Bulldogs 9.4 (58) to 3.4 (22) on April 12th in Dublin, avenging their earlier loss in the curtain-raiser to the AIS vs Europe match in Guildford.

In stunning conditions in Islandbridge, Shaun McElhone’s charges won out in the Jeep International, with goals from John Enright, Vince Manning (2), Paul Comey, Tom Browne, James Flavin, Kevin Brennan and Ryan McCloskey (2).

WFN will have an update to the World Rankings reflecting the match's results as soon as we are able!

The journey of Hawthorn's rookie listed Kiwi, Kurt Heatherley, is explored in depth in an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald this week. He has already travelled extensively in the Pacific and Europe as a player so new to the game.

For more, read Taking the Long Road.

Mike Pyke, the Canadian ruckman who helped lead the Sydney Swans to a Premiership in 2012 is remembered in New Zealand for different reasons. Before his amazing code swap to AFL he was a rugby union international for Canada. In a country as obsessed with rugby as the Kiwis are with their All Blacks the sight of a player the size of Pyke scoring a runaway try down the wing against the pride of New Zealand leaves a memory etched in the minds of many.

Pyke has been the centre of a TV3 news story and is also a focus within the print media with the great article Ex-All-Black-foe Pyke becomes AFL star.

The AFL are predicting a crowd of around 20,000 and there is no doubt a connection to Pyke may lead to further interest.

AFL New Zealand's website has become a great resource for all the latest footy news in New Zealand.  Here's a pointer to more positive news.

As a result of the the Hawks Cup initiative developed jointly by the Hawthorn Football Club and AFL NZ many talented athletes are being drawn to participating in footy throughout more and more of NZ.

Some of the most talented young athletes from Northland to Otago have been identified through the Hawks Cup Secondary School competitions as well as testing combines conducted through out the country and will participate in two days of fixtures at the picturesque Hutt park.

Those who compete have the opportunity to progress in the AFL talent pathway.

From this tournament an initial Under 18 New Zealand Hawks squad will be selected in preparation for fixtures against Victoria to be played in Auckland in October 2013.

Representatives from several AFL Clubs will be on hand in the hope of signing talented individuals on an International Scholarship that could lead to a professional AFL career.

For more see:- http://www.aflnz.co.nz/under-18-national-championships

AFLNZ are seeking to maximise the impact of the St Kilda/Sydney game in Wellington. Leveraging on the Anzac Day game for AFL development provides a huge opportunity to initiate or further develop interest in participation.

As such “Have a Go” days are organised at Wellington’s picturesque Test cricket oval of The Basin Reserve on Friday 26th April and then again at the home of Wellington footy at Hutt Park in the nearby Hutt Valley on Sunday 28th April.

Hopefully this can boost numbers in the Wellington region so that a formal AFL competition can be held in 2013 after the competition never got started in 2012. There will be roles available locally for every interest level from committee, to umpiring all the way through to players!!

For more information on attending please view Play AFL "Have A Go" Days at Basin Reserve & Hutt Park.