World Footy News

Members of AFL London clubs the Wandworth Demons and London Swans will feature in an ad for Australian telecommunications company Telstra, to air on Australian TV during the London Olympics.

The ad features the song "Down Under" by Men At Work, which is being re-released as a solo project by the song's co-writer member Colin Hay. Besides the Demons and Swans, the new recording features expat Aussies singing on a boat on the Thames and in a London pub.

"Down Under is ultimately a song about celebration, and in the case of the 2012 Olympics, a mass calling of sorts to inspire our Olympians so they know they are not alone," Hay said.

"For my part, to travel around Australia and to London singing ‘Down Under’ and leading the chorus was a great honour. Hopefully our athletes will feel connected by the voices of many."

For more, read here.

AFL media press release :
Eleven Papua New Guinean teenagers who played in the South Pacific AFL team have returned home this week.

Harry Kambuou, #12

Montréal celebrates five years of Aussie Rules this year, and the prospects for French-Canadian footy have never looked better.

After an initial three years of promising growth, the Montréal based Québec Saints slipped backward in 2011. The team withdrew from the Toronto based OAFL division 2 competition, their 9-a-side development league was reduced to just two teams and the women’s program failed to play a single stand alone game for the year. The impressive individual performances of the eight Québec players and coaches at IC11 (with both Canada and France) would offer up the only shining light in what was a disappointingly dark year.

But just as footy in Montréal seemed destined to spiral down further, the four remaining committee members; Margo Legault, Neil Koch, Tim Nixon and Frenchman William Teissier drafted a bold new plan for 2012.   
 

NEW Zealand-raised forward Khan Haretuku may be earmarked to be one of the most sought-after mature-age prospects heading into this year's AFL draft. Already this year he has represented New Zealand against the AIS-AFL Academy at Wellington Stadium and was selected in the VFL state team.

Mature age players have continued to fill gaps and become key players in recent times, notably James Podsiadly at Geelong, Stewart Crameri and Michael Hibberd at Essendon, Michael Barlow at Fremantle and even Ian Callinan at Adelaide.

 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 17 INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE Friday 20 July  – Sunday 22 July.

When Karmichael Hunt kicked the much talked about goal after the siren on Saturday night to end the Gold Coasts 21 game losing streak, many of the modern themes of the AFL were in play.  Hunt most famously a code crosser, former NRL star - lured to the game by cash, but also by his childhood memories of playing the game.  Hunt was born in New Zealand and is an immigration success story (his parents were from Samoa and the Cook Islands) and an AFL multicultural ambassador .

The location of the match, Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns was also significant in the constant efforts to expand the game in non traditional locations and Hunt playing for the expansion Gold Coast club.  Playing in Cairns, the third AFL venue in Qld, also brings the game to within a two hour flight of the PNG footy fronteir.

Level 3 coaches Peta Searle and Nicole Graves have been selected in the 2012 Women’s High Performance Academy which will be conducted in Melbourne this week.

The seven-day high performance camp coincides with Women’s Round - Round 17 of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season. The Academy involves 50 participants including coaches, players, an umpire, strength and conditioning coaches and talent and coaching managers and aims to enhance football and coaching skills.
 

The Western Australian Women’s Football League, currently the second strongest women’s league in Australia after Victoria, recently held the second ever ‘Yorga’s Koodjal Kadadjiny’ or ‘Women’s Two Way Learning’ match to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the WAWFL and the rising talent of both indigenous and non indigenous female players in the state.

As well as the cultural and sporting significance, the match is also a tribute game for two indigenous female footballers: Sharon Woods and Elizabeth ‘Lil’ Kickett, who unfortunately has since passed away from breast cancer.

This years Yorga Match featured the Indigenous All Stars playing against the WAWFL All Stars. The winning team, the Indigenous All Stars, received the Lil Kickett Memorial Shield for defeating the WAWFL All Stars by a convincing 14.12 (96) to 2.3 (15).
 

Voted through at the 2011 National Conference, AFL Great Britain officially changed its registered title to AFL England. Originally brought into being as the British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) and then updated to AFL GB in 2006 to bring it more into line with the AFL, the organisation has renamed to clarify its remit in the British Isles.

The Welsh and Scottish competitions have been fully independent for several years, though there is cooperation between the bodies in several areas. Discussions will follow between the 3 national organisations and AFL Europe on the future of the GB Bulldogs, the representative team who have historically represented all 3 at full-sided international competition (European Championships and International Cup). Individual national squads normally take part in the smaller sided home nations internationals and annual Euro Cup, where the England Dragonslayers were 2008 and 2009 victors.
 

There’s been a lot of publicity around the match winning goal of NRL (Rugby League to AFL) convert Karmichael Hunt on Saturday evening at Cairns' Cazaly stadium. Richmond fans no doubt are fed up with hearing about it. However, for all that Hunt has improved this season, and for all that he looks like he does or will warrant his selection from week to week – there’s another Rugby (Union) to AFL code conversion story that is playing out in a Sydney and it’s not Izzie Folau; and it's not at a bottom of the table team.

The AFL today announced the Grand Final of the 2012 FOXTEL Cup – the state-league based knockout competition that was introduced last season – would be played between Claremont and Werribee at Patersons Stadium in WA on Thursday August 2, at 7.35pm local time.

Claremont was runner-up in the inaugural competition in 2011, losing last year’s final to Williamstown, and won its way through to the grand final again with victories over West Adelaide, Mt Gravatt and Port Melbourne. Werribee, which qualified for inclusion in the competition for the first time this year, won its place in the final with successes against Burnie, West Perth and Morningside.