World Footy News

Here's a story that never made it into an article and has sat in my pile of drafts for almost six years now - reporting some early stirrings of footy in South Korea.

Although it became one of a long of clubs that had some impetus early on but ultimately never saw the light of day, I figure it's worth giving everyone a chance to read the story of the Kimchi Kangaroos - also known as the Seoul Crocodiles, as it was around 6 years ago!

Certainly if growth, confidence, belief and sheer unbridled enthusiasm are markers for success, then Finnish Australian Rules football is about to enjoy a wild ride in 2013. Word from Finland is that up to three new or resurrected clubs may join the league in coming seasons, with most having an eye towards being competitive in some way as early as this season.

Leading the charge are the Parru Wildmen (referred to as the Lappeenranta Wildmen in a previous WFN article), based in the south eastern city of Lappeenranta, close to the Russian border.

According to Antti Lipsanen, the "man behind the wildmen", the development of this team got off to a slow start. "We had some trouble with booking a proper hall for us to practice, which in turn makes it hard to promote the sport [as we] can't really say 'be there' if there is no place to be. However, we've since had three sessions with a bunch of guys thanks to AFL Europe and the SCP-grant."

Irishman Pearce Hanley really stood out at the Lions in 2012 with a many great performances running out of the back line, and as seen in the highlights package below kicking some nice goals when he ran forward too.  We hope to see his development continue and lead the way for the Irish imports in 2013.

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Australian Football in France has been consistently growing in the last few years but anyone familiar with the European scene will know that this has not always been the case. In fact less than five years ago Football was about to disappear from France. But thanks to the work of a few dedicated persons it survived and it's now stronger than ever.

The country now counts seven established teams spread around the country with ongoing projects to add another three. Travel has always been an issue in France as the teams are quite far apart, so to ease the pressure on the newest ones, a two league system has been implemented.

The new year has heralded some changes to the Australian Rules football scene in Denmark. In 2013 the DAFL will look different to the past in a number of ways as the league continues to make changes to benefit and grow the game.

The first round of the 2013 season is a cracking start. The two newest teams in the league, both running with working titles until official names are chosen, will play each other to start the show. The “X-Men” will take on the “Greater Southern Suburbs of Farum” team to get the ball rolling on the 9th April. After that, the season will continue in a larglely revised format with regards to team numbers and fixturing.

Australian Trade Commissioner and Vice President of Australian Rules Football Association in India, Tom Calder, was special guest at the closing ceremony of the "Swarnim Khel Mahakumbh" in Ahmedabad, a mass scale sports carnival organized by the Gujarat state Government as a part of the program to celebrate 50 years of the formation of the West Indian state.

Participation at the event saw nearly 1.3 million participants of various ages competing in 24 different sports at 1,100 venues across the state. The event is the brainchild of Chief Minister Narendra Modi who has a strong pro-sports agenda and who declared in his speech that the carnival would become an annual event.

During his speech at the event Tom asked the Chief Minister to consider promoting the unique Australian sport in Gujarat as a way of increasing Australian-Gujarati sports links and presented an AFL India branded Sherrin to him on stage (pictured at left).

In season 2013 AFL fans in Australia and New Zealand will have the option of streaming a single match for AU$5 , a monthly subscription for $14.99 (NZ$17.99 through iTunes) , or a season pass for $89.99 (NZ$109.99 through iTunes). This provides access to a live video stream of every AFL match in 2013. For Google Play subscription the cost is calculated on the exchange rate from the Australian dollar amount at the time of subscription.

The official AFL Live App can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play marketplaces.

This is a separate service to AFLTV which provides live online match streaming to international AFL fans outside Australia and New Zealand.

We hope there will also be an announcement of of a TV deal in NZ by the end of the month with feedback from the AFL stating "We do have great things in store for the Premiership Season in terms of TV broadcast rights...(but we) cannot provide any further details at this time, but a media release is set to go out in coming fortnight."

On February 1st the Flying Boomerangs made it a clean sweep, defeating the Geminder Youth Academy South Africa Lions 117 to 32 in game two of their tour of South Africa.  Footage below from NITV and Australian TV broadcaster SBS.

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Irishman Zac Tuohy continues to develop as an attacking weapon for Carlton, with his long kicking having extra value during the NAB Cup where goals from outside the 50m arc are worth 9 points. This highlights package from the 2012 season shows off some of that long kicking skill.

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It is quite likely that the last thing on the mind of John Campbell Miles, as he hopefully kicked rocks along the bed of the Leichhardt River back in 1923 looking for gold or other treasures, was that 90 years later Australian Rules footballers would be kicking goals of their own near that same location. But that is exactly what is now happening, and with some real heavyweight support behind it, Australian Rules football in Mount Isa may be about to unearth its own mother lode of talent.

Such is the eclectic nature of mining towns that men and women bring more to a location than just skills and an ethic of hard work. They bring themselves and their assortment of interests and hobbies.

So it was that three men, notably Alan Metcalfe, John Edwards and John Cargill among others, arrived in Mount Isa and worked hard to establish the Mount Isa Australian Football League. Alan Metcalfe went on to be a key instigator in the further development of the North Australian Football Championships which featured teams from Mt Isa, Darwin, Alice Springs, Townsville, Cairns and Port Moresby.

By 1957 the town boasted three teams (Tigers, Rovers & Healy) which was enough to start competition. Due to mining downturns and the transient nature of the populations of mining towns, footy in Mount Isa has often been a stop/start proposition.

We have had a number of articles on the progress of football in Canada - covering Mike Pyke, the OAFL, the EAFL, the NWPAFL, the NDJAFL and junior football.

Now it is time take a snapshot of women’s footy in Western Canada and specifically Calgary. The west is arguably the centre for women’s football in Canada with the Calgary Kookaburras, Edmonton Emus and the Vancouver Wildcats supplying just over half the players for the Northern Lights, the Canadian national women’s team.

The AFL Europe has published results from the AFL Combine held in Dublin on February 12th and 13th, with a twenty-four young GAA players from across Ireland and the UK demonstrating their athletic prowess and hoping to garner interest from the professionals Down Under. The best players from the trials will be invited to the 2013 AFL Draft Combine, which will be held in October in Melbourne.

The Combine has created some media interest in Ireland, ranging from a report on a favourite local son in Ger Leech scouted at AFL European Combine, a report from high-profile Irish code-hopper Tadhg Kennelly in Kennelly Runs Rules over AFL Prospects and a bit of opposition to the perceived drain of young talent from Ireland to the AFL in Dubs Doctor: Aussie Rules recruiters trying to drag our Young Children over to That Country.

Read full story to see results for the top three performers in each trial, courtesy of AFL Europe.