World Footy News

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

 

The AFL today joined the Human Rights Commission and the Australian Government in endorsing a new national anti-racism strategy - Racism. It Stops With Me.

 

Represented by North Melbourne players Andrew Swallow and Majak Daw, the AFL is one of a number of organisations across business, sport and Government who are supporting the campaign on the basis of their long-standing work on combating racism.

Swedish rock band 8Stone have written a theme song titled "Break them bones" for the Helsingborg Saints - we present for you the film clip featuring both the band and the Helsingborg Saints in action.

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Thanks to Alex Benjamin of USAFL Webcast for his full recap of the 49th Parallel Cup from his Blog site.  Alex can also be seen weekly on his Justin.tv channel Friday evenings from Smyrna, Tennessee (Saturday mornings Melbourne, Australia time).

2012 marked the return of the Parallel Cup after no contest last year because of the International Cup.  This was the first time that the Parallel Cup has visited the city of Dublin, Ohio..

The site of the Parallel Cup was the beautiful Darree Fields, in which the main field that all four games would be played was the best field condition in any competition this year, albeit with the grass just a bit high.

While in the past Parallel Cup carried on in relative obscurity, with most of the attention focussing on  the US Nationals, this year as for the first time in its history it was being broadcast live on two platforms.  Video was shown on a fixed camera on Justin.tv through the USAFL Weekly Channel and via audio by Brian Reiss and Lee W. Mowen on OhioSportsRadioNetwork (OSRN).

The development of women’s football in Europe outside of Ireland has been slow and troubled. In previous years, teams have sprung up quickly in Italy and then Switzerland, a promise of how appealing the game is to European women and how quickly it can be developed, but after the breakaway of most Italian players to play the similar 6-a-side game O-Rules, it left the map of remaining female players very sparsely populated.

However, with the rise of European tourists getting into the game in Australia, there are growing numbers of talented European female players cropping up across Europe. With no teams left to face the Irish, and no one country able to field a full 9-a-side team, a handful of female players travelled to Reading in early July, and after having a kick about together at the Brit Cup, the decision was made to amalgamate numbers and enter the Euro Cup as a joint European team.

“Imagine all the people… sharing all the world.”

What does John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ have to do with linking up international Australian Football clubs all over the world? Well this song was the inspiration for Pyramid Power’s Wesley Hull to embark on a virtual voyage of discovery, contacting clubs across Australia and around the world through social media and asking them to become part of their network as a “big brother club”.

Pyramid Power is no stranger to crossing boundaries and linking communities together. The club is a small junior football club located in the small town of Gordonvale near Cairns and 80-90% of the kids come from remote and impoverished communities in the Torres Strait and the Cape York Peninsula and are boarders at the town’s indigenous college. Others come from the nearby Yarrabah aboriginal community.
 

In the tradition of the annual ANZAC Day match, the Vietnam Swans have proposed that an annual AFL match be played on Vietnam Veterans’ Day to honour those who fought so bravely for their country. The proposal is for next year, as 2013 will mark forty years of Vietnamese-Australian diplomatic relations.

Vietnam Veterans’ Day is on the 18th of August, which falls on a Sunday in 2013. The planned proposal is to include a live cross for the minute’s silence from Long Tan, which is conducted at 3.30pm local time. This would then be telecast live on the SGC or MCG scoreboard at 6.30pm EAST.

The Swans have sent to the plans to several ministers and people in the AFL and AFL Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick is said to be “interested” in the proposal.

An AFL exhibition match in India remains a very real possibility, with The Age this week reporting that senior Richmond officials were to meet with Indian High Commissioner Biren Nanda and several Australian Politicians in Canberra. The match looks likely to be held in 2014, against GWS Giants, at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.

Richmond currently has an Indian Tigers supporter group and supported the Indian team at the 2011 International Cup.

Full article: Tigers move in on Mumbai.

"One has to wonder if the "banana" will make an appearance" were the words of WFN writer Chris Adams in 2007. While the former Australian Football League punters (or VAFA in Matt McBriar's case) weren't the first ever to try drop punts in the NFL they have certainly been credited for it's wider use in the American game.  Feted for it's greater accuracy in directional kicking and the way the ball reacts when it hits the turf (as opposed to the traditional spiral punt) the drop punt is being used by both the Australian and many of the US NFL punters.

But now it appears the banana kick could be the next Aussie rules export.  Sav Rocca tried one in the Washington Redskins preseason game against Buffalo last week.  The Washington Times described it as "a sideways-end-over-end punt designed to roll forward and diagonally toward the sideline."

The videos featured here are of the Round 9 match between the Helsingborg Saints vs Farum Cats and give a great view of footy as played in the DAFL.

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Below you can watch the VFL match from last weekend with Collingwood playing Sandringham. This is the VFL's first effort at live streaming a match.

Our US viewers may be interested to watch Shae McNamara who was one of the best players for Collingwood in the match. Also Irishman Paul Cribbin is playing for the Pies. Another lesser known Irishman also playing for Collingwood is Cathal Corr who was born in Ireland to Irish parents but moved to Australia as a lad and played junior football in suburban Melbourne. We won't spoil the match any further by revealing the score.

 Please note that these details are correct at the time of publishing. WFN accepts no responsibility for any changes to these times by broadcasters. Please check local guides or afl.com.au. 

2012 TOYOTA AFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 21 INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE Friday 17 August  – Sunday 19 August.

In one of the most tightly contested and entertaining tournaments of recent years, the Hong Kong Dragons have prevailed victorious, claiming the 2012 Asian Champs crown.

The nine competing teams from South-East Asian were treated to glorious sunshine and the pristine fields of the Thailand Polo Club as they arrived at the venue in South Bangkok. The two football ovals constructed side-by-side on the vast expanses of the Polo pitch were arguably some of Asia’s best Aussie Rules playing surfaces.

The tournament format saw each team square-off against four randomly selected opponents in a 2 x 10 minute half; round-robin format. The four highest placed teams advanced to a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 semi-final stage. A modest 2-3 goal breeze favoured one end, adding an extra twist to the games, the battle for each victory very much a tale of two halves.