World Footy News

The Montreal Angels hosted New York Magpies and Boston Lady Demons teams over the weekend, winning both their games. This Angels TV clip shows us what women's footy in Quebec looks like.

A nice write up of the tournament written by Stephanie Holt can also be found on The Footy Almanac website. 

The Vietnam Swans have defeated the China Reds in a hard fought contest in the third instalment of the ANZAC Friendship Match in Vietnam.

The match was played in warm conditions in Vung Tau, where the Australian Army was based during the Vietnam War, with many footy matches played by troops on the Lord Mayor’s Oval between 1966 and 1971. The ground has since become a greyhound-racing track, but remains a fitting location to hold the ANZAC event.

The event has already become the most important fixture on the Vietnamese football calendar.

Each player wore a black armband on either arm to remember and symbolise the loss suffered by all, to celebrate the present and to look forward to the future.

A Legends and All Stars match preceded the main event, which allowed for those who were not playing for the Swans to don a jumper and have a fun kick of the Sherrin.

The North Leinster Australian Football Club has a new nickname following an historic affiliation agreement with the AFL's newest club, the Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Under the terms of the affiliation agreement, Irish club North Leinster become an affiliate of the dynamic new club, bearing the club's nickname, wearing the team's colours and promoting the Giants brand in Ireland.

This affiliation will greatly assist the development of Ireland's newest club and speaking about the deal, North Leinster President Ross Dack had this to say - "We couldn't be more grateful to the Giants for their interest in our development and in assisting us in getting off the ground properly through the provision of playing kit and footballs. For us this is the beginning of what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial relationship."

The affiliation was facilitated by Giants Academy manager Lachlan Buszard, who was one of Ireland's coaches during the 2011 AFL International Cup campaign, and he declared the club to be very happy with the association -

"We see ourselves as a club for all, not just in Western Sydney, Southern New South Wales and the ACT; but also Internationally and to that end we have been aligning with new clubs across Europe and assisting them in their growth too. For us developing a community, wherever that may be is beneficial and naturally with Setanta O hAilpin here we hope the club is taken to the hearts of a great many Irish people."

North Leinster also announced this week the publication and launch of the club's new website, which can be found at northleinster.com. The North Leinster club was created last year as the North Leinster Kangaroos, through a merger of the Midlands Tigers and West Dublin Saints.

The Japanese AFL Top League kicks off the 2012 season on May 12th with the introduction of a completely new team, the R246 Lions. The Lions will bring the league to a seven-team competition playing at 9-a-side.

The Lions could well be the most uniquely named team in world footy in that the name is derived from Route 246, the highway that connects Tokyo with Kanagawa. The Lions aim to establish themselves as a community based club although the bulk of the players are graduates from Nippon Sport Science University (NSSU) and are very new to footy. The NSSU is considered the most traditional and honoured sports university in Japan.

The Lions founders, Jun Sekiguchi and Michito Sakaki (pictured with Kevin Sheedy) however are seasoned participants; Jun was assistant coach of the Samurai at IC11, and Michito, a highly respected player in Japanese football having been named in the Allstars team at IC05 and the World Team at IC08. He also played a preseason at Essendon in 2006 making the squad to play the Sydney Swans in a pre-season match in February that year.

The genesis of the R246 Lions was in Jun Sekiguchi introducing footy to a small group of friends who in turn brought along some of their friends to the next training session. More new friends were recruited until 16 players were training together. It was then decided to contest the Pocari Sweat Cup, a one day tournament held in October 2011. The 'Lions' managed to finish equal fifth with the Tokyo Goannas.

The AFL have formally backed the bid from NZ to host a Premiership game, subject to finances. With St Kilda keen to play next year in Wellington on Anzac Day two potential opponents have come forward in Sydney and Brisbane. With NZ backers John Morrison and John Dow at this year’s Anzac Game viewing a thrilling one point win from Collingwood over Essendon they couldn’t help but leaving even further impressed.

It would be the first premiership game played outside Australia and, as the proposed fixture starts to generate headlines in Melbourne, talks are continuing towards a long-term, strategic partnership between Wellington, St Kilda and the AFL.

The Dublin Angels and the Kilrea Kookaburras flew over to Edinburgh, Scotland, last weekend for what would turn out to be a thrilling Haggis Cup match. This was the first match of the year for both teams and it was heavily anticipated too as it had been almost 7 months since these sides last met. It was another historic day for women’s football in Europe, with the first time the Haggis Cup included a ladies section.

This was also a special day for some players as it was to be their first ever Aussie rules match. The Angels were also welcoming back their captain, Avril Robinson, after being sidelined due to a knee injury. There was a few minutes warm up at the Peffermill playing fields, the all important team photos and we were ready and roaring to go.

From the minute the siren sounded, it was action galore. The first goal was kicked by Vanessa Temple as she bound through the middle pack to get the Angels on the scoreboard. Rain then forced scrappy play in the middle of the grounds, making it hard for both teams to convert chances. Kilrea forward Nuala O’Hagan taking some excellent leads for her side and making her mark on the game scoring 2 goals.

AFL Samoa selected local rising star Joseph Falesa to attend the AFL training camp in New Zealand held in recent days.

Joseph, a 16 year old from Lepa/Lotofaga College, was selected to participate in the training camp because of his 'outstanding performance during the inaugural Aaron Edwards Cup' held in March.

Irrespective of outcome - attending the training camp would provide Joseph and many young footballers from the Pacific region the chance to experience training at an elite level; also an exposure to AFL overseas.

Across late last week and the weekend, many of the best young footy talent in the Pacific region converged on New Zealand. A 4 day camp was conducted to trial the players. The partial squad selected as a result is to be the basis of the full squad that will jet to Sydney for the AFL National Under 16 titles.
 

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 5 INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE Wednesday 25 April – Sunday 29 April

The late Jim Stynes was a Brownlow Medallist way back in 1991, whilst Tadhg Kennelly proudly owns a premiership medal but is recently retired.  And a host of Irish AFL players have been delisted in recent seasons.  Yet despite those sobering facts for the current state of the "Irish experiment", this year we might just be seeing the best overall batch yet.

AFL lists currently reveal 5 Irish primary list players and 5 Irish players as rookies (although John Heslin has returned home).  Two in particular catch the eye.