World Footy News

After a strong preseason performance for the Brisbane Lions, Irishman Pearce Hanley was reported in the Lions loss against the Western Bullldogs on Saturday. The charges are as follows:

Pearce Hanley, Brisbane Lions, has been charged with a Level One engaging in rough conduct offence (125 demerit points, one match) for engaging in rough conduct against Daniel Giansiracusa, Western Bulldogs, during the third quarter of the Round One match between the Brisbane Lions and the Western Bulldogs, played at Etihad Stadium on Saturday March 30, 2013.

In summary, he can accept a reprimand and 93.75 points towards his future record with an early plea.

 

The first thing that leaps to mind when Josip Kravar, president of the newly formed Association of Australian Football of Croatia (AAF), speaks is his positivism. “AAF is taking big steps now and we are willing to be one of leading countries in Aussie Rules in Europe, [to] spread our magnificent sport, young people, [and] spread our community. Above all, enjoy playing Aussie Rules.”

It is difficult to argue with his enthusiasm, however, when the list of recent Croatian footy achievements is truly analysed. Josip and his crew have been very busy people since last season and 2013 could very well see a very positive and exciting year.

Over-arching the achievements to date is the new name of the association. As Josip says, “In 2013 we founded the Association of Australian Football of Croatia (AAF) [in] what was a big legal step for us now. Under AAF we have 3 clubs, Zagreb Hawks, Zapruđe Giants and Velika Gorica Bombers.” With this new identity locked away, attention could turn to the development of the game in other areas.

Most notable of these developments is the link with the University of Zagreb. Josip explains that, “The AAF in 2013 signed an agreement with the Sport Faculty from University of Zagreb. With this agreement we gained [the] opportunity to build our first oval in Croatia. We are now starting a project of finding sponsors for this project and hopefully we will play our first 18 [per] side games in 2013.”

The AFL has announced that a women’s game will feature as a curtain raiser to the 29th June (Round 14) clash between Melbourne and Western Bulldogs at the MGC.

The two teams will wear the geurnseys of the AFL clubs and the players will be selected from across the Australian Women’s leagues, the All Australian team and the 2012 high performance squad, by means of the first ever women’s draft. The draft will take place in early May and will be managed by the AFL.

The women’s match was requested by Melbourne Football club who have had a major part in developing the women’s game and raising the level of the game played across Australia through their sponsorship of the VWFL, whose Premiers Division is currently Australia’s top women’s league.

"We wanted to showcase the best female players the game has to offer as well as sending a message to all girls that they may one day be able to represent the AFL club they support in a women's competition,” Melbourne’s chief executive Cameron Schwab said. "This game is an important step towards the idea of an elite level female competition. Other sports have successfully developed elite female competitions and our sport should be no different.”

Having had the great good fortune to be in Wellington as a foundation member of the NZAFL Board, formed when the AFL decided to support international football financially rather than in a tokenistic fashion, for the three pre-season games held there from 1998-2001 it is fair to say I have some good memories of football development at that time.

Having been at the coalface of player recruitment and development during this period as a local Club President, a Wellington player and League President at The Basin in 1998 and coach of the victorious Wellington team at the two Stadium Games’ curtain raisers I think that gives some real perspective on what the Anzac Day game may mean for future game development.

That said, things change. Since the last Stadium game so many initiatives have developed for NZ and International footy. The AFL has seen international development as a key development area. They have supported this not just through various funding arrangements but through the support of competitions at junior and open age level.

The International Cups grew from the pioneers at Arafura’s efforts, running of events such as the South Pacific Cups and the inclusion of South Pacific and World representative teams at the Australian Championships. This list continues to grow and I realise is not exhaustive.

“Well, where to start?” begins Oliver Krajacic, captain of the Styrian DownUnder Dogs in Graz, Austria. “Apart from restructuring internally, we finally managed to organise an Australian Football course in cooperation with our local university. The 25 spots were gone in about three weeks, and the prospect of adding that many potential regular players to our sport is just an extremely positive turn of events for us.”

Such is the manner in which Oliver almost breathlessly extolls the excitement of an off season which may forever change the fortunes of Australian Rules football in Austria. Oliver puts it in this light: "If no more than 5 or 6 players from that course turn out to be EU Cup material, we might finally get some competitiveness going. People fighting for a spot on the team for interleague matches or the EU Cup. That's something we'll have to get used to. Heck, practice sessions with possibly two full teams being available were the stuff of dreams in recent years.”

This is a veritable avalanche of players when compared to previous seasons, but it hasn’t all been beer and skittles over the past couple of years.

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The Gold Coast SUNS will provide Queensland sports fans with an access all areas pass to the Club this weekend, when a special covering the teams recent high performance altitude training camp in Arizona airs on 7mate. Viewers in the rest of Australia and overseas will also be able to watch the doco on the Club's YouTube channel.

From trekking through the Grand Canyon, to navigating the red rock formations of Sedona on Mountain-Bikes and scaling the icy slopes of Mount Humphrey's, the SUNS TV cameras captured every second of the fourteen day camp, documenting the intensive and challenging program set by newly recruited high performance manager Stephen Schwerdt and the GC SUNS coaching staff.

From personal achievements and setbacks to team activities, nothing is off limits during the thirty minute special which highlights the dedication and sacrifice required to play AFL at an elite level, whilst also highlighting the advances the GC SUNS have made as the playing group prepares for their third season in the AFL.

The 2013 AFL season gets underway for the 14 other teams this week. The first match this week is on Thursday night Australian time between the Richmond and Carlton.  No matches are played in Australia on Good Friday.   The schedule can be seen below.

The inaugural AFL Chairman’s Cup and MCC President’s Medal will be presented at the annual AIS-AFL Academy match this Thursday night. The AIS-AFL Academy level two squad, playing as Australia Under-18s will play Collingwood’s VFL team in a curtain-raiser to the Carlton v Richmond match at the MCG.

The winning team will be presented the AFL Chairman’s Cup by AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

The best Australia Under-18 player will be awarded the MCC President’s Medal which will be presented by MCC President Paul Sheahan. AIS-AFL High Performance Coach Michael O’Loughlin and his assistants Glen Jakovich, Brad Ottens, Matthew Lloyd, Tadhg Kennelly and Brad Johnson will select the medallist.

The AIS-AFL Academy Level Two squad will depart for a 15-day European tour on Saturday March 30. The squad will train at the AIS European training centre in Varese, Italy, before travelling to London. The squad will play the European Legion on Saturday April 6 at Surrey Sportspark.

As the new Australian Rules season dawns for most European countries, various hibernating footballing leviathans emerge from their winter slumbers. One such region is the Iberian Peninsula where footy lovers in Spain, Portugal, Catalonia and Andorra prepare for the 2013 season.

The love of the game has not necessarily translated to large numbers in these countries, nations and principalities, meaning that regular fixtures are difficult. But that hasn’t stopped the intrepid few from generating interest to keep the code’s flag flying.

A group of German soccer students from Bamberg University recently took on the Tattersalls Football Club in Sydney in a match of AFL 9s - with the Germans' superior fitness allowing them to run out victors over the locals.

Bamberg is in the north of the German state of Bavaria, and while it's not particularly close to any existing AFLG clubs, the idea of some new enthusiastic footy fans in Germany might be of interest to the German footy community!

The following report originally appeared on the AFL NSW/ACT website.

Representatives from St Kilda were in Auckland this week, checking out potential crossover players. A key member of the visitors is Hawthorn’s former list manager Chris Pelchen. Hawthorn have done it in the past, most notably with Kurt Heatherley who plays for a Hawthorn feeder team in the TAC Cup and has transitioned from an International Scholarship player to an International Rookie.

Club bosses see rich athletic potential to mine in Auckland, a point emphasised by chief executive of AFL New Zealand Robert Vanstam. "We're not looking to steal athletes from the NZRU or NRL," Vanstam said in reference to the recent spate of code-hopping by Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt. "We're more interested in giving kids here another option."