World Footy News

Melbourne are the latest AFL club to sign a Kiwi kid after Maia Westrupp impressed the Demons at the AFLNZ combine held last month in Wellington.  Westrupp has been signed as an International Scholarship player and measures up at 185cm and 87kg. 

Westrupp said it was “pretty exciting” joining the Demons.  “It’s something new for me, but it’s been a real good experience [already]. The past 24 hours have been pretty surreal, especially in the short timeframe that it’s happened. Now, I’m just looking forward to it. I’ve seen a little bit of the professionalism around the facilities and it’s great to be here.  I started playing about two weeks ago, so that’s why it’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I had a few trainings – and I’ve [already] been put in my place –and they’ve said my aerobic has got a bit to work on.”

Westrupp will remain in NZ for 2013 where he will be studying at the Unviersity of Auckland and will carry out a development program created for him by the Melbourne Football Club.

 

For more see - http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-02-12/dees-sign-scholarship-player.workstation

The Australian Football League (AFL) today confirmed that it has selected Rightster, the online video distribution and marketing specialist, to launch live AFLTV; an innovative subscription service providing access to live and on demand AFL games to fans outside of Australia and New Zealand. This is set to be the only international service that offers access to every single AFL match live and on–demand in the coming season.

AFL is the highest-level professional competition in the sport of Australian Rules football and serves as the sport’s governing body, overseeing all aspects of the game. As the most popular sporting league in Australia, the AFL consists of 18 teams spread over five states in Australia. In a drive to distribute its online content to a wider audience and build interest in Australian Rules Football outside Australia and New Zealand, AFL called on Rightster for its expertise in maximising the reach and revenue potential of online video, as well as its remarkable track record in building larger audiences for the online video content of major content owners in the sporting industry.

The return of AFL football in 2013 was today heralded by the launch of the 2013 NAB Cup. This year’s NAB Cup was launched at Etihad Stadium today by three players set to make highly anticipated debuts for new clubs in Friday night’s opening round.

As AFL fans prepare to see how their team is shaping up in 2013, the pre-season competition was ushered in by two of the highest profile off-season free agents, Essendon’s Brendon Goddard and Collingwood’s Clinton Young, along with one of the game’s brightest new recruits, Western Bulldogs rookie Jackson Macrae.

Essendon, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs will kick off this year’s NAB Cup with all three teams taking on each other at Etihad Stadium this Friday, February 15 (from 6.45pm).
Whether it's a rookie selected early in the 2012 NAB AFL Draft or those established players who have moved clubs via free agency in the off-season, this year’s NAB Cup once again provides the first chance to ‘see how they shape up’ ahead of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

Australian sport is currently reeling from the shock revelations by the Australian Crime Commission that they believe performance-enhancing drug taking is widespread in Australia's major sporting codes - although this report is now starting to be criticised as making all sportspeople look bad whilst not actually naming any names or clubs.

A humorous twist to this is that the story has been picked up by a Danish media outlet which is using a photo of an Australian football player with the story - however rather than be an AFL player they've used a picture of Irish international John "Dingo" Enright, a member of the Warriors' victorious 2011 International Cup team.  You can imagine the shock for Enright to suddenly be the one man chosen to "represent" Australian football, but with the accompanying doping issues the story reports on.  Probably not the kind of fame he anticipated when first taking up the sport.

Article here, and (very poorly) translated article here.

Australian wine makers Jacob's Creek have been running an advertising campaign known as the True Character Series.  The latest sportsman to be featured is Tadgh Kennelly and the story of his family and football across two codes.  The video can be seen below.

Kennelly is currently in Dublin and tomorrow will lead the two-day AFL Europe combine being held in Dublin, Ireland.

[youtube:CbR2Orj01vk]

We've been discussing the future of footy in Asia and in particular calls to involve more locals.  One proposal was a peak body to help promote and coordinate the game, including with more internationals and quotas to ensure most players are locals.  The difficulty of getting that started is the cost of travel, something expats normally find more viable.  As it turns out several Asian clubs have already committed to a league in 2013, inevitably to be expat dominated, but hopefully a basis on which to build deeper roots in their adopted countries.

The Vietnam Swans have put forward a proposal to the Asian footy community of an East Asia Australian Football League (EAAFL) in an effort to bring structure, uniformity and increased credibility to Asian football. The eventual objective is to be able to play a home and away series throughout the year, have a ladder and be able to state a premier at the end.

With clubs existing in Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, East Timor, Japan and Vietnam, the potential number of teams able to participate is considerably high. Teams of expatriates are generally better funded and would most likely make up the majority, but there is also reasonable growth of teams with local talent.

Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand earlier confirmed their participation for the 2013 season, and in late breaking news Jakarta (Indonesia) and Singapore have joined in the last week and and just in the last couple of days Laos became team number seven.  More teams may follow suit in the coming weeks.

We continue our series on the Asian footy future with a piece that considers how to give players a pathway to international representation even if their own nation is not yet able to field its own fully local team.

The issue of the expat dominated Asian competitions comes to my mind every International Cup, mostly due to the absence of so many countries in Asia that are not represented. Japan have for a long time been involved in footy and have both expat dominated clubs and grass roots locals clubs (mostly dominated by Uni Students that they lose once they move on to employment) and have played in all International Cups. Then along came China and India who have both been able to put together national squads at the last two international cups (with some numerical support from Chinese and Indians in Australia). East Timor were the latest to join the competition in 2011.

But how to get more of the countries in Asia where footy is played involved? The obvious answer is to grow the game in the individual countries among the nationals of those countries. Ideally build up a healthy pool of individuals, pick your national team, raise the funds and the job is done. To my mind nothing beats grass roots, self sustaining community football clubs who can produce and provide their elite players to representative football.

For a variety of reasons it is clearly not that simple.

On face value this may seem like a strange analogy. Back in the 1850’s, when gold was being dug up all over New South Wales and Victoria, people were leaving behind their home countries to try their luck on the goldfields. If they could find enough gold they could be set for life. Some succeeded, whilst others returned home wiser for the experience.

Well, it’s happening again, in a much smaller way and for a completely unrelated reason. The lure of Australian football is drawing young men (and women) to the spiritual, geographical and historical home of the game to give it a go and, hopefully, be the next big thing. There are players coming from Canada, the USA, Great Britain, continental Europe, Oceania countries and even Africa for a singular, united purpose… just like the days of the gold rushes.

Articles have been written already about the likes of Gideon Simon and Brendan Beno (PNG), Kurt Heatherley, Siope Ngata, Ben Miller, Shem Tatupu and Khan Haretuku (NZ), Shae McNamara and Eric Wallace (USA), Adam Ballard (England) and Anthony Trigg (Wales), Zac Tuohy, Marty Clarke, Pearce Hanley, Caolan Mooney and many others from Ireland as well as Patrick Ndongo (Cameroon) and Yoshi Harris (Nauru). There are more not mentioned, but all are enjoying various degrees of success in the AFL or VFL. It could be strongly argued that this is evidence that international Australian Rules football is becoming more and more attractive as a sporting option. And possibly more than ever, players believe there is a pathway of success that can be followed from the smaller local stage to the greatest Australian Rules stages of all.

In a recent article about Maningrida Footy in the Northern Territory, the Michael Long NT Thunder Learning and Leadership Centre was mentioned as a link to allow young players from remote communities to follow the talent pathways on offer for Australian Rules football. It has proven difficult for young players, indigenous and non indigenous, to make the transition to the demands of life playing football away from home. This centre will greatly assist young players in that transition to hopefully go on to play at the highest level.

“Essendon legend and AFL great Michael Long met Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean and Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon in Canberra to discuss progress on the Michael Long NT Thunder Learning and Leadership Centre in Darwin.

At Parliament House, Mr Long, a dual premiership player and Norm Smith medallist, outlined the construction timetable and unveiled the logo for the centre.

Mr Long said he was delighted to update Mr Crean and Mr Snowdon on the progress of the project.

“I am delighted with the final design of the logo as I believe it encapsulates both the essence of the project and the spirit of the Territory,” Mr Long said.

“The release of the logo and branding is an important step as we progress to commencing construction, as planned, in April.

Paul Earley was this week named as the new manager of the Irish team for the 2013 International rules series against Australia. The two match series will be played in Ireland in October this year at a yet to be named venue in Ulster and at Croke Park.

Earley was the first Irishman recruited from Ireland to play in the VFL. Earley played for Melbourne in the VFL in the last match of 1984 after being recruited from gaelic football where he played for Roscommon. He then returned to Ireland and continued his GAA football career and played in the 1987 International Rules series for Ireland.

Over the last few years we've had numerous articles chronicling the rebirth of Australian football in India, but recently AFL India drew our attention to a great article by Glen Cullen on the Australia Unlimited website that very nicely put the whole journey together in one story.  With permission we reproduce it below.  Original article is here: It ain't cricket

One per cent of India’s population is roughly half Australia’s population. So a significant fan base could emerge from converting a small percentage of that country’s bat and ball fanatics to a brand new game.

A young man who wanted to direct Bollywood films; a tour operator stationed in Mumbai; and a UK-based educator – yes, it sounds like the start of a joke. But for Sudip Chakraborty, Lincoln Harris and Rick Shrowder the sport of Aussie Rules is more than just a lark. This triumvirate, very different backgrounds and interests notwithstanding, is passionate about India and also about Australia’s native football code.

Until the end of 2012 the three worked mainly independently of one another, but in December they met at the first Indian national Australian Rules Championships in the southern state of Kerala. 

In India, as we all know, cricket is more than just a game. It’s the game. Up to 80 per cent of the country’s 1.2 billion inhabitants are thought to watch or play it in some fashion. Almost 68 million Indians tuned in to watch their side win the 2011 World Cup. The major international series – the Indian Premier League – has a market value estimated at $US3billion.

The AFL has named the final Indigenous All-Stars squad that will take on Richmond Football Club tomorrow, Friday, February 8 in Alice Springs, captained by Essendon star Nathan Lovett-Murray.

Sydney Swans premiership player Michael O’Loughlin will coach the Indigenous All-Stars, assisted by Roger Hayden, Adam Goodes, Shaun Burgyone and Lance Franklin (Franklin, previously named captain withdrew from playing this week due to injury.)

2013 Indigenous All-Stars squad: